Fix DLSS ghosting in MSFS 2024 by choosing the right preset, isolating Frame Generation artefacts, and checking cockpit and driver settings.
DLSS causes ghosting in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 because it reconstructs each frame from lower-resolution pixels, motion vectors and previous frames. Incorrect motion data, a very low input resolution or Frame Generation can leave trails behind aircraft, instruments and scenery. Use DLSS Quality or DLAA, disable Frame Generation to test, and remove sharpening overrides.
Why does DLSS leave trails in MSFS 2024?
DLSS ghosting appears when information retained from an earlier frame is not rejected quickly enough. DLSS Super Resolution is temporal: rather than enlarging only the present frame, it combines present pixels with a stored image history and motion data supplied by the simulator.
Three conditions make the problem much more visible:
- Low source resolution: aggressive Performance modes give DLSS fewer real pixels from which to reconstruct thin aircraft edges, antennas, cockpit lettering and distant lights.
- Difficult motion data: propeller discs, rotors, rain, smoke, transparent materials and animated displays do not always produce a clean history. A moving object may then leave a faint copy of itself behind.
- Frame Generation: generated intermediate frames can add halos or distortion around fast-moving aircraft, labels and the mouse pointer. This is separate from DLSS Super Resolution, despite both features carrying the DLSS name.
Ghosting can therefore affect one aircraft or effect while the rest of the picture remains clean. It also becomes easier to see during rapid camera pans and against high-contrast clouds.
Which anti-aliasing setting should I use?
Start with DLSS Quality; use DLAA when image stability matters more than GPU performance, and use TAA as a diagnostic alternative.
| Setting | Choose it when | Ghosting trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| DLAA | You have enough GPU headroom for native-resolution anti-aliasing | Usually the cleanest RTX option, although it still uses temporal information |
| DLSS Quality | You need extra performance without heavily reducing source detail | Best starting point for most systems |
| DLSS Balanced | Quality is too demanding at a high output resolution | More instability on fine cockpit text and thin geometry |
| DLSS Performance | The GPU cannot sustain the required performance any other way | Most likely to show trails, blur and disappearing fine detail |
| TAA at 100% render scale | You need to establish whether DLSS itself is responsible | Can look softer and can still show temporal artefacts, but provides a useful comparison |
At 1080p, DLSS begins with relatively little source detail, so DLAA or TAA often gives a steadier cockpit if the GPU can handle it. At 1440p and 4K, DLSS Quality is the sensible first test. Our comparison of DLSS presets and their cockpit clarity explains where Balanced and Performance become worthwhile compromises.
How do I fix DLSS ghosting step by step?
Change one rendering feature at a time and repeat the same camera movement after each change; otherwise, motion blur and Frame Generation can easily be mistaken for DLSS ghosting.
- Create a repeatable test. Use the same aircraft, lighting and exterior camera pan. Turn Motion Blur off temporarily so it cannot mask the result.
- Disable Frame Generation. Leave it off while testing Super Resolution. If the trails disappear, improve the real rendered frame rate by reducing GPU-heavy settings before trying Frame Generation again. Our guide to Super Resolution versus Frame Generation explains why the two controls should be diagnosed separately.
- Select DLSS Quality. Move up from Performance or Balanced before changing unrelated graphics options. Recheck the same cockpit display, wing edge or aircraft silhouette.
- Compare DLAA and TAA. If DLAA cures the problem, the reduced input resolution was probably the main cause. If only TAA cures it, the issue is more specifically tied to DLSS reconstruction. If all three show the same trail, inspect Motion Blur, the aircraft asset and display processing instead.
- Remove external image processing. Disable NVIDIA Image Scaling, driver sharpening, filters and ReShade while testing. Sharpening does not repair a temporal trail; it usually makes its outline easier to see. Use application-controlled NVIDIA settings for MSFS as the clean baseline.
- Test a default aircraft. If ghosting occurs only on one add-on aircraft, livery or instrument display, temporarily remove that package from the Community folder and repeat the test with a stock aircraft. That points to its materials, animation or display rendering rather than a global DLSS fault.
- Reset driver and DLSS overrides. Return NVIDIA application overrides to their defaults and use a supported graphics driver. If you manually replaced the simulator's DLSS library, restore the sim-managed version before diagnosing the problem.
- Re-enable features individually. Keep the preset that fixed the trail, then restore Motion Blur, Frame Generation and filters one at a time. The artefact will usually return when its actual trigger is enabled.
What should I not waste time changing?
The rolling cache, online bandwidth and photogrammetry do not control DLSS frame history, so clearing or disabling them will not fix a consistent trail behind an aircraft. Texture quality and VRAM pressure can cause stutters, delayed textures or reduced detail, but they are not the normal cause of classic temporal ghosting.
Reinstalling the whole simulator is also unnecessary unless files were manually modified or the installation fails verification. A shader-cache reset may help a genuinely corrupted shader or post-driver stutter, but it is not the standard fix for repeatable DLSS trails.
Why do cockpit screens ghost more than the scenery?
Cockpit screens combine tiny high-contrast symbols with rapidly changing data, making temporal errors much easier to notice than they are on broad scenery surfaces. Head movement can leave a brief trace behind digits, artificial-horizon markings or glass-cockpit text even when the outside view looks acceptable.
If the simulator exposes a Glass Cockpit Refresh Rate option, raise it one step only when the display itself updates in visible jumps. That setting affects instrument update cadence and can increase CPU load; it does not cure a smear created while moving the camera.
A display that ghosts in only one add-on aircraft is usually an aircraft-specific rendering problem. Mouse pointers, menus or labels that distort only with Frame Generation enabled are interpolation artefacts instead. Propeller discs, rain and transparent windscreens may retain a small amount of trailing even with DLAA because their motion and transparency are difficult for every temporal anti-aliasing method.
Can DLSS ghosting be removed completely?
Not in every scene, but the objectionable trails should usually be removable by using DLSS Quality or DLAA and keeping Frame Generation off when the base frame rate is too low. Residual ghosting confined to a propeller, rain effect or one aircraft material is more likely to require a simulator or aircraft update than another graphics tweak.
VR requires a separate diagnosis because headset reprojection can create its own double images and trails. Use our VR-specific ghosting and reprojection checks before blaming DLSS alone.
Does this apply on Xbox or PlayStation?
The DLSS controls described here apply only to the PC version running on compatible NVIDIA RTX hardware. Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 do not expose NVIDIA DLSS; similar-looking trails on those consoles come from motion blur, temporal rendering, display processing or the selected console graphics mode instead.