Any reason to upgrade from 3.2 to 3.3.5?

[Cargostorm 151]

I upgraded to 3.1 and 3.2 without any problem. (Only the Client update) But after 3.3.5 P3D CTD after wellcome screen.

 

I would strongly RECOMMEND also to update CONTENT as it affects the menus in P3D. CLIENT may not be sufficient.

Make that 12 people using P3D v3.1 :smile:

 

It might be okay to continue using 3.1 if you do not use Chris Bell's Night Environment X as v3.1 has a serious memory leak. This has been fixed in 3.2 and 3.3

[Christopher Low 5,352]

v3.1 does not have those arcade waves. I rest my case. As for upgrading, I am guessing that I would need to reinstall the entire simulator (as the v3.2 client installer will no longer be available, and I suspect that updating the client from v3.1 to v3.3 directly would not be possible).

[Bobsk8 12,668]

Finally bit the bullet and decided to give 3.3 a try, making sure I had a copy of 3.2 on the ready.  So far, I have noticed a slight reduction in FPS with 3.3 maybe about 10% lower. I also notice that if I change weather or time or airport, I get that spinning windows wheel and it says "not responding" for about 10 seconds before it starts loading. Never saw that happen before.  So far, not impressed.  

[anden145 2,285]

Finally bit the bullet and decided to give 3.3 a try, making sure I had a copy of 3.2 on the ready.  So far, I have noticed a slight reduction in FPS with 3.3 maybe about 10% lower. I also notice that if I change weather or time or airport, I get that spinning windows wheel and it says "not responding" for about 10 seconds before it starts loading. Never saw that happen before.  So far, not impressed.  

 

I'm not impressed either... 

 

I'm getting OOM's in 3.3 with lower settings, which I didn't get with 3.2. Also getting lower FPS... don't know what's changed exactly but I'm keeping 3.2 so far... 

 

Maybe some sceneries are worse than others? FlyTampa Copenhagen is worse for me in 3.3 (with regards to FPS and VAS) than in 3.2.

[Bobsk8 12,668]

I'm not impressed either... 

 

I'm getting OOM's in 3.3 with lower settings, which I didn't get with 3.2. Also getting lower FPS... don't know what's changed exactly but I'm keeping 3.2 so far... 

 

Maybe some sceneries are worse than others? FlyTampa Copenhagen is worse for me in 3.3 (with regards to FPS and VAS) than in 3.2.

 

More than a few people that upgraded on Facebook have had to roll back to 3.2 because issues, like OOMs, FPS, etc.. I am going to stick with 3.3 for a bit, but if it doesn't improve, back to 3.2. 

[Nemo 1,305]

Same here, after two weeks+ with v.3.3.5 I am back to v.3.2 which is less stuttery and has better VAS managment imo.

[DaveCT2003 1,820]

This is very interesting.  I did a fresh install of 3.3, then the 3.35 client and I've yet to experience anything negative.  The longest flight I've made was 3 hours, using payware scenery for all the departure and arrival airports. I also run FTX Global / Vector.  I use middle of the road to slightly higher P3D graphics settings, REX TD/SC for weather textures and ASN for weather.

 

Best wishes to everyone.

[Christopher Low 5,352]

Maybe the upgrade option is the cause of some people's problems?

[SpiritFlyer 987]

P3D v3.3.5 best yet.

 

Did upgrade with Client and Content. Full add-on load, fly with far right settings on Windows 10-64.

 

Not a single OOM or anything like it. Love the huge waves with Freeware global ships, high winds full clouds.

 

What a great sim!

 

Kind regards,

[Wolf0 31]

Just to add my findings to this topic: updated from 3.2 to 3.3.5 (hotfix) via the client upgrade method.

 

I updated the sim hoping to get rid of a problem that I was experiencing with some RF Scenery Building airports (LICC, LICR, LIRQ, LFKB, LFKJ, LSGG and UMKK). These airports had runway textures that were disappearing when the viewpoint was in a certain angle.

 

We had a topic here on avsim with a user showing the exact same issues only with a custom made scenery:

www.avsim.com/topic/488783-scenery-disappearing-under-certain-angles-p3dv32/

youtu.be/GIizdVTdKA0

 

This was related to a z-bias bug that was preventing the correct order of the textures to be displayed on 3.2. As stated on the new P3Dv3.3 features list:

«Fixed custom z bias scenery flickering issues including runways and runway markings»

 

With 3.3 all these issues are gone, and these airports are now 100% operational again.

 

In conclusion: for me it's a good update. Performance wise it looks the same as 3.2 and it's good to think that we feared that we'd loose backwards compatibility on some (FS2K2 SDK) sceneries, only to find that we gained more flexibility. At least for now!

[Cargostorm 151]

I'm getting OOM's in 3.3 with lower settings, which I didn't get with 3.2. Also getting lower FPS... don't know what's changed exactly but I'm keeping 3.2 so far...

 

I tended to agree and nearly went back from 3.3.5 to 3.2 this weekend. I could re-create an OOM error when flying to EDDF v2 from UK2000 EGLL. I could even see the VAS number counting down until the OOM message popped up. I then de-activated some 3rd party autogen addon around EDDF (Geoszene) and adjusted the LOD slider from ultra to medium. Doing this, I gained about 250-300MB VAS, which helped. I am still in doubt whether the VAS management in 3.3 is not worse than in 3.2

 

On a longer flight (EDDF to OMDB), I came across a G2D.DLL error over Hungarian air space, which I received the first time and the result was a CTD. Before that happened, the sim was getting unflyable and the fps dropped down to 10 fps. I repeated the flight and the fps drop happened again.

 

According to the AVSIM CTD, this error message hints to some 3rd party addon in the DLL.xml. So I deactivated bglmanx.bgl (FSDT) and also the couatl.exe in the exe.xml and fsinsider.dll (Multi Crew Exerperience MCE). I repeated the flight again and now there were no issues. I now have to investigate whether said DLLs can be re-activated using their latest updates.

 

What I am trying to say is that you could try to deactivate all 3rd party addons in the DLL.xml and EXE.xlm and see whether your sim behaves better. Often a particular addon or P3D is blamed which might just be the cause of something else not working properly.

[anden145 2,285]

I tended to agree and nearly went back from 3.3.5 to 3.2 this weekend. I could re-create an OOM error when flying to EDDF v2 from UK2000 EGLL. I could even see the VAS number counting down until the OOM message popped up. I then de-activated some 3rd party autogen addon around EDDF (Geoszene) and adjusted the LOD slider from ultra to medium. Doing this, I gained about 250-300MB VAS, which helped. I am still in doubt whether the VAS management in 3.3 is not worse than in 3.2

 

On a longer flight (EDDF to OMDB), I came across a G2D.DLL error over Hungarian air space, which I received the first time and the result was a CTD. Before that happened, the sim was getting unflyable and the fps dropped down to 10 fps. I repeated the flight and the fps drop happened again.

 

According to the AVSIM CTD, this error message hints to some 3rd party addon in the DLL.xml. So I deactivated bglmanx.bgl (FSDT) and also the couatl.exe in the exe.xml and fsinsider.dll (Multi Crew Exerperience MCE). I repeated the flight again and now there were no issues. I now have to investigate whether said DLLs can be re-activated using their latest updates.

 

What I am trying to say is that you could try to deactivate all 3rd party addons in the DLL.xml and EXE.xlm and see whether your sim behaves better. Often a particular addon or P3D is blamed which might just be the cause of something else not working properly.

 

Yearh I know... But I tried installing FTX Global, FTX EU OpenLC, VidanDesign Bornholm EKRN and FlyTampa Copenhagen as the only sceneries ... And I still got on OOM ... Always on final into FlyTampa Copenhagen...

 

Anyway - I know I could troubleshoot, but my time is kinda limited - and since it's working very well in 3.2 (and I don't gain anything - not even better cloud performance in 3.3) I don't see why I should go the extra mile to make it work... 

[Gregg_Seipp 568]

I upgraded mine on Friday night but had only a bit of sim time over the weekend.  I haven't monitored VAS yet, nor flown into any tough airports.  Two things I noticed. 

 

1.  Flying in dense clouds it was much better...still a load but no serious stuttering.  That's huge to me...the weather looks more real. 

 

2.  Flying in windowed mode was tough, tough on frames.  I haven't delved into it much...like I said, only a little time this weekend...but I went back and forth a few times, saw it drop when in windowed mode, maybe half the frames, and then back up when full screen.

 

I'll try to sneak a couple of flights in this week. 

[Cargostorm 151]

Strange thing is going on with 3.3:

 

When I start in EDDF v2 to OMDB, I see a gradual fps decrease enroute from 90 fps down to 30fps when I reach LOWW. When I continue the route, fps gradually drops further down to 10 fps until the sim becomes unflyable. The tests were repeated with a clean dll.xml and exe.xml using ASN for weather (+EZDOK/TrackIR), but so far it does not really improve. I was also using time acceleration in order to see the gradual fps decrease more quickly, and to save flight time. When I have more time I will be testing with a clean simobject.cfg and scenery.cfg to rule out that any addon may be the cause.

[Jimm 437]

I've read through the comments here, mainly because I needed a little more hands-on confirmation (outside of any published information from LM), about how well 3.3 performed over 3.2.  I downloaded 3.3 and have it in the archives, waiting to be installed, but I can't bring myself to do it, since 3.2 is running better than before, and I attribute it to my add-ons working better.  More specifically, I have all ORBX scenery installed and now with fixes in place with that, the sim is much smoother and clearer.  Previous issues with the ORBX migration caused some issues, but that's fixed.  I had some issue with the Couatl engine, but that got fixed with a download of the standalone updater.  Airports from various vendors work just fine now.

 

I still don't see any reason to upgrade, and with the OP's recent poll, it seems safe to say that sticking with 3.2 for now is not a bad idea.  Now granted, in the future, perhaps towards that second half of the year, when more vendors release products that favor 3.3, I may consider it.  I still feel that LM is working out some issues and maybe working on the next iteration.  I've been looking at recent iterations of P3D with the mindset that if I haven't bought and installed anything new and everything I currently have works, then sticking with the previous version is safe, unless of course, there were issues before.

 

I thank the OP for bringing this out in the open and appreciate the feedback.  I'm sure there will be more feedback later and I'll read up on it as it comes.