Placebo effect?

[jcomm 6,096]

Shhhh!

 

Say nothing to anyone!  The Accusim p51d handles beautifully in P3D, and my Aerosoft Madeira airport and Lukla do as well, and Flight1's PC-12 ;-)

 

There is some weird sensation though, specially with some aircraft, and although I fear it may well be some kind of placebo effect, or over-enthusiasm (you know me :-) ) with the great results I am obtaining with this clean and smooth simulator - P3D - but the fact is that sometimes, for instance during high power climbs, takeoffs and even when weather conditions are more challenging, something feels better / more realistic in P3D than it did in FSX Gold (?)

 

Can it be an effect of the smoother (stutter-free) ride I have in P3D? Hmmm, I really don't think it is just that. I picked the Aerosoft DR-400, with both FSx and P3D installers available, and although I can't compare anymore with FSX (wipped from my disk) I have used this model lately very often because it was a good example of a well designed model for the FDM core shared by MSFS and P3D at least in as far as prop effects go. Well, the fact is that my control inputs (rudder mostly) are more consistent in P3D than I recall they were in FSX Gold. The realistic need to use right rudder (a LOT!) during takeoffs and high power climbs is definitely more consistent in P3D. During takeoff could it be due to a tweaked ground friction scalar (I am not using FSUIPC with P3D)?

 

The Accusim P51d ( which I consider as probably the most realistic / complete prop aircraft model for FSX and now P3D ) also exhibits some differences in handling. I have the master of all flight dynamics models as a reference - DCS World - and I was finding some effects in FSX  Gold a bit faint compared to what DCS World's p51d provides, namely when adding power in flight (moments + prop effects). Well, surprisingly (and again, this may be placebo effect, although I'm not convinced it is...) I found more consistent feedback when flying it in P3D!

 

Finally, there is undoubtedly something different and better in P3D than in FSX - AI traffic (only default)! I know the scalars aren't the same on P3D, but I have my airliner AI traffic at 100% in P3D and there is barely any impact on perfromance. In FSX Gold I was not able to go this high, that's for sure! And know what, that opaque ATC window doesn't bother be a single bit!  I actually find it better to read and concentrate on than when it was transparent... I have a single monitor, and will keep that way as long I will probably be able to use simulators on a PC, but no problem at all, even now that there are so many cross-talks between ATC an AI aircraft around me ...

 

And yet another difference!  So, you found flying in FSX a little bit of "on-rails"? Ok, I am using now either the default P3D Weather Themes or AS2012 SP2 to inject weather and I can assure you that the overall effects DO FEEL better! Turbulence, wind shear effects and gusts, etc... all come into life better than in FSX Gold! Might it be because of a cleaner Simconnect interface?

[pmb 5,139]

Hi jcomm,

 

where do you get AI traffic from? There are nearly no planes delivered with Prepar3D. There are add-ons like Traffic 360° which however tend to give me OOMs in heavy scenery. Whithout addons I don't get any AI traffic at all.

 

Thanks for answering

 

Michael

 

[jcomm 6,096]

sorry, I didn't make it clear in my post that I was talking about default traffic inside of P3D itself, just as in FSx Gold. I don't mind seeing Orbit Airlines and the others... Better than having nothing...

 

All I do is playing with the sliders - please see attached image:

[Clutch Cargo 388]

Yes I agree, that it almost feels like you are fooling yourself thinking this really does run smoother than FSX... or maybe it's just me?  But when I run certain scenarios in P3D as compared to FSX they do actually perform better (and look better).  I can verify this just by running in Surround:  FSX typically from 30FPS down to 15 across three.  P3D 30FPS down to 29.9!

 

I too can run 100% AI when it suits me.  I use World of AI or some older packages if I want to see more vintage 1970's-80's stuff.  I have Opus but I actually like the default themes as well.  So I guess I am saying you are preachin' to the choir!

[jobepilot 7]

I still cant believe how good it is, dont think you are suffering from placebo, I have just finished installing my scenery (Orbx) and all is good, far better quality, and i dont have to spend hours tweaking the crap out of my machine, I can just fly, and thats all I want to do.  I am really looking forward to version 2.0  I can still lag the hell out of my pc if i go to high, but the low/mid settings are good anyway, and better than fsx.  So I am biased towards p3d, so perhaps I am also suffering placebo effects.  But I know I am flying more often now with more enjoyment than ever before.  I keep thinking, this must fall over any day like fsx did, or maybe this addon will kill it, but no everything is working fine and what ever I have asked it to do it has done.  Orbx, Rex, all working a treat.  This is what FSX would have been, such a shame we never got it from MS, but I am glad LM are doing a fantastic job. 

[LeeL 272]

you guys are really making it hard to wait for V2...

 

I know the NGX is not supported for P3d, but does it work? If it does there's a good chance the T7 will too I guess.

[LeeL 272]

Got my answer never mind. It's tempting

[jcomm 6,096]

@Leel: Did you?  PM-me if you can... I want to know too ;-)

 

Anyway, I found my way into some good add-ons I was missing from FSX Gold ;-)

[JimmiG 244]

I think that although average frame rate is similar in P3D and FSX, the frame interval is more even in P3D. There have been a lot of articles about this on Anandtech and other tech sites lately. Just because you get e.g. an average of 25 frames per second does not mean each frame takes exactly 40 ms. The sim might take much longer for one or a few particular frames, say 300 ms, then immediately fire off a rapid succession of frames, then another which takes longer etc. resulting in jittery, "hesitant" movement.

 

As for AI traffic performance, make sure you're comparing apples to apples by ensuring that the IFROnly=0 option is set in prepar3d.cfg, otherwise you're comparing FSX with GA+Airliner traffic with Prepar3d with only IFR flight plans.

[jcomm 6,096]

 

As for AI traffic performance, make sure you're comparing apples to apples by ensuring that the IFROnly=0 option is set in prepar3d.cfg, otherwise you're comparing FSX with GA+Airliner traffic with Prepar3d with only IFR flight plans.

 

Hmmm!  Good point here!  I'll check my CFG tonight, and increase modify it to  IFROnly=1 if not already that way.

 

What is your experience with commercial add-ons like say, MyTraffic or Traffic X, or Traffic 360?  What would you recommend?  It's not the kind of add-on I would rush buying, specially now that after installing Aerosoft's Madeira X I got a few interesting AI airbuses and Boeings from Air Portugal, etc...., but I could upgrade my FSX version of MyTraffic 4.1A to 5.4D for a marginal value...

[vgbaron 3,740]

I have MyTraffic X and I love it. Only thing I noticed is a markedly increased time to load up initially. It was so long that I actually was concerned that P3D had hung but it eventually did start. After that, there was no effect other than my having towait for all the darn a/c to get out of my way on takeoff.

 

I'd recommend it, even with the load time. I have it set at maximum so I could also adjust downward to change load time if it really bothered me.

 

Vic