FSX:SE + P3D or X-Plane

[DragoB 25]

Hello!) fellow community!

 

Its time for me to get myself another simulator, and what I initially thought was getting p3d. It seemed like the proper choice to make.... but after seeing how good the x-plane iS, I am kinda puzzled as to which simulator to buy. I mainly use GA aircraft and would appreciate the actual aircraft modeling + nicer graphics above everything else. Well; can you guys give me some input as to why x-plane is better than p3d, and just compare the strengths of those two.

 

cheers

[YukonPete 581]

If someone here can tell you one is better then the other ( XP10 v P3D ) then you are not getting an honest opinion! Both are excellent in there own right and have strong and weak points. Lots of people on Avsim who have never really tried XP and will rant on and on about how much better P3D/FSX is. Would you take advice from someone who really never tried a product? I sure wouldn't. I would say if you are prepared to give XP a real go you wont regret it! Its an amazing simulator. Every bit as good as P3D. IMHO.

 

Why not try both.  

 

P3D has a 60 day refund policy  http://www.prepar3d.com/support/refundpolicy/

 

&

 

Steam has a 14 day refund policy for XP10  http://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/

[AviatorMoser 353]

If someone here can tell you one is better then the other ( XP10 v P3D ) then you are not getting an honest opinion! Both are excellent in there own right and have strong and weak points. Lots of people on Avsim who have never really tried XP and will rant on and on about how much better P3D/FSX is. Would you take advice from someone who really never tried a product? I sure wouldn't. I would say if you are prepared to give XP and real go you wont regret it! Its an amazing simulator. Every bit as good as P3D. IMHO.

 

Why not try both.  

 

P3D has a 60 day refund policy  http://www.prepar3d.com/support/refundpolicy/

 

&

 

Steam has a 14 day refund policy for XP10  http://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/

 

I would say this is the best answer we'll see, and it's only the first response.

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

I'm one of those people you use both. I bought XP well before I bought P3d and I was impressed by XP10's ease of installation, its stability and the lack of tweaking needed. Over time, XP10 has improved incrementally and one never has to worry about OOM error, like in P3d. There are also a good number of addons available for XP10, which there weren't, when I first bought it.

 

As to P3d, until a release version of either Aerofly 2 or the DTG Flight Simulator is available, P3d is the gold standard in flight simming. It is constantly updated also. Without too many conflicting addons bogging it down, it rarely crashes. But its main benefit is that FSX addon developers have moved on to P3d. The 3rd party aircraft are the best, especially A2A, RealAir and PMDG offerings. The addon scenery is the best as typified by the truly beautiful ORBX suite. Weather apps like ASN and AS16 add further to the realism. There is AI traffic and some semblance of ATC in the default P3d. If one wants more, there are addons for that also. All in all the transition from FSX to P3d is smoother and costs far less money (although it isn't free). Lastly, the developer tools for P3d are well established, since they were based on those for FSX. Don't like your local airport? Want to make your own aircraft? With a little patience, pretty much anyone can download some freeware apps and do either.

[VeryBumpy 272]

From how I see it, if you have FSX, P3D is just an upgrade.

 

X-Plane is a completely different and interesting piece of software.

 

I vote X-Plane since P3D is too 'same-y' but I would wait and purchase ver. 11.

[pilot83 387]

I tried both FSX and X-plane (proof is my historical posts in my profile about both sims), I cannot talk about P3D because I don't have this sim but if you lean more towatds eye candy such as ORBX, REX, ASN, A2A then the answer is known.

 

This is my opinion on XPlane:

 

For me flying = fluidity of the sim, X-plane allows this feeling due to the way it loads data.

For GA quality planes in XP, there is Carenado/Alabeo and Airffoil labs Cessna C172.

For scenery I like G2XPL (donationware) which allows you to generate photoscenery and World2xplane for autogen available on simheaven website which have also access to mesh data if you do not want photoreal. Default mesh and autogen are also acceptable.

There is a possibility to convert some of your FSX airports and cities to XP using FS2Xplane tool (The conversion is not always 100% correct and needs some editing)

XP 10.50 to be released very soon (currently in final stages of Beta) have new autogen with tall buildings for the US.

For Weather Sky Max pro gives you 3d clouds suitable for GA flying (if you do not like default clouds) associated with NOAA weather plugin or default weather.

Reflections: A developer is working on a plugin which according to him adds reflections to any aircraft.in XP10. On the other side, XP 11 will introduce Physically Based rendering technique for reflections and lighting.

Night lights uses HDR technique which gives real light effect (as opposed to baked light effect in FSX).

For support there is a facebook group (X plane dedicated) and the forums in X plane.org and Avsim.

Reshade Sweet FX is working in X plane (not all the features but most of them)

ATC and Ai traffic are weaker in X plane but some add ons are trying to improve this.

 

I learned over time that no sim is perfect and a sim is a continuous effort and investment from the simmer side (in time, freeware and payware) and from the developer side (in improving the sim and developing new add ons). Cheers!

[richie894 45]

From houw I see it, if you have FSX, P3D is just an upgrade.

 

X-Plane is a completely different and interesting piece of software.

 

I vote X-Plane since P3D is too 'same-y' but I would wait and purchase ver. 11.

It may be an upgrade but so far my experience hs been extremely positive with p3d. Much smoother and better looking with higher fps than I got with FSX. Very happy with the change. Also all of my add ons (minus PMDG) transitioned over smoothly.

[airlinejets 709]

Hi Drago,

 

At his moment in time, you can't go wrong with either. They both offer an astonishing flight simulation experience. Laminar have shown us what X-Plane 10 is capable of (Flightsimcon 2016), unfortunately, it won't happen till X-Plane 11.

 

I own both and presently favor P3D, if only for the fact that so many developers are moving it forward with addons. Frankly, I'm disappointed at Laminar for not including their PBR  lighting engine in XPX. This should have been part of the run.

 

Honestly, if you can afford it, get both.

[Jimmy RFR 406]

If someone here can tell you one is better then the other ( XP10 v P3D ) then you are not getting an honest opinion! Both are excellent in there own right and have strong and weak points. Lots of people on Avsim who have never really tried XP and will rant on and on about how much better P3D/FSX is. Would you take advice from someone who really never tried a product? I sure wouldn't. I would say if you are prepared to give XP a real go you wont regret it! Its an amazing simulator. Every bit as good as P3D. IMHO.

 

Why not try both.  

 

P3D has a 60 day refund policy  http://www.prepar3d.com/support/refundpolicy/

 

&

 

Steam has a 14 day refund policy for XP10  http://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/

 

Aside from being a great answer, I thought that it's worthwhile to point out that Steam's 14 day refund policy only applies if you have less than two hours of playtime on the title.  It's still a nice bit of insurance, but it's really, really easy to pass the two hour mark just poking around the menus!

[Guest JustanotherPilot]

I Happily use all of them, they all have their pros and cons, I select the one that suits my needs at the time,  depending on the type of flight, the aircraft and the desired complexity of the scenery.

 

I'm sure you'll be happy with any of them.

[sparkie66 81]

2 major things that are much nicer in p3d atm in my opinion:

 

Weather (asn)

Addons like gsx etc

 

Xp weather representation is still seriously lacking even with skymaxx pro and what not. It just doesnt look good viewed from an airliner.

 

I use xp a lot but still think it is not quite there yet. Still a great sim nontheless.

[Torx0148 4]

X plane for sure, at least (all i can say) x plane 11.

I have since 2007 beeing playing FSX, with addons and with no addons, been reinstalling it around 50 times in my live due to new computers and all that, so obviously you would think that it is my little baby and i will stick to that.

In 2015 i tried P3D, i mean, it's good and all that... but, other than 5 fps more and some new lightning (which is overrated i think), then FSX wins, also very much due to the lag of addon support in P3D. Other than that P3D is pretty much a copy of FSX so i moved back to FSX because of all the addons.

 

So.. 4 days ago i bought X plane 11 and IXEG 737.

X plane 11... it's ######ing amazing. Just mentioning a few things that is not in P3D or FSX - nicely sloped runways, PERFECTLY DONE night lightning that you will NEVER get in FSX or P3D even with addons, flight dynamics are freaking epic and real (i know this because it's harder to control the planes in x plane, and i fly soaring planes irl). That was just 3 things.

 

A big thing is also the scenery, you can't compare FSX/P3D to xplanes scenery, not even with ORBX or whatever it's called, X plane's scenery is perfect as it is and if that's not enough, then you can just download a freeware addon called HD mesh 2 or something, that will give you some better scenery (although it's not needed at all, but its there).

 

The performance is awesome, also because it's alot more smooth, i have I7 6700HQ (yes... a laptop.. ), GTX 1060 6 Gb and 16 Gb 2133 mhz ram, that's not even that good again, it's good, but for the price of that laptop i could have bought a computer with two 1060's in and a 6700K. My point is, you don't need it, atleast not for xplane.

 

So i run everything maxed out, apart from the scenery objects shown (i have that on very high i think, just before ultra) and i run 4xSSAA + FXAA, i get, and dont get disappointed yet, stable 14-20 FPS (depending on wether im on the ground or cruising), very smooth, you don't even notice the low fps because it runs so smooth, now remember, this is with IXEG 737 which is mathcing with PMDG 737 performance hit i think, in C172 i get alot more (cant really remember the numbers but it is alot, like atleast 40 fps stable). 

 

Another thing is the very underrated addon support, it's not that bad at all, IXEG 737 beats PMDG big time (that's what i think, i've flown alot of PMDG 737). But that's just one payware, out of a thousand FREEWARES. The freeware market is insane, some of the stuff you can get in there is equal to the stuff you get for FSX/P3D for 50$+. Here is a picture of default x plane scenery vs p3d (could only find modded scenery, but that just proves my point even more):

X plane:

 

P3D (remember, modded):

 

It's amazing, even when flying at higher altitudes in P3D, scenery still looks better in xplane..

 

So, that's my experience with xplane (11), FSX was my baby, tried P3D for a few months.. nah, x plane 11 is my new favorit sim, not doubt, freeware addon market, scenery, grapichs in general, flight dynamics (amazing), you could actually just buy this game, fly the C172 (or their boeing 737NG, its just not all done yet i think, but there is FMC and all that, so it is possible) and enjoy it, you dont need anything, not even maps, cuz they got a perfect map with VFR data and airways and all that, you don't need another GPS they got that all worked for you, GPS also shows airspaces i think (not in EU yet though, but that will come i think). 

So people, got buy it!! FSX is 11 years ago, P3D is based on something 11 years ago, X plane is like the future, btw. dovetails new flight sim is also gonna be based on something 11 years ago and there is no addon support for that i think, we all know how that felt in dovetails flight school with 3-4 planes (not to insult dovetails new sim, its interresting indeed, but.. it doesnt really have a future, atleast not if they haven't changed everything (they haven't)).

 

Best regards:

Tor Jakobsen

PS: (sorry for gramma mistakes)

THERE IS one thing to keep in mind tho. At this stage xplane 11 is in beta, which also means that IXEG 737 etc. is a bit bugged and other things is a bit bugged, but they keep on updating it and it will release eventuelly, and honestly it still works better and more stable than FSX or P3D ever did.

[DragoB 25]

Couldnt agree more With you chap. Its been a couple of months while me both having P3D and Xplane. Xplane beats P3D on the vfr level by far, while p3d is better with regards to big tins and ifr flying in general. Its up to each user to decide what fits them. Thing is, as you said , I've probably spent a mere 1.000 Dollars on addons only for p3d while as little as 100-200 in xplane addons. Still satisfied!

[RichieFly 725]

I would reiterate that XP 11 is still in beta and yet to be released. I would wait until they release it and then check reviews.

 

My experience with XP is much different than what I've read here on the Avsim forums. Let's just say I personally don't like it and I have been trying to like XP for several years now.

 

I'm not a FSX nor P3D fan-boy. I understand, like said before, each will have strengths and weaknesses.

 

My personal favorite flight modeled aircraft are in DCS. And I like DCS, but one can shoot stuff for only so long. Civ aviation is infinitely enjoyable. I think DCS's flight models are the best (on some aircraft) because the flight model is coded within each aircraft; meaning each one can be crafted by the engineers and not be held back by a generic flight model baked into a given flight sim product. Perhaps XP11 shares this benefit--don't know.

[Paraffin 2,197]

My personal favorite flight modeled aircraft are in DCS. And I like DCS, but one can shoot stuff for only so long. Civ aviation is infinitely enjoyable. I think DCS's flight models are the best (on some aircraft) because the flight model is coded within each aircraft; meaning each one can be crafted by the engineers and not be held back by a generic flight model baked into a given flight sim product. Perhaps XP11 shares this benefit--don't know.

 

If I'm not mistaken, later in the XP10 cycle it was opened up for deeper access to the flight model by 3rd party plugins, and that was aimed at getting more developers on board. Hence the PMDG D-6 test model, and the Simcoders Reality Expansion Packs, similar to what A2A does with FSX and P3D.

 

I don't think X-Plane (even version 11) can match what DCS does in modeling the outer edge of the flight envelope, like you need to do in a combat sim (especially low and high speed stalls). But progress has been made in other areas. Austin has been working on the PT6 free turbine realism, tire friction, prop slipstream, etc.

 

It's a constantly advancing sim, just not always at the speed us users would like in certain areas (weather, seasons... grumble, moan, complain). You can track recent progress on some of the aerodynamic modeling here at the dev blog: http://developer.x-plane.com/