I think it's safe to assume that v4 will break compatibility with a huge number of addons, including the entire OrbX back catalog, and most addon aircraft except simple ones that rely on default FDE and gauges or very simple XML gauges only.

 

For this reason, I'd say now is the best time to buy P3D v3. All add-ons work, all the quirks and issues are known, tweaks and workarounds are well documented. I'm running 3.4, and it's the best version of the ESP platform I've ever used. It's stable, performs reasonably well (as well as you could expect a 15+ years old codebase to work) and looks really good. If you buy P3D v4 when it comes out, you'll spend the first year *waiting* for the next airport or aircraft or weather addon to be ported over (probably with an upgrade fee attached) rather than flying.

 

Personally, I have no VAS related problems. Sure, 32-bit is a major limitation, so you might want to stop piling on add-ons at this time to retain stability. But at this time, the way my sim is configured right now, there are no issues and it looks and runs great.

Hey Jimmie, from the best of your recollection, what does 3.4 bring over 3.0 in terms of performance, defined as smoothness, image quality/freedom from blurries, and frame rate.

 

And could I get away w/ the client app update only?  I have 4 primary plane add ons, FSCaptain, several FTX regionals, 4 FSDT airports or so.  It's tempting, but truthfully at this point the only trouble is a minor one w/ the Majestic Q400 which messes w/ HDR--I have to load any view twice to have HDR manifest.  I have amazingly excellent total performance currently, with truly buttery smooth and excellent terrain texture update rate.  I'm always concerned about breaking something hence stick with what works.  This being said, if we're in for the long haul on 3.x I would consider the update to 3.4 as long as I didn't have to load every product over again at which point I would think twice.

My best advice for you Noel...make sure you have a very good backup.

My best advice for you Noel...make sure you have a very good backup.

 

Yep, I always image the H: drive (SSD where Prepar3D is installed) and the C: drive before installing any major updates.

 

I don't think there are any major differences among the 3.x versions, just smaller tweaks and fixes, but the latest 3.4.22.19868 is kind of the culmination of all those incremental improvements, and maybe the last v3.x version we will see...

OK, well, fortunately I have OS & P3D all on the same SSD and image that very infrequently but just happened to about a month ago.  Which was great because after installing FSDT Hawaiian Airports 1&2 a mandatory upgrade of GSX occurred, and this appeared to create a problem I couldn't undo after several hours of messing around, so just restored the recent image and all is well.   I still have to figure out if it was the GSX update that caused the issue I suddenly developed because the only way to get back to former GSX is to install from an image and not update.  I have some things I can test now to see.

 

Thanks guys.  Because of all the dependencies of a primary app w/ myriad content developers I don't support LM's incremental update model.  I'd much rather see them have a beta team that tests those, then release major updates say every 2y or so to the buying public.  So much easier on 3rd party devs and users alike.   Presumably they are just using a larger beta-testing group in their paying user base.  As long as they kept everyone posted w/ progress reports people would stick around I would think.  Just look at how long it's taken Aerosoft to release their CRJ--6 years now or something like that, and lotsa of folks are following that.  I tire easily now of trouble-shooting and the incessant fixing.   Just give me something that works and be done with it...for 2y!