Short review after 1 day of usage

[Kosta 122]

Just a note about FPS and performance: been testing it a day now, I can say one thing:I uninstalled it for now and probably going to cancel the subscription in couple of days (I'm gonna try and contact the developers but not expecting much).Reasons being:FSUIPC problematic (crashes).FSForce doesn't work.Problem with controllers (there is a fix undergoing and a workaround).Shade not working (developer contacted)....So, I will try more, but the end of the line is:The FPS performance is basically the same. There might be a FPS more or less, but it's not like it's 50% faster. Or even 20%...Fluidity? For me the same thing as with FSX... not a bit more fluid.Water? Yeah sure, it looks better than on default FSX, but REX fills that void. The question is how it's gonna look with REX for P3D...If I use the same profile in Nvidia Inspector as for FSX, I get very strangely looking menus - that includes using even the simplest 8xS. Seriously, I need more AA than simple 4x or 8x Multisampling. So dear LM, you need to:Get some performance numbers up - session to session P3D vs FSX, there must be a serious increase. Usage of modern hardware is a must (without a need to buy a 2nd GPU...).Decent startup screen (not a load into a flight), which also isn't going bad-looking with a bit of supersampling.Of the top of the head now - there are probably many other suggestions - but for now, that's it!

[Jean-Paul 130]

Word Not Allowed, did you disable Bathymetry, and use 1024 ground textures just as in fsx ? For me, performance in P3D is significantly better.Here are a few shots, not meant to be artistic I took tonight over KSEA. All were with max aircraft traffic, max scenery complexity, Autogen one notch below max except the downtown ones with max autogen . Of course, there are a few niggles, some of them major for me as well but well, things can only get better

[David Roch 843]

Wow !! Very sharp indeed with some nice fps!Thanks for sharing Jean-Paul :--)

[Kosta 122]

Word Not Allowed, did you disable Bathymetry, and use 1024 ground textures just as in fsx ? For me, performance in P3D is significantly better.Here are a few shots, not meant to be artistic I took tonight over KSEA. All were with max aircraft traffic, max scenery complexity, Autogen one notch below max except the downtown ones with max autogen . Of course, there are a few niggles, some of them major for me as well but well, things can only get better

Yes, I disabled Bathymetry. No, I used 4096 textures. But I use 4096 in FSX too, forced (due to NGX requiring them).I measured performance with the same aircraft, unlocked FPS, KSEA, just by the feeling of an eye, I was getting 50-60fps around KSEA with both sims. I was not benchmarking. Though I could use the FSXMark11 if I installed MS 737 into P3D...I do get 30fps everywhere, with all the high settings, but I do in P3D too. I'm not after 30fps... it's about how much one is better than another.I tried 30fps locked also, and was not surprised by fluidity, as already mentioned. I also tried everything cranked up with P3D, and was still getting 30fps everywhere I tried.But remember: this is with default aircraft. Default textures. Default scenery. Default mesh. Default everything.Give me addon, NGX, REX, UTX, GEX and all that in HQ with LOD 7.5, and it's gonna be crawling, much like FSX. That is why we need hardware optimization and utilization, to make the most of it.

[Chock 12,622]

Yup, I think it is important to note that P3D is running a lot more data than FSX by default, i.e. much more terrain data (ocean floors for a kick off) and much higher resolution textures. So if it matches FSX in FPS when doing that, which it does on my system (and that is with REX installed by the way), then it is indicative of being much better optimised than FSX, and if you drop those bits off P3D, it does get significantly higher FPS than FSX. Al

[newtie 252]

Just a note about FPS and performance: been testing it a day now, I can say one thing:I uninstalled it for now and probably going to cancel the subscription in couple of days (I'm gonna try and contact the developers but not expecting much).Reasons being:FSUIPC problematic (crashes).FSForce doesn't work.Problem with controllers (there is a fix undergoing and a workaround).Shade not working (developer contacted)....So, I will try more, but the end of the line is:The FPS performance is basically the same. There might be a FPS more or less, but it's not like it's 50% faster. Or even 20%...Fluidity? For me the same thing as with FSX... not a bit more fluid.Water? Yeah sure, it looks better than on default FSX, but REX fills that void. The question is how it's gonna look with REX for P3D...If I use the same profile in Nvidia Inspector as for FSX, I get very strangely looking menus - that includes using even the simplest 8xS. Seriously, I need more AA than simple 4x or 8x Multisampling. So dear LM, you need to:Get some performance numbers up - session to session P3D vs FSX, there must be a serious increase. Usage of modern hardware is a must (without a need to buy a 2nd GPU...).Decent startup screen (not a load into a flight), which also isn't going bad-looking with a bit of supersampling.Of the top of the head now - there are probably many other suggestions - but for now, that's it!

I'm not sure why anybody who has FSX tuned correctly and has the money invested in that tuning/addon procedure with its commensurate costs would get involved in this, unless LM intends to market this to the FSX community in some way that clearly exceeds what they already have.

[shivers9 921]

I'm not sure why anybody who has FSX tuned correctly and has the money invested in that tuning/addon procedure with its commensurate costs would get involved in this, unless LM intends to market this to the FSX community in some way that clearly exceeds what they already have.

You may not have read all that is avail here and on other forums. Most of us are not going to be throwing FSX out but with changes coming such as DX10 or DX11 then it is something to watch for the future. Best guess is Flight is not going to be much to crow about.

[SpiritFlyer 987]

Nothwithstanding the superiority of FSX for me because of REX, SHADE and Track IR etc, Prepare3D does have a performance jump, or perhaps, I should say, it has raised the bottom end substantially, as to what the FPS might fall to when under duress. Otherwise smooth is smooth, and fast for me in both sims. However, and this is HUGE, no Prepare3D crashes or signs of instability. It needs to catch up and pass by on the FSX improvements most of us enjoy and have helped shepherd along, but give it a bit of time and I expect the visual advantages will switch from FSX to Prepar3D. Rome was not built in a day. I'm impressed with what has been accomplished by LM so far and optimistic on what is to come.. Kind regards,

[newtie 252]

...no Prepare3D crashes or signs of instability... I have no crashes or instability with my current FSX setup. ...give it a bit of time and I expect the visual advantages will switch from FSX to Prepar3D... Maybe. ...Rome was not built in a day... FSX is already built and a grand city it is. ...I'm impressed with what has been accomplished by LM so far... I'm impressed with REX, FTX, PMDG 737 and countless other FSX developers and testers (including you Stephen) who have done some outright impossible things to/in FSX. I don't have to be optimistic about the future because I have it all now. Cheers,Mark

[shivers9 921]

...no Prepare3D crashes or signs of instability... I have no crashes or instability with my current FSX setup. ...give it a bit of time and I expect the visual advantages will switch from FSX to Prepar3D... Maybe. ...Rome was not built in a day... FSX is already built and a grand city it is. ...I'm impressed with what has been accomplished by LM so far... I'm impressed with REX, FTX, PMDG 737 and countless other FSX developers and testers (including you Stephen) who have done some outright impossible things to/in FSX. I don't have to be optimistic about the future because I have it all now. Cheers,Mark

Well if I had all that going on, I would not care about the future either. Enjoy!!

[newtie 252]

Well if I had all that going on, I would not care about the future either. Enjoy!!

Will do.Now if I can just get the EFB boys off their ****** and export .rte files to the PMDG 737 FMC like pretty much everyone else can currently do, I'll probably vibrate off the planet.

[simmerhead 885]

I still haven't tried P3D yet, as I am awaiting my new i7 rig, but for me the choice is very simple. I'm going to run both FSX and P3D. The only reason I will keep FSX is because of all the goodies I've got working on it at present. No flying for me unless I can have TrackIR and my Saitek cockpit up and running flawlessly. Why P3D? Very simple. The Lockheed team seems dedicated and passionate about what they do, and they target professional users. Also, they have shown great initiative and interaction with their customers and potential customers. A company that keeps me updated on the progress of their development etc. keeps me very happy and excited, unlike Microsoft who goes out of their way to choke my passion for flight simming. Also Lockheed seems very welcoming of developers, which after all is the cornerstone of this hobby. Without addons I wouldn't be flying since the level of realism I require wouldn't be there. P3D is no revolution, but it is certainly many steps in the right direction.

[David Roch 843]

Very well said! :--)

[Highiron 21]

Seriously dude... Given the nature and scope of Lockheed Martin and it's Skunk Works Division as a company, do you really seriously believe that they of all companies would put themselves in a position for litigation if they themselves were not confident of their rights and position in regards to the ESP portion of content that they themselves had an involvement in the development of, in conjunction with Microsoft? Lockheed Martin is a "big boy" and not some fringe company trying to bang out a flight simulator any way they can to make ends meet. Since we are not and likely never will be privy to all the former and current arrangements between Lockheed Martin and Microsoft in respect to ESP, the fact that Lockheed Martin is offering it as available is good enough for myself to have confidence in my ability to use it and for them to offer it. Your issue has been brought up before in the past and Lockheed Martin has made it very clear that there is no issue with what they are doing and are getting border line peeved with the insinuation. Do you really believe Microsoft is going to sue Lockheed Martin? If so, give your head a shake. Who do you think gets the majority of contract programing and coding work for the aerospace industry? Apple? Your statement implies you know something more about the legitimacy of Prepar3d's use than Lockheed Martin it's self. Quite a feat for an outsider looking in I must say! Rather than slamming forum members for their participation in the program, why don't you go and ask the question about it's legitimacy to Lockheed Martin directly? They will gladly give you an answer, and it will not be ambiguous.

[alainneedle1 97]

In this post Jim Rhoads explained what Prepar3D was for http://www.simforums.com/forums/prepar3d_topic40285.html As far as MS doing something about it....you never know.