DCS looking really bad on new computer.

[agentdarnell]

So I build a pretty good computer and I have the settings maxed out, but the game just doesn't look very good. It definitely doesn't look like the videos I see online. Im getting around 50 FPS with my resolution of 5120x1440. Sun looks pretty good and shadows look good, but everything else look pretty bad. The water looks flat and no texture and not shiny, earth is dull. I guess it looks really bad if that makes sense. I thought the new computer would make a huge difference on how it looked.

Specs are as follows

5900x @ 4.9

64gigs ram

evga 3080 ti ftw

samsung g9 49" monitor

8tb sabrent nvme

1300 watt evga psu

[SnapRoll]

Try:

Depth of Field: OFF

Motion Blur: OFF

Anisotropic Filtering: 16x

Visib Range: Extreme

 

Maybe:

SSLR: OFF

SSAO: OFF

Use MSAA or SSAA, probably not both (I have not tested that)

 

 

 

[diamond26]

I would suggest starting with the high preset setting offered from the game and adjust step by step from there

[LooseSeal]

I think it would be best to watch a video on the topic, like this one (and there are many others on the topic): 

 

It's possible you have some things enabled which shouldn't be. I can't remember right now, but it might be the SSAA and some other stuff?

[Nick_17]

Could you provide some ingame screenshots?

- Visib Range to Extreme should make some difference to the appearance of towns and forests in the distance

- Add some wind to your missions if your water looks too flat, should add a bit of texture to oceans

- Some video creators use tools like https://reshade.me/ for color adjustments, contrast changes etc.

[Glide]

7 hours ago, agentdarnell said:

I thought the new computer would make a huge difference on how it looked.

Perform, maybe, look?  If you drag the Clutter/Grass slider all the way to the right it should look much better.  I smell troll.

[Hiob]

Two (and a half) thoughts:

1. Lighting (in the sense of time of day/sun setting). Most (good) DCS youtubers are very aware, that the time of day plays a major role for good looks. A low standing sun does a lot to shadows and colors.

2. Youtube algorithms smooth out a lot of the graphical artifacts like shimmering and staircases. It also makes the framerate looks much higher (or in better words - even low framerates look smooth in youtube).

2,5..... I kind of smell it, too....

[Worrazen]

Yes, youtube videos often seem to look better, tho I realized as well the creators probably enhcance things with Reshade which I think should be noted, but the video compression that youtube does also has it's side-effects that make it seem look better even tho it's technially not, they impose chroma-subsampling from 4:4:4 to 4:2:2 which loses color and pixels and should look worse than full RGB you get on the monitor. Other things the compression codec makes may indeed smoot things out in terms of aliasing so yeah, it's not 1:1 to what you see on the monitor.

[Raven (Elysian Angel)]

DoF should definitely be turned off unless you specifically want to draw the viewer's attention to the aircraft itself. It can be nice for screenshots or making videos, but the vast majority of people should leave that turned off permanently.

It's a term that comes from photography, and it would be like the person taking a picture complaining about blurry background when their camera is set at F2.8 ...

 

*edit*

Same with motion blur: it can be nice when you're making action-videos, but otherwise you'd better leave it off.

Edited January 20, 2022 by Raven (Elysian Angel)

[agentdarnell]

I am not a troll by any means. I sincerly was hoping it would look amazing. I have been playing on my old system for since 2010 except for gpu upgrades to sli 1070. . I thought the upgrade would make a huge improvement, but that wasnt the case, especially on maps like Persian Gulf where even the water looks like garbage.

 

I added reshade and so far it has made a large improvement and Ill try some of the other suggestions. Marianas islands is looking good with the adjustments I have made so far. I have all the maps other than Th

14 hours ago, SnapRoll said:

Try:

Depth of Field: OFF

Motion Blur: OFF

Anisotropic Filtering: 16x

Visib Range: Extreme

 

Maybe:

SSLR: OFF

SSAO: OFF

Use MSAA or SSAA, probably not both (I have not tested that)

 

 

 

I have adjusted these and will give it a try later.

[Glide]

20 minutes ago, agentdarnell said:

especially on maps like Persian Gulf where even the water looks like garbage

A little harsh maybe, but these are troubling times.  Remember that jaggies are screen artifacts; they are not in the frames that the game produces.  I am personally flying without AA, AF, SS, or any terrain shadows, and I have the 3080Ti.  At 5k you should not need any AA or AF or SS at all.

[agentdarnell]

Here is a pic over Nevada after all the Suggestions. I had to crop it a little as file was too big.

[Nick_17]

What about the water on PG? Does it look different to this?

[agentdarnell]

13 minutes ago, Glide said:

A little harsh maybe, but these are troubling times.  Remember that jaggies are screen artifacts; they are not in the frames that the game produces.  I am personally flying without AA, AF, SS, or any terrain shadows, and I have the 3080Ti.  At 5k you should not need any AA or AF or SS at all.

Well this is what the Persian Gulf looked like without any enhancements.. Thats why Im saying it looks like garbage on mine and what settings can I change..

Edited January 20, 2022 by agentdarnell

[agentdarnell]

9 minutes ago, Nick_17 said:

What about the water on PG? Does it look different to this?

But that is not what mine looked like at all and thats why I was asking what I could change..

[Nick_17]

4 minutes ago, agentdarnell said:

But that is not what mine looked like at all and thats why I was asking what I could change..

Those are the same settings that you posted just without SSAA, a bit of wind (7 knots) and time close to sunrise (6:10 in June).

[agentdarnell]

4 minutes ago, Nick_17 said:

Those are the same settings that you posted just without SSAA, a bit of wind (7 knots) and time close to sunrise (6:10 in June).

Well it was not what was being displayed on my screen and that's the whole point of this thread as I am not seeing what others are seeing on their game or in the videos, so something is going on and I am trying to find out what is going on. Here is what it is looking like with the suggestions and the enhancements.

Edited January 20, 2022 by agentdarnell

[Raven (Elysian Angel)]

2 hours ago, agentdarnell said:

Well it was not what was being displayed on my screen and that's the whole point of this thread

Well if you post a screenshot taken at in-game noon and compare it to one taken at 6pm, of course it's not going to look the same: lighting makes all the difference in the world...

Did you watch Spudknocker's video guide posted above?

[agentdarnell]

3 minutes ago, Raven (Elysian Angel) said:

Well if you post a screenshot taken at in-game noon and compare it to one taken at 6pm, of course it's not going to look the same: lighting makes all the difference in the world...

Did you watch Spudknocker's video guide posted above?

Not had a chance yet.. Ill watch it soon.

[SnapRoll]

By the way, have you deleted your fxo and metashaders directories after the last NVIDIA driver update? I've seen some strange anomalies in the past when I've forgotten to do that.

[Glide]

Please check your monitor color settings.  You want to choose the preset with the highest color saturation.  I use Movie or Theatre mode for better dark colors.  Also Gamma = 1.8 is best for daytime flying, but higher settings are better for low light flights.

[itstimmeh]

I'm going to post an unpopular opinion and say if you want ultra-photo-realistic scenery then you should be flying MS2020, not DCS. 

And have you ever flown around Dubai or the gulf? For real? Flat, dull, shadow-less terrain and an azure sky with an overly bright horizon is how it is supposed to look. 

Just my 2p.

 

 

 

[Hiob]

24 minutes ago, itstimmeh said:

I'm going to post an unpopular opinion and say if you want ultra-photo-realistic scenery then you should be flying MS2020, not DCS. 

And have you ever flown around Dubai or the gulf? For real? Flat, dull, shadow-less terrain and an azure sky with an overly bright horizon is how it is supposed to look. 

Just my 2p.

It's not about photo realism. DCS can look stunningly beautiful.

It comes down to lighting, gamma, clouds and wind.

Clouds are not well suited for PG (they don't have clouds very often in the middle east ), but try the following:

Choose a broken clouds preset, adjust gamma like Glide suggested, put the time of day close to sunset (minus 1 - 2 hours), add a little wind on surface level to give the sea more detail. Et Voila!

PG is not the best looking map in DCS though. If I had to rank it It would be 1. Syria/Marianas 1,5. Channel and the rest is pretty much en par (caucasus being the oldest of course).

[itstimmeh]

Agreed, I was just saying that I thought his screenshots were more than good enough; OP should pity poor people like us who haven't been able to get brand-new GPUs. I'm still rocking a 980Ti, and even with the settings right down it still looks great on my Oculus.

Given the choice between scenery and high-fidelity, fabulously-well modelled aircraft, I know what I'd choose; that's why I use DCS...

[Glide]

Does anyone know if DCS even has 5k textures?  Is the OP seeing stretched 4k textures?