Which is better, P3D v3.0, or v3.4?

[Bobsk8 12,723]

2 minutes ago, Mitch24 said:

You can say this now, but LM is continually developing.. and you will get quickly get left behind. When everyone else has all the cool features and latest sim technology you will upgrade. Especially when developers start going 64-bit only. 

With the millions of copies of FSX , and FSX SE and P3D versions 2 and 3, out there, I don't think developers are going to give up that market any time soon. 

[Noel 4,499]

34 minutes ago, Mitch24 said:

You can say this now, but LM is continually developing.. and you will get quickly get left behind. 

LOL!   Get left behind, what is there a purchasing window after which I'm locked out?  IMO there truly are only a few meaningful improvements beyond what 64-bit offers for users like myself, and I'll bet the vast number of users are in a similar boat.   Show me one thread that highlights a massive $300 difference beyond OOMs in user experience for using V4 over v3.0, and remember I don't get OOMs.   If you can't find one thread that makes it obvious, how about mentioning one feature in v4, beyond the OOM issue, that really justifies for you personally the $300 charge.  

Features that matter most for real improvements for me would be enhancing ATC, even fixing a few of the minor annoyances in the now 8y/o ATC build would be meaningful, and fixing how some cloud/ground mist drastically impacts frame performance.   Next, I'd love to see LM build in a realtime smart algorithm that would for example, as one descends to near touchdown, reduce LOD dramatically as the plane starts to get closer to the ground where large LOD no longer can be seen and appreciated.   When you're near the ground you need a progressively lower LOD and as you're having to process complex 3rd party airports it would be great to pick up resources by reducing LOD since you can't see it anyway.   As well, recall how you will be flying thru clouds and terrain w/ shadowing on, only to see GPU utilization start going up to 100% which now starts to impact frame performance and smoothness?   That could easily be modulated to a target GPU utilization percentage, for example decreasing the shadow distance range or quality such that you kept GPU utilization under say 90%.  Right now I have to stop the sim and make the adjustment.  These sorts of improvements matter to most all users, whereas the massive list of 'improvements' in each incremental update beyond bug fixes apparently apply mostly to commercial users or to their long term vision of where they want to take the program. 

[Nighthwk 566]

In the pipeline for future P3D versions are DX12, or another API, support, contoured runways, performance improvements, and much more. Obviously fog and cloud cover would tank your fps if your AA settings are cranked, that will happen on any platform. I agree, I’d say as soon as P3D market share overtakes the 32but platforms buy a good amount, we’ll start seeing more devs switch to 64 bit only, 

[Noel 4,499]

I got what I needed up and running which was everything as it was in 3.0 including FTX NCA and SC , OpenLC, Global Base, REX textures, FTX Airports NA, HD Trees, except haven't added a couple of other airports that I wasn't going to use in today's test flight.  Test flight from FTX KPSP to KSBA in the Majestic Dash 8 w/ very high scenery settings I got no pauses whatsover just liquid smooth w nary a hiccough--that made it worth the effort to update to 3.4.   I'm guessing most of that was just cleaning up a bunch of corrupted scenery and other clutter from almost 2y of continuous use w/ no re-installs.  Previously I would have come into some choppiness when frames go less than 30 (vsynced to refresh rate of 30) when flying over LA Area but it was perfect once again.  Thanks all ;o)