Any reason to upgrade from 3.2 to 3.3.5?

[Christopher Low 5,337]

I assume that only the latest versions of 1.x and 2.x are available?

[Jimm 437]

It seems they only keep the full versions of P3D on their site, not the upgrade versions. Why they do that , I have no idea.  I even posted  the problems I had rolling back from 3.3 to 3.2 on their forum, to help other people that experienced problems with 3.3, and they deleted my post after 2 days. That isn't very helpful in my opinion, especially considering all the posts complaining about issues with 3.3 installs. with their stock replies of , " uninstall all your addons and try it", or my favorite, " do a complete install" and see if that works. The client upgrade to 3.3, introduced so many errors in my P3D, that if I hadn't had a backup copy of 3.2, I would have had to uninstall the entire sim and do a full install of  3.3. Even with my backup copy of 3.2, I had to repeat the uninstall and reinstall procedure several times before it "took".   

Let's rewind the tape, shall we?  First off, the introduce a new way of upgrading, reconfiguring folders for such upgrades, and then a slew of people come along, posting their issues with that, to which they come back with the boilerplate reply of "just perform a full install or full reinstall".  Ok, I get it, jokes on us.  Not everyone can do the minimal upgrade, for whatever reasons, and you get several people who come back with the typical reply of "I did the abbreviated install of the upgrade and had no issues"...good for you, but isn't the whole point to having that feature is to ensure that everyone doesn't have this problem?  Ok, moving on, so we get to what, 4 incarnations of v3 now (v3.1, v3.2, v3.3, and v3.3.5) and people are still having problems, that they claim didn't exist before.  Ok, I buy that too, but in the defense of LM, whatever is installed outside of their core sim and problems arise, it is on us, not LM.

 

Now, with that said, they have to realize there are issues that may be caused by whatever incompatibility, or perhaps LM changed something that broke something else, but hey, at least give the customer the option to rollback to a version upgrade that worked, at least until they come out with a new version (ex. v4.0).

 

I hate to sound cold, but for those who hastily deleted their older version upgrade installs, this is a hard lesson.  When new anything comes from LM, save it, keep it, burn it on DVD or save it to another drive...don't get rid of those installs, because they may come in handy.

 

I know, damage done, lesson learned now, but as for the here and now, it seems to be a pretty futile argument if LM won't cave and provide this sort of support to their customers.  It almost seems like they recognize their failure somewhere and to avoid collapse of their collective egos, they force people to install and keep the latest version and if anything happens with the install, the fault automatically defaults to 3rd party add-ons.  That may or may not be true, but at least give the customer the benefit of the doubt and allow them to troubleshoot in this manner.  For what it's worth (somewhat related), ORBX made it clear, after the debacle of the their OpenLCLookup rollout, that the user doesn't have to migrate to the new methods right now, if the method caused an issue (hence the big blue button and option to close the window for migration).

 

Anywho, my rule of thumb is that I keep everything up until a point where I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt that certain versions either or no longer needed, replaced with solid performing upgrades or were broken to begin with, all the while, leaving plenty of hard drive space available.  A good tech tip for those who are interested, I recently purchased a 4tb Western Digital MyCloud external HDD, for a really low price and I use that as my external storage and it works great for backing up my archives and is just as quick to pull something down from it for reinstalls.

[anden145 2,284]

Pardon my temporary ignorance to all things social but I don't use Facebook, hence missing the message.  So this begs the question as to why LM got rid of previous v3 versions, but left v2 and v1 available, doesn't make sense, especially since they have made great strides with v3 in general that overshadow what they developed in versions 1 and 2.

 

Making it "impossible" to procure older versions of v3 is peculiar.  I guess I'm fortunate to have been smart enough to keep my own archive of previous versions, just in case something breaks, but for those who haven't it almost seems like they have to live with their issues until LM releases more fixes or a new version altogether. 

 

Well... it isn't really that much of a mystery, is it? Since you have to purchase a new version between, Prepar3D v1, Prepar3D v2 and Prepar3D v3 it makes good sense, that they keep the latest builds of their versions available... 

 

If only v3 were available, what would people who only purchased v2 do, when they had to re-download it?

[ErichB 3,638]

 

 

It seems they only keep the full versions of P3D on their site, not the upgrade versions. Why they do that , I have no idea.

 

I guess they want to reduce the number of people using older versions (and providing associated support) while trying to move things forward with successive versions.  Nothing else seems reasonable. 

[Bobsk8 12,578]

Just read on the LM forum a post where someone is begging for 3.2.....  Maybe if enough people add to that thread, they will decide to make it available. 

[Cargostorm 151]

... or wait until the beloved addon has made compatible with 3.3. Nothing wrong with the version, if one is careful with the sliders and VAS usage. Together wit PTA it is an overwhelming experience and feels like a new simulator.

 

LM has also deactivated their previous download links for 3.2 that worked a while if you had the URLs. So I doubt that they make it available. On the other hand, there would be no hurt to provide the previous versions on own user's risk.

[ErichB 3,638]

Just read on the LM forum a post where someone is begging for 3.2..... Maybe if enough people add to that thread, they will decide to make it available.

If I was LM, I wouldn't. The barrage of inane whinging about support for older versions is obviously stretching their capacity or willingness to help. God alone knows why people don't save down and keep full versions of every install. People are constantly bleating on about going back to older versions, yet they continue to make the same mistakes.  I've also made that mistake in the past but moved forward.  Sometimes crying about it doesn't help.

[Jimm 437]

Just read on the LM forum a post where someone is begging for 3.2.....  Maybe if enough people add to that thread, they will decide to make it available. 

Maybe, but if they are not justifying why they need the previous version, they won't get anywhere.  If the users with issues in v3.3.5 gave valid, justified reasons why they want to go back, perhaps LM will either work with them to maintain satisfied customers, or work to improve on whatever mistakes were made with the release.  Judging by the recent "fix" they released (3.3.5), they are aware of issues.

 

As I said before, the core sim is sound, but once you start adding in 3rd party content, things change.  It isn't up to LM to test add-ons with their sims, or at least, are not required to do so and I think that's where the disconnect is.  Popular add-ons such as ActiveSkyNext, ORBX, UTX are assumed to be compliant at the time of a new versions release, so when they break, people freak.  Users don't want to have to go through the arduous task of uninstalling their content and testing the sim "bare", to ensure it works on their system.

 

From where I'm sitting, I see three distinct types of users, the first being ones who grab the latest of everything (not looking before leaping), then their sim breaks and they, as Erich so eloquently put it, "whine" about it.  The second are those who read about the upgrades, but overlook key points, install it, it breaks, and then get into long discussions that would make Dick Cavett cringe.  Lastly, there are those who wait, and wait, and wait, sitting back listening to the other two groups go at it, then spin the wheel in hopes they aren't stuck with issues OR they wait long enough for fixes.

 

I am in the fourth group, those who wait, but don't anticipate upgrading until the last possible moment or even worse, don't even bother because of that old mantra of "if it isn't broke, don't fix it".  V3.2 still runs like a champ and I am satisfied.  If and when a new version comes out that blows the doors off every other version, then I may look in to it.

[sgreen91 182]

 

 

Lastly, there are those who wait, and wait, and wait, sitting back listening to the other two groups go at it, then spin the wheel in hopes they aren't stuck with issues OR they wait long enough for fixes.

 

I would be this group.  I waited about a week or so (due to being on Vacation) then upgraded once back.

 

I was one of the lucky ones with no issues so I deleted my 3.2 client updater.  I wish I would have read this board earlier maybe I could have sent out the updater for those wanting to return to 3.2.

 

For myself I'm happy with the update.

[Sebjo89 33]

When  LM releases P3D V.4 will it be a new full price license or upgrade fee?

[Sebjo89 33]

Is it naive to think that LM will release P3D V4 within 60 days? 

 

I am thinking of buying Prepar3d v3.4 and in their FAQ it says the following:

 

I have Prepar3D v1/v2, do I get an upgrade or a discount for Prepar3D v3?

If you have purchased Prepar3D v1/v2 within 60 days of your purchase, per the refund policy, you can request a refund and then purchase the desired license of Prepar3D v3. There are no exchanges, upgrades, or discounts available.

 

 

 

 

 

____________________

Sebastian Björk

[WebMaximus 372]

I certainly wouldn't buy P3D at this point in time and especially not version 3.4 looking at all issues people had with this version myself included.

[GSalden 4,656]

There are also lots of people , like myself, who don't have any issues with P3Dv3...

[WebMaximus 372]

True.

 

Just saying if it was my money I wouldn't take my chances only to discover I wasn't one of the lucky few who never had any VAS issues with 3.4. And then like icing on the cake witness how P3Dv4 is released shortly thereafter after which I would then have to pay full price for again unless it happens within 60 days of my purchase of P3Dv3.

 

Should also emphasize my advice is specifically about version 3.4 and not P3Dv3 in general. I'm on 3.2 known by many people to be the most stable version in regards of VAS management and I know 3.3 is successfully used by many people as well. What I don't know is if you're able to get previous versions as a new customer.

[Noel 4,487]

Man, I am so much more interested in flying than updating to the latest version...I'm still using 3.0 and never get OOMs or other problems.  Liquid smooth and fabulous performance.   A few days ago I got brave and decided to reinstall FSDT Hawaiian Airports.  With it comes the mandatory update to the latest version of GSX.  And with that problems began ensuing.  After a couple of hours of trying to fix those problems I ended up restoring a cloned image done about a month ago, thank God.  I don't know how or why folks follow this incessant frequent incremental update scheme.  What an expensive way to move a franchise forward.  All of those content developers who have to update to P3D's latest just to keep current.  Very time-costly for developers and users alike.