FSX - P3D 2.5. Should I?

[ryanbatc]

Just use both... I don't understand why people are afraid to run all sims? I get if you're going to commit money to one sim.

 

Why not just do the developer copy for 10/month to see if you like it

[DarkstarF16]

Steam is indeed a good thing for our hobby as it reaches new users which this hobby needs. From all the things I've been reading about a new simulator from Dovetail which will likely be a revamp of MS Flight which again will hopefully bring new users in, the hobby for us and the developers is looking bright indeed. If dovetails new simulator does see the light of day then current developers will have yet another outlet. Porting scenery to that sim should not be too difficult as I have already ported the whole FSX world into Flight. I'm not suggesting it's that easy but it's also not beyond our developers I'm sure.

 

So where does that leave P3D?

 

If you consider the development to date (I include 3rd party's) and what the platform offers already, then perhaps you could make up your own mind as to what type of simulators all the above will become, and what market they will be aimed at in the future. To ensure a bright future, our hobby needs new users both in the hobby, and participants in the now.

[Superpilotv2]

Hmm, I´m currently at the same question. FSX runs quite ok. I´m just waiting for VRS to release the Superbug for P3D. Too bad the PMDG´s cost so much, I guess I´ll skip them and don´t buy them again.

[darrinward777]

Hmm, I´m currently at the same question. FSX runs quite ok. I´m just waiting for VRS to release the Superbug for P3D. Too bad the PMDG´s cost so much, I guess I´ll skip them and don´t buy them again.

Cost is not an issue for me as I am hopelessly addicted to flight simulation, but I have been watching trends and getting a feeling that the scales are going to turn in the near future.  I still feel 64 bit is the key to that future. Whoever pulls that rabbit out of the hat ( and I don't mean x-plane ) will have my vote and my money. I need a sim worthy of the machine I run it on. 

[Superpilotv2]

 

 

Cost is not an issue for me as I am hopelessly addicted to flight simulation,

 

Well, i´m just a young Student, so paying 130$ for planes I fly rarely is just way to much. Probably when P3D is working great, I might get the 737. But not the 777. I have it for FSX but I haven´t done a single flight. It´s just not fitting me with my main focus of shorter flights.

[RotorWash]

Simply, if you have a stable FSX, wait a while. I bought P3D a month ago (with the NGX & A2A Cherokee).The Cherokee performs well and looks very nice( sliders a notch from max settings), the NGX is a bit of a hog though :-(. P3D looks a bit fresher, shadows are nice, though I'm still unable to add a lot of my addons, without difficulty. Looks promising for the future though ?

[specialist]

After being in this hobby for almost 15 years, one thing I'm never in is a rush to do anything. Getting the first few generations of the latest and the greatest has never been my thing. I'm one who is going to wait to see how far Lockheed Martin is going to take P3D, and like everything else in our hobby, there will always be holiday sales on most items. More than likely I will wait for another year to see how stable this platform will be, and see if a 64bit version comes out. Then I will start getting aircrafts, or I guess P3D calls is vehicles, at bargain sales. Patience has always been a virtue with me.

[Clutch Cargo]

Have had P3D for years now, since version one.  Guess what I just bought today... FSX Steam!.  For five bucks how could I resist.  Well, actually I have had FSX on my computer since 2006 so I thought I would do my own little comparison between the two.  But I guess if 64bit was the the holy grail everyone would have flocked to X-plane.  But that hasn't happened.  Takes more than 64 bits just to make a good sim. 

 

Oh well, 'nuf rampling.  Back to flyin' or reading these funny posts.  I wonder how some simmers can even decide "paper" or "plastic" when they are at the grocery store, ha!

[specialist]

Plastic please! I like handles, saving trees, and I also need them for my baby grandson's diapers. :rolleyes:

[aceridgey]

Hi guys, OP here. I have my initial review which is kinda answering my own question and I will be making a separate thread on the general FSX forums (copying most of the text from here)

 

To those on the fence.

 

Was it worth it? 100% yes is the short answer here's why.

 

I mainly jumped the ship for the performance gains that P3D offers (including this new Optimise parts thing) and I was greatly looking forward to it as I have a modern GPU and older CPU.

 

DX11 utilises the GPU more and I did see a noticable performance lift. That was my main objective.

 

I have always struggled at particular sceneries, FSDT Vancouver and Flytampa Copenhagen  is a couple of them. I could go from 25-30fps in Flytampa Dubai, Montreal, T2G Orlando to a stuttering mess of 8fps - 25fps at Vancouver. That coupled with memory leaking and all sorts of issues. 

So, I loaded ORBX global, Rex, ASN all the usual culprits into other sceneries I didn't have a massive problem with in the past, UK2000 for example and noticed that my FPS were locked at 30.. I was feeling quite optimistic, I am getting better visuals but I am acheiving my beloved 30fps locked (VC in the NGX btw).

 

I wonder, just wonder if I can now fly out of Copengahen without the jump from 10fps to 30fps? .. Nervously installed and loaded.. into 30fps locked bliss. No matter where I looked they didn't go under 29-30fps. The leaks and jumps I was seeing in FSX DX9 have been eradicated. I went on to try my arch nemesis and greatest foe, FSDT Vancouver. I have never ever acheived smooth sailing out of here, we're talking 10-15fps (this is with all the very lowest airport settings btw). 777 out to VHHH and same with Copenghagen, I was getting no drops, no awkward losses and the scenery looked amazing.

 

Conclusion, It's early days but I am completely sold on P3d. I hope with all my might that they go into a posiitve trend of optimisation rather than eye candy as that would burst my bubble.

 

The quality of the sim looks amazing, it's just so much more colourful. I absolutely love the shadows of the fuselarge creeping over the wind in a turn, or the light dancing off all the cockpit switches and knobs as you bank in turns. I love it and to those on the fence. Try it please. Don't put all the sliders to the right and fly a complex aircraft that isn't wanting to recharge you.

 

My negatives on the current sim are the HDR lighting affects the gauges of complex aircraft like the pmdg and I think it's pmdg's responsibility to work on a fix as the ported over FSX ones don't like it.

 

Another negative is the amount PMDG are charging to those who have already bought the FSX version, that is my personal opinion and that doesn't represent the projects I am working with. I just feel like it is extortionate. I still bought them all again but I don't feel it is fair and feel extremely let down.

 

 

TLDR; If you're on the fence, 2.5 (with active sky etc. etc. is the perfect time to jump ship. I don't think you'll go back easily).

 

Alex

[Penz]

I just picked the company that had the cutest CEO.

This is, of course, subjective.

The rugged handsomeness of Mr. P. Jackson of Dovetail nonwithstanding, I went with LM. B)

[RJC68]

I really wish I could love P3D as much as everyone else,

 

I too was sitting on the fence a while back so I jumped in. Yes the overall experience is pleasing but for the life of me I cannot get the "butter smooth" result that others claim too.I have watched many youtube videos and I still see stuttering. Quite simply due to the psuedo full screen it is not as fluid as FSX DX10 is. I am going to keep it and will see what happens down the road.

 

For now I still enjoy flying for my virtual airline in FSX DX10 and I am now spending a fair bit of time "In the other one!" Yes there are some quirks but I have to say at least I can use my decent hardware to it's full potential and it looks pretty amazing !

 

It is nice to have the option to fly in anyone of the sims, They all have they're good & bad points. I prefer flying to constantly tweaking

[Glynn]

I have P3D 2.5 and FSX installed, my view is that if you are coming straight from FSX DX9 you will love P3D.

But if you have a well set up FSX running under Steve's DX10 fixer then you will not see much in the way of performance improvements and your image quality (AA ect) will be worse, clouds are pretty much broken at this point in P3D so you will miss the cloudscapes you had in FSX very much, for my own preferences great cloudscapes are of more value than cloud shadows, VC shadows are also better in FSX DX10 at the moment.

I have spent the time since 2.5 was released doing flights in FSX DX10 followed by the same flight in P3D to get a good idea as to the look and feel of both platforms and I have enjoyed the FSX flights the most.

I will keep 2.5 installed and wait patiently for version 3.

For now FSX DX10 is the platform with the least amount of annoyances so that is what I will use for my flying, but P3D will be my future flight simulator.

[aceridgey]

I don't know I have no problem with the clouds and scenery with p3d. Are you using ASN?

 

Alex

[Glynn]

 

 

I don't know I have no problem with the clouds and scenery with p3d. Are you using ASN?

 

Yes, I am using ASN.

P3D 2.5 has a problem with so called popcorn clouds, there is a thread running here at Avsim, check it out. looks terrible once you see it for yourself

 

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/464547-popcorn-clouds-continue-in-2512944/