Best Settings for Using Microsoft Flight Simulator with Streaming and Recording Software

Microsoft Flight Simulator (MSFS) delivers an unprecedented level of realism, with detailed scenery, dynamic weather, and complex aircraft systems. For streamers and content creators, sharing that experience requires balancing visual fidelity with smooth performance for both your game and your live broadcast. Without proper configuration, even high‑end rigs can stutter under the combined load of simulation and encoding. This guide covers every setting that matters – from in‑game graphics to encoding presets, audio routing, and network tuning – so you can deliver a professional stream without sacrificing immersion.

Graphics Settings for MSFS

The first step is configuring the simulator itself. MSFS is GPU‑intensive at high presets, but it can also tax your CPU when handling scenery, traffic, and physics. Start with these core adjustments and then fine‑tune based on monitoring tools like MSI Afterburner or the built‑in developer FPS counter.

Display and Resolution

  • Resolution: Run at your monitor’s native resolution for clarity. If you stream at 1080p but game at 1440p or 4K, consider whether the extra rendering cost is worth the visual gain. Streaming at native resolution often looks sharper after scaling.
  • Full‑screen vs. Windowed: Full‑screen can offer slight performance gains. Use borderless windowed if you need to alt‑tab frequently for chat or OBS overlays.
  • V‑Sync: Disable it to reduce input lag. If you notice screen tearing, cap your framerate using NVIDIA Reflex (if supported) or the sim’s frame rate limiter instead.

Render Scaling and Anti‑Aliasing

  • Render Scaling: Set this between 100 and 130. Values above 100 produce a supersampled image that downscales to your resolution, enhancing crispness. Below 100 reduces load – use 90 only if desperately needed for performance.
  • Anti‑Aliasing: TAA (Temporal Anti‑Aliasing) gives the best balance of quality and performance. FXAA is lighter but softer; MSAA is expensive and rarely needed at 1080p or higher.

Quality Presets and Individual Controls

Rather than using a blanket “Ultra” preset, customise each category based on its performance cost and visual importance:

  • Level of Detail (LOD): Set to 100–150. Higher values load distant objects but heavily affect the CPU. For streaming, 100 is safe; go lower in dense areas like New York or London.
  • Terrain LOD: Keep at 100–150. This controls ground detail and is one of the biggest CPU hogs.
  • Texture Quality: High or Ultra. This uses VRAM but has minimal performance impact if you have enough memory. Reduce to Medium if you see texture pop‑in warnings.
  • Cloud Quality: High to Ultra for stunning sky visuals. Cloud rendering is mostly GPU‑bound and adds huge atmospheric value.
  • Ambient Occlusion: Enabled at High. It adds depth to shadows without major cost.
  • Contact Shadows: Ultra or High – shadows inside the cockpit matter for immersion.
  • Reflections: Medium or High. Water and glass reflections are expensive; reduce if you stream over water often.
  • Traffic: Set to AI traffic between 10–30%. Parked aircraft and road vehicles add realism but consume CPU cycles. For streams, sparse traffic is fine.
  • Vegetation: High. Tree and bush geometry is well‑optimised in MSFS.
  • Grass and Bushes: Medium to High. Lower if flying low over fields.
  • Glass Cockpit Refresh Rate: Set to Medium. High refresh drains CPU; Medium still looks smooth on stream.

Optimizing MSFS for Streaming Performance

Streaming adds a second load – video encoding. The key is limiting the simulator’s resource usage so your GPU and CPU have headroom for the encoder. Even with hardware encoding, the game and encoder share VRAM and memory bandwidth.

Frame Rate Target and Limiting

  • Target FPS: Aim for 30 or 45 FPS in the sim rather than 60. MSFS often stutters when struggling for 60; a locked 45 with good frametimes looks smoother on stream than a fluctuating 60.
  • Frame Rate Limiter: Use MSFS’s own slider (e.g., 30 or 40) or RTSS (Rivatuner Statistics Server). Do not rely on V‑Sync for limiting.
  • NVIDIA Reflex: Enable it if available. It reduces system latency without hurting throughput.

Background Processes and Power Plan

  • Close all unnecessary apps: browsers, Discord overlays (if not needed), and launchers.
  • Set Windows power plan to High Performance or Ultimate Performance.
  • Disable Windows Game DVR and Xbox Game Bar – they can interfere with OBS.
  • Run OBS as administrator to give it higher priority for encoding.

Scenery and Add‑on Management

Third‑party scenery packs (Orbx, Asobo Marketplace) can degrade performance, especially near airports. For streaming:

  • Disable or remove high‑detail add‑ons for airports you rarely use.
  • Use Manifest Merger tools to control load order and reduce overhead.
  • Avoid running multiple live‑weather engines simultaneously – use the built‑in live weather or a single source like REX.

Streaming and Recording Software Configuration

OBS Studio (or Streamlabs Desktop) is the industry standard. The settings below apply to OBS 29+ with the NVENC encoder.

Encoder Selection

  • Hardware encoder: Use NVIDIA NVENC H.264/AVC (or AMD AMF). Do NOT use software x264 – it will cripple MSFS performance.
  • Preset: For NVENC, set P6 (Slower) for quality. P5 is a good balance; P4 is lighter but softer. Tests show P6 offers noticeably better detail in flight sims with minimal GPU impact.
  • Rate Control: CBR (Constant Bitrate) for streaming. Use a bitrate of 6000 kbps for 1080p60 (Twitch maximum). For 1440p, 8000–12000 kbps may be used if supported and your upload allows.
  • Keyframe Interval: Set to 2 seconds (or auto). This ensures smooth scene transitions for viewers.
  • Look‑Ahead and Psycho Visual Tuning: Enable both for sharper details in clouds and cockpit instruments – they add negligible performance cost.
  • GPU Scaling: Leave “Rescale Output” unchecked unless you need to downscale for a lower stream resolution.

Video Output Settings

  • Base (Canvas) Resolution: Match your monitor’s native resolution (e.g., 2560×1440).
  • Output (Scaled) Resolution: 1920×1080 for streaming. 720p (1280×720) is acceptable if your upload is weak or you want to keep encoding overhead low.
  • Common FPS Values: 60 for fast‑moving flight. 30 is fine for slower GA flying. Match the sim’s target FPS – if you lock MSFS at 30, stream at 30 to avoid frame blending.
  • Downscale Filter: Lanczos (36 samples) gives the sharpest results when scaling from 1440p to 1080p.

Advanced OBS Settings

  • Process Priority: Set OBS to Above Normal or High.
  • Enable Network Optimizations: Tick this in Advanced settings for lower latency streaming.
  • Audio Monitoring: Use the advanced audio properties to prevent desktop audio from bleeding into your microphone track.

Audio Settings for Streamers

Audio is half the experience in flight sim – engine sounds, ATC, wind, and your live commentary must be balanced perfectly.

Microphone and Voice Effects

  • Use OBS filters: Noise Suppression (RNNoise) and Noise Gate to cut keyboard clicks and fan noise.
  • Add a Compressor to keep your voice level consistent while flying (engine sounds can vary widely).
  • Optional: A Limiter set to -2dB prevents clipping on loud reactions.

In‑Game Audio Mix

  • In MSFS audio settings, reduce the master volume to 60–80% and boost your microphone in OBS. This gives headroom for ATC and cockpit warnings.
  • Separate ATC and menu audio into their own channels if possible – you can mute them for certain segments.
  • Enable Headphone‑based spatial audio in MSFS (Windows Sonic or Dolby Atmos) for a more immersive stream if your viewers wear headphones.

Advanced Encoding Tips

  • Multi‑streaming: If you stream to both Twitch and YouTube, use OBS’s Multi‑track feature (OBS 30) or a service like Restream. Ensure your upstream bandwidth is sufficient – 12000 kbps minimum for two 1080p60 streams.
  • Hardware Acceleration: Some OBS versions can use both GPU encoders (NVIDIA and AMD QSV) if you have integrated graphics. Test if it helps offload.
  • Recording: For local recording, use CQP (Constant Quality) rate control, level 18–22. This gives much better quality than CBR and doesn’t waste bits on static scenes.
  • NVENC Dual Encoder: If you have a recent NVIDIA RTX 40 series card, enable the “NVENC AV1” encoder in OBS for superior quality at the same bitrate. AV1 is supported on Twitch (2024+) and YouTube.

Network and Internet Settings

  • Bitrate: Maximum 6000 kbps for Twitch (non‑affiliate). For YouTube, 8000–12000 kbps is allowed. Test your upload with a speed test; leave 20% headroom.
  • Twitch Ingest: Use the Twitch Bandwidth Test tool to find the best ingest server – often one geographically closest.
  • Wired Connection: Absolutely mandatory. Wi‑Fi can cause periodic packet loss, ruining stream stability.
  • Quality of Service (QoS): If your router supports it, prioritise OBS traffic (UDP ports 1935, 443, 80).

Additional Tips for a Polished Stream

  • Overlay and Chat Integration: Use a lightweight browser source for chat. Avoid heavy animated overlays during flight – they consume CPU for rendering.
  • Test Before Going Live: Run a recording of a 10‑minute flight with heavy scenery (e.g., a major airport) and review the log file for encoding overruns.
  • Monitor with OBS Dock Stats: Keep the encoder stats dock open – watch for “Skipped Frames” due to encoding lag or “Missed Frames” from rendering delays.
  • Hardware Upgrades: If you consistently hit performance walls, upgrade to a GPU with NVENC (preferably RTX 40 series for AV1) and a CPU with at least 8 cores (e.g., Ryzen 7 or Intel i7). 32 GB RAM is the sweet spot for MSFS + OBS.

Conclusion

Configuring Microsoft Flight Simulator for streaming is about trade‑offs: lowering some graphics settings to free up GPU cycles for encoding, limiting frame rates to prevent stutters, and carefully tuning audio so your voice cuts through the cockpit noise. Start with the recommended settings here, then adjust based on your hardware and the type of flying you do – VFR over photogrammetry cities demands different balance than an IFR flight in a tube liner. Test on the ground and at cruise altitude, and always check your encoding logs. With the right setup, you can share the beauty of flight without compromising the experience for yourself or your viewers.

For further reading, refer to the official Microsoft Flight Simulator documentation and the OBS Studio knowledge base. NVIDIA also provides detailed guides on NVENC optimization for streaming.