P3DV4 Performance

[John_Cillis 2,406]

I've been using P3DV4's latest update for a while now.  I feel performance increased in that update.  I have flown probably close to one hundred hours on it and I just can't fault the performance under my system specs.  I use photoreal scenery, and about 25 pct. Civil and Commercial AI, enough to pass contrails in the flight levels which I just love, just like real life.  All my other options are maxed out.  I keep a 33fps lock and it has prevented any blurries from happening, I did not tweak the LOD as I think the default has it just about right, and higher LOD's use more memory.

I've settled down with the Citation 550 for most of my flights, and the 337 for slower flights.  I like the "push me pull you".  I think the 550 has a fantastic autopilot and fantastic hand flying dynamics.  My best landings have been made with it, for the first time in a light jet I nailed the centerline at Sky Harbor the other day and it flared so nicely, seems to have great ground effect.

I have X-Plane but I don't use it that much anymore.  I think it is much harder on the hardware and I've bluescreened a couple of times with it, maybe because I don't have much VRAM on my video card, so it's hard to find fault with the program.  I do wish they had null zones set up like P3D and FSX does, it prevents the minor shakes that joysticks can sometimes have when you hold them.  I have so much X-Plane photoscenery, from Alberta to the Mexican border, that I will probably use it again from time to time.  I love the atmospherics of that program, but I like the ones in P3D too, they mirror my old Soft Horizons add on for FS9 and FSX.

I've posted a couple of short videos in the videos forum.  Please feel free to check them out, they display the performance.  I used NCH's recording software, I think it is stellar although it does not capture sound.  They can be viewed in 1080P.

John

[n99wb 10]

Agree totally. V4.1 is smoother and sharper.  I think the last couple of smallish Win 10 updates have helped too.

Also, I'm running the trial version of XP 11.  It is a stunner when it comes to everything visual. The update to 11.1 was easy peazy and helped performance too.  But. . .  The learning curve for XP is a little steep for this ol' country boy.

 

N99WB

I5 6400, 16 gig dual channel, EVGA 1050 ti.

[John_Cillis 2,406]

3 hours ago, n99wb said:

Agree totally. V4.1 is smoother and sharper.  I think the last couple of smallish Win 10 updates have helped too.

Also, I'm running the trial version of XP 11.  It is a stunner when it comes to everything visual. The update to 11.1 was easy peazy and helped performance too.  But. . .  The learning curve for XP is a little steep for this ol' country boy.

 

N99WB

I5 6400, 16 gig dual channel, EVGA 1050 ti.

Xplane11 does require some digging in to.  It polls the joystick in a different way, I don't believe they used much of the Windows API so they could optimize the program.  It is a much richer default environment than P3D, each sim has its place.  I believe the aircraft in P3D work better, but I have not installed any aircraft add ons yet for Xplane, I may install the C550.  Xplane renders the atmosphere so well, they bettered my Soft Horizons add-on for FS9 and FSX.  A very realistic haze settles over their scenery at just about the perfect distance, 99.99 miles or so it seems.  With Xplane I have to be extra careful not to over control the aircraft, with the laminar flow theory that they use, I like that a lot, it's the way I was taught to fly when I took light sport lessons.

I have a Xplane11 MD80 video in the videos forum, you can see how my tweaked XPlane11 performs, keeping in mind that the video recording itself extracts some performance from the program.  I have learned that Xplane11 does not like to be task switched, if I do that it will blue screen unless I go back to it immediately.  It works every last ounce of performance out of the hardware, probably for good purpose.  It can render at a very high frame rate, I am not sure how to measure it.  Definitely cinema frame rates is what I get with the program.  P3D's performance is a step beyond XPlane's on my system, I can task switch, start it, stop it, as much as I want in a computing session.  I think they used the Windows API more extensively than Xplane, Xplane's roots seemed to be based in Unix, which I quit using because I found it was not as bulletproof as advertised when I used to install Unix based systems.  That's why I think there are a lot of holes in the Internet, it came out of Unix and work that CERN and other astronomers, like Cliff Stoll, did on the OS.  Of course Al Gore will say otherwise, bad ol Al ;)

John