Trees, Grass & Terrain

Trees, Grass & Terrain Explained

Estimated Lesson Time: 30–40 Minutes

Lesson Overview


In previous lessons, we’ve explored lighting, shadows, water and reflections.

Today we’re going to focus on another important group of graphics settings:

Trees, Grass and Terrain Quality.

These settings determine how natural the world looks.

They control:

  • Forest density.
  • Individual trees.
  • Grass coverage.
  • Bushes.
  • Terrain detail.
  • Roads.
  • Rivers.
  • Coastlines.
  • Landscape accuracy.

Although many pilots spend most of their time in the air, these settings become extremely important during:

  • VFR flying.
  • Helicopter operations.
  • Bush flying.
  • Low-altitude sightseeing.
  • Approaches into rural airports.

Understanding these settings will help you decide where visual quality is worthwhile and where performance can be saved.

Lesson Objectives

By the end of this lesson you will understand:

What Tree Quality controls.

How Grass settings affect scenery.

How Bushes are rendered.

What Terrain Vector Data is.

What Terrain Quality affects.

How these settings impact CPU and GPU performance.

Which settings are most important for VFR flying.

How to optimise these settings for your hardware.

1. Tree Quality

Trees are one of the most common objects in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Millions of individual trees are generated throughout the world.

Examples include:

  • Forests.
  • Parks.
  • Gardens.
  • Mountains.
  • Roadsides.
  • Airports.

Tree Quality controls:

  • Tree detail.
  • Tree density.
  • Viewing distance.
  • Shape complexity.
  • Visual realism.

Low Tree Quality

Simpler trees.

Lower density.

Reduced draw distance.

Lower CPU and GPU workload.

High Tree Quality

More realistic forests.

Greater density.

Improved draw distance.

Better immersion.

Higher performance cost.

Example

Flying over the Alps.

Low Tree Quality:

Mountain forests appear sparse.

High Tree Quality:

Dense forests cover the mountainsides, creating a much more realistic landscape.

Performance Impact

Trees affect both the CPU and GPU.

CPU:

Loads and positions thousands of trees.

GPU:

Renders every visible tree.

2. Grass

Grass improves ground realism.

You’ll notice it around:

Airports.

Fields.

Parks.

Gardens.

Countryside.

Higher Grass settings increase:

Density.

Coverage.

Visual realism.

Low Grass

Simpler ground.

Less vegetation.

Lower GPU workload.

High Grass

Lusher scenery.

More realistic airports.

Improved immersion.

Higher GPU workload.

Where You’ll Notice It

Grass is most noticeable during:

Taxi.

Take-off.

Landing.

Drone Camera.

Walking mode.

Once you’re cruising at high altitude, grass becomes much less visible.

Performance Impact

Primarily GPU.

Very small CPU impact.

3. Bushes

Bushes are small vegetation objects placed around the world.

Examples include:

  • Shrubs.
  • Small plants.
  • Roadside vegetation.
  • Airport landscaping.
  • Mountain vegetation.

Bushes help make the scenery feel less empty.

Low Setting

Fewer bushes.

Cleaner scenery.

Reduced GPU workload.

High Setting

Denser vegetation.

More realistic landscapes.

Greater immersion.

Performance Impact

Mostly GPU.

Small CPU involvement for placement.

4. Terrain Vector Data

Terrain Vector Data controls many of the geographical features that define the shape of the world.

Examples include:

  • Roads.
  • Rivers.
  • Coastlines.
  • Railways.
  • Shorelines.
  • Streams.

This data gives the terrain its correct layout.

Without Terrain Vector Data…

The world would lose much of its geographical accuracy.

Example

Flying along a coastline.

Low Terrain Vector Quality:

Simpler coastlines.

Less detailed roads.

Reduced geographical accuracy.

High Terrain Vector Quality:

More accurate road layouts.

Detailed rivers.

Natural coastlines.

Improved navigation.

Performance Impact

Moderate CPU impact.

Some GPU impact.

The CPU processes the geographical data.

The GPU renders the final result.

5. Terrain Quality

Terrain Quality controls how detailed the ground appears.

Examples include:

Mountains.

Fields.

Hills.

Valleys.

Rock formations.

Ground textures.

Combined with Terrain LOD, Terrain Quality determines how realistic the landscape appears.

Low Terrain Quality

Simpler terrain.

Less detailed hills.

Reduced landscape realism.

High Terrain Quality

Sharper landscape.

Improved ground detail.

More realistic mountain shapes.

Enhanced immersion.

Performance Impact

Mostly GPU, with some additional CPU workload for processing terrain information.

6. Why These Settings Matter

Imagine two flights.

Flight One:

Cruising at FL390 over the Atlantic.

Most of the ground is far below.

The difference between Medium and Ultra Trees is minimal.

Flight Two:

Flying a Cessna through the Scottish Highlands at 2,000 feet.

Trees.

Bushes.

Grass.

Terrain.

Mountains.

Roads.

All become highly visible.

The difference between Low and Ultra is dramatic.

The importance of these settings depends on the type of flying you enjoy.

7. CPU vs GPU Impact

Many users assume vegetation only affects the GPU.

In reality…

The CPU must:

Load the scenery.

Position vegetation.

Manage object placement.

The GPU must:

Render every tree.

Render every bush.

Render every blade of visible grass.

Render terrain detail.

This means vegetation settings affect both CPU and GPU, although the GPU generally carries the larger workload.

Performance Summary


Setting

CPU Impact

GPU Impact

Tree Quality

Medium

High

Grass

Low

Medium

Bushes

Low

Medium

Terrain Vector Data

Medium

Low–Medium

Terrain Quality

Low–Medium

Medium

8. When Should You Increase These Settings?

Increase vegetation settings if:

  • You mainly fly VFR.
  • You fly helicopters.
  • You enjoy bush flying.
  • You create screenshots.
  • Your GPU has spare performance.
  • You have a powerful CPU.

9. When Should You Reduce Them?

Reduce vegetation settings if:

  • Your GPU is heavily loaded.
  • You are CPU limited in dense scenery.
  • You mainly fly airliners at high altitude.
  • You need additional performance near detailed airports.
  • You rarely notice vegetation during normal flights.

For many airline pilots, slightly reducing Tree Quality or Grass may have very little impact on the overall experience while improving performance.

10. Common Myths

Myth 1

“Tree Quality only affects forests.”

False.

It also affects parks, roadsides, airports and many urban areas.

Myth 2

“Grass affects FPS everywhere.”

False.

Grass has its biggest visual impact near the ground.

At cruise altitude it contributes very little.

Myth 3

“Terrain Vector Data only affects roads.”

False.

It also affects rivers, coastlines, railways and other geographical features.

Myth 4

“These settings are only GPU intensive.”

False.

The CPU prepares and places vegetation while the GPU renders it.

Student Exercise

Today we’re going to compare vegetation settings.

Step 1

Load your Module 1 benchmark flight.

Use:

  • Same airport.
  • Same aircraft.
  • Same weather.

Choose a rural airport or an area with forests and mountains if possible.

Step 2

Compare:

  • Tree Quality.
  • Grass.
  • Terrain Quality.

Step 3

During each test, record:

  • Average FPS.
  • Lowest FPS.
  • CPU utilisation.
  • GPU utilisation.
  • Tree density.
  • Grass detail.
  • Terrain realism.
  • Overall smoothness.

Step 4

Compare the results.

Ask yourself:

  • Which setting had the greatest visual impact?
  • Which setting affected performance the most?
  • Did higher vegetation quality noticeably improve immersion?
  • Which combination provides the best balance for your hardware and flying style?

Student Checklist

Tree Quality tested.

Grass compared.

Bushes evaluated.

Terrain Vector Data reviewed.

Terrain Quality compared.

CPU and GPU utilisation monitored.

Best vegetation settings selected.

Lesson Summary

Congratulations.

You now understand how Trees, Grass and Terrain settings influence the appearance of Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Remember:

  • Tree Quality controls the detail, density and draw distance of forests and vegetation.
  • Grass improves realism around airports and low-altitude scenery.
  • Bushes add depth and richness to landscapes.
  • Terrain Vector Data defines geographical features such as roads, rivers and coastlines.
  • Terrain Quality controls the detail of the landscape itself.
  • These settings affect both the CPU and GPU, though rendering vegetation is primarily a GPU task.
  • The ideal settings depend on your flying style. VFR and helicopter pilots will benefit more from higher vegetation quality than long-haul airliner pilots.

Knowledge Check

  1. What does Tree Quality control?
  2. Why is Grass most noticeable during taxi, take-off and landing?
  3. What is Terrain Vector Data, and what does it affect?
  4. Which hardware component is mainly responsible for rendering trees and vegetation?
  5. Why do VFR pilots benefit more from higher vegetation settings than long-haul airline pilots?
  6. When should you consider reducing Tree Quality?
  7. How does Terrain Quality improve the appearance of the world?
  8. Based on your benchmark testing, which vegetation settings gave you the best balance between realism and performance on your PC?
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