ChangingDisplaySettings

The Display Settings dialog box includes four tabs: Scenery, Aircraft, Hardware, and Weather.

When you installed Flight Simulator, the setup program automatically chose the best overall display settings for your computer's hardware. The Display Settings dialog box lets you customize Flight Simulator to look and perform the way you want it to. You may want to display higher detail in airports and cities, or you may want greater definition in mountains and valleys. You can also choose whether to display special effects and shadows.

Depending on your computer, display settings may affect the performance of Flight Simulator. Experiment with the settings to find the combination of performance and appearance that you like best.

To open the Display settings dialog box

On the main screen, click Settings, and then click Display.
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On the Options menu, point to Settings, and then click Display.

Use the Global Scenery Quality to adjust the overall quality of the scenery in Flight Simulator. Higher settings offer better-looking graphics, but may affect performance.

To increase overall scenery quality

Select a setting from the Global scenery quality list.

The hills, valleys, mountains, and canyons in the Flight Simulator world are drawn using real-world digital elevation data. The mesh includes a map of points at different elevations. The more points that get drawn at any time, the more detail in the terrain, and the more computing power required.

Higher settings include more points; lower settings drop less-significant points. In the two pictures above, note the difference between the Terrain Mesh Complexity settings of 80 (left) and zero (right). Regardless of your computer's power, Terrain Mesh Complexity settings above 80 may impact performance.

To adjust terrain mesh complexity

Move the Terrain Mesh Complexity slider to the right to increase complexity.
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Move the Terrain Mesh Complexity slider to the left to decrease complexity.

Textures on the ground include roads, rivers, farm fields, shorelines, and the textures underlying cities. Fly at high altitudes and the difference between high and low Terrain Texture Size settings becomes unnoticeable. High settings will make flights at low altitude more interesting.

Notice how sharp and detailed the roads, fields, and shorelines are in the picture on the left, using a high Terrain Texture Size setting. Even on a modestly powered computer, high settings will have little effect on performance.

To adjust terrain texture size

Move the Terrain Texture Size slider to the right to increase complexity.
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Move the Terrain Texture Size slider to the left to decrease complexity.

This slider increases or decreases the level of terrain object detail. You must have this slider above the None setting to see water reflection effects.

To adjust Terrain Details

Move the Terrain detail slider to the right to increase realism.
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Move the Terrain detail slider to the left to decrease realism.

The water effects detail creates animated textures that simulate the appearance of breaking waves, reflections, and a rolling wave visual effect. Higher settings may affect simulator performance on some computers.

Note: You must have the Terrain detail slider set above None in order to see any water reflection effects.

Note: Not all video cards support water effects. If your video card does not support these effects, you will not see water effects in the simulator even when this slider is moved to the right.

To adjust water effects

Move the Water effects slider to the right to increase realism.
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Move the Water effects slider to the left to decrease realism.

To smooth dawn and dusk texture transitions

Select the Dawn/dusk texture blending check box.

In the two pictures above, note that the mountain in the picture on the left includes more detail than the mountain in the picture on the right. Selecting this setting may affect simulator performance on some computers.

To create extended terrain textures

Select the Extended terrain textures check box.

Special Effects Detail manages special effects in Flight Simulator like smoke, fountains, and fireworks that are created using units called sprites. The more sprites displayed, the better the effect looks. Higher settings may affect simulator performance on some computers.

To see effects details

Move the Special effects detail slider to the right to increase realism.
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Move the Special effects detail slider to the left to decrease realism.

Scenery complexity affects the density of "non-autogen" buildings and scenery objects; that is, monuments, custom buildings in cities and airports, or any object that requires nongeneric models or nongeneric textures. Higher settings may affect simulator performance on some computers.

The picture above at left shows a city with extremely dense scenery complexity. Notice the difference in the picture on the right, which has very sparse scenery complexity. Higher settings may affect simulator performance on some computers.

To adjust scenery complexity

Move the Scenery Complexity slider to the right to increase density.
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Move the Scenery Complexity slider to the left to decrease density.

Autogen creates generic scenery objects, such as trees and buildings. The objects appear in the distance as you approach them.

The picture above on the left shows the maximum autogen setting; the picture on the right displays the normal autogen setting. Note the greater number of trees and buildings in the picture on the left. Higher settings may affect simulator performance on some computers.

To adjust autogen density

Move the Autogen Density slider to the right to increase density.
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Move the Autogen Density slider to the left to decrease density.

Flight Simulator has replaced its older dynamic scenery objects with objects that use artificial intelligence, although some compatible third-party scenery packages still use dynamic scenery. Dynamic scenery includes moving aircraft, boats, and ground vehicles. The Dynamic Scenery slider controls the objects included in third-party scenery software; this control is unavailable if no dynamic scenery has been added to Flight Simulator.

To adjust dynamic scenery density

Move the Dynamic Scenery slider to the right to increase density.
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Move the Dynamic Scenery slider to the left to decrease density.

Buildings and other ground objects can cast shadows. Selecting this setting may affect simulator performance on some computers.

To see ground objects cast shadows

Select the Ground scenery cast shadows check box.

When the sun comes into direct view, the glare causes an effect of washing out other objects in view.

When the sun comes into direct view, the glare causes streaks of light like those seen when shooting a camera into bright light.

To display the aircraft display dialog box

On the main screen, click Settings, and then click Display.
Click the Aircraft tab.

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On the Options menu, point to Settings, and then click Display.
Click the Aircraft tab.
Make the desired changes to aircraft display settings.
Click OK.

This setting adjusts the overall quality of the appearance of aircraft and aircraft effects. A higher setting will provide better-looking graphics, but may affect performance on some computers.

To select a global aircraft quality

Select a setting in the Global Aircraft Quality list.

This setting affects the sharpness of the cockpit instruments in virtual cockpit view. To learn more about virtual cockpits, see Using Views.

To make virtual cockpit gauges look better

Move the Virtual Cockpit Gauge Quality slider to improve appearance.
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Move the Virtual Cockpit Gauge Quality slider to the left to decrease quality.

When you select this setting, sunlight and ground features will reflect on the skin of the aircraft.

When you select this setting, the aircraft cast shadows onto ground objects and terrain.

When you select this setting, aircraft landing lights will illuminate ground objects.

To see landing lights illuminate ground objects

Select the Landing lights check box.

Use the Global Weather Quality option to adjust the overall appearance of weather features in Flight Simulator. Higher settings result in better-looking graphics but may affect performance.

To increase overall weather quality

Select a setting from the Global weather quality list.

Note: Rendering solid overcast conditions in Flight Simulator requires a lot of video processing power. If your computer does not have sufficient power, Flight Simulator will automatically create less-than-solid overcast layers. You can adjust weather visuals on the Weather tab of the Display Settings dialog box; higher settings may result in decreased simulator performance. If you're practicing IFR approaches and the clouds do not form a solid overcast layer, try setting a low visibility layer at ground level.

Sight distance adjusts the distance away from you at which Flight Simulator draws objects when visibility is set to maximum. A higher setting means that Flight Simulator will begin to draw objects when they are farther away, preventing them from suddenly popping into the scenery. Higher settings may result in decreased simulator performance.

To set the sight distance

Move the Sight distance slider left or right.

Cloud draw distance adjusts the distance away from you at which Flight Simulator draws clouds. Drawing clouds into the distance creates a more realistic look but may result in slow simulator performance.

To set the cloud draw distance

Move the Cloud draw distance slider left or right.

3-D clouds offer a more realistic appearance, but drawing 3-D clouds requires more computing power. Experiment with this slider to obtain the cloud effect you want. Even with a moderate-to-low setting on the 3-D cloud percentage slider, you may not notice that Flight Simulator actually draws distant clouds in 2-D. Higher settings may result in decreased simulator performance.

To set the 3-D cloud percentage

Move the 3-D cloud percentage slider left or right.

Cloud detail adjusts both the type and density of coverage of cloud layers. Flight Simulator creates simple clouds in 2-D, which requires less computing power to create, and detailed clouds in more-realistic 3-D. Because 3-D clouds require more computing power, Flight Simulator will determine how much of the sky will be covered by an overcast layer based on your computer's configuration. For example, if your computer is equipped with high-end graphics hardware, and you set an 8/8 cloud layer in the User-defined Weather dialog box, you will see a solid overcast layer in the simulator. On a less-powerful computer, Flight Simulator might draw a 6/8 cloud layer, even if you set the cloud layer to 8/8. To override these adjustments for slower computers, you can use the Cloud coverage density slider to force an 8/8 layer to look solid by moving the slider to 100 percent. However, high settings may result in decreased simulator performance.

To set the cloud detail

Select the Simple clouds or Detailed clouds option.

To set the cloud coverage density

Move the Cloud coverage density slider left or right.

Hardware Display Options

Device Name
Target Frame rate
Available Display Resolutions
Render to Texture
Transform and Lighting
Antialiasing
Filtering
MIP Mapping Quality
Global Texture Size
Hardware-rendered Lights

Depending on your system, adjusting the hardware settings may provide better graphics appearance or better system performance when running Flight Simulator.

To display the hardware display dialog box

On the main screen, click Settings, and then click Display.

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On the Options menu, point to Settings, and then click Display.
Click the Hardware tab.
Make the desired changes to hardware settings.
Click OK.

Device Name

Some computer systems are equipped with more than one video graphics card; Select the card that provides the best performance. You must run Flight Simulator in full screen mode to take advantage of a 3-D graphics accelerator card.

To select a different video graphics card

In the Device Name list, select the device you want to use.

Target Frame Rate

In a movie theater, the film generally runs past the projector's lens at a rate of 24 frames per second. At this speed, the human eye cannot detect the fact that the film is actually a series of rapidly changing still pictures. Like a movie, animated graphics are rendered on a computer screen one frame at a time. This happens at a high frame rate so it seems like a constant picture.

For some computers, it may be advantageous to limit the target frame rate. By limiting the upper end of the frame rate, the computer doesn't spend any more resources than it requires to render the selected frame rate. Resources not used to increase the frame rate beyond that setting can be used for other tasks like rendering clouds or drawing scenery in the distance. Experiment to find the frame rate that works best for you.

To set a target frame rate

Move the Target Frame Rate slider to the right to increase frame rate.
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Move the Target Frame Rate slider to the left to decrease frame rate.

Available Display Resolutions

A computer screen is made up of tiny dots called pixels. The more pixels used to draw an image on screen—the higher its display resolution—the more detail is visible.

The numbers in the Available Display Resolutions list indicate the number of pixels displayed as well as the depth of color. For example, 800 x 600 x 32 refers to 800 pixels x 600 pixels x 32 million colors. A setting of 1280 x 720 x 32 will show more detail than a setting of 800 x 600 x 32, and objects on the screen will also appear smaller. These settings only affect the display when running Flight Simulator in full-screen mode, not in windowed mode. For more about screen modes, see Using Views and Windows.

Only the resolutions supported by your video card will be displayed in the list. Experiment with resolutions to find the one that works best for you.

To select a display resolution

In the Available Display Resolutions list, select a resolution.

Render to Texture

Certain effects, such as clouds in the distance, are generated by rendering them to textures. If you're having display problems, try clearing this check box.

To see multitextured effects

Select the Multi-Texturing check box.

Transform and Lighting

Flight Simulator offers this advanced hardware option to make better use of your video card to execute transformations and lighting effects. Performance may be improved, but your system may become unstable if your video adapter cannot support this option. If the game stops responding or you experience other instability, disable this option.

For better transform and lighting effects

Select Transform & Lighting check box.

Antialiasing Quality

Antialiasing removes jagged edges on terrain and objects. Higher settings mean smoother edges, but may reduce performance on some computers.

To smooth the edges of terrain and objects

Select the Antialiasing check box.

Filtering

Filtering makes textures appear less blocky. When no filtering is selected, every pixel in the graphics textures appears as a square, which may improve performance on some computers. If you're having performance problems, try selecting None in the Filtering list.

Bilinear filtering samples the textures better than no filtering but may introduce flickering in the distance or on edges with textures.

Trilinear filtering is the highest level of texture filtering and reduces flickering considerably (however, not all graphics cards can handle this option correctly). The difference between bilinear and trilinear filtering is most noticeable when you're moving in Flight Simulator.

To improve the appearance of textures

In the Filtering list, select Bilinear or Trilinear.

MIP Mapping Quality

MIP Mapping creates the illusion of distance. When you select this, performance may decrease depending on the capabilities of your 3-D graphics card. If the frame rate decreases significantly when MIP mapping is enabled, you'll want to set the slider to None.

To adjust MIP mapping quality

Move the MIP Mapping Quality slider to the right to increase the illusion of distance.
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Move the MIP Mapping Quality slider to the left to decrease the illusion of distance.

Hardware-Rendered Lights

Flight Simulator illuminates objects using more than one light source. Think of it as a movie set where many lights can be set up around a sound stage.

Using the Hardware-Rendered Lights option, you can select how many lights you want the hardware (that is, your graphics card) to display. One light is used for the sun, and other lights are used for things like panel lighting, aircraft lights, and casting light on the surfaces of the aircraft. Experiment with this setting to find the level that works best for you. Selecting more lights may affect performance.

To adjust the number of hardware-rendered lights

Move the Hardware-Rendered Lights slider to the right to increase lights.
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Move the Hardware-Rendered Lights slider to the left to decrease lights.

Global Texture Size

Global texture size changes texture size for most textures, including scenery textures and aircraft textures. It does not change texture sizes for panel textures. This setting will override the setting chosen for terrain texture size on the scenery tab.

To adjust the global texture size

Move the Global texture size slider to the right to increase maximum texture size.
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Move the Global texture size slider to the left to decrease maximum texture size.

Resetting Default Values

You can easily return to the default display settings at any time.

To reset the display settings on any tab

Click Reset Defaults.