Why all this doom and gloom with 2.+?

[Christopher Low 5,354]

I had an Atart 2600VCS for a year before getting the ZX Spectrum 48K. The latter was an entire box of tape based games in addition to the computer itself. I still have fond memories (strangely enough) of watching the stripes on the TV as the tapes loaded! Anyone remember the US Gold games? We were treated to tinny renditions of the US national anthem, Yankee Doodle Dandy (and another one that I can't remember) as the games loaded. Happy times B)

[virtualstuff 759]

I had an Atart 2600VCS for a year before getting the ZX Spectrum 48K. The latter was an entire box of tape based games in addition to the computer itself. I still have fond memories (strangely enough) of watching the stripes on the TV as the tapes loaded! Anyone remember the US Gold games? We were treated to tinny renditions of the US national anthem, Yankee Doodle Dandy (and another one that I can't remember) as the games loaded. Happy times B)

Well started myself with Atari which followed by Amiga 500 stuff times flies lol

[SteveW 1,792]

now you gone made me dig this up:  

 

A really great effort Rob, and an achievement to be proud of.

 

Don't know if you recall the UK101 about 35 years ago? I built Hover Wars. It was a multi user first person shooter, fired missiles out of your face. There were only two users, one sat on the floor, the other on a chair behind, a piece of cardboard taped to the monitor cut the screen across horizontally, so each could not see the view of the other. Each used one end of the keyboard for controls. Chased each other round an asteroid in hover-like vehicles, shooting missiles at each other for hours. Was making it team mode against bots but the owner had to have the thing back.

[Jim Young 2,356]

 

 

And one of the coolest features in P3d under the World menu is "Time Preview".

 

Thanks for that Steve.  I definitely missed that feature and it is really cool.  Even see the stars changing at night.

 

Best regards,

[Anxu00 176]

I did wait until the Orbx scenery had been made compatible but after that everything went mighty quick. Downloaded 2.5 within some 20 minutes. Completely reinstalled Windows 8.1 to get a nice clean start, installed P3D, my favorite planes, my favorite Orbx scenery, TrackIR, PFPX, HDE clouds and sky and by the time I was done (it didn't take more than a few evening hours) the ASN update had been released. I don't use any tweaks, only edit the config for some UI changes, and that was it. I was flying within no time. And just as with previous versions I have had no OOMs or CDTs or anything else. The sim runs awesome with rather high settings (and very high when flying VFR) so... I am a happy flyer! And I have been so since the day v2 was released: FSX Has been gone ever since.

 

So nothing but positive news from me!!!

Interesting Jeroen,  so ORBX sceneries run smooth for you in P3D 2.5, no slight stutters in turns?  Your CPU is better than mine @ i7-2700K 4.8Ghz, but my GTX980 should make up for it.  Yet I gave up on P3D because of micro stutters,  especially with ORBX.  This stutters occurs despite high FPS for me.  Strange!

[Guest]

 

 

Yet I gave up on P3D because of micro stutters,  especially with ORBX.  This stutters occurs despite high FPS for me.  Strange!

 

Well, I think micro stutters are very personal and in the eye of the beholder. What some regards as heavy stuttering, isn't noticed at all by others. Apart from that, P3D, just as FSX, seems to behave differently on similar computers. Looks like even the smallest difference in hardware or system setup influences what you get. Seems you simply have to be lucky...

I do have to say that I do get some stuttering in specific situations but I don't 'see' it. Not anymore, that is. When I was thoroughly testing P3D in the beginning and focusing on every little thing that didn't work well, I had to a lot to complain about. But since I started to simply FLY, things have improved a lot. Although this of course also has to do with the updates from LM and new hardware, one of the best anti-problem-tips I can give is to find settings that you like and/or that work for you and then ENJOY the sim! When you actually fly, things you see while testing will go by unnoticed. (Well, unless stutters are really heavy, of course...)

 

Anyway, I am not saying things are PERFECT on my PC (I do have some late loading textures every now and then but I accept them because I like my settings very high!) but I'd still say any day that P3D runs AWESOME on my PC (specially when I see what graphical extra's I have compared to FSX)! 

[TurboTomato 90]

2.5 running rather well on my modest machine (better than 2.4 did). Terrain shadow casting is an absolute killer though.

[robert young 2,897]

One often common cause of visual stuttering is actually not connected with graphics but sound. Particularly if you have an on-board sound chip that has a somewhat crude driver or configuration, the first time a particular sound is triggered you might get a visual pause. This happens typically even with default aircraft for example when you first touch down and the tyres squeel, or ATC first contacts you. FSX, and derivatives, are not very clever at queuing sound and sometimes the cpu halts a graphical process the first time a .wav file is triggered, but thereafter caches the process for later use.

 

This is less likely to happen if you have a dedicated sound card that has, and manages, its own memory. This is separate from the stutters often occuring when you bank or turn on the ground, when new scenery is coming into view.

 

One way of preventing stutters on the ground while taxiing is, before moving off, go to spot view and pan around the aircraft a few times. This loads the scenery from a 360 degree perspective and often alleviates stuttering. The same might apply while in the air and turning. A quick spot view twirl around the aircraft can also alleviate stuttering. It is not always the case but sometimes works.

 

Of course if you are running complex scenery and you have high settings plus a non standard texture max load, you are more likely to get stuttering. The system does its best to "predict" what is needed next but even the most exotic computers cannot be expected to cache gigabytes of scenery all at once!

[Steve Dra 7,588]

 

 

Thanks for that Steve.  I definitely missed that feature and it is really cool.  Even see the stars changing at night.
 
Best regards,

 

My Pleasure Jim.

I love finding new things in flightsim and sharing them with our community.

A while back when the PMDG 777 first came out, I posted a list of cool things I noticed that were not in the mainstream, and most would surely miss if they never ventured out of the cockpit and do a detailed virtual walk-around of the exterior of the aircraft.

 

It is literally amazing all the visual details PMDG put into the aircraft that nobody would ever notice if they just hit external view and panned around the aircraft and never used either EzDoc or the built in panning keys (with mods to make them move faster...so easy to do).  You can see some extra stuff using the tons of fixed views they included, but still you have to be like an FAA inspector to get to some of the good stuff.

Here is the post I did about it:

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/441890-an-incredible-detail-you-may-not-have-noticed/?p=2986718

 

If I find any more gems in P3d I'll be sure to post them here.

[~Craig~ 10]

I think reading this has given me the final push to move over. 

 

I can't say I have any problem with FSX boxed and certainly spend no time at all playing around with the fsx.cfg BUT, the prospect of a smoother sim with all those shadows is something that can't be ignored anymore.

 

This is exactly where I've been for the last 3 months or so Paul.   Not quite ready to leap out, but certainly dangling a foot! :smile:

 

I bought and installed P3D2.5 at the weekend, and after an initial false start, I'm now seeing really amazing results (and yes those shadows).  Although I'm not one for a knee-jerk reaction of "right, that's it, I'm deleting FSX!!", in fact that is exactly what I did do yesterday.  Because, after a FS session with the Carenado Citation II running in P3D2.5 with medium-high settings, cockpit shadows and a solid 30 FPS, I tried the same plane again in FSX, with considerably lower visual settings and got a stuttery 23 FPS.

 

Finally, v2.5 is for me the version of P3D that causes me to reach the conclusion of "I just can't go back".  

 

So finally, FSX is retired for me too.    I really never saw it coming!!

 

 

I had an Atart 2600VCS for a year before getting the ZX Spectrum 48K. The latter was an entire box of tape based games in addition to the computer itself. I still have fond memories (strangely enough) of watching the stripes on the TV as the tapes loaded! Anyone remember the US Gold games? We were treated to tinny renditions of the US national anthem, Yankee Doodle Dandy (and another one that I can't remember) as the games loaded. Happy times B)

 

It was Mastertronic* games for me, for my ZX Spectrum, and later Comodore Plus/4 and Acorn Electron.. :wink:

 

 

*who bizarrely enough still exist and now own Just Flight !!

[TurboTomato 90]

Yeah I think they do as I've bought a couple of things from them and they appear on your CC/Paypal as Mastertronic!

 

Edit: I also echo what Robert has said about sound causing stutters along with big scenery loads. Not a huge amount you can do mitigate them either. Always used to get a big pause just before default ATC gave me my ILS approach clearance.

[Guest]

 

 

I built Hover Wars. It was a multi user first person shooter, fired missiles out of your face. There were only two users, one sat on the floor, the other on a chair behind, a piece of cardboard taped to the monitor cut the screen across horizontally

 

Yes I do ... and I must admit, I didn't really understand the cardboard tape ... aah, but they were simpler days ... no hacking, no security, no theft ... just good old pure fun.  Maybe that's why I have such high tolerance and find it easy to use my imagination or turn a blind eye and make the best of it.

 

Cheers, Rob.

[SteveW 1,792]

I didn't really understand the cardboard tape

My problem. The screen was split into two views, the top half for one player view, and the bottom half of the screen for the other player view (looking out the window of the hover machine). The cardboard taped across the middle of the screen was just to stop the players seeing each other's view.

[Anxu00 176]

 

 

if you have a dedicated sound card that has, and manages, its own memory. This is separate from the stutters often occuring when you bank or turn on the ground, when new scenery is coming into view.

hi Robert,  I have a dedicate sound card.  The stutters that I experienced was on banking, in the air, with P3D 2.5.  The same stutters happens with FSX box, but not FSX-SE.

 

 

I do have to say that I do get some stuttering in specific situations but I don't 'see' it. Not anymore, that is. When I was thoroughly testing P3D in the beginning and focusing on every little thing that didn't work well, I had to a lot to complain about. But since I started to simply FLY, things have improved a lot.

Jeroen,

 

When I first got 2.3 I just fly, but then now the stutters are just in my face, and I can't ignore them.

[robert young 2,897]

hi Robert,  I have a dedicate sound card.  The stutters that I experienced was on banking, in the air, with P3D 2.5.  The same stutters happens with FSX box, but not FSX-SE.

 

That's good news and maybe the re-compiling (see other discussions) have eliminated such stutters for some. So Microsoft/Aces could have very easily re-compiled in the same way with the same result several years ago.