Speaking from this old simmer's perspective (started in 1986 with MSFS for the Macintosh), I have to say I'm extremely pleased with P3D v2.  My expectations and ambitions are fairly modest.  Right now, I'm happy that for the first time in more than a decade, I've doubled my frames in a problem area like New York City and can now fly there with acceptable performance (comparing default to default, BTW).  It's also extremely nice to be in contact with an active development team that's working on issues and responsive to the community (take this thread, new today, for example).  The rest, like shadows and other effects, is nice, but it's gravy.  And yes, there are problems that need to be fixed.  But given the fundamental improvement over FSX and the presence of actual, live developers, I'm happy to hang in... and am enjoying what I can get out of the sim even in its current state.  My $.02.  

Take a very deep breath, you'll have to hold it for quite some time. :smile:

Not sure for which bit?

an excellent 64-bit sim

convince everyone to start over, or

behave as a community again

:lol:

I can't imagine how you could spend that much on a FS rig. You could get a top of the line Intel/Nvidia rig for under $1500.

 

Reading the following and looking at Alan_A's computer spec (i7/4.8GHz no less) I am not going to invest in a 2-core I5 am I? 

The rest, like shadows and other effects, is nice, but it's gravy

I can recommend a nice wire-frame sim that would run like stink on your computer, Alan...

 

Then too, hardware is going to be a small part of the whole equation.

I do not foresee a flood of freeware for P3D - making stuff for FSX already showed that is getting to the "too hard" point of being much fun.

So: payware all the way?

To match what I have in FS9.5, five grand might be a little light.

 

I'll start holding my breath now, if that's what it takes...

 

 

I can recommend a nice wire-frame sim that would run like stink on your computer, Alan...

 

I'm sure it would...  B)

 

Actually, I'm doing very well with some of the new effects - some shadows, ultra water with some reflections, autogen one notch below max.  So don't misread my post - it's not like I'm doing without.  Performance is much better than in FSX in challenging places (NYC, Washington DC).  Given the new code that shifts the burden to the graphics card, graphics hardware is likely to count for a lot more.  However, even if I had to shut down all the new effects, I'd still be happy with a smoother-running sim and a living, breathing development team.  I'm good.  

People find a few glitches in new software that's been out for little under a week (which happens with every software rollout and you slam it) in favor a sim that took 5 years to get off the ground, amazing....  :blink:

 

It's the FSX people have now that counts though, because that's what they'd be switching from, not FSX in the form it was at release and I suspect the slamming might be an (understandable) response to all those silly calls for the death of FSX now that the P3D saviour has arrived. A lot of simmers seem to suffer from some kind of bandwagon compulsion...(cf. FTX Global release). "I have new thing...I prefer new thing...Die, old thing, die!"

 

I've no plans to switch to P3D for a while yet. I doubt my rig would run it satisfactorily, and even with my ultra-low spec rig (I've yet to find a lower spec on AVSIM), I can run FSX satisfactorily. Also, none of the things I was hoping to see in P3D are there, so far it all appears to be framerates, smoothness and eye candy. All good, but by themselves not worth the cost of a hardware upgrade to me. Not yet, anyway. I'm not ruling it out, though, not by any means, but it's interesting to see the oohing and aahing of the first couple of days giving way to the problem reports and all in all it reinforces, yet again, the value of my own policy against early adoption. Let the others run through the minefield first, I say; there'll be less for me to trigger when it's my turn... :smile:

I have 9.5, X, and P3D2 installed.

 

You are all my brothers.

 

:drinks:

 (I've yet to find a lower spec on AVSIM)  :smile:

 

Here you go:

 

Dell Duo Core 2.66 1333FSB - Windows 7 Pro 64Bit 4Gigs Ram

NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 w/1gig Memory

 

Upgrading my cpu to 3.33 and the video card to a 650ti with 2gigs on board.  Won't be able to max things out but the sim will look better than FS9.  If you have a lower system than mine and able to run FSX I salute you as the official master tweaker...  :im Not Worthy:

 

 

I've no plans to switch to P3D for a while yet. I doubt my rig would run it satisfactorily, and even with my ultra-low spec rig (I've yet to find a lower spec on AVSIM), I can run FSX satisfactorily.

 

And this is where I cannot understand your logic (emphasis added by me). If you really can run FSX satisfactorily, then you really can run P3Dv2 satisfactorily as well, because the load has been spread more evenly.

 

I run a mediocre pc and I have seen a substantial improvement. Can I run my full library of addon toys yet? No I can't at this stage, but I can run the sim satisfactorily. And by investing in a better graphics card, I can only increase my overall investment. This nonsense about P3Dv2 running worse than FSX is pure rubbish and does this hobby no good at all.

Okay, I am going to be non-biased and totally honest:

P3D is good, and in some aspects, better than FSX. I will show you better than I can tell you:



This is P3D v2 Pro Plus....or something. Not all the sliders maxed out; it will BSOD my computer. But please pay attention to the details for what I am about to show you next:



This is Dino Cattaneo's F-14 Tomcat (FSX Native)... in P3D. Minus the obvious missing MFD and/or PFDs, She runs flawlessly.... after you configure the controls to work properly. But note the shadows it is casting on itself...



Cera Sim UH-60 (FSX Native)... in P3D. Everything works. No major hits in frames....but no rotor wash... anywhere.




AI Carriers2 (FSX Native) in P3D... note the ships reflection in the water. Shadows are cast throughout the ship. However, since this is a functional AI ship (harddecks, moving elevators , jet blasts, helicopters, and vehicles) this takes a major hit in performance. Freezes, BSOD, and CTD are more commonplace. I hate to see what would happen if I add payware cities such as Aerosoft, Drzewiecki Designs, or any payware airports.... oh, I forgot one important thing:

​NO CATAPULT STEAM.

To sum it all up, P3D is a solid performer out of the box for a decent PC, but when you start throwing high-end add-ons, expect some bad hits in performance. Some FSX port overs does well in P3D, most don't. It is like stripping a car down to lighten it's weight for performance, then you throw in a bulky aftermarket stereo system....

It'll be some time before developers can contribute to P3D without loading the program down, like how they learned with FSX. But until then, I wouldn't toss FSX out just yet. It is still a great platform, and it has endured all the tweaking to perform well under certain conditions. I have countless add-ons in FSX, however just three in P3D, yet P3D will crash in 15 minutes when AI Carriers is ran, and FSX will go OOM if I run a full payware layout (Drzewiecki Designs Manhattan X or Aerosoft Los Angeles X, Orbx Global, REX and the PMDG 737-800 or PMDG 777) for a prolonged period of time.... I have a bad habit of trying to get decent screenshots, causing FSX to eat up memory.

It is like PS4 and XBOX One war all over again. Choose your sides wisely.

It is like PS4 and XBOX One war all over again. Choose your sides wisely.

 

Gundam, would you believe me if I told you that if I had to pigeonhole myself into a "side" that I would say P3Dv2?

 

So what if he's bottlenecked by his GPU already

 

Um... PMDG does work in P3D. 

 

But I wouldn't recommend it.... It is like an FPS serial killer. You will not win.

When I said "can't use those in P3D" I meant that one is not supposed to use them as of right now.  I was using it as a hypothetical reason among many why one might not be inclined to switch over to P3D right now, as opposed to after PMDG actually issues them for use in P3D, in a couple of months.

 

  I myself wouldn't install it unless the license is in the free and clear.  I don't happen to be one of those PMDG or nothing guys,but I was happy to hear that they were getting on board and that hopefully I'll be able to use PMDG products in this new platform

 

Nevertheless, I don't like to hear that PMDG is a dog in P3Dv2 because NGX also happens to be the plane that my current FSX installation is optimized and tuned for.  It's something that is a more meaningfull metric to me than some of the Carenado type airplanes that are currentlly being used to showcase P3Dv2 performance.

 

I assume when PMDG starts issuing P3D licenses, they will have sorted things out and do what it takes to make it perform.  I hope it is just a function of the addon not being tuned instead of it pointing to performance problems within P3Dv2 itself.

Gundam, would you believe me if I told you that if I had to pigeonhole myself into a "side" that I would say P3Dv2?

 

Seriously.... I would wait until the developers catch up. I brought P3D due to I was following what Iris Simulations was doing with the F-22 Raptor. I was campaigning that Iris would remake the Raptor and make it TacPack ready.

 

Once I saw the end results.... ewww. It is like nothing has improved, or changed, or even new. It is all cosmetic. And I have yet to check out the Carenado aircrafts yet for P3D... Carenados for FSX are absolutely incredible...

 

It goes to show you the when you automatically start porting over FSX Native aircrafts over to P3D, something is not quite right.

When I said "can't use those in P3D" I meant that one is not supposed to use it.  I don't happen to be one of those PMDG or nothing guys,but I was happy to hear that they were getting on board.

 

Nevertheless, I don't like to hear that PMDG is a dog in P3Dv2

 

I am a PMDG nutbar... but I fly EVERYTHING!! Lol...

 

 wanted to see if there would be a difference in the lighting quality I found in P3D... unfortunately, P3D will crash in the menu screen if I even load a PMDG.... but remember PMDG was coded to run on FSX specs, not P3DV2. Give it time.... they'll get it done.