OpusFSX to OpusFSI - Upgrade

[aerostar 42]

I have had OpusFSX for years and thinking about upgrading to the latest version - OpusFSI....   is there a discounted or reduced price to upgrade ?

 

[Opus Software 84]

There was for over 18 months. Now the upgrade has been discontinued to simplify licensing for those that upgraded and instead the price of OpusFSI has been reduced to just $5 above the previous upgrade price.

 

Stephen

[aerostar 42]

Can you outline the benefits I would have to upgrade ?

 

I have used it for years and it did seem to be good and work ok...  I had come from EzDok which was a bit complicated.

 

Recently, though I tried streaming and that brought my PC to it's knees... very stuttery.. so I tried to streamline the items running, to get better results. I tested removing Opus and try with EzDok again and straight away I noticed better performance, smoother TrackIR movement and streaming, I also tried with ASN again and overall this combination (with a few features in ASN reduced) works better than Opus it seems.

 

I think I vaguely remember, way back, around the time of release of the Opus FSI version there was little or no discount to upgrade, I carried on and didn't know there were any changes to that policy.

 

Would the newer version give me better performance for TrackIR (ver 4) and live streaming of P3Dv3 and give better CPU usage, efficiency?

 

Thanks...

 

I7 2600K @ 4.9gz  -  GTX980ti @ 1450mz

[Opus Software 84]

Sorry you are wrong in your assumptions and when OpusFSI was released there was a 50% discount. OpusFSI also has far less impact on the sim than does EZCA, most reporting 3 to 6 FPS increase when OpusFSI is used. TrackIR can be configured to be perfectly smooth, as expected since OpusFSI uses the NP SDK. It is also not possible to compare other sources of weather when you have things like DHM and Bump Aircraft enabled. Of course OpusFSI injects the most detailed weather than any other weather source, but should have little in no impact on the sims performance. No idea what you are talking about streaming.

 

The FSISERVER must of course be active on the main flying machine, but apart from the impact of DHM and Bump Aircraft, will not impact on the FPS. Last measurement was less than 1 FPS (in other words no impact) for the weather engine. After all, apart from turbulence monitoring and DWC it's sitting there doing nothing. We have very good feedback from our 6000+ Live Weather Engine users and still have reports of a 3 to 6 FPS increase when the external (non invasive) FSISERVER program is used with Live Camera over other camera addons.

 

OpusFSX is of course an obsolete program and is not recommended for anything above P3D version 1. For P3D, users should be using the latest OpusFSI Version 4.45.6 release should be used in conjunction with the OpusPDK Interface. Live Weather should be operated in default 'non selective' mode which is now not compatible or available in P3D.

 

Stephen

[aerostar 42]

Thanks for your reply and info... 

 

reports of a 3 to 6 FPS increase when the external (non invasive) FSISERVER program is used with Live Camera over other camera addons.

 

...does this mean if I run OpusFSI on another computer networked to my main that I would get better performance in my SIM...  if so what are the, if any, drawbacks ? 

 

Streaming is, for me, broadcasting my live flights over the internet from the PC using OBS or X-Split in conjunction with Twitch.com or YouTube streaming service. If I can set up another computer for OpusFSI then it may be also beneficial to use it in some way to ease the load of streaming/recording etc from my main PC but I don't know if and how that would be possible. Are there any features in OpusFSI that would help ?

 

The OpusPDK is another interface required for P3Dv3 ?  Does this come with OpusFSI and what does it actually do....

[Opus Software 84]

The FSISERVER program must run on the same computer as your sim, it cannot be run networked as it needs direct contact with the sim via the SimConnect, P3D PDK, and FSUIPC4 interfaces. We don't test or support networked operation but if you disable DHM and the PDK you may be able to setup a networked system. Not something we provide assistance with though.

 

The OpusPDK Interface is provided as standard with separate OpusPDK libraries for P3D v2 and v3 systems. In P3D v3 it is only used for DHM in VC cockpit views due to bugs in P3D v3 code.

 

During streaming you could disable DHM to help improve performance as the sim is working much harder with DHM enabled. Bump Aircraft should also be disabled as its not suitable for all aircraft sims which cannot cope with RW turbulent motions.

 

Stephen

[JYW 2,980]

I'm still "chuggling along" on OpusFSX  (in FSX).

 

As a point of principal I just don't agree to having to pay a full retail price for OpusFSI, as an OpusFSX customer. 

 

Most other vendors that release 'evolved version' software, offer a permanent upgrade path (Active Sky, but also Majestic, for the Q400 upgrade, RealAir for their 'V2s', etc).

 

I will be looking to upgrade my weather capabilities soon, and it's disappointing (as a customer of Opus since it's first product was released), that buying into ASN as a brand new customer will probably prove better value that 'upgrading' to OpusFSI.

 

[/moan]. :smile:

[Opus Software 84]

As I said originally the discounted upgrade option was available for well over 18 months (nearly two years in fact). We also no longer sell OpusFSX, haven't done for quite some time since OpusFSI is better in every respect. We have no plans to reintroduce an upgrade path for the obsolete OpusFSX product as that would once again complicate licensing for our users and would only save a small amount.

 

Stephen

[aerostar 42]

 

 

Live Weather should be operated in default 'non selective' mode which is now not compatible or available in P3D.

 

... not sure if this is referring to OpusFSX or FSI ...  is it meaning that Live Weather does not now work with P3Dv3 and therefore it's using older or canned weather ?  Unsure what Non selective mode means...

[Opus Software 84]

Of course the OpusFSI Live Weather Engine works 'perfectly' with ALL versions of P3D and all also with both the FSX and FSX Steam sims.

 

P3D however does not allow the OpusFSI Selective Update mode to be used which is NOT a recommended mode of operation anyway in OpusFSI. It was only added to please the few.

 

Stephen

[Helge Rasmussen 7]

That explains it I have been been away from FSX for several years and just got the itch again, so was trying to download and install my products, but couldn't get it to work until I noticed that it now is called OpusFSI, is an entirely new product and that I have to pay for it. 

 

Too bad the upgrade path does not exist anymore or I would have paid for an upgrade, I doubt I will pay full price again.

 

Helge

[Opus Software 84]

The previous OpusFSX product is also available if you care to look down the page a little ...

OpusFSX 'Reinstall' Ver 3.55.0

29 Oct 2015, 24.2 Mb

 

To simplify the licensing for those who upgraded. The 'full' price of the new OpusFSI product was reduced to just 5 dollars above the 'final' upgrade price after the upgrade offer was discontinued. The discounted upgrade offer had been available for over 18 months at the time. The discounted 'full' cost was introduced to accommodate all users, old and new.

 

Stephen :smile:

[ajpongress 467]

Just my 2 cents,

 

I'm an OpusFSX owner and I haven't simmed in FSX/P3D for a couple years. I'm just getting back into it and there is no way I'm paying $58 CAD (after the USD-CAD conversion) for OpusFSI just to get the updated camera functions when I'm already using ASN for my weather.

Imo, no matter how long you offered the discount, it should always be there for customers who return to upgrade their product, and even if I had been around during the 2 year period you described according to what you said the price for me would only have been around $53.

 

$53 for an upgrade is silly. I probably wouldn't have done it then, either.

 

You guys also may want to consider separating the camera stuff from your software and offering it as a standalone purchase for a reduced price. I would buy it then. I've read posts of others saying the same thing.

 

Good luck with FSI.

[Opus Software 84]

The upgrade price started out at 50% and slowly increased over time. Many improvements / enhancements were made to the Live Camera interface which also includes an LM PDK interface and P3D v2 and v3 compatibility.

 

Stephen

[ajpongress 467]

The upgrade price started out at 50% and slowly increased over time. Many improvements / enhancements were made to the Live Camera interface which also includes an LM PDK interface and P3D v2 and v3 compatibility.

 

Stephen

 

Stephen, I have no doubt you guys did a lot of great things with it and improved it, but for me paying $58 for what is essentially just a camera add-on isn't worth it. I have no interest in the weather portion. Bundling it together doesn't leave people with any options if they already purchased another wx addon, and there are several.

 

What isn't plentiful are camera addons. EZDok is the only other addon I know of that works in P3D v3 (and it's not even that stable). You guys would make a killing by offering a P3D compatible camera addon on it's own because right now the market is extremely bare.