Has anyone upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 8/8.1 (without installing new hardware at the same time), and run the same version of P3Dv2 on both OS versions?  If so, did you notice any improvement?

 

I've heard a bit of anecdotal evidence that P3D performs more smoothly under Windows 8.  The only hard info I've seen on this is the following comment from Beau at LM about gauges, which sounds significant, but I have no idea how much it affects things in practice:

http://www.prepar3d.com/forum-5/?mingleforumaction=viewtopic&t=6777.1

 

I'm not really interested in other pros and cons of Windows 8 - there are plenty of other places on the net to read all about that - just its impact on P3D.  I realize this might be a bit of a long shot, since most people probably upgrade their hardware at the same time as the OS, but if you have done this, I'd really appreciate your comments.

 

Thanks,

Jacob

I had Windows 7 with P3D version 2.3 working well. Then I bought another Samsung 850 SSD so I could put my operating system on a different ssd than P3D. I have a third ssd for my scenery and carious other addons. I added Windows 8.1 at the same time as I added the new drive and moved P3D to its own SSD. At first glance I felt the speed was incredible and the visuals were unbelievable. I had Rex Texture Direct, Global FTX and FTX Vector and  FSG 2010 Mesh. I was not able to get My Traffic for P3D working. I also discovered the water effects were flat in Windows 8.1. You didnt see wave motions in 8.1 nor did appear to import the water scenery from Rex Direct. So I decided that maybe the effects I was pleased with was due to my hardware changes and not windows 8.1. I went back to windows 7 and my install speed is faster than before. The water effects with wave motion are back. I am still loading the rest of my addons and will report back. IMHO is that for flight simmers I would stay away from windows 8.1. I cant say if windows 8 would be any better.

 

 

I also discovered the water effects were flat in Windows 8.1.

This has nothing to do with Windows 8.1. I guess you didn't set P3D v2.3 correct to get the waves animated. One important thing among others is the 1m terrain mesh setting.

Spirit

I set it up the same way I did windows 7. Are you telling me the setting is different for Windows 8.1

I set it up the same way I did windows 7. Are you telling me the setting is different for Windows 8.1

I don't know if it's different to Windows 7 because I didn't run P3D v2 on Windows 7. I only know that the wave animation is working well if the settings are correct.

Mesh resolution 1m, tessellation on and factor ultra, water detail ultra

With some wind you should get waves. Chose a nice wave set with REX4 too.

Spirit

I'm in 8.1, works fine.  I think 8 / 8.1 is a little bit better because they cut back on some of the service bloat, AFAIK.  I haven't investigated it.  But I have no issues, and 8.1 is actually more stable for me as a workstation than 7 was.  I run many VM's when I work, P3D is the only other thing I really load on it.  I used to have more problems with the VM's before.