Fed Up

[PaulFWatts 100]

THEN, I decided to start again. I purchased a new hdd(no ssd this time) and set about doing a complete NEW install of the latest build of Prepar3D.

 

Hi Steve,

 

I'm contemplating doing a full reinstall myself soon on a 1Tb SSD (have a 500Mb SSD one at the moment) and leaving Windows on the 500Mb drive and putting everything P3D related on the 1Tb SSD.

 

I'm very interested to hear how you find the performance running P3D on a standard drive compared to the SSD you had it running on.

 

If performance is okay it would save me a lot of money ...

 

p.s. Reason I'm doing this is I'm running out of space due to all the scenery files and airports etc.

[newtie 533]

For me X Plane is a major step backwards. Too many things I love about simming are not in X Plane. 

Hi Bob-

 

I went over to Xplane11 for two days, this was my experience.

 

First run, app crashed.

 

Next time, fired up the stock Cessna; it was uncontrollable on the runway.

Spent the better part of a day trying to figure it out why and finally discovered that there was no sensitivity adjustment for this access in the app to manage my toe brakes. Breathe on them and the AC would jerk violently in that direction. Google search revealed I had a lot of company.

 

Forum posts said to file a bug report.

 

Ran back to P3D as quickly as my little feet would carry me  :smile:

 

Cheers,

Mark

Hi Steve,

 

I'm contemplating doing a full reinstall myself soon on a 1Tb SSD (have a 500Mb SSD one at the moment) and leaving Windows on the 500Mb drive and putting everything P3D related on the 1Tb SSD.

 

I'm very interested to hear how you find the performance running P3D on a standard drive compared to the SSD you had it running on.

 

If performance is okay it would save me a lot of money ...

 

p.s. Reason I'm doing this is I'm running out of space due to all the scenery files and airports etc.

If possible, go with SSDs.

 

Standard HDs will be a giant step backwards.

[WotanUK 289]

P3D is actually pretty stable, with no major bugs i can see, or even VAS issues.  The problems start when you pile other applications and software on top of that.  I just updated my PC so i reinstalled everything.  Last time like the OP i was getting frustrated with Flight Sim, i stopped for a while.  This time i only put on the basics i need to make the sim look OK, so no Vector or ORBX regions; guess what, i have had no VAS problems or random crashes with this approach, i can even fly the FSL A320 for more than 30 minutes.

[newtie 533]

P3D is actually pretty stable, with no major bugs i can see, or even VAS issues.  The problems start when you pile other applications and software on top of that.  I just updated my PC so i reinstalled everything.  Last time like the OP i was getting frustrated with Flight Sim, i stopped for a while.  This time i only put on the basics i need to make the sim look OK, so no Vector or ORBX regions; guess what, i have had no VAS problems or random crashes with this approach, i can even fly the FSL A320 for more than 30 minutes.

Yup.

[pmb 5,137]

P3D is actually pretty stable, with no major bugs i can see, or even VAS issues.  The problems start when you pile other applications and software on top of that.  I just updated my PC so i reinstalled everything.  Last time like the OP i was getting frustrated with Flight Sim, i stopped for a while.  This time i only put on the basics i need to make the sim look OK, so no Vector or ORBX regions; guess what, i have had no VAS problems or random crashes with this approach, i can even fly the FSL A320 for more than 30 minutes.

This may be an option for you tubeliners but for GA sightseeing I find the default scenery a bit lacking.

 

BTW, I have the complete ORBX collection (and several FSDT, FB, FT airports etc.) and no stability issues with P3D HF3 at all (so far).

 

I also have XP11 and no stability issues either, while I can confirm the C172 behaving like a goatling when taxiing with low speed. 

 

Kind regards, Michael

[Guest]

Reading all of this makes me feel sorry for those of us simmers so afflicted.

I did my "big build' October 2016. I went without food or water for a month and got the best cpu I could afford - and stipulated in the FSX Bible - Haswell 4790K. That's overclocked gently to 4.6 and is stable. I've got 2 SSD's for storage, a GTX 780 graphics card and 8 Gig of fast RAM.

 

I built and configured closely following Nick_N's FSX Bible. I spent the extra time required to absolutely follow his instructions with regards to optimising Windows 7 and the FSX environment. I installed FSX Acceleration boxed with sp2.

 

I run Steve's DX10 Fixer for cockpit shadows, cloud shadows, / general eye candy and extra stability etc, Orbx Global, Orbx England (where I mostly fly) UKScenery2000 renders Gatwick and Heathrow in stunning glory.

 

I have AS16 to inject weather. I have a hangar with PMDG 737, 777 - soon to buy 747. FSL A320X, a few Ceranado, a Turbine Duke, A2A Cherokee - for laughs. GSX handle ground operations for some of those A/C. All the above aircraft fly with excellent FPS and are stable and trustworthy - apart from A320X which ALWAYS CTD's on exit.

 

I have yet to have a OOM or VAS issue. I can fly 7 hours back to the UK and land at Ukscenery 2000 Heathrow Extreme on max settings. When devs release updates for any othe above I sit quietly watching as others download and report (the latest GSX "corr"update is a good example) before making the informed decision about whether to deploy the update to my sim.

 

I think the overriding factor in my success is that the PC JUST does FSX - that's all it knows. The PC does not do anything else; it isn't connected to the internet except during simulator sessions to download weather, etc. There are no extraneous applications on it for any other purpose other than flight simming.

 

When you stuff a computer with a load of stuff for daily use - office programs/ internet stuff/ other games, etc - then rapidly the machine becomes a jack of all trades and master of none.

 

I do RW flying - WILL get that PPL one day! -  so I take my simming seriously as a tool to improve my experience beyond the front door so a machine that's dedicated to the task - with no other distractions/ processes running, etc is the way of keeping things stable, clean and in good stead.

 

I still haven't switched over to P3D but will, I suppose when it shows itself to be as stable and reliable as my current configuration. The moral is have a dedicated machine, fully optimised for the task of simming and never pollute it with any other junk.

 

This got drilled into me in the early days of pc video editing when machine optimisation wasn't just key to task completion but an absolute necessety in order to start the task in the first place. Trying to run SD PAL video through Avid on an early Pentium 750 - don't get me started on those dark old days.

 

[WotanUK 289]

 

 

BTW, I have the complete ORBX collection (and several FSDT, FB, FT airports etc.) and no stability issues with P3D HF3 at all (so far).

 

With ORBX stuff it's not so much stability, like you, ORBX caused no issues with stability in my sim either; my issue with the ORBX stuff is VAS usage, i used to run Vector, and the Sub-regions of the UK, i couldn't complete a single flight into or over London without an OOM.  Now like you i have read people on here claiming that they run everything with all the sliders to the right and the FSL A320 and never experience VAS issues, sorry but i just don't buy it.  

 

At the moment, Flight Simming is all about compromise. 

[Guest]

With ORBX stuff it's not so much stability, like you, ORBX caused no issues with stability in my sim either; my issue with the ORBX stuff is VAS usage, i used to run Vector, and the Sub-regions of the UK, i couldn't complete a single flight into or over London without an OOM.  Now like you i have read people on here claiming that they run everything with all the sliders to the right and the FSL A320 and never experience VAS issues, sorry but i just don't buy it.  

 

At the moment, Flight Simming is all about compromise. 

 

I don't run FSX with All Sliders Right - that's overkill anyway. I have tried it and of course - slow FPS but interestingly, I really couldn't discern much difference between most sliders being bout 65-75% and 100%.  I set them according to devs instructions - and they never suggest 100% - whether it's an a/c or scenery.

 

I also roll them back and forth depending on my flying activities for the day. If flying VFR in my A2A Cherokee around southern England I'll adjust to get a good depth of scenery and decent performance from the a/c. 

 

If I'm IFR and springing out of Gatwick straight up to 6000' in a 777 then scenery sliders go back to boost the complex a/c.

 

I too, chuckle when you see YouTubes saying FSX MAX'd OUT! and then see somebody's jitters/ shakes/ and the work they've had to do in AfterEffects to try and make it look good.

[pmb 5,137]

With ORBX stuff it's not so much stability, like you, ORBX caused no issues with stability in my sim either; my issue with the ORBX stuff is VAS usage, i used to run Vector, and the Sub-regions of the UK, i couldn't complete a single flight into or over London without an OOM.   

I have most of the settings maxed (in P3D), although I have a kind of a special setup.

 

- I use SimStarter to only activate Scenery I actually use (i.e. Vector and Addon Mesh off when in ORBX Regions).

- I have a hardware cockpit with all controls/gauges (FIPs) driven via a networked laptop running SPAD.neXt. There is no panel at all (2D or 3D) on my monitor (eating a lot of VAS, as I checked).

- AS2016 runs networked, too, when in use.

- I only fly VFR, the most advanced being A2A planes, I don't own any PMDG and friends.

- I only do flights up to 1 hr. I just lack time for more.

 

With this setup I never saw an OOM so far, including in VAS hogs like FT Toronto.

 

Kind regards, Michael

[vgbaron 3,486]

 

 

If performance is okay it would save me a lot of money ...
 

 

Paul - There is no NOTICEABLE difference. Anyone who says there is simply has their system set up incorrectly. We're talking NANOSECOND differences here. I have two systems set up, one on SSD's completely, including W10 and the other on HDD's including W10.

 

I've adjusted my settings due to CPU etc but the overall experience is the same.

 

We all want the fastest, smoothest experience and using benchmarks, the SSD outperforms the HDD so like others, I went out and bought a few terabytes of SSD's. I *know* they're faster and if I measured them I'd see it but in practical use, it's just nice knowing I have close to state of the art.

 

Go for the HDD but get the fastest you can - I'm still using the WD Velociraptor with excellent results.

 

Vic

[JNS 106]

 

 

When you stuff a computer with a load of stuff for daily use - office programs/ internet stuff/ other games, etc - then rapidly the machine becomes a jack of all trades and master of none.

 

+1 for the whole post.

 

Jeff Smith

[SimonC 116]

 

 

Next time, fired up the stock Cessna; it was uncontrollable on the runway.

Spent the better part of a day trying to figure it out why and finally discovered that there was no sensitivity adjustment for this access in the app to manage my toe brakes. Breathe on them and the AC would jerk violently in that direction. Google search revealed I had a lot of company.



Forum posts said to file a bug report.



Ran back to P3D as quickly as my little feet would carry me :smile:

 

Hmmm, and I thought I was the only one!

P3D is actually pretty stable, with no major bugs i can see, or even VAS issues.  The problems start when you pile other applications and software on top of that.  I just updated my PC so i reinstalled everything.  Last time like the OP i was getting frustrated with Flight Sim, i stopped for a while.  This time i only put on the basics i need to make the sim look OK, so no Vector or ORBX regions; guess what, i have had no VAS problems or random crashes with this approach, i can even fly the FSL A320 for more than 30 minutes.

What he said.

[W2DR 1,859]

Paul - There is no NOTICEABLE difference. Anyone who says there is simply has their system set up incorrectly. We're talking NANOSECOND differences here. I have two systems set up, one on SSD's completely, including W10 and the other on HDD's including W10.

 

I've adjusted my settings due to CPU etc but the overall experience is the same.

 

We all want the fastest, smoothest experience and using benchmarks, the SSD outperforms the HDD so like others, I went out and bought a few terabytes of SSD's. I *know* they're faster and if I measured them I'd see it but in practical use, it's just nice knowing I have close to state of the art.

 

Go for the HDD but get the fastest you can - I'm still using the WD Velociraptor with excellent results.

 

Vic

 

Vic has exactly right here. I've done extensive testing using both SSD's and several types of HDD's (10,000rpm, 7200rpm, 5400rpm). I've even used HDD's plugged into a USB3 docking station. Other than the initial load times there was NO noticeable performance difference between any of them. For sure, the SSD is the wave of the future but I'd just ignore all the hype when it comes to FSX/P3D.

 

Doug

[harrry 322]

the main benefit with an ssd seems to be load time for the setup.  Once the program and flight is loaded there is minimal difference between an ssd and a hard disk with a cache.  eg western digital black.

[Iceman2 110]

Don't Give UP!(To the OP)

 

I have P3D (V3.4) running perfectly now, but it did take time finding the sweet spot. But now, when I look back at all the time I spent searching for that sweet spot, boy is it worth it. I'd recommend starting from scratch again, new OS install, (W10) P3D, HT on, AM, ( get something that works to remove the blurries (mine is 241 for a 6700K)) 4K monitor (biggest you can afford) Mines a 65" (would have liked a 75") and I've set it to 25hz, have V sync on both in SIM and Nvidia Cp along with Adaptive but I needed to set frame rate to unlimited in SIM. Finally she's running smooth like silk, even in major 3rd party airports and airplanes.

 

A big plus for me was adding ORBX global/Vector but putting back the P3D original city/towns night textures only, so the cities and towns show up at night way off in the distance. (P3D lighting is truly amazing) (The textures still match pretty well even in the day)

 

I've only modified the strobe and nav light effects along with the runways light sizes so they didn't look too massive on the AI airplanes and standard airports. I use UT2 aircraft with custom flight plans so the AI fly's at RVSM flight levels, I have all the PMDG aircraft with FS2Crew and many 3rd party airports.

 

Been SIMming since the very first flight sim on an Apple 2E and we have certainly come along way.

 

Couldn't ask for anything better than maybe 64bit, but I don't have many VAS issues.

 

good luck

IM