Balanced PC settings for MSFS 2020 and 2024, with clear values for LOD, clouds, textures, anti-aliasing, 4K, VR and CPU/GPU bottlenecks.
For Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and 2024 on PC, start at native resolution with TAA, 100 render scaling, Terrain and Object LOD around 100, High clouds, High textures and 16x anisotropic filtering. Lower LOD and traffic for a CPU limit; lower clouds, shadows, reflections or render scaling for a GPU limit.
Recommended MSFS graphics settings
These custom settings give most PCs a sensible balance between cockpit clarity, scenery detail and stable frame delivery on a flat-screen monitor. Setting names and their performance costs vary slightly between MSFS 2020 and MSFS 2024, so use the closest available option rather than forcing a value your version does not offer.
In MSFS 2020, apply the High-End preset first and then customise it. Do not select another preset afterwards, because doing so will overwrite the individual changes.
| Setting | Recommended starting point | When to change it |
|---|---|---|
| Display resolution | Monitor’s native resolution | Keep the output native and try an upscaler or lower render scaling before reducing it. |
| Anti-aliasing | TAA | Use DLSS or FSR Quality where supported if the GPU cannot sustain native rendering. |
| Render Scaling | 100 with TAA | Try 90 and then 80 when GPU-limited. Low values noticeably soften instruments and scenery, especially at 1080p. |
| Terrain Level of Detail | 100; up to 150 with CPU headroom | Lower it at large airports and over dense cities when limited by the main thread. |
| Objects Level of Detail | 100 | Reduce it if buildings, airport objects or parked aircraft create a CPU limit. |
| Volumetric Clouds | High | Use Ultra only with GPU headroom. Medium provides a useful saving in broken or overcast weather. |
| Texture Resolution | High; Ultra with adequate VRAM | Lower it if textures swap, degrade, load late or cause persistent stuttering. |
| Anisotropic Filtering | 16x | Usually leave it high. Its cost is modest and it keeps runway and ground textures clearer at shallow angles. |
| Shadow Maps and Terrain Shadows | MSFS 2020: 1024 and 512; otherwise Medium | Reduce shadow resolution when GPU-limited, particularly in detailed cockpits and low-level flight. |
| Contact Shadows, Ambient Occlusion and Reflections | Medium, High and Medium | Reduce these before sacrificing texture quality. High or Ultra reflections can be costly around water, glass and wet surfaces. |
| Offscreen Terrain Pre-Caching | Ultra, where offered | Lower it only when memory is tight; reduced settings can cause visible pop-in while panning. |
| Glass Cockpit Refresh Rate | Medium, where offered | Lower it in complex airliners when cockpit displays contribute to a main-thread limit. |
| Aircraft, airport and road traffic | Low to Medium | Reduce AI or live traffic, airport workers and vehicles when performance collapses near busy hubs. |
Motion Blur, Depth of Field, Lens Correction and Lens Flare are mainly preference settings. We usually disable Motion Blur and Depth of Field for a cleaner picture, but these are not the first options to cut for a substantial performance gain.
Terrain LOD is the setting we most often see pushed too far. Values above 200 can improve distant terrain, but large airports and dense cities may then become main-thread bottlenecks. Our guide to matching MSFS settings to CPU, GPU, RAM and VRAM explains the realistic limits imposed by different PC hardware.
How can I tell whether MSFS is CPU- or GPU-limited?
Lower Render Scaling temporarily: if frame rate barely changes, Microsoft Flight Simulator is probably limited by the CPU’s main thread rather than the GPU.
MSFS 2020’s Developer Mode Display FPS overlay identifies MainThread and GPU limits directly. Use the simulator’s equivalent FPS or performance display where available in MSFS 2024, and assess the same aircraft, location, weather and camera view each time.
| Limit | Typical signs | Settings to reduce or check |
|---|---|---|
| CPU or MainThread | Low frame rate around airports and cities; reducing resolution has little effect | Terrain LOD, Objects LOD, aircraft traffic, airport activity, road traffic and Glass Cockpit Refresh Rate |
| GPU | Performance improves when Render Scaling is lowered; clouds and weather have a large effect | Volumetric Clouds, Render Scaling, shadows, reflections, ambient occlusion and anti-aliasing mode |
| VRAM | Heavy stutters, texture swapping or sudden visual degradation after loading a dense area | Texture Resolution, display resolution, Offscreen Terrain Pre-Caching and memory-heavy add-ons |
| Scenery streaming | Distant terrain stays soft or photogrammetry appears malformed despite acceptable frame rate | Online scenery data, bandwidth and rolling-cache behaviour rather than local graphics quality |
VRAM pressure often causes uneven frame times rather than a simple, consistent loss of FPS. Likewise, reducing every setting to Low will not repair a main-thread problem if Terrain LOD and traffic remain too high.
Should I use TAA, DLSS, FSR or frame generation?
Use TAA at 100 Render Scaling for the clearest cockpit displays; use a Quality-mode upscaler when GPU load is the problem at 1440p or 4K.
- TAA: the safest all-round choice at native resolution, particularly at 1080p and 1440p. It normally preserves glass-cockpit labels better than aggressive upscaling.
- DLSS Quality: useful on a supported NVIDIA RTX GPU when more GPU headroom is required. Moving displays, aerials, small text and distant buildings may look softer or leave trails.
- FSR and other upscalers: begin with Quality mode and inspect cockpit text, power lines and moving aircraft. Balanced and Performance modes recover more frames but sacrifice image stability.
- DLAA: where offered, it favours image quality rather than performance. Choose it when the GPU has spare capacity and you want less shimmer without lowering internal resolution.
- Frame generation: enable it only on supported hardware after obtaining a stable underlying frame rate. It improves displayed smoothness but does not remove main-thread delays, VRAM pressure or slow control response.
Aggressive upscaling is especially soft at 1080p. Before accepting the extra performance, check the primary flight display, moving map, thin cockpit frames and distant airport structures rather than judging only from the external camera.
DirectX 11 versus DirectX 12 in MSFS 2020
DirectX 11 remains the safer MSFS 2020 baseline for predictable performance, while DirectX 12 is required for frame generation and may perform better on some newer systems. Test both with the same aircraft, location, weather and view.
Return to DirectX 11 if DirectX 12 introduces memory pressure, stuttering or instability. Do not assume that frame generation or a newer rendering API can remove a CPU bottleneck.
How should I test graphics changes?
Use one repeatable, demanding test flight and change only one setting category at a time.
- Choose a realistic target: a stable 30 FPS is preferable to repeated swings between 25 and 55. Aim for 45–60 FPS only if the hardware and display can sustain it consistently.
- Create a demanding scenario: use the cockpit view on approach to a detailed airport with normal traffic and broken or overcast clouds. An empty runway in clear weather hides the problems that appear later.
- Apply the baseline: begin with native resolution, TAA, 100 Render Scaling, High textures and clouds, and LOD values around 100.
- Record the limiting component: check whether the simulator reports a MainThread, GPU or memory limit.
- Change the relevant group: adjust CPU-heavy or GPU-heavy settings, not both together. Repeat the same cockpit and terminal-facing views after each change.
- Retest difficult conditions: verify the result at night, in heavy weather and at a busy airport. Changing aircraft, location or live conditions during the comparison invalidates the result.
A mistake we see constantly is maximising LOD, traffic and clouds together, then lowering Render Scaling until the whole image becomes blurry. Do not copy another PC’s Ultra profile, tune solely from the external camera or change several unrelated settings at once. Stable frame times during approach and landing matter more than a high peak FPS over empty countryside.
What should I change for 4K or VR?
At 4K, retain the native output resolution and first try Quality upscaling or Render Scaling around 80–90, followed by lower clouds, shadows and reflections if more GPU headroom is needed.
Do not reduce texture quality or LOD without evidence of VRAM or CPU pressure. Texture quality has little effect on a main-thread bottleneck, while cutting LOD unnecessarily removes distant scenery that the GPU may have been capable of displaying.
VR requires a separate profile because the simulator must render the view for each eye at the headset’s target resolution. Start with lower clouds, LOD and traffic, then recover cockpit clarity through render resolution or a Quality-mode upscaler; our separate VR settings for MSFS 2020 and 2024 cover the headset-specific trade-offs.
Fixing blurry scenery and shimmering
Blurry cockpit text usually points to low Render Scaling or aggressive upscaling, while soft terrain can be caused by online data, photogrammetry, bandwidth or cache problems.
Restore Render Scaling to 100 and test TAA first. If the cockpit becomes sharp but the ground remains soft, check online scenery data, Terrain LOD, photogrammetry and rolling-cache behaviour. Texture Resolution cannot repair scenery data that has not streamed correctly; use our diagnostic steps for blurry MSFS terrain and photogrammetry to separate rendering faults from connection and cache problems.
If aircraft edges, cockpit lines, power cables or buildings crawl and sparkle, concentrate on anti-aliasing, internal render resolution and sharpening. Our MSFS fixes for jagged edges and unstable fine detail explain which TAA, DLAA, DLSS and sharpening combinations reduce shimmer without making the image excessively soft.