Version: 1.4.18.0
Frequency: Consistently
Severity: Low - High
Marketplace package name: All Sceneries and Objects are affected
Similar MSFS 2020 issue: Not an issue in 2020
Bug description: In 2024 (the latest build but could be that others are affected too) the ambien occlusion produces by the game engine is barely visible if visible at all. I was always wondering why 24 looked so washed out and bland compared to 2020 and always though it was the new lighting engine that just looked weird in some scenarios. However, I just exported a new untextured object into the sim an noticed that it barely has any AO compared to 2020. So I did some digging and compared the two sims two each other and also tried out different AO options to see the difference. To my surprise, there is absolutely zero difference in 2024 between AO Off and AO Ultra. Take a look at the comparison below, it think it is more clear what I mean then.
Looking at those comparisons it really looks like as if the AO is bugged because it is basically non existent, and there is no difference bewteen the settings whatsover. After looking at this I think this is the main reason why I always though 24 looks bland and in some instances worse than 2020, and I would really like to see more AO added, or at least get it working as it should, because no difference between ULTRA and OFF seems a little bit suspicious to me. This setting is especially important since the use of tileable textures to achive higher resolution in sceneries becomes more and more popular and baked AO is more of a burden on VRAM than anything else.
Repro steps: Look at a non textured object (preferably interiors) in 2020 and 2024 and compare them.
Attachments:
All Pictures were taken during at the same time and weather settings:
As you can see, in 2020 there is a good amount of AO on basically all settings which gets less and less throughout the various settings. However, in 2024 they all look exactly the same, and have almost no AO at all.
Please consider adding more AO back to the game. I really think that this is the exact reason why the sim looks so much more bland, washed out, and overexposed compared to 2020.
In fact, the AO is almost reversed. On Ultra, basically the only setting that has at least a little bit of AO, the areas that should be dark and affected by AO are brighter than the areas that shouldn’t be affected!
