A question for X-Plane users here

[twojastara 85]

Hi,

 

From time to time I am thinking to try out X-Plane.

I downloaded a demo some time ago, but it didn't keep me interested for some reason.

 

However, it is hard to judge the sim without any addons. I would like to hear some thoughts from people who use both: X-Plane and P3D to write some thoughts on how do they compare.

 

Maybe it is best to have both for different reasons?

 

Thanks!

[jcomm 5,928]

Hehe... I don't use either :-)

 

I use FSX:SE, used X-Plane 10, P3D v1.4, tried P3D v2

 

- XP10 and P3D v2 are too heavy on my system, an i5 2500 @ 3,2 GHz, with a 1 GB GTX 650 Geeforce, so I can't really profit from the "pluses" of using either sim, and even some of their add-ons, because the graphics settings I would have to run at are prohibitive on my rig :-/

 

- XP10 can offer great scenery, for free, using only freeware stuff, while you have to spend considerable amounts in P3D / FSX to get an identical scenery coverage for most places of the World. It's free upgradable mesh ( Alpilot's ) also helps improving even more the scenery area, and World2XP does wonders for the scenery in XP10 FOR FREE!!!!

 

- Weather in XP10 is relatively nice in the near vicinity of your aircraft, and a particular add-on ( SkyMax Pro ) can even make, in some aspects, it look better and less heavy on the FPS, but other than that the weather engine in XP10 is rather limited, compared to what add-on programs like ASN can do for either FSX or P3D. Overall though, turbulence and windshear are more credibly modeled in XP10 than in MSFS / P3D, IMO, and this can make a difference specially if you want to experiment with rough weather scenarios...

 

- P3D has a different aim, or at least it has an objective. It is difficult to know exactly what is planned or will happen to XP, because the dev team is now giving priority to the Android/IOs platform, and, even when they were more concentrated in the PC version, it was difficult to find their way.... We never know what they're on the mood to try next, meaning, instability, that affects not only the users but the developers / prospective developers...

 

- I don't like X-Plane's flight dynamics model. It can be promising in some aspects, it's concept is great and actually similar to the one used in the best flight dynamics for a flightsim I ever used in my simmer life ( DCS World ) but fails miserably in some aspects implementing what it was supposed to deliver, prop effects and piston or turboprop engines being good examples, and honestly, I still do prefer the best add-ons I ever had for FSX / P3D over the best I ever had for XPlane in terms of accuracy and agreement with real life flight data / performance of the modeled aircraft.

 

This being said / sad ... I don't use either as flight simulators. Used XP10 for the visuals only of another sim, but then reverted to FSX because of the more fluid way it runs for that purpose, but that is in part due to my rig limitations... Anyway, I don't like the way XP10 treats daylight and find it a lot more plausible / realistic in FSX / P3D....

 

If I had to chose only one, and I had a good rig, I would probably opt for P3D v2 only

[ryanbatc 12,841]

I run FSX XP10 P3D2

 

Anyway XP and P3D pretty different

 

I'll just highlight the pluses of each imo

 

XP10:

Beautiful night lighting / night environments

Twitchy planes (some like this, I say it's too much over the too stable MSFS planes)

cockpit shadows / lighting - more options

More freeware scenery options

 

P3D:

More addons / larger addon community

Higher fidelity scenery, but mainly in the daytime.

More stable aircraft (probably a bit too stable)

 

There's a lot more positives to both - I'd probably just buy them both.

[JimmiG 244]

+The framerate tends to be much higher in X-Plane, with no or very little "micro-stuttering".

 

+Textures tend to look clearer and more crisp and there's no blurring. Switching back to P3D or FSX I'm often struck by how everything lacks definition and detail, especially cities and autogen.

 

+64-bit and extremely stable. No CTD's or OOM's. Some poorly tested and buggy add-on scenery can cause crashes, though.

 

+A lot more freeware available. You can get some nice scenery and airports as well as a few decent aircraft, without spending $500+. When things do cost money, they're usually much cheaper than FS/P3D addons.

 

-ATC and AI traffic is very basic

 

-Very little scenery that matches the quality of OrbX, though some exists that looks even better.

 

-Mesh tends to be of lower resolution due to the way the scenery engine reads elevation meshes.

 

-Some graphical errors and glitches occasionally (sometimes caused by graphics driver bugs because Nvidia and AMD neglect flight simmers).

[Lynk 4]

X-Plane:

- B777 (with the remade VC) / B757 / A350 from FF

- Airbus from several devs. 

-Plenty of quality GA aicrafts

 

But the most important thing is W2XPL with Photoscenery. It is magical. First you don't get blurries like in P3D, and second you get every buildings at their correct locations. However if you lurk fsdeveloper, it looks like it is coming for FS/P3D as well. FranceVFR does it but i read somewhere you get OOM fairly quickly...? 

[menelado 0]

I fly with P3D V2 most of the times because I like flying online and Xplane is not yet ready for online use.

Still, it is perfect for VFR practice flying.

It provides perfect photoscenery with correct autogen through accurate OSM data.

I use g2xpl to download and install high res photo scenery for my area.

 

So as you see XPLANE is for real world practice and P3D for fun.

[Swe_Richard 1,172]

Well. Personally I use both P3D v2.5 and XP10. I wouldn't want to limit myself by just using one of them, but they both have their pros and cons. 

 

XP10:

+        The night lighting system. Absolutely wonderful.

+        Lots of good-to-awesome freeware scenery.

+        No blurry textures (I have that occasionaly in P3D2.5 and it's annoying).

 

-         For me it shimmers like crazy during day-time. Some times. It's really quite odd, howerver it is making me prefer flying during nights.

-         The quality of 3rd party aircraft in XP simply can not compete with what's available in P3D at this point in time (however this is likely to be about to change).

 

[alulekk 3]

The quality of 3rd party aircraft in XP simply can not compete with what's available in P3D at this point in time

...(however this is likely to be about to change).

 

I think I've been hearing that last part for about 7 years...  :-)

[Swe_Richard 1,172]

I think I've been hearing that last part for about 7 years...  :-)

 

Hehe.. yeah, tell me about it. I was actually pondering if I would mention that "mirage on the horizon" myself. I have almost kind-of given up on it. But don't tell anyone.. 

[LAdamson 240]

I use FSX and X-Plane 10.  For GA, and flight dynamics wise, I haven't found any X-Planes that beat RealAir & A2A. Therefor, for real world practice, I'd have no problem using either sim. Actually for many years, I did use both sims, just for that. I just no longer fly real world.

 

I like the way XP-10 creates mountain areas. I like Orbx for FSX when flying from so many of those mountain airports. Once again, it's a case of using both, to get the best possible, depending on the area & type of flying.

 

Both sims run very fluid on my system, most of the time. No winner here, in the fluid smooth catagory, or frame rates. I finally have a setup that does justice for FSX and smoothness. Both sims can still bring the system to low FPS once and a while.

[CaptCWGAllen 49]

May not be an issue for you but I find that XP works much better with my 3x 23 HD screens - I just cannot get P3D to run smoothly except in native mode - loaded UTX Eurpoe V2 today to see if it was just Orbx causing the issue but it too was a stutterfest. It's fine on a single screen though - so if you are running a single screen then both is the answer for their different strengths - but for me (unless anyone has a fix - and the recent post has not done it for me) P3D just doesn't like 3 screens.

 

I think you will find more about tweaking and stuttering in the P3D forums than you will in the XP forums. You will find more about things that are missing in the XP forums than you will in the P3D forums. Each tell its own story - my guess is the XP one is probably easier to fix but it will require TPDs to get on board - a few more are, so it may bode well.

 

The rest is covered above I think - although I must say that the flight model in my view of a number of aircraft in XP10 is s good as but not better then A2A and Real Air - I currently do fly for real and I prefer to practice VFR in XP10 (using pay photoscenery and W2XP UK Pro) - but it can only be a matter of opinion fo each individual. I think it is helped by the crispness and feeling of depth in XP10 that I don't get in P3D - again matter of opinion and a different set of eyes - so only you will be able to tell - but do try both.

 

One things for sure; we are spoilt for choice and as Froogle said on his most recent video, whichever way you look at it the vision we have before us and the things we can do now would not have been achieved 20 years ago in a million dollar simulator - all this is yours from as little as $60. Not bad!

 

cheers

Peter

[Desaix 235]

 I think it is helped by the crispness and feeling of depth in XP10 that I don't get in P3D - again matter of opinion and a different set of eyes - so only you will be able to tell - but do try both.

 

 

Pretty much the same feeling for me. I cannot go back to PR3D for this reason, that is I just get more immersion and feeling of flying in XP10 than in PR3D, but I never tried 2.5 to be honest.

AI and ATC are superior in FSX/PR3D altough new version of World Traffic looks promising for XP10 and RC4 can now work inside XP10 with a payware plugin.

You'll never find the same eyecandy as some Orbx scenarios in XP10, but as said above a good looking scenario can be obtained without paying too much with freeware stuff, namely photoreal and W2XP.

Nights, sunset and dawn are defo better in XP10 in my opinion, day way better in FSX/PR3D

[LAdamson 240]

Strange as it may seem, to some.........................I don't sense any difference of "feel" between X-Plane 10 & FSX. Okay, I know this is a comparison to P3D, but is there a difference in the feel of P3D and FSX when using some excellent well known flight models?

 

I commented on this phenomenon a few months ago. With fluid frame rates, they just both seem, so much the same. I even said I had to pay attention to what sim I was actually using, because the feel was so much the same.  The prime differences between the sims to me, is just the ways they form scenery, as well as night lighting, water effects, etc.  X-Plane for instance, has that great looking night lights, as you descend into the airport for a landing. But then I prefer the rural look of Orbx scenery night lighting, when flying across the mountain west. X-Plane is something special, when it comes to the look of sunsets, against the mountains or red rock of the south western USA.

 

For the sense of feel, I have flown as PIC, or at least a passenger in some cool feeling airplanes. P-51 Mustang, Marchetti SF260, numerous Pitts aerobatic airplanes, plus the Super Stearman, Ford tri-motor, lots of Cessnas, Pipers, experimental high performance, and others.

 

P.S. --- in reference to the original question, by all means, run both. You'll miss a lot of great sim flying, if you don't.  I always have to wonder about those, who seem to want to sacrifice something good................for reasons that I just can't comprehend. At the end of the day, these two programs are still simulators, just entertainment, or games, depending how you look at it.  I use them, because they bring back many memories of real flight, that I enjoyed for so many years.

[Urshult Haze 4]

X plane for VFR (I can see my house! (W2XP) And my beehives! (G2XPL))

 

P3D for IFR (No PMDG, VoxATC, FS2Crew for XP)

 

DCS for Military jets (Textures and autogen not loading fast enough in P3D and no good aircrafts for XP)

 

Cliffs of Dover for Military props (Textures and autogen not loading fast enough in P3D and no good aircrafts for XP)

[twojastara 85]

Wow, lots of very valuable replies here, many thanks!

 

After reading all your comments I will definitely try out XP. I was worried, that the total cost of addons would be too much for me for transferring, now I know I can get lots of them for free.

 

Thanks again.