Hi guys, thanks for the help and advice! I'm going to try out P3D and see how I get on Thanks again!

Try it for sure! P3D will also refund the purchase if you don't like it ( Withing 30 days ) so really its a risk free trial!

Try it for sure! P3D will also refund the purchase if you don't like it ( Withing 30 days ) so really its a risk free trial!

 

60 days...

http://www.prepar3d.com/support/refundpolicy/

Actually if you run FSXSE in DX10 (With the DX10Fixer) the only shadows you'll be missing is the Cloud to ground shadows. As for missing VAS management DTG implemented this in the FSXSE long before LM did in V3, and results are comparable.

I haven't spent too much time with DX10 mode, but I did find the shadows it produces in the VC are not as sharp as those you find in p3d. The ones in the Q400 in particular were very unconvincing sadly.

I haven't spent too much time with DX10 mode, but I did find the shadows it produces in the VC are not as sharp as those you find in p3d. The ones in the Q400 in particular were very unconvincing sadly.

For most aircraft, including PMDG I have no issues with the VC cockpit shadowing. I do agree with the Q400, seems there is some kind of dual shadowing effect going on between the VC panel and display screens and they conflict with each other.

Mostly I have found that P3Dv3 runs with higher frames than FSXSE, but to the point of everyone else here, the sharpness of FSXSE is greater than that of P3Dv3. However, P3Dv3 does a better job of shedding VAS during long hauls and approaches in my experience which is a great thing for the continuity of flights. Cloud shadows are a bit hard on any system but add a new layer of immersion not seen in FSXSE. Then of couse the price of ownership which is significantly higher and you have to purchase your PMDG aircraft along with any others that dont offer a single license option for both platforms. My general thoughts are if you have a good performing FSXSE then you may not want to take the plunge on P3Dv3. But if you are really looking to just have something new, P3Dv3 will give that to you with some marginal benefits in terms of lighting, performance and VAS stability and some marginal downsides as well in terms of sharpness, compatibility, and price. 

So the general consensus is that FSX-SE performs and looks better then P3D.

 

Most likely fsr more add-ons available as well.

 

Sounds like P3D v3 has turned into bit of a dud.

 

Facepalm

I spent in p3d v1 and the v2... I will skip any further versions until they announce a 64 bit platform.

 

I re-installed FSX:SE, and am back to smoothness. One of the worst buying decisions of my simmer life was to buy the PMDG Base 772 for P3Dv2 when I had it for FSX:SE including the -300 expansion. Gained nothing, lost $130 :-/  Very stupid move....

 

P3D doesn't bring me anything that I do not have in FSX:SE, and although I could fine tune P3dv2.5 very easily to get acceptable performance, I never got rid of the stutters that I do not experience in FSX:SE... and I couldn't care less about having or not cloud shadows...

 

Buying the NGX and all my A2A stuff back ? NO WAY!  And then I couldn't ( shouldn't ) use my preferred A2A warbirds either...

 

My opinion, if you have a good / stable FSX:SE install, with not too many complex scenery / landclass / messh add-ons - stay with it

Sounds like P3D v3 has turned into bit of a dud.

 

Does mommy let you play at the commuter for long or maybe only after your  homework  

Jcomm mentioned his mediocre experience with P3D v2, but I have to say as a v3 owner, it is way better than both FSX:SE and P3D v2.

 

I am running PMDG + FTX + ASN + REX Soft Clouds and it is sublime, FSX:SE looks positively "2006" next to it.

The lighting, the smoothness, and what you don't see; the VAStly superior memory management to any previous FSX/ESP engine.

Even XP10 is gathering dust since P3D v3 arrived on my hard drive.

I would probably go for it too, but having to buy all PMDG and A2A stuff is just too much for me...

I did a direct, quantitative comparison of the two when it comes to rendering performance just for kicks in the frame time analysis thread. You'll see they perform quite similarly, but P3D wins out after I was finally able to get it to behave. It looks lovely too. Well, they both do honestly.

 

FSX SE

 

 

 

P3D

 

 

Is the a big improvement between FSX and FSX SE, because that SE in the above photos  looks pretty good.  

Beauty, as the old saying goes, is in the eye of the beholder.

 

I know some people who've tried P3d and never looked back. Some, like me, have both and flit between them as the mood takes them but generally migrate to FSX most of the time as it generally works as advertised. Some have tried P3d, not had a great experience and gone back to FSX as they don't want the tweaking and headaches involved in making some things work in P3d.

 

Horses for courses. There will never be a consensus and no V3 isn't a dud. FSX does some things better - clouds, AA, more vibrant colours - whereas P3d does shadows, HDR, better VAS. You takes your choice.

Beauty, as the old saying goes, is in the eye of the beholder.

 

I know some people who've tried P3d and never looked back. Some, like me, have both and flit between them as the mood takes them but generally migrate to FSX most of the time as it generally works as advertised. Some have tried P3d, not had a great experience and gone back to FSX as they don't want the tweaking and headaches involved in making some things work in P3d.

 

Horses for courses. There will never be a consensus and no V3 isn't a dud. FSX does some things better - clouds, AA, more vibrant colours - whereas P3d does shadows, HDR, better VAS. You takes your choice.

 

I think FSX SE was on sale a couple of weeks ago for about $8.  Should have grabbed a copy. 

I think FSX SE was on sale a couple of weeks ago for about $8.  Should have grabbed a copy. 

 

It goes on sale regularly. Nearly every two months on Steam. The FSX shot above was using DX10 and some color tuning with SweetFX, so that's probably why it looks so nice from stock.