Graphics or Monitor?

[PRB]

On the left side, the horizon is in the middle of the monitor. On the right, I'm "looking down", and as a result, the horizon is at the top of the monitor. See how the colors "wash out"? I can barely distinguish between the sky and the clouds. Is this a "feature" of FS2020 that I can turn off, like "bloom" and "motion blur"? If so I haven't found it yet. I don't remember this happening in FSX. Or is this a monitor issue?

[Priller]

I'm pretty sure this isn't a monitor issue. I'll check on my rig tomorrow (it's late over here) and will revert to ya.

priller

[Brytskiva]

something here ~

HB

[jetstreamsky]

It’s similar to camera exposure where it’s opens the iris to let more light in when looking into the relatively dark space of the cockpit, so possibly a setting like bloom or just built in to the way MSFS balances the exposure in game.

[PRB]

So, both monitors on my sim rig are Samsung 4K. Primary is a 32 inch LS32A70. Secondary is a 27 inch U28E590. I tested running the sim from the 2nd monitor and it seemed like the effect was not nearly as bad. I hope this isn't another of Microsoft/Asobo's attempt to introduce more "photographic effects" into the sim. At least you can turn off bloom, depth of field, motion blur, lens flare, etc. I haven't found the "Camera Exposure Makes The View Outside The Window Get Overexposed When The Person Holding The Camera Aims Down At The Instrument Panel" setting. In my case, it isn't bloom. I turned that off. Not a "deal breaker" by any means, just slightly annoying. The fact that different monitors seem to make a difference makes me think there is some setting that could affect this.

[Dangerous Beans]

Are your monitors HDR and do you have HDR10 enabled in the sim ?
That might cause it.

[Tom Clayton]

There is at least a little of the pupil effect built in. I've noticed it on my system too, and I just have a "normal" 24" HP monitor.

[Penzoil3]

I have seen this too. It's very annoying. Definitely a graphics thing.

[Francois]

I think they are trying to mimic the effect of looking to something in the shade (thereby over-exposing the light outside). I now have an old tv screen hooked up, less sharp and lower resolution than a 4K monitor, and it is much more prevalent on it. So I think it is a combination of the programming, and the monitor (type) you are using.

[Cazzie]

What is your volumetric lighting setting? This use to be listed as Volumetric Clouds, now it's Volumetric Lighting. Set on High of preferably Ultra.

[K5083]

Yup, it's a feature, not a bug.

Other sims and games with virtual cockpits do this "exposure compensation" thing as well. It's a reasonable solution to the problem of how to supply visibility to both the outside and the inside, which are very differently lit. You'll see your phone or other modern camera do the same thing if you point it out the windscreen of your car and then at the dashboard.

The main alternative to something like this is to artificially reduce the difference in illumination values between the outside world and the cockpit so that less of this dynamic compensation is needed. This is commonly called "HDR" and is a graphics option available in some games, or may just be on by default. I personally don't like it, it makes the lighting look unrealistically flat and is an overdone effect in photography. In any event there is no such option in MSFS, except for a thing you can do in one of the config files that doesn't make all that much difference.

August

[Daube]

I think it's called the "eye adaption" effect or something like that.
To me, it's an important aspect of the visual realism.
When I'm in a dark room and I watch at the outside landscape through the window, the outside is barely visible and washed out, very very bright. I'm talking about my eyes, not a camera.
But if I come close to the window, progressively the outside becomes lesss washed out, and I start to see through.
Same in the opposite way, from outside trying to look at a dark interior, you can barely see anything.
I'really glad MSFS simulates that effet.
It also impacts how bright a sunny patch of landscape appears, when flying under a dense cloud cover.

[hubbabubba]

We used to call this "haze". It is caused, in RL, by the particles in suspension in the air, the closer to the horizon you look, the thicker the particles' layer gets (water vapor and dust, sometimes smog as well). It is, btw, the very same reason the sun (and the moon) take reddish colors at sunset or sunrise. When you tilt the POV down, the haze dominates the pallet colors. When you go up, the blue scattered thinner atmosphere dominates the pallet.

If it wasn't there, it would be ugly anyway...

[LouP]

Somewhere along the line I mentioned that the sim could use a sunglasses mod. :-)

LouP

[Daube]

Just a small remark, regarding the "monitor" part:
On my monitor, a Philips 273V, I have an option (in the monitor menu, using its own buttons under the screen) to enable the "Lowblue Mode", which reduces the amount of blue light emitted by the monitor.
The effect, appart from being less aggressive to my eyes, is slightly "warmer" colors in general.
I find MSFS really benefits from it.

Please note this will not really change anything to the changing luminosity you describe in your initial post.

[PRB]

I think it’s called haze, lol... I suspect Daube has the correct answer. I can appreciate MS/Asobo’s attempt to duplicate this phenomenon of iris settings when looking from light to dark places, but once again, they are confusing a “camera simulator” with a “flight simulator”. If I tilt my head down and look into the deep dark corners of the cockpit, then look back up, IRL, my eyeballs will re-adjust. Anyhow, as stated above, it’s just mildly annoying, and I was hoping it was another option I could turn off. I can live with it. BTW, I did try messing with the monitor’s color settings. No help there.

[ak416]

I think you can disable it in your UserCfg.opt file, mine is located in C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft Flight Simulator

Under PostProcess, change EyeAdaptation 1 to 0. I would turn off "fringe" (chromatic aberration) while you are there as it looks terrible imo.

[PRB]

I think you can disable it in your UserCfg.opt file, mine is located in C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft Flight Simulator

Under PostProcess, change EyeAdaptation 1 to 0. I would turn off "fringe" (chromatic aberration) while you are there as it looks terrible imo.

That sure looked promising. That file, it turns out, has two EyeAdaptation settings. One under "Graphics" and another under "GraphicsVR". I set them both to 0, and rebooted the computer, just to make sure. Alas, no change was observed.

[hubbabubba]

Try it without a reboot then... Those files are subject to rewrite if you reboot.

[Daube]

The "Haze" is actually the effect that makes the atmosphere look so realistic in the distance, with that typical blueish tint that makes the MSFS sky look so good compared to other sims.
I do not think the haze is related to the original issue described in the original post and illustrated by the two screenshots. It's really the eye adaption system which comes into play here.
Maybe the bloom can impact that a bit too, but I'm not sure.
I'm surprised setting that parameter to 0 in the UserOpt.cfg had no effect though, this is strange...

[PRB]

An interesting discussion on the EyeAdaptation setting in the link below. Short version: It apparently doesn't actually do anything.

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t...hable/285240/9