P3D v 4 in beta?

[tonywob 4,769]

Does this mean buildings and trees can finally be the right scale and not look like "model train world"?

 

I think there is a misunderstanding of what 64-bit will provide. It won't give better FPS and if people throw more at the sim (which they will inevitably do), then performance will get worse before it gets better. What it does mean is hopefully a goodbye to the dreaded dinging sound when running low on memory. 

 

When X-Plane 10 went 64-bit around v10.20, there was no visible change. The sim looked exactly the same, it just meant you could use a more detailed mesh or aircraft plugin and not exhaust up the usable memory. Throwing more at the sim that your PC can handle can still make it crash or grind to a halt.

 

If it's true, I'm very much looking forward to the new lighting engine. I'm not so looking forward to repurchasing all my addons (but such is life)

[Noel 4,502]

Unless 64bit offers a lot more than lower OOM risk I'll be holding off, and that is simply because I don't get OOMs any longer since V3.0.  I have to think having all of that VAS to play in might offer more efficiency to exploit than simply lowering OOM risk.  I had read a few years ago DX12 had lots to bring to the table for offloading work to the GPU, and that is clearly where it has to go since there seems to be much more headroom in GPU than CPU performance ceilings these days, or so it seems.

[irrics 1,517]

 

 

I think there is a misunderstanding of what 64-bit will provide

 

Oh I agree about the 64bit part, I guess I am just hoping they work to address some of the other long standing stuff with P3D (and FS originally that came over) while doing a new major release.

 

It sounds like you think v4 will just be biting off the 64 bit chew and not much else for now?

Bummer if so..

[BrettT 63]

My hope is in the effort to make it 64 bit that they go so far as to break the code out enough to take greater advantage of processors with higher numbers of cores

[ErichB 3,643]

irrics, on 17 Feb 2017 - 4:12 PM, said:

Does this mean buildings and trees can finally be the right scale and not look like "model train world"?

 

How about seeing lights further in the distance by default, as one would in real life flying?

I sure hope that is the case too. Fortunately over the years, I have learned to overlook these things

[denali 74]

64bit will help with smoothing, because the need to do I/O operations will be limited to only the initial load of a resource, and memory cleanup can happen when the moments are available instead of a desperate attempt to juggle what's in memory.  But if memory is not properly managed in a 32bit you won't see that work out in a 64bit.  Most of the stutter we see is because of I/O. 

[irrics 1,517]

 

 

I have learned to overlook these things

 

I hear ya' - I just wish there'd be a concerted effort to finally address some of this stuff if P3D really is going to be a long term going concern for LM.

[ErichB 3,643]

I hear ya' - I just wish there'd be a concerted effort to finally address some of this stuff if P3D really is going to be a long term going concern for LM.

 

Well, lets be honest, if these rumours are in fact true, then we are finally getting what we've been banging on about for many years.

 

P3D 64 bit AND a new lighting engine - no matter which way you slice the cake - is a massive leap forward. Everything else will follow from that. The community has some really bright developers who constantly come up with new ways to amaze us all. Someone will figure it all out.

[Luke 782]

 

 

emory cleanup can happen when the moments are available instead of a desperate attempt to juggle what's in memory.  But if memory is not properly managed in a 32bit you won't see that work out in a 64bit.

 

This is the part of 64-bit that excites me the most - as an application developer, you don't need to manage memory.

 

Just map every single sim scenery into memory, virtual memory that is. When the sim needs it, you'll get a page fault and the OS will load it into physical memory. When the system gets under physical memory pressure, the OS can page it out again. Virtual Memory managers in modern operating systems are really, really smart and the products of decades of research. With 64-bit you can let them do their job.

 

Cheers!

 

Luke

[irrics 1,517]

 

 

P3D 64 bit AND a new lighting engine - no matter which way you slice the cake - is a massive leap forward.

 

Well - Let's at least see it and get hands on it before we annoying it as a "massive leap forward".

 

I think it could be a full year of a 64 bit release before it's effectively a positive thing due to the add-ons all needing a full re-work.  That will take a long time to fully flesh out I'd wager.

[ErichB 3,643]

I think it could be a full year of a 64 bit release before it's effectively a positive thing due to the add-ons all needing a full re-work

No doubt, but the sooner it releases, the sooner people can get to work on it. Not planning on actually buying it yet - even if it releases soonish. My 3.4 gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling which I'm not prepared to give up just yet.

[Manny 1,293]

I think there is a misunderstanding of what 64-bit will provide. It won't give better FPS and if people throw more at the sim (which they will inevitably do), then performance will get worse before it gets better. What it does mean is hopefully a goodbye to the dreaded dinging sound when running low on memory. 

 

True... but if they are rewriting some core modules, I hope they would do it with multi core in mind.. If they have done that then we may not have the dreaded crawling FPS (due to lot more objects on the scenery ) by buying 6 core or 8 core processors.

 

64bit alone may not be sufficent...they would have to compliment it with core code being multithreaded taking into account multicore/MT. We cannot wait for another version for Multicore/MT. They need to be treated as one atomic unit.

[Skywolf 992]

LM will offer v3 stable release like they did for 2.5 release.  No one has to move on Day 1.

 

64Bit comes and there will be few people who will complain this and that about 64bit and live with VAS issues with 32bit....lol (can't help everybody).

 

64Bit will remove the annoyance of VAS monitor and taking care of sliders.

 

Other best part is - some developers will probably not move to 64bit and that is fine (they can take the 32bit market).  I will only support developers who are 64bit ready period.  Even right now all my purchases have been on hold since last Oct, as the news for 64 bit started to trickle.  Just can't buy anything which is geared towards 32bit

 

Super excited about 64 bit.

 

PS - I feel like taking a hammer and smashing 32bit FSX cd and what not - kinda like the printer scene from OfficeSpace.  F$%^&@ to VAS and F%^&*#@ to 32bit legacy code

[HighTowers 1,434]

I'm sorry to shatter your hopes, but this is not EA Games or Rockstar.

 

 

No it won't. 

20$ upgrade fee for an addon? Most of the conversions from 32 to 64 for xplane when it went to 64bit either didnt charge or charged very little from what I recall

[denali 74]

 

 

as an application developer, you don't need to manage memory.

 This is true in most cases, but NOT in a Performance Case.  This is the mistake in thinking people keep making.  Yes, you have an unlimited "hopper", but you still must manage very accurately what goes into the CPU at what time.  You can't just have threads throwing things at the CPU in an untimely manner.   This is a layer of understanding that eludes the skill level of most developers because they never have to consider so many different kinds of data and then demands of the continuously updated display through a graphics subsystem.  And in this case it's extreme: weather, aircraft, AI, navaids, physics, autogen, scenarios, scenery, addons, any of which has various types needing to be processed and then thrown together seamlessly for a final display.