Find the MSFS 2020 and 2024 photogrammetry settings, decide when to leave them on or off, and fix greyed-out, melted or slow scenery.
In Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, open Options > General Options > Data; in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, open Settings > General > Online. Set Photogrammetry on or off. When enabling it, also enable Online Functionality and world-data streaming, apply the change, and reload the flight if scenery already in memory does not refresh.
Where is the MSFS 2020 and MSFS 2024 photogrammetry setting?
The two editions place Photogrammetry on different online-data pages.
| Simulator | Menu path | Required online settings |
|---|---|---|
| MSFS 2020 | Options > General Options > Data | Online Functionality and Bing Data World Graphics |
| MSFS 2024 | Settings > General > Online | Online Functionality and world-scenery streaming |
- Open the correct settings page: Enter it from the main menu or pause an active flight and use the path shown above.
- Enable the prerequisites: Turn on the master online service and the relevant world-data controls before enabling photogrammetry.
- Change Photogrammetry: Select On to stream scanned city geometry or Off to use generated buildings instead.
- Check the data allowance: A reached or restrictive data limit can stop scenery streaming even while the switch still appears enabled.
- Save and refresh: In MSFS 2020 select
Apply & Save; in MSFS 2024 use Apply if it is shown. Reload the flight if nearby scenery retains its previous appearance.
If the switch is unavailable, first check the master Online Functionality control. Account restrictions or a lost network connection can also prevent online scenery from loading.
In MSFS 2020, data limits and stale cached tiles are common secondary causes; see our steps for checking data settings and rolling-cache problems.
These paths apply on the platforms supported by each edition: MSFS 2020 on PC and Xbox, and MSFS 2024 on PC, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and PS5 Pro. Button prompts vary by platform.
What does turning photogrammetry off change?
Turning photogrammetry off replaces available photo-derived three-dimensional city meshes with procedurally generated buildings. It does not remove the world, disable aerial imagery while Bing world data remains active, or deliberately remove hand-crafted airports and landmarks.
Photogrammetry is a visual streaming source, not a normal graphics-quality preset. Disabling it reduces one source of network traffic and may ease city-scene complexity, but it does not guarantee higher frame rates. MSFS 2024 also continues streaming other world assets, while flight models, navigation data and aircraft systems are unaffected.
Should photogrammetry be on or off?
Leave photogrammetry on for recognisable urban VFR scenery when the area is covered and your connection is stable; turn it off when bandwidth is restricted, city meshes look poor or streamed geometry causes repeatable stutters.
Which settings best optimise photogrammetry?
Choose the adjustment that addresses the actual bottleneck rather than lowering unrelated graphics settings.
| Situation | Best first choice | Trade-off or caveat |
|---|---|---|
| Sightseeing in a covered city with stable, uncapped internet | Photogrammetry On | Uses more data than generated scenery |
| Slow, unreliable or capped connection | Photogrammetry Off | Cities use generic buildings |
| Stutters or poor frame rate near large cities | Reduce Terrain Level of Detail and Objects Level of Detail incrementally | Distant terrain and objects lose detail sooner |
| Sharp image but excessive scene complexity | Lower LOD before render scaling | LOD affects scene complexity; render scaling mainly changes image resolution |
| Repeated flights over the same region | Use rolling cache on a fast local SSD | It occupies storage but does not directly increase frame rate |
| Poor source mesh or replacement city add-on | Photogrammetry Off | Avoids unattractive geometry or overlapping scenery |
Allocate only as much rolling-cache space as you can comfortably spare. Routine clearing is unnecessary when scenery works correctly; rebuild it when previously good tiles become persistently stale or malformed.
Why is MSFS photogrammetry greyed out, missing or melted?
A greyed-out control or generic-looking city usually indicates a disabled dependency, interrupted streaming, cached scenery or a location without photogrammetry coverage.
- The switch is unavailable: Enable Online Functionality, confirm the network connection and check account-level online restrictions. In MSFS 2020, also enable
Bing Data World Graphics. - The city shows generic buildings: Test over a known covered city. Many towns and rural areas use generated buildings regardless of the setting, and tiles already in memory may require a flight reload.
- Buildings look melted or blurry: Allow time for tiles to stream and test after rebuilding a suspect cache. If the same structures remain malformed, the source scan may be the limit; use our focused steps for fixing melted, blurry or missing photogrammetry.
- Scenery stops loading during a flight: Check the connection and simulator data allowance. Lowering render scaling will not repair a bandwidth interruption.
- Buildings overlap or appear twice: Temporarily remove third-party city scenery covering the same location to identify a conflict with the streamed mesh.
World Updates may add coverage or hand-crafted local assets, but they do not convert every photogrammetry city into complete offline scenery.