Turn MSFS 2020 photogrammetry on or off on PC and Xbox, fix a greyed-out setting or melted buildings, and choose the right option for your flying.
In Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, go to Options > General Options > Data, set Photogrammetry to On or Off, then select Apply & Save. Enabling it also requires Online Functionality and Bing Data World Graphics. On streams 3D scans in covered areas; Off replaces them with generated buildings. The route is identical on PC and Xbox Series X|S.
Where do I turn photogrammetry on or off on PC and Xbox Series X?
The Photogrammetry switch is on the simulator’s Data settings page, not in the Microsoft Store, in-sim Marketplace or Xbox system settings.
- Open General Options: From the main menu, select Options and then General Options. During a flight, open the pause menu and select General Options.
- Open Data: Select the Data category to see the simulator’s online scenery controls.
- Enable the prerequisites: If you want photogrammetry, set Online Functionality and Bing Data World Graphics to On.
- Choose the setting: Set Photogrammetry to On for scanned 3D scenery or Off for generated buildings.
- Save and refresh: Select Apply & Save. If buildings already loaded around the aircraft do not change, return to the main menu and reload the flight.
On Xbox Series X|S, use this same in-game route. Photogrammetry is streamed automatically when enabled; there is no separate city pack to install through Manage game and add-ons.
A mistake we see constantly is turning off Online Functionality merely to remove photogrammetry. That master control affects other internet-based features as well. Our explanation of what the Online Functionality switch controls covers the wider consequences.
MSFS 2020 photogrammetry on or off: which should I choose?
Leave photogrammetry on for recognisable scanned cities when your connection delivers them cleanly; turn it off when data use, loading pauses or malformed geometry matter more than city accuracy.
| Configuration | What MSFS displays | Choose it when |
|---|---|---|
| Photogrammetry On | Streamed 3D scans in covered cities and regions | You fly urban VFR and want distinctive real-world building shapes |
| Photogrammetry Off, Bing data On | Generated buildings over streamed aerial ground imagery | You prefer cleaner geometry, lower scenery-streaming demand or reduced data use |
| Online Functionality Off | No live Bing or photogrammetry streaming | You must fly offline or are diagnosing all online services |
Turning photogrammetry off does not require Bing Data World Graphics to be disabled. Keeping Bing data on preserves streamed aerial imagery while the simulator places its generated, or autogen, buildings over it.
Outside a covered area, On and Off may look almost identical because there is no scanned city geometry to replace. Photogrammetry also contains capture imperfections: trees, bridges and narrow structures can look untidy even when the stream is working correctly.
Does turning photogrammetry off improve performance?
It can reduce streaming stalls, object pop-in and geometry-processing load in dense scanned cities, but it is not a guaranteed frame-rate fix.
Choose Off as a diagnostic test if stuttering appears mainly over major urban areas. If the same problem occurs over rural terrain without photogrammetry coverage, investigate terrain detail, traffic, add-ons or another bottleneck instead. On Xbox Series X|S, disabling it can still help with scenery-delivery problems even though the console offers fewer graphics adjustments than PC.
Why is MSFS photogrammetry still greyed out?
A greyed-out Photogrammetry switch usually means one of its parent online settings is disabled or the simulator cannot use online data.
- Turn on Online Functionality first: Apply the change, reopen the Data page and then enable Bing Data World Graphics.
- Check Bing Data World Graphics: Photogrammetry depends on this setting and cannot provide scanned scenery without it.
- Use the main menu: If a control cannot be changed during a flight, return to the main menu and open General Options from there.
- Check the connection and account: Confirm that MSFS is signed in and online. Platform-level family or privacy restrictions can prevent online services from being available.
- Restart after restoring online access: Fully close and reopen the simulator if the controls remain unavailable after the parent settings have been changed.
A Data Consumption Limit normally explains why enabled scenery stops loading rather than why the control is greyed out. Check that limit, bandwidth options and cache controls using our guide to managing MSFS data settings and scenery caches.
Why does my menu look completely different?
Confirm that the guide and simulator edition match. This route is for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 on PC and Xbox; Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 uses a redesigned interface. Both titles can be installed on Xbox Series X|S, so check which one you launched.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 was never released on PlayStation. If you are using a PS5 or PS5 Pro, you are running Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and will not see the exact MSFS 2020 menu shown here. On a localised installation, the labels are translated, but the required categories still correspond to General Options and Data.
Why do photogrammetry buildings look melted?
Melted buildings usually mean MSFS has displayed a coarse photogrammetry model before higher-detail data arrived, although some malformed shapes are part of the source scan itself.
- Wait for refinement: After jumping directly into a dense city, allow time for nearby scenery to finish streaming.
- Check the data limit: A reached allowance or restrictive bandwidth setting can stop higher-detail tiles from arriving.
- Test the connection: Persistent blocks, spikes and low-detail shapes across several covered cities point to interrupted scenery delivery.
- Reload the flight: Changing the switch does not always rebuild scenery that is already in memory.
- Rebuild the rolling cache only if needed: Stale or corrupt cached tiles can preserve visual faults, but routine cache deletion is unnecessary.
- Compare with photogrammetry Off: Generated buildings are less faithful to the real city but often look sharper and more regular at low altitude.
If the option is enabled but cities remain missing, blurry or corrupted, follow our focused photogrammetry loading and corruption checks.
Why does the scenery look the same with photogrammetry on and off?
The location may lack coverage, the existing scene may still be loaded, an add-on may be replacing the default scenery, or the online stream may not be arriving.
Reload the flight and test a known scanned urban centre. Our reference to cities and regions with photogrammetry coverage helps distinguish a settings failure from an uncovered location. If both settings still produce identical buildings in a covered city, troubleshoot Online Functionality, Bing data and the connection.
Does MSFS photogrammetry work offline or come from the store?
Photogrammetry is primarily an online streaming service, not scenery installed from a store or the in-sim Marketplace. The On switch tells MSFS 2020 to request available 3D city data while you fly.
A rolling cache may reuse some tiles downloaded during earlier sessions, but it does not guarantee that a complete city will remain available offline. For predictable flying without an internet connection, set Photogrammetry to Off and use the simulator’s locally available generated scenery.