I never used FS2004 :wink:

 

To be honest, I don't recall ever worrying about whether addons from old versions of FS would work in the new releases. Probably because I was so disappointed with every version of MSFS between FS5 and FS2002 that I didn't actually care! That's why I switched to the Flight Unlimited series when FU2 was released in December 1997, and effectively stayed there until 2008. Quite why I purchased FS2000 and FS2002 will remain one of the greatest mysteries of the modern age :huh:

Will developers be able to convert the existing scenery addons for the 64bit environment or are they going to have to do them from scratch? Why exactly the existing 3d models and graphics files wouldn't work in 64bit P3D - if they "just" upgrade the current engine and don't make the completely new engine of course in that case it's obvious nothing of the existing stuff would work. I just wonder how much work would it be for a developer to convert 32bit addon to 64bit.

Just thinking, I do have P3D & also patiently waiting.

My thoughts are that my P3D is working great. Any new sim, as a 64bit will be, deserves new add-ins, & not just modded 32bit stuff.

I would prefer 64bit optimised add-ons in a 64bit sim, not older stuff that works in my 32bit sim.

No reason why I cannot have both. I'm sure a 64bit version will run in parallel with a 32bit one?

I would prefer 64bit optimised add-ons in a 64bit sim, not older stuff that works in my 32bit sim.

But what does it mean "64bit optimised addons"? Could anybody "in the know" explain in short what would be major differences between current addons and "64bit optimised" ones?

Will developers be able to convert the existing scenery addons for the 64bit environment or are they going to have to do them from scratch? Why exactly the existing 3d models and graphics files wouldn't work in 64bit P3D - if they "just" upgrade the current engine and don't make the completely new engine of course in that case it's obvious nothing of the existing stuff would work. I just wonder how much work would it be for a developer to convert 32bit addon to 64bit.

 

Given that it's highly unlikely enough of the core will change, they will probably be able to convert them. 

But what does it mean "64bit optimised addons"? Could anybody "in the know" explain in short what would be major differences between current addons and "64bit optimised" ones?

 

Optimized? I don't know. 64bit would actually allow less obsessive approaches with RAM optimization. We see that with DTG, where their base sim is eating up 8-10 gigs of RAM.

 

Maybe he means more modern addons that make use of more RAM to do more things? But regardless, 64bit isn't going to make already great addon airports suddenly look better. It makes sense to port stuff like that if possible. 

By 'Optimised', I mean software written for a 64bit sim & operating system, not 32bit add-ons that are modified.

My hope is that LM with the next point release gives us two executables, one 32 bit and one 64 bit.

That way both simmers and addon makers can start experimenting with 64 bit.

 

I think this is what LR did when X-Plane 10 went from 32 bit to 64 bit.

By 'Optimised', I mean software written for a 64bit sim & operating system, not 32bit add-ons that are modified.

Is there really a difference or is it only the .dll's that need changing ? I thought the change which made any difference to simmers visually was whether addons were written/designed for DX9/DX10/DX11/DX12 - or not.

By 'Optimised', I mean software written for a 64bit sim & operating system, not 32bit add-ons that are modified.

Yeah, people are saying this but I don't think there is much of a difference or any at all. The addons should probably be converted or re-compiled with 64bit tools but for other differences I'm not sure there are any.. that's why I'd like to hear from an expert about this. I'm talking mostly about scenery addons.

Fun subject and some good questions. We all believe and AVSIM is mostly known the be the number one spot online for Simulator knowledge. If we accept that to be true, then the real question becomes "Why, after 100 post and 7 pages in this thread alone, has their been not one person who is trained in programing come forward to explain what is infact involved to move say, Prepar3d from 32 bit to 64 bit." Is it really all that labor intensive to move a current model over. I know that there would be things that vary from one design method to another but. at this point, we have no real information from someone like Rob or other trust worthy sources. For me and I am sure many others we do not know if it takes 15 minutes or 6 years.

 

For all the hand wringers and doomsday fans worried about the ability to use the upcoming 64 bit P3d then take a moment and realize that Love or hate LM, they did not become a multi-trillion $ company by producing software that no one can use. That is just over the top stupid thinking.

At the very least, addon vendors would be able to reuse photographs and other pre-work outside the system (which would be substantial ). So its not redoing everything... 

Well if some of the development community are anything to go buy, it's a mammoth undertaking and definitely takes 6 years - unless you are willing pay what you paid for the 32 bit version, which could speed up the process considerably

Well if some of the development community are anything to go buy, it's a mammoth undertaking and definitely takes 6 years - unless you are willing pay what you paid for the 32 bit version, which could speed up the process considerably

I don't think that the development community would be the best source of knowledge for us in this area. They love secrets and yes they smell money, but that is why they are in business. You can not blame them for that. 

It seems what improvements can be made to the graphics engine/performance with fsx have been reached for present technology in p3d 3.3. Then it is good time to move focus to sew together broken/incomplete parts in sound/AI/ATC etc portions of the sim and make it complete as a whole before moving to x64.

It seems what improvements can be made to the graphics engine/performance with fsx have been reached for present technology in p3d 3.3. Then it is good time to move focus to sew together broken/incomplete parts in sound/AI/ATC etc portions of the sim and make it complete as a whole before moving to x64.

Present technology can do global lighting and autogen that doesn't cut off 7km away at an ugly, hard line.

 

ATC and AI are easily remedied by addons. They've still got a ways to go graphically.