Feasibility Study - FSX to P3dV4

[Nick Dobda 24]

I'm in deep with FSX-SE, and considering making the jump to P3dV4 - maybe as a christmas gift later in the year... or somewhere down the line.

I would appreciate some input, here what some people think.

My current setup:

R9 270X Card w/ 2GB of RAM (3 monitors wide)

8 core 4GHZ processor

SSD for booting, but also has a second 1.5 TB drive

FSX Addons:
PMDG NGX, Navigraph subscription, AS16, Cloud art, GSX, EZDok, vPilot, Vatsim (these are all must haves for me)

I have currently everything working just perfectly. I am bumping up against the limits of memory though, and my frame rates aren't the greatest, but good enough. I am happy with what I got, and everything is stable.

What am I up against if I want to wipe the computer clean, and start over in P3dV4? Do I have to re-purchase every addon in my list? Is P3dV4 stable? (right now my setup is rock solid stable)
I had alot of issues getting EZDok to work, will I have to relive those issues? 

In general, if I'm happy with what I got, should I just let sleeping dogs lie?

[Zuendholz 50]

I would wait, if I were you. Your hardware is not the best for P3D v4 (especially the graphics card).

For the rest. Yes, P3D v4 is stable. It is the most stable sim I have ever used so far (and I've seen a lot). If you have a good hardware, you will have great FPS. For me with the NGX about 45 - 50 FPS inside the Cockpit. 

You would have to repurchase the PMDG NGX and AS16 (upgrade pricing). As for EZCA, I don't know what version you own.

You can get very much out of the sim. But if you are eager, you can test P3D v4 because LM offers a 60-days refund.

[Nick Dobda 24]

Yes, I am thinking the longer I wait, the less expensive the higher end equipment becomes. If you're on the cutting edge it gets real expensive. If you all think my system is the weak link, then upgrading on the current system should be ruled out until I can upgrade the system.

Systems/ procedure-wise what I have now is perfect and really the new P3d is exactly the same. The improvements are based on eye candy. Tempting, but I can't bring myself to produce the money indulge something that comes down to eye candy - yet. If I suddenly come into a massive amount of money then upgrading to top of the line is the first thing on the list. I'm thinking thats not going to happen though.

[Zuendholz 50]

12 minutes ago, Nick Dobda said:

Yes, I am thinking the longer I wait, the less expensive the higher end equipment becomes. If you're on the cutting edge it gets real expensive. If you all think my system is the weak link, then upgrading on the current system should be ruled out until I can upgrade the system.

Systems/ procedure-wise what I have now is perfect and really the new P3d is exactly the same. The improvements are based on eye candy. Tempting, but I can't bring myself to produce the money indulge something that comes down to eye candy - yet. If I suddenly come into a massive amount of money then upgrading to top of the line is the first thing on the list. I'm thinking thats not going to happen though.

No, the improvements are not just eye candy. LM managed to fix A LOT of bugs and issues, MS introduced with the FSX. Eye Candy is just a small factor (a very small). 

[Nick Dobda 24]

What bugs and issues? Keep in mind I have FSX-SE, so bugs in P3D I am not aware of. 

[PMDG777 231]

27 minutes ago, Nick Dobda said:

Yes, I am thinking the longer I wait, the less expensive the higher end equipment becomes. If you're on the cutting edge it gets real expensive. If you all think my system is the weak link, then upgrading on the current system should be ruled out until I can upgrade the system.

Systems/ procedure-wise what I have now is perfect and really the new P3d is exactly the same. The improvements are based on eye candy. Tempting, but I can't bring myself to produce the money indulge something that comes down to eye candy - yet. If I suddenly come into a massive amount of money then upgrading to top of the line is the first thing on the list. I'm thinking thats not going to happen though.

I don't think your computer is that weak, you'll most likely get better performance in P3Dv4 than FSX SE (and it will look better). I have a weaker system than yours and get buy great in P3D.

[Nick Dobda 24]

Just now, PMDG777 said:

I don't think your computer is that weak, you'll most likely get better performance in P3Dv4 than FSX SE (and it will look better). I have a weaker system than yours and get buy great in P3D.

thank you - I would love for as many opinions / comments from people as possible. Do you run any addons like AS16 / cloud art? Are your settings maxed out (mine are for the most part)

[PMDG777 231]

4 minutes ago, Nick Dobda said:

thank you - I would love for as many opinions / comments from people as possible. Do you run any addons like AS16 / cloud art? Are your settings maxed out (mine are for the most part)

I run AS16, REX (not yet updated to v4 but ran great in v3), plus the 3 PMDG birds. They're not maxed out but the P3D sliders go much further than the FSX sliders (i.e. max in P3D is a huge leap above max on FSX).

[Zuendholz 50]

33 minutes ago, Nick Dobda said:

What bugs and issues? Keep in mind I have FSX-SE, so bugs in P3D I am not aware of. 

Both, FSX and P3D own the same platform. Microsoft introduced a massive amount of bugs, issues and other quirks in 2006 LM managed to iron out so far. You have to check the homepage of P3D, because the list is to long to paste this here.

Like I said, you can purchase P3D now and have a 60-day refund option, if you don't like it. So there is no reason, why you shouldn't check it out and test it by yourself to see, what you can achieve with P3D.

[Humberside 6]

41 minutes ago, Nick Dobda said:

What bugs and issues? Keep in mind I have FSX-SE, so bugs in P3D I am not aware of. 

I was in the same boat as you back when P3D V2 was released, I had to rebuy the 737 and T7 and being a younger teenager at the time, £250 (ish) was a fair amount, (upgrading to V3 & V4 was a easier decision) . FSX and the steam version have a fair amount of bugs, any bugs in P3D are because they were there in FSX. The main bug I can think of is where memory would not be dumped so OOMs are easy to get if running a lot of high end addons. As Zuendholz said eye-candy, is actually a smaller part of what LM has done to P3D. Also the major thing with P3D V4 is that it is 64bit appose to FSXs 32bit.

 

EDIT: Zuendholz I didn't see your response as we where probably typing at the same time

[Ioan92 63]

Wait until they fix dynamic lighting. Other than that P4D will generally run slightly better than FSX.

[Nick Dobda 24]

5 minutes ago, Zuendholz said:

Both, FSX and P3D own the same platform. Microsoft introduced a massive amount of bugs, issues and other quirks in 2006 LM managed to iron out so far. You have to check the homepage of P3D, because the list is to long to paste this here.

Like I said, you can purchase P3D now and have a 60-day refund option, if you don't like it. So there is no reason, why you shouldn't check it out and test it by yourself to see, what you can achieve with P3D.

Next logical question, wouldn't I have to re-purchase the NGX as well to "try out" the new P3D? Similarly with all my other addons. 
 

1 minute ago, Ioan92 said:

Wait until they fix dynamic lighting. Other than that P4D will generally run slightly better than FSX.

I see lots of posts about this. Another reason I wouldn't follow through till at least Christmas

[Humberside 6]

Just now, Nick Dobda said:

Next logical question, wouldn't I have to re-purchase the NGX as well to "try out" the new P3D? Similarly with all my other addons. 

Yes you would have to rebuy the NGX, even to test, I could be wrong but I'm sure that PMDG doesn't have trial periods. Active sky I'm not sure about as I got it after I got P3D, navigraph wouldn't have to be re-purchased. VATSIM and V-Pilot are free.

Dynamic lighting I have turned off untill its fixed. I would also say I had a massive increase in performance in P3D compared to FSX. Although I get the same FPS, in P3D the settings are maxed out. In FSX they were quite minimal.l

[Zuendholz 50]

Yes, if you want to test it with the NGX, you would have to repurchase this again. You can check the core sim, if you want to. 

As for AS16 or ASP4, you can check by using a trail key for 7 days. 

[elv 12]

My personal opinion would be too make the change. Even running at half settings v4 will be better than FSX. I have found P3D much more immersive with the shadows and other features that have been added. V4 is so stable its made simming a joy for me again. I was getting so frustrated before with instability if it I'd managed to keep the VAS from running away something else would seem to screw up, I rarely got a flight completed without a CTD. I have had a couple of crashes in v4 but they have been when using old stuff (mostly scenery) not ready but put into the sim anyway and even then it generally seems to cope with it most of the time. This topic from Robert is very imformative

Personally I have not had any issues with the Dynamic lighting but it is easily turned off in the settings as is most things. Another big benefit with P3D is the logging built in which makes it much easier to find a problem if you are having one.

As others have said you will have to purchase a new license to use the NGX in P3D and purchase the upgrade for AS16. GSX works and the upgrade is free, along with all the FSDreamteam, Flightbeam, etc Scenery.

Navigraph is unaffected really works the same just make sure you have the latest updates to the FMC manager and it will recognise any addons in P3D v4.

Vpilot works fine. I have done lots of flights on vatsim with it and had no issues. I don't know what you use for traffic, I'm using My Traffic 6a and It works fine just needs to be manually installed.

I can't comment on EZDok as I don't use it.

I would be very surprised to find you regret the move.