Are you happy with P3Dv4?

[WebMaximus 372]

27 minutes ago, Cargostorm said:

I seriously considered that idea but I am holding back because I have no extensive Vatsim compatible AI aircraft collection.

Will cost you a few bucks but if you would like a good collection you could get MT6 and then just extract the models.

This is what I'm using and I then used a great freeware tool called ThumbNailExporter to identify and get rid of any old FS9 models within the MT6 models.

[WebMaximus 372]

2 minutes ago, swiesma said:

https://forums.vatsim.net/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=68666

 

? :-) 

Also good advice and a free one. I'm using some of these models as well in combination with the MT6 models and I used the same tool mentioned above to clean out any old FS9 models.

[swiesma 625]

Yep, there are more ways to get free models. I found a zip with a .vrm file some time ago, but I cannot find it anymore :-(

[tonywob 4,768]

Well... I picked up P3Dv4, but I can't say I was too impressed with it over what P3D v2 (I skipped 3) and FSX-SE gave me. 64-bit is of course important, but I only fly GA and helicopters in my sims so I rarely had CTDs in v2 or FSX (I think FranceVFR Alsace caused one). I didn't like the fact that many of the addons I had in FSX had to be repurchased at higher prices and this left me with a bitter taste, and a somewhat empty sim lacking in my favourite addons. I did pick up the A2A cherokee "again", but I stopped there in anger after I was charged $30 more than I originally paid.

Either way, I had to turn off speedtrees as they don't seem to work very well with ORBX scenery (The trees are an odd light green colour?), and I really prefer ORBX's HD Trees. The rest of the features such as bathymetry and the training tools I couldn't really make sense of and come up with why I'd use them.

I learned my expensive lesson that upgrading for the sake of upgrading didn't work out for me, and if an older sim with many addons works for me then why rebuy everything again?. However, I'm sure I'd be saying something different if I was using PMDG products in heavy scenery where 64-bit would really shine.

 

 

 

 

[Cargostorm 151]

42 minutes ago, WebMaximus said:

This is what I'm using and I then used a great freeware tool called ThumbNailExporter to identify and get rid of any old FS9 models within the MT6 models.

Great tipp, Richard. Thanks. For those that are interested: download of the freeware is available here: http://lorby-si.weebly.com/downloads.html

Just one question: How do you recognize in the HTML report that a model is a FS9 model? Which is the relevant entry?

[Cargostorm 151]

3 minutes ago, tonywob said:

Well... I picked up P3Dv4, but I can't say I was too impressed with it over what P3D v2 (I skipped 3) and FSX-SE gave me. 64-bit is of course important, but I only fly GA and helicopters in my sims so I rarely had CTDs in v2 or FSX (I think FranceVFR Alsace caused one). I didn't like the fact that many of the addons I had in FSX had to be repurchased at higher prices and this left me with a bitter taste, and a somewhat empty sim lacking in my favourite addons. I did pick up the A2A cherokee "again", but I stopped there in anger after I was charged $30 more than I originally paid.

Either way, I had to turn off speedtrees as they don't seem to work very well with ORBX scenery (The trees are an odd light green colour?), and I really prefer ORBX's HD Trees. The rest of the features such as bathymetry and the training tools I couldn't really make sense of and come up with why I'd use them.

I learned my expensive lesson that upgrading for the sake of upgrading didn't work out for me, and if an older sim with many addons works for me then why rebuy everything again?. However, I'm sure I'd be saying something different if I was using PMDG products in heavy scenery where 64-bit would really shine.

I think the extended LOD radius, the avoidance of autogen pop-up and maybe the dynamic lighting alone are worth the transition to P3DV4. But I understand that it will hurt if many of the old addon-ons need to be re-purchased again.

[tonywob 4,768]

4 minutes ago, Cargostorm said:

I think the extended LOD radius, the avoidance of autogen pop-up and maybe the dynamic lighting alone are worth the transition to P3DV4

Dynamic lighting is only useful if you have an airport that supports it. Since I don't have any P3D v4 only airports, I didn't see this, but I presume it's similar to HDR lighting in X-Plane (which can really kill performance when overused). I don't remember the LOD radius looking much different, but bare in mind it was about 2-3 year gap of using an ESP sim again. The recent releases of ORBX regions and airports is what made think about reinstalling an ESP sim, and luckily those all worked without problems (Thank you ORBX )

 

[WebMaximus 372]

1 hour ago, Cargostorm said:

Great tipp, Richard. Thanks. For those that are interested: download of the freeware is available here: http://lorby-si.weebly.com/downloads.html

Just one question: How do you recognize in the HTML report that a model is a FS9 model? Which is the relevant entry?

I'm not in front of my PC but you want to look for the model type. If it says MDL8 (IIRC) those are old FS9 models you want to get rid of.

You might be able to find more details here:

https://www.google.se/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/513943-how-to-identifyresolve-problematic-ai-models/%3Fpage%3D2&ved=0ahUKEwj8lY-ViN7VAhXFFJoKHUBUBwAQFggeMAA&usg=AFQjCNGxSUPsAj0egfg-i5gUNKIy2BX9BQ

[CFIJose 5,485]

For me v4 has brought a huge performance increase at payware airports over FSX. There were many airports that I could not fly into due to poor fps. These include expensive FlyTampa airports.

The visuals are significantly improved thanks to PTA and some excellent presets.

HDR adds another level of eye candy.

Faster loading.

Stability.

Smoother simulation.

AG doesn't pop up and LOD can extend to the horizon if you have an 8gig video card.

I'm sure that there's more, but I'll let others share their experience.

[Sethos 4,297]

If they could just do something about that dynamic light performance when combined with SSAA, then I'd be happy as a clam with V4. 

[WebMaximus 372]

4 minutes ago, Sethos1988 said:

If they could just do something about that dynamic light performance when combined with SSAA, then I'd be happy as a clam with V4. 

So if you don't use SSAA the performance is OK even with dynamic lighting enabled?

Since I'm running at 4K the need for different AA modes isn't that big meaning I might be able to use dynamic lighting without a huge performance drop if that's the case.

[Sethos 4,297]

Just now, WebMaximus said:

So if you don't use SSAA the performance is OK even with dynamic lighting enabled?

Since I'm running at 4K the need for different AA modes isn't that big meaning I might be able to use dynamic lighting without a huge performance drop if that's the case.

It really depends on the GPU, mind you, as the AA + Dynamic Light combination hits the graphics card really hard. For some, they struggle at MSAA, while I personally have to hit 4xSSAA on my 1080 Ti before the performance hit really shows. Which is a shame, because it's only at 4xSSAA that P3D truly looks smooth and gets rid of all the shimmering. But overall, you can reduce the impact of Dynamic Lights by reducing the AA, especially combined with SSAA the performance hit is nasty.

[WebMaximus 372]

7 minutes ago, Sethos1988 said:

It really depends on the GPU, mind you, as the AA + Dynamic Light combination hits the graphics card really hard. For some, they struggle at MSAA, while I personally have to hit 4xSSAA on my 1080 Ti before the performance hit really shows. Which is a shame, because it's only at 4xSSAA that P3D truly looks smooth and gets rid of all the shimmering. But overall, you can reduce the impact of Dynamic Lights by reducing the AA, especially combined with SSAA the performance hit is nasty.

Ok, guess I'll have to see what I can achieve with my current setup and maybe if I think it would make an improvement big enough in relation to the cost I might replace my 980Ti with a 1080Ti.

Just hoping my 6700K @ 4.5 GHz wouldn't be a bottleneck.

[swiesma 625]

I am running 4K with a 1080ti and I cannot see much difference between SSAA and MSAA (could be that I am blind or something :-) ), so I am runnung 2xMSAA. And still, in some special occassions, dynamic lighting brings down my frames, but it's still flyable.

[WebMaximus 372]

Well, if a 1080Ti isn't good enough for the dynamic lighting that to me indicates LM has some tuning ahead.