Learn what Terrain LOD and Objects LOD mean in MSFS 2024, where to start, which slider to change, and how to avoid stutters and scenery pop-in.
LOD means Level of Detail. In Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, Terrain LOD controls how far and how precisely terrain is drawn, while Objects LOD governs the distance and detail of buildings, trees and airport objects. Start around 100 on PC, then raise only the slider that fixes a visible problem without causing main-thread stutters.
What do Terrain LOD and Objects LOD change?
The two MSFS 2024 LOD settings affect different scenery systems. They appear as Terrain Level of Detail, usually shortened to TLOD, and Objects Level of Detail, or OLOD.
| Setting | What it changes | Main performance cost |
|---|---|---|
| Terrain LOD | Ground-mesh detail, terrain shape and the distance at which higher-detail terrain is maintained | Usually CPU main-thread load, with added data and memory demand |
| Objects LOD | Draw distance and detail transitions for buildings, vegetation, airport objects and other 3D scenery | CPU draw calls, plus extra geometry and memory use in dense areas |
Terrain LOD is the setting to examine when distant hills lose definition or ridges visibly change shape. Objects LOD is more relevant when buildings, trees or airport structures appear too close to the aircraft.
Neither slider is a texture-sharpness control. Render scaling, texture resolution, clouds and individual scenery-quality options do different jobs; our explanation of how scenery controls divide visual quality and frame-rate cost helps separate them.
What LOD setting should you use in MSFS 2024?
A useful PC baseline is 100 for Terrain LOD and 100 for Objects LOD, followed by small adjustments for the aircraft and locations you actually use. The number 100 is a relative setting, not 100 per cent of the simulator’s available detail.
- Complex airliners at major airports: favour stable frame time. Both LOD controls compete with avionics, ground traffic and AI traffic for CPU time, so settings below 100 can be sensible.
- Low-level VFR flying: raise Objects LOD if buildings and trees appear too late. Raise Terrain LOD separately if hills, coastlines or valleys change shape ahead.
- High-altitude flying: Terrain LOD usually has more visible value than drawing small ground objects at extreme range.
- VR: use more conservative values because consistent frame time matters more than distant detail. VR graphics settings may also be stored separately from the normal PC display settings.
Do not copy an old “maximum quality” number without testing it. Simulator updates can alter LOD behaviour, and identical values can perform very differently between an empty rural strip and a detailed hub with traffic running.
How should you tune the LOD sliders?
Adjust one LOD slider at a time in a repeatable, demanding flight rather than changing both until the frame rate happens to improve.
- Create a fixed test. Use the same aircraft, airport, weather, time and traffic conditions. Let streamed scenery finish loading before judging the result.
- Control dynamic graphics. If Dynamic Settings is enabled, set its frame-rate target deliberately or disable it temporarily. Otherwise, the simulator may alter quality while you are trying to compare manual values.
- Begin at 100/100. This gives you a practical reference point without assuming that your CPU can sustain unusually long draw distances.
- Identify the limiting component. Use the simulator’s frame-time display if available. When it reports a main-thread limit, LOD and traffic reductions are relevant. When the GPU is the clear limit, render scaling, clouds or anti-aliasing normally deserve attention first.
- Change the relevant slider by 10–20 points. Raise it until the objectionable transition is hidden, or lower it until frame-time spikes stop. Large jumps make it difficult to find the actual threshold.
- Retest the worst part of the flight. Check the terminal area, approach and ground movement—not only cruise. Keep enough CPU headroom for weather, traffic and cockpit systems.
For the rest of the graphics menu, use our balanced PC graphics starting points rather than compensating for every performance problem with LOD alone.
Which LOD slider should you change for stutters or pop-in?
The visible symptom and the performance bottleneck tell you which slider to change.
| Symptom | Adjustment to try |
|---|---|
| Distant terrain looks coarse or mountains visibly morph | Raise Terrain LOD in small steps |
| Buildings, trees or airport objects appear too close | Raise Objects LOD in small steps |
| Main-thread stutters over cities or during low-level flight | Lower Terrain LOD first, then reassess Objects LOD |
| Stutters are concentrated at a detailed airport | Lower Objects LOD and reduce airport or traffic density before sacrificing distant terrain |
| GPU-limited performance with stable CPU frame time | Leave moderate LOD values in place and reduce GPU-heavy settings first |
A mistake we see constantly is maxing both sliders when the simulator already says it is limited by the main thread. That increases the amount of scenery the CPU must prepare. Our main-thread troubleshooting steps cover the competing effects of traffic, avionics and graphics settings.
Why does scenery still pop in with high LOD?
High LOD cannot remove every form of scenery pop-in because some transitions are controlled by streaming, separate quality settings or the scenery model itself.
- Photogrammetry and aerial imagery must arrive through the simulator’s online data system; increasing LOD cannot repair delayed or incomplete streaming.
- Buildings, trees and other categories have their own quality or density controls in addition to Objects LOD.
- Third-party scenery can contain abrupt model transitions defined by its creator. Global Objects LOD cannot add detail that the scenery package does not include.
- Dynamic Settings may lower detail during a demanding scene even when the manually selected value looked adequate elsewhere.
If the problem is visible loading rather than low frame rate, follow our scenery pop-in diagnosis before pushing LOD higher.
Can you change LOD on Xbox and PlayStation?
Console versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 manage much of their scenery detail through platform-specific graphics profiles. Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and PS5 Pro may not expose the same Terrain LOD and Objects LOD sliders found on PC, so an absent control is not necessarily a fault.
On any platform, the best LOD is the lowest setting that keeps distracting transitions outside your normal field of view while maintaining stable frame time in your most demanding flights. Frame generation can make an FPS counter look higher, but it does not remove CPU pauses caused by excessive scenery detail.