Decision time: P3D or FSX?

[OldFlyboy 30]

Many, many thanks for all the helpful comments and suggestions. You have really helped clear my thinking. Here is a bit more of my background:

1I soloed a J-3 Cub in 1954 so I no longer buy green bananas, flew USAF 1956-1962, civilian flying after. Then sailboats taught me what "getting old " really means. Now I just enjoy a good flight in my simulator

2. Money is no problem but obviously time is valuable too

3. I purchased FSX-SE when it first appeared but never did really get "into" it. So, maybe that might be a good first move.

4. So many folks like P3D maybe I can give it the trial period (there are empty SSDs on this PC waiting for something

 

I have almost got the system overclocked the way it was before the crash so tomorrow probably FSX-SE? Anything special I should know about that?

Thank yo all again

Neal Howard

[dtrjones 356]

I made the switch to P3D in December and have been 100% happy about doing so. The increased performance and visuals have made it easily worth the cost to me. The only thing I really miss are the Reality XP GNS units.

 

Dovetail has no firm release date for their new flight sim, and LM hasn't even announced a 64-bit version of P3D, so playing the "let's wait for the next big thing" game should not be a factor in your decision in my opinion. Even if one or both does actually get released this year, you will need to wait months or years for there to be a sufficient number of compatible add-ons to raise the level of either of those sims to where P3D is today. It will take a bit of start-up cost to get going in P3D, and whether or not you can afford it is something only you can answer, but I can pretty much guarantee you by the time the next big thing comes along you will have more than gotten your money's worth out of P3D.

 

Good advice but "Dovetail has no firm release date"... It's widely known that Dovetail will release a product at the end of the year, and I don't see this as being particularly risky statement to make.

 

64bit version of P3D is unknown so it's too early to say if this could impact P3D in the long term and there isn't going to be much out for DGFS on launch... In fact it's debatable that the first release of DGFS will be better than P3D anyway - it could take several years for DGFS to catch up. What DGFS will having going is it's fresh approach, option of using 64bit which forces a break away from FSX compatibility which could reap dividends in future releases.

 

If you're not in a rush I would wait personally and see how DGFS is in 6 months time. Dovetail have promised to provide more coverage of this simulator with a possibility of an open beta, so if it turns out to be a dud, then P3D offers a nice safety net to fall back on.

[Hirdy2013 104]

Keep FSX.  Get it going with DX10 (Use Steve's DX10 Fixer).  VAS management is great and FPS not an issue.

 

Jas

[cmpbellsjc 2,961]

A lot of good, sensible points mentioned from the start of this thread.

 

I've been running FSX SP2 on two rigs now since 2008 and (knock of wood) haven't had any serious issues in that time span like OOMS or CTDs. I'm interstellar in P3D mainly just for the cloud shadows and the HDR and shader adjustments you can make to it that look awesome when done correctly.

 

However the one thing that puts me off from trying it, is the constant updates and need to wait for some developers to make new installers or modules, etc. While I'm glad that P3D is always being updated, I'd rather wait until they get to an end or final version if that ever happens. Since I don't have any issues with OOMS or current performance using my PMDG prodcuts, vast scenery collection, etc, I have a hard time starting over just to gain cloud shadows, HDR and shader tweaks.

 

Plus like others have mentioned, suppose the DTG full sim due later ends up being really good?

 

For now I'll just wait and stick with what I have but if I was starting over from a HD crash I'd probably go with FSX Steam Edition.

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

The P3D vs FSX argument that one is better then the other is annoying because people need to realize they are both from the FSX generation. Until something new comes along they are not apples to oranges, they are two of the same apples but one has been genetically modified and the other you have to genetically modify it, but they are both the same apple.

 

Trying to argue which apple is better is worse then watching a bunch of rednecks argue that a Ford truck is better then a Dodge truck or a GMC truck or vice versa. It is annoying. Reality is people should choose what works best for them according to their needs and budgets, one is not better then the other but it is what is best for your needs.

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

I have almost got the system overclocked the way it was before the crash so tomorrow probably FSX-SE? Anything special I should know about that?

 

Hi Neil,

 

With FSX users we had a bunch of tweaks we did after a fresh install but with FSX:SE a lot of those tweaks have been added to it. DTG did quite a bit of patching that you can install FSX:SE and just stick your addon's onto it. I am using FSX:SE and decided to stay away from tweaks so I just do a fresh install and then put my addons after that. I now have a keep it simple approach with FSX:SE because tweaking is not really necessary anymore and it takes too much time anyways. 

 

I have my system overclocked as well and with the latest hardware you get great performance out of the box without tweaks. 

[Wobbie 938]

So, just to re-cap,

FSX, about 10 years old. No further updates. Development long frozen.

FSX:SE, re-released with a few tweaks to make it work more efficiently on modern PC's. No further updates.Development frozen.

P3D, updated & upgraded about 10 times as compared to FSX. (See the Prepar3d site for the changes). Constantly being upgraded. Development on-going.

Dovetails Flight Sim. Release later this year (?) 64bit, no compatibility with existing add-ons.

 

Maybe this sums it all up?

[zmak 331]

Since you have fsx-se you can pair it with DX10 fixer for stunning results, all shadows enabled and bloom with no noticable change in FPS

[wizzards 99]

it is a bit of a strange issue which to pick, FSX is standing still and is really going nowhere,DTG  will be 64bit and P3d V4 I assume will be shortly 64 bit,JV has stated that the free Orbx installer updates will not be available for v4,so as Orbx have been bloody good to us with lots of free updates,it must therefore involve a fair bit of reworking/rewriting of their scenery for it to be P3dv4 compatible?,no current add ons as far as I understand will work with a 64 bit program,its a decision that most of us will make sooner or later,only thing you can be certain of it will cost a lot of money and take some time to get back to the position I am in with P3d v3 today,or I could stop with P3d! which is not a bad place to be,

Peter