Dear PMDG - What does 64bit allow you to do that you couldn't before

[PMDG777 231]

Just now, Venturi said:

I think it's premature to say that quality wings are dropping 32 bit because its 'not worth it "

Crazy as it sounds, without the numbers 64bit could be dumped. 

The upgrade cost is big. Every one would love to have it but throwing $$$ at 64 bit and a PC upgrade when they already have a 32 bit  PC running smoothly will stop most. 

Supporting 64 bit and dumping 32 would be a massive gamble at this stage. 

I'm on the sidelines. I simply have real life priorities that will eat up the 1k needed. 

Interesting 12 months coming up 

 

You're right, LM could go backwards on 64bit primarily because of compatibility issues etc., we don't know how likely that is though but people said the same thing when P3Dv1 came out yet here we are

 

[Ephedrin 418]

As someone has said v3 wasn't different to FSX or v1 and v2... try to get the QW Bae 146 to fly properly on v3. Even v3 would be a rework of the software. Additionally v3 can't be purchased anymore (afaik), FSX can though. Would you develop any addons for a platform that can physically only decrease? Wasted money. People change to P3d to make it look better than FSX, to get rid of the bugs while not switching to XP. But making P3D look great means you have to deal with OOMs. V4 is just logical in my opinion. So I honestly doubt there will be many addons for the 32 bit Prepar3d versions coming up in very close future. 

 

And now please don't play with my words. I'm not natively english speaking and I gave my very best to write as clearly as possible 😂

[markdf 84]

20 minutes ago, Ephedrin said:

As someone has said v3 wasn't different to FSX or v1 and v2... try to get the QW Bae 146 to fly properly on v3. Even v3 would be a rework of the software. Additionally v3 can't be purchased anymore (afaik), FSX can though. Would you develop any addons for a platform that can physically only decrease? Wasted money. People change to P3d to make it look better than FSX, to get rid of the bugs while not switching to XP. But making P3D look great means you have to deal with OOMs. V4 is just logical in my opinion. So I honestly doubt there will be many addons for the 32 bit Prepar3d versions coming up in very close future. 

 

And now please don't play with my words. I'm not natively english speaking and I gave my very best to write as clearly as possible 😂

P3D v1, v2 and v3 are all still for sale on LM's website - they provide the most recent build from each respective major version. That's most likely a side effect of them catering to commercial customers rather than for our benefit though, but makes it no different from FSX in regards to availability. (Altough non-Steam versions of FSX aren't available new, so there is a finite number of copies of that in circulation - although that's only an issue for a small subset of addons like AES that are affected by the differences)

[Ephedrin 418]

Thanks mark, didn't know that...

[kevinh 409]

9 hours ago, Venturi said:

Your making the assumption that every one will convert to v4. That's not the case  at all. Devs will continue to pump out for 32 bit because that's where the masses are currently at. 

Zoran maksic 

FSL have stated they will abandon 32 bit sims after releasing the upcoming Service Pack for the A320. So no new products or updates for FSX or P3D 32 bit will be released. It will happen eventually, just as support for FS9 products decreased after FSX was released.

3 hours ago, Venturi said:

I think it's premature to say that quality wings are dropping 32 bit because its 'not worth it "

Crazy as it sounds, without the numbers 64bit could be dumped. 

The upgrade cost is big. Every one would love to have it but throwing $$$ at 64 bit and a PC upgrade when they already have a 32 bit  PC running smoothly will stop most. 

Supporting 64 bit and dumping 32 would be a massive gamble at this stage. 

I'm on the sidelines. I simply have real life priorities that will eat up the 1k needed. 

Interesting 12 months coming up 

 

You almost certainly will not need to buy a new PC to support P3Dv4. I have upgraded from FSX-SE to P3Dv4. My PC, which runs FSX-SE adequately, just about meets the minimum spec for P3Dv4 and runs it very well. I suspect anyone with a previous P3D version will find v4 actually runs better. A new graphics card with more than 2GB of memory will certainly help but is not essential.

[zmak 331]

3 minutes ago, kevinh said:

FSL have stated they will abandon 32 bit sims after releasing the upcoming Service Pack for the A320. So no new products or updates for FSX or P3D 32 bit will be released. It will happen eventually, just as support for FS9 products decreased after FSX was released.

You almost certainly will not need to buy a new PC to support P3Dv4. I have upgraded from FSX-SE to P3Dv4. My PC, which runs FSX-SE adequately, just about meets the minimum spec for P3Dv4 and runs it very well. I suspect anyone with a previous P3D version will find v4 actually runs better. A new graphics card supporting more than 2GB of memory will certainly help but is not essential.

Good info, thanks. Just remembered LM offer a refund so nothing to lose. 

Will be interesting to see if my oc 4.3 ghz and gtx 780 is up to it 

[kevinh 409]

As you say, nothing to lose with the refund offer.

[ErichB 3,642]

6 hours ago, markdf said:

Hardly, their most recent statement said that they were releasing for FSX first, which is most definitely not 64 bit, 

That's only because the 787 has been in development since FSX was the only sim in town.  A LONG time ago.

[Drumcode 1,893]

19 hours ago, scandinavian13 said:

sim constraints: animation limits, poly limits, and so on.

I would assume that now when the switch to 64bit platform successfully happened LM will start focusing on these areas to improve it? I mean we've all been patiently waiting all these years and it is finally here so I am hoping great things will begin to happen within the next several years. 

[aceridgey 330]

As others have said I don't envisage support to last much longer for older p3d versions as it was severely limited by the 32bit ceiling. (we're talking about a process pre windows xp!). 

 

Vatsim is plagued with the same backwards compatibility issues where the board still want to support people's equipment from 1000BC because  a few people still use it. 

 

FSL have indeed mentioned they're strongly considering ditching p3d v3 and older for future addons. 

[markdf 84]

4 hours ago, ErichB said:

That's only because the 787 has been in development since FSX was the only sim in town.  A LONG time ago.

I'm well aware of that - I was simply pointing out that it therefore makes a lousy example of a dev dropping 32bit support - given that the project is coming out first as a 32 bit product, and as far as I'm aware they've made no statement about future 32bit support beyond the 787.

 

For the record, I'm in the 64 bit P3Dv4 camp - so I'd be perfectly happy if 32 bit died a quick death, but whether it will or not is still uncertain until more developers speak out on the matter

[richcam427 29]

16 hours ago, PMDG777 said:

Sloppy maybe not, but I do foresee some developers (particularly scenery) packing heaps of detail that is not really required, just because VAS allows them to.

The limit in 32bit P3D and FSX was VAS, the limit now is going to be outright CPU and GPU performance. If developers start packing heaps of pointless details into the sim, all those polygons, hi res textures etc. plus all of that anti aliased, is going to grind any computer to a complete stand still. Developers need to not see the new VAS increase as a means to cram detail, they need to be conscientious and consider sustaining a high fidelity sim, while maintaining good performance.

Unless Intel releases a 10 core, 5GHz base clock turbo up to 6GHz CPU tomorrow of course.

But you could say that about literally any game platform nowadays. Like I said, I don't think it will be too big of a deal. Developers have been doing so much with so little for 10 years now, and I think that mindset will continue, even with a bigger box to work with. We all knew that the move to 64-bit wouldn't increase performance that much; it would just allow us to actually complete flights without OOMing on final.

[Patco Lch 1,465]

Good grief Charlie Brown, why does every thread concerning different sim platforms break out into Civil War?To each his own,according to preference and finances. If you have the newest current year BMW I'm happy for you and hope it gives you much pleasure. I'll keep my 7 year old Tundra pick up and will smile and wave as you pass me. Its just a hobby folks, nothing to get emotional about.

[scandinavian13 5,192]

10 hours ago, PATCO LCH said:

Good grief Charlie Brown, why does every thread concerning different sim platforms break out into Civil War?To each his own,according to preference and finances. If you have the newest current year BMW I'm happy for you and hope it gives you much pleasure. I'll keep my 7 year old Tundra pick up and will smile and wave as you pass me. Its just a hobby folks, nothing to get emotional about.

Well said Vic. I don't get it. I have FSX, FSX:SE, P3Dv3, P3Dv4, and X-Plane. I use all of them for various purposes, though some more than others. I'm not offended by anyone else's choice to use one of those, honestly. I think one of the crowds is a bit preachy, but that isn't to say the platform they're all into doesn't have its merits.

[Holdit 551]

39 minutes ago, scandinavian13 said:

Well said Vic. I don't get it. I have FSX, FSX:SE, P3Dv3, P3Dv4, and X-Plane. I use all of them for various purposes, though some more than others. I'm not offended by anyone else's choice to use one of those, honestly. I think one of the crowds is a bit preachy, but that isn't to say the platform they're all into doesn't have its merits.

It's a frequent theme on AVSIM...

"Me got new thing. New thing real good. Die old thing, die!"