Compare MSFS 2020 vs 2024 clouds: detail, lighting, live weather, performance and artefacts, with settings for a fair side-by-side test.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 generally renders more convincing clouds than MSFS 2020, chiefly through more coherent lighting, atmospheric integration and finer-looking structure. The difference is evolutionary, not dramatic: weather data, the Volumetric Clouds setting, resolution, anti-aliasing and live-weather timing can outweigh the version change in any single screenshot.
What changed between MSFS 2020 and 2024 clouds?
Both simulators use three-dimensional volumetric clouds rather than flat sky textures, but MSFS 2024 refines how formations sit in the atmosphere and respond to light. Clouds tend to show better depth and blend more naturally with haze, sunlight and the horizon.
MSFS 2020 can still produce spectacular weather. The improvement in 2024 is easier to see while flying around or through layered cloud than in a carefully selected still image. Our wider visual comparison of MSFS 2020 and 2024 covers the surrounding lighting, terrain and performance differences.
| Area | MSFS 2020 | MSFS 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Shape and depth | Detailed volumetric layers, although close edges can appear soft or noisy. | Generally finer-looking internal structure and stronger separation between layers. |
| Lighting | Convincing sunlight and cloud shadows, but some scenes look uniformly grey or overly harsh. | Cloud, haze and sunlight usually interact more cohesively, giving formations greater depth. |
| Live weather | Can generate convincing fronts and layers, but cloud position and coverage depend heavily on the weather input. | The revised presentation looks more natural, but it still reconstructs weather data rather than reproducing every observed cloud exactly. |
| Visual artefacts | Grain, flickering edges and temporal smearing can appear at lower settings or resolutions. | These problems are not eliminated and remain visible under demanding conditions. |
| Performance | High cloud quality can place substantial load on the GPU. | Cloud quality remains demanding, while the rest of the 2024 scene can also change the overall frame-time cost. |
Why can MSFS 2020 clouds sometimes look better?
MSFS 2020 can look better when it receives a more dramatic weather scene or is running at higher settings. The most common comparison mistake is placing two Live Weather screenshots side by side and assuming they contain equivalent cloud data.
Even at the same airport and clock time, the simulators may use different weather cycles or interpret the data differently. Sun angle, exposure, altitude and camera direction also change the apparent thickness and colour of a cloud far more than many people expect.
A 2020 screenshot using Ultra clouds at native resolution is not a fair comparison with 2024 using a reduced render scale or an aggressive upscaling mode. Screenshots and online video compression can also hide fine structure while exaggerating blockiness in dark cloud bases.
How do you make a fair cloud comparison?
Remove as many weather, camera and rendering variables as possible before comparing the two simulators.
- Disable Live Weather: select the closest matching cloudy preset in both versions. Presets are more repeatable, although matching names do not guarantee identical cloud fields.
- Match the time and location: use the same date, local time, aircraft position, altitude and camera angle.
- Match image quality: use the same output resolution, render scaling, anti-aliasing method and Volumetric Clouds level. Our matched graphics settings for both simulators explain the major trade-offs.
- Test several viewing angles: inspect clouds from below, above and inside the layer, with both side-lighting and back-lighting.
- Record performance: compare frame time as well as appearance. Ultra is not a visual win if it forces such a low render resolution that cloud edges become unstable.
On PC, start with Volumetric Clouds set to High and move to Ultra only if sufficient GPU headroom remains. On Xbox, compare both versions on the same console model; managed graphics profiles make cross-hardware screenshots misleading.
Do grainy or flickering clouds mean MSFS 2024 is worse?
No. Grain, pixel crawl and ghosting usually point to the rendering configuration rather than an inferior cloud model.
- Low internal resolution leaves fewer samples for fine cloud edges and distant wisps.
- Temporal upscaling can soften clouds or leave trails while the camera, aircraft or propeller is moving.
- Low cloud quality reduces the rendering budget available for structure, lighting and shadows.
- VR resolution can make noise and edge shimmer much more obvious than on a monitor.
- Compressed screenshots or video often break subtle grey gradients into blocks and bands.
For diagnosis, compare native resolution or a higher-quality anti-aliasing mode against the existing configuration before raising every setting. High clouds at a clean internal resolution can look better than Ultra clouds rendered at a heavily reduced scale.
Why are there gaps in overcast skies?
Gaps can come from the weather data, transitions between generated cells or the renderer's treatment of distant layers. An overcast report describes local coverage; it does not promise a perfectly unbroken sheet stretching hundreds of miles in every direction.
Neither version reproduces the sky as a photographic copy. If a layer repeatedly ends near the horizon or opens around the aircraft, our explanation of cloud-layer coverage and sky gaps separates expected weather behaviour from rendering and draw-distance limitations.
Is MSFS 2024 worth upgrading to for clouds alone?
Not usually; we regard the clouds as a worthwhile refinement rather than the sole reason to replace MSFS 2020. Choose MSFS 2024 when cloud flying, weather photography and cohesive atmospheric lighting are priorities. Staying with 2020 is reasonable when it already runs smoothly at High or Ultra and its weather depiction satisfies you.
Cloud rendering is only one part of the decision. Streaming, aircraft, activities, ground detail and hardware performance are covered in our summary of the wider differences between MSFS 2020 and 2024.