P3Dv4...Why You May Want to Wait

[ErichB 3,638]

With all due respect, I generally find 'first impression' posts like this of little value.  A default sim is a default sim - but if one thing is for sure, this is the best generation default sim of the FSX/ESP family.  It looks better and it outperforms anything we've had before - on current hardware (for once we don't even have to wait for 2 more years for hardware to catch up)   We also all know that it's the addons are what make the sim amazing. You are preaching to a long standing,  glizzled bunch of flightsimmers.    Why on earth would anyone want to wait if you can run V3 and V4 side by side.

[Flic1 969]

12 hours ago, dal330200 said:

Hi Everyone,

So I bit the bullet and downloaded, installed and test-flew v4 for a few minutes today.  I've also been fiddling with X-plane 11 as of late. 

I would suggest holding off on moving past v3 until the addons come out, as the performance increase I noticed doesn't offset all of the stuff the default sim lacks.  The default scenery is pretty much the same- same airports, same crappy night lighting, horrible colored ground textures...Also, we just learned today that PTA is not going to be updated for v4 either.  So, unless developers intervene or someone out there knows how to manipulate shaders we're pretty much stuck with default lighting. 

Without ORBX, AS16, ENVTEX, most of my addon sceneries, my PMDG aircraft, UTLive and GSX, there's just no point.  Default X-plane 11 is much nicer, and that's not saying much.  At least all they need to do is improve sounds in aircraft, come up with a good traffic injector and beef up their weather engine.  So, I guess both 64bit platforms are not developed enough to provide the same level of immersion I have in v3 at the moment.

So, unless you are happy with default, I'd hold off until all of the updates and addons roll out in order to enjoy the sim.  From what I gather in some of the forums, it can be weeks or longer before some key elements are tested, updated and available.  I'm not saying it's not worth buying, but why bother if the addon world isn't able to catch up?  I really think LM screwed up a great opportunity to dazzle the market by not allowing more beta copies to get in the hands of developers ahead of release.  Of course, X-plane also came out without some basic essentials as well.  Welcome to the banner year of flight simulation...

So, back to v3 I go, happily flying in my perfectly-tweaked, yet constrained by VAS system for a little while longer.

John

I agree with you on this and has been my thinking as well while waiting for the release.  I have not bought it yet and decided to wait until a good number of addons are available.  I only fly about 3 planes on a regular basis, 2 of them should be fairly soon and the other may be months off.  I have no use for a default P3D...whether it is 64 bit or not.  I do look forward to all the potential this will bring and I am sure I will have it on my PC in several weeks as things start to become available.  PTA not being updated for V4 is a letdown indeed as I really have a great looking sim right now in V3.  I hope someone will continue doing something similar for V4 at some point.

[Piotr007 163]

Addon compatibility will be made for V4, shortly. This is to be read in different statements (no citation needed). I bet we will reach a lot of compatibility of addons for V4. It must go full throttle. V4 64-bit simply is the future for these developers!

[threexgreen 3,135]

I suppose you can't just point scenery installers to v4's location like when v3 was new?

 

[YukonPete 580]

12 hours ago, dal330200 said:

Hi Everyone,

So I bit the bullet and downloaded, installed and test-flew v4 for a few minutes today.  I've also been fiddling with X-plane 11 as of late. 

I would suggest holding off on moving past v3 until the addons come out, as the performance increase I noticed doesn't offset all of the stuff the default sim lacks.  The default scenery is pretty much the same- same airports, same crappy night lighting, horrible colored ground textures...Also, we just learned today that PTA is not going to be updated for v4 either.  So, unless developers intervene or someone out there knows how to manipulate shaders we're pretty much stuck with default lighting. 

Without ORBX, AS16, ENVTEX, most of my addon sceneries, my PMDG aircraft, UTLive and GSX, there's just no point.  Default X-plane 11 is much nicer, and that's not saying much.  At least all they need to do is improve sounds in aircraft, come up with a good traffic injector and beef up their weather engine.  So, I guess both 64bit platforms are not developed enough to provide the same level of immersion I have in v3 at the moment.

So, unless you are happy with default, I'd hold off until all of the updates and addons roll out in order to enjoy the sim.  From what I gather in some of the forums, it can be weeks or longer before some key elements are tested, updated and available.  I'm not saying it's not worth buying, but why bother if the addon world isn't able to catch up?  I really think LM screwed up a great opportunity to dazzle the market by not allowing more beta copies to get in the hands of developers ahead of release.  Of course, X-plane also came out without some basic essentials as well.  Welcome to the banner year of flight simulation...

So, back to v3 I go, happily flying in my perfectly-tweaked, yet constrained by VAS system for a little while longer.

John

I find it funny how people come here on release day #1 and then tell others to hold off! Come on, you are pointing out the obvious that lots of add-on's are not yet compatible! Who says you can't install V4 alongside V3? What is wrong with playing around with V4? So to me people telling other people to hold off is useless! 

[MarkW 1,490]

I jumped in right away because I knew I would eventually move over anyway.  I have P3D v3 running along side so no loss and the one big advantage of getting in now is that you can slowly add the updates as they become available.....and already today I spent a few hours adding in FSDT and Flightbeam scenery, the Duke, MyTraffic, Pilots Global Ultimate Mesh, Chaseplane and probably a few more I forgot but the point is this all takes time and I don't want to face a week of non stop installing in 3 months when everything is available.  Plus you get to play around with the various settings and get things dialed in.

[threexgreen 3,135]

1 minute ago, MarkW said:

.and already today I spent a few hours adding in FSDT and Flightbeam scenery

So it actually works to just point the installers to v4's location? Do the sceneries work well?

[MarkW 1,490]

5 minutes ago, Canuck said:

So it actually works to just point the installers to v4's location? Do the sceneries work well?

No, I re-downloaded the FSDT and Flightbeam sceneries because they have updated their installers for v4 plus added some new features and updates

[Christopher Low 5,332]

I agree with the OP.....both for the suggestion to "hold tight" until addons have been upgraded, and also that some people are being just a bit too critical of his comments. His post does not come across as an attack on P3D v4. It looks like sensible advice to me. Amazing as it may seem, some of us actually prefer to only use one ESP/FSX based flight simulator. I currently use P3D v3.3.5, and I have no intention of upgrading to v4 until ALL of the addons that I use are compatible. I don't doubt for a second that v4 will be a significant improvement over v3 in several departments, but that doesn't mean that I should automatically purchase it without thinking about why I am spending my money.

Since I suspect that I will need a new GPU to run P3D v4 at very high detail settings (and rest assured that I will not be moving those sliders anywhere near the left hand side of the scale), it is quite possible that I will upgrade to 64bit nirvana only when I decide to buy a completely new PC. Hopefully, compatibility issues with my existing addons will have been sorted out by then

[Dervakon 13]

I have to say John I'm agree with you, I bought V4  and I think that V4 need to be more optimize, Yep your ear me. I have upgade my PC to be able to use alot of the platform, I make several hour of testing with V4 alone without any add on. my goal yesterday was to just to find the same feeling I got with V3.4. In V3.4 I found the setting to be able to make turn with almost none stutter and popping autogen at 95% of the time, even with my PMDG 777, 

Yesterday I was exciting with to try V4, I expect to at least retreveid the same performance. When I said performance it about fluidity not FPS (Yes I have better FPS but...) , I try to see if my flying is smooth but unfortunaly it not at my taste. I was able to remove some little stutter when I'm turning but it not like I was able to achive in V3.4,

I like the Dynamic light but when I'm use them, I point my A/C in a front of a building) my frame drop like hell, I can lost 20-25 frames (I lock my frame at  30 FPS), I don't know is it a bug or a problem on my side. But if I uncheck the option my frame rate are going back to 30...

To be able to fly  with almost the same fluidity of V3.4  , I have reduce all my graphic setting lower than V3.4, even with the re install old NVIDIA driver and bla bla bla.

 

Overall it a good platform but IMHO it will be better after some update, and Yes John I'm agree with you, Xplane 11 is better optimize and it have a better fluidity than V4

 

[signmanbob 592]

11 hours ago, flyerkg said:

P3Dv4 looks great performance-wise in a comparison video I just watched. I'm not close to buying this one yet since I just bought v3 a few weeks ago and XP11 just a few weeks prior to that.

 If you just bought v.3, I believe you could still get a refund and purchase v.4

I was trying out v.4 last night and was really amazed at the performance.  I had most all of my graphics slicers maxed out, and the flight was as smooth as silk.

It won't take long for many developers to route their products to v.4 and it will be sooo worth it.

I am keeping v.3 installed until I'm satisfied with the addons in v.4, but if I only had one sim, it would be v.4 right now.

[SierraHotel 974]

Uninstalled v3 and would not go back to 32bit if you paid me! v4 is an Aston Martin to v3's Mini! My settings have never been higher and the sim smoother, it's absolute bliss. Even vanilla is beautiful, and the view goes on forever. So with Orbx coming later today and PMDG just around the corner you had better put my dinner in the oven! (too late! it went in the dog....;-(

P.S. Chaseplane works

[Michael Moe 493]

30 minutes ago, MarkW said:

I jumped in right away because I knew I would eventually move over anyway.  I have P3D v3 running along side so no loss and the one big advantage of getting in now is that you can slowly add the updates as they become available.....and already today I spent a few hours adding in FSDT and Flightbeam scenery, the Duke, MyTraffic, Pilots Global Ultimate Mesh, Chaseplane and probably a few more I forgot but the point is this all takes time and I don't want to face a week of non stop installing in 3 months when everything is available.  Plus you get to play around with the various settings and get things dialed in.

Hi Mark

 

I have the FTX 2010 Global Mesh and do you only have to "point" to your /FTXG2010folders in add-on scenery in P3Dv4 ?

 

Thanks

Michael Moe 

[reecemj 144]

Thanks John for your review..I feel the same as you do.we simmers been flying long enough to know what we like. I like a sim with orbx,realair planes,fsuipc,as16 and Pf3..I will enjoy the photos others post until those addons work.

[MarkW 1,490]

2 hours ago, Michael Moe said:

Hi Mark

 

I have the FTX 2010 Global Mesh and do you only have to "point" to your /FTXG2010folders in add-on scenery in P3Dv4 ?

 

Thanks

Michael Moe 

I really don't know about FTX2010.  I have the Pilots Global Ultimate mesh and they have an update install utility that updated for v4 and then installed the proper lines into the scenery cfg but was referencing the actual install on another drive.  If you are talking about ORBX stuff then you have to wait until they update FTX Central 3.