Going Spartan with V3

[vp49p3 216]

I started simming with FSX 6 years ago. Went bananas getting addons and must have spent more than I cared to think about. My system got so gunked up I turned to the late Michael Greenblatt from FSGS to clear it up. Then went to P3dv2.xx and pared things down. Only used ORBX products (all of them, and I mean all) for scenery and 10 addon aircraft from A2A, Carenado, and Lionheart. Utilities were REX textures, ASN, VOXATC and GTN 750/650. Spent a lot of time messing with the config file with various published tweaks instead of just flying. Now I'm going "Spartan" with P3Dv3. Only addons are the four A2A aircraft and GTN 750. I use Plan G for flight planning. Everything else is default--scenery, sky, clouds, ATC. I'm having a blast! Instead of worrying about frame rates and OOM's with addons,I spend 100% of my time flying and learning systems and techniques with the A2A planes and the GTN 750. The default scenery, sky, buildings and clouds are not quite as pretty as before, but I really don't miss the extras. I guess it's just a matter of personal preference, but in P3dv3 pared down, I feel like I'm more in an actual flight simulator than ever before.

[louisdecoolste 12]

Dont know whether I'd go that far as t run a vanilla install for any length of time, but v3 is a great opportunity to review the necessity for the piles of neo-junk we used to throw into FSX and earlier P3D versions to `improve` it. 

 

I posted yesterday about resisting the rush to install mesh as although I've got gigs and gigs of the stuff, other native things now make the world seem more `realistic` away from mountains and cliff coasts. I'm also being far more realistic about addon aircraft - `one in, one out` has been my mantra since v2, with a folder kept well away from P3D for all addon aircraft I'm not actually using. Only have to move the aircraft folder back, but it does mean a significant reduction in load times and their still seems to be issues with unreleased VAS with the aircraft loading screen in V3 that L-M are planning to address. 

 

For me the only area that prompted me to import replacement textures was barebones P3D habit of having multiple instances of single trees (the "sticky-up stick" issue as my 10-year old nephew put it :smile: ) and arguably insufficient seasonal and regional variation, but I am also adopting a more cautious approach to adding anything this time around - as much because the developers don't seem to want to grasp the opportunity that the new modular construction offers to avoid full reinstalls and my v2 installation probably takes about a week to get everything back in, and I can't be doing that with v3.

 

At my flying club we have a desktop installation of P3D2 that is used for continuity and differences training. Not a single person there has ever scoffed at the basic installation. Perhaps because they haven't seen what a modified installation is capable of but still, your'e right that P3D is good enough to achieve the training requirement out of the box, as well as give some dissimilar aircraft training - there's always a queue and a huddle on a wet weekend when there's no GA going in to get a go in the F35 !

[Guest]

I started simming with FSX 6 years ago. Went bananas getting addons and must have spent more than I cared to think about. My system got so gunked up I turned to the late Michael Greenblatt from FSGS to clear it up. Then went to P3dv2.xx and pared things down. Only used ORBX products (all of them, and I mean all) for scenery and 10 addon aircraft from A2A, Carenado, and Lionheart. Utilities were REX textures, ASN, VOXATC and GTN 750/650. Spent a lot of time messing with the config file with various published tweaks instead of just flying. Now I'm going "Spartan" with P3Dv3. Only addons are the four A2A aircraft and GTN 750. I use Plan G for flight planning. Everything else is default--scenery, sky, clouds, ATC. I'm having a blast! Instead of worrying about frame rates and OOM's with addons,I spend 100% of my time flying and learning systems and techniques with the A2A planes and the GTN 750. The default scenery, sky, buildings and clouds are not quite as pretty as before, but I really don't miss the extras. I guess it's just a matter of personal preference, but in P3dv3 pared down, I feel like I'm more in an actual flight simulator than ever before.

 

I also run a rather spartan P3D v3 but I don't think there really is a need to go as far as you did when it comes to performance. I have a rather spartan system because I like my system clean so right now I have only installed one A2A plane, FTX Global, ASN and HDE clouds and sky. I think that Global and for instance HDE have no influence on performance at all and so they make things look a LOT better without any performance penalty. I will only install FTX Norway once the v3 installer has been released and that's about it. When it comes to performance you mainly have to look at add-on airports and FTX Vector (or similar products). So although I understand what you are doing I think you are overdoing it a bit because you CAN have better looking "scenery, sky, buildings and clouds" without really influencing performance.

[jcomm 5,890]

I'm on FSX:SE, but might consider v3 one day, anyway, although I only have one airport scenery installed, I could never skip ORBX FTX Global - that's a MUST, and even optimizes fps.

 

As for aircraft add-ons, A2A, PMDG and the Aerosoft Airbus A320/21... that's all

[Bobsk8 12,523]

This is what I did with V 2.5. Installed it and then added one add on at a time and watched the results after each addition, as far as performance. Wound up with FPS in the mid 30s, zero stutters, zero OOMs, zero crashes and for VA flying, it looks great. Piling a whole group of things into a sim all at once , can result in a troubleshooting nightmare, if something goes wrong.   

[newtie 533]

 Now I'm going "Spartan" with P3Dv3. 

I've gone Spartan with every single version of FSX and P3D and have never been disappointed. 

 

This includes those folks who have (me) or who are planning to spend a lot of money on new technology expecting a commensurate movement to the right of both sliders and fps to the right, then come here and complain about all the money they've spent which resulted in pretty much nothing. 

 

Cheers,

Mark

[Jimm 437]

I think it would be fair to say that if anything, install FTX Global with Pilot's FS Global Ultimate and leave it at that for scenery.  Weather is a given, ActiveskyNext and then for aircraft, that's dealer's choice.  The scenery switch helps bring a little more realism into the mix but not overdoing it.  Default weather to me, is still flat so a bump to ASN helps.

 

Maybe we have finally hit a point where a sim is delivering what the people wanted and now we are concentrating on the flying more than just getting pretty pictures.

 

-Jim

[vp49p3 216]

Thanks folks. All good input. I think I'll stay like I am for a while. If nothing adverse surfaces with FTX Global I'll install it, as it certainly does make a big difference.

[be77solo 125]

Yep, stock P3Dv3 with the addition of ASN is totally acceptable and enjoyable.  Suppose ASN isn't required, but having dynamic weather just makes all the difference to me.

 

I'm currently running ASN, FTX Global, A2A's and PMDG's.... great combo.

[reecemj 144]

FTX Global, UTX,GTN 750, Opus or ASN and Tduke is enough for now. I wish there where software that could change the original airport building to look like Orbx building without the fps hit..

[vp49p3 216]

Took your consensus advice and installed. FTX Global. Big improvement and no fps loss. Thank you. ASN is also the consensus recommendation. Anyone know of any downside to it?

[Poppet 703]

ASN is also the consensus recommendation. Anyone know of any downside to it?

 

Yes,  for what ever reason it stops working you will miss it something terrible.   ASN is the only place to be  

[JLSeagull 191]

All this talk of going 'Spartan' has me hoping that the Scottish membership don't start posting 'scenic' pics....   

[qqwertz 771]

Took your consensus advice and installed. FTX Global. Big improvement and no fps loss. Thank you. ASN is also the consensus recommendation. Anyone know of any downside to it?

Yes: you have to take care of the weather when planning your flight, and I mean not just at arrival and departure airport. On my very first flight with it I crashed into the sea because I got into a local snow storm

 

It's absolutely awesome. If I could only buy a single addon, it would be ASN

 

Peter

[vp49p3 216]

ASN downloading now--and it was on sale no less!! Thanks, folks. Appreciate your comments.