This is why I'm using XPlane 90% of the time

[sidfadc 1,340]

Hi guys

I don't want this to turn into a flame war but over the last month or two I've been using XPlane for most of my simming and this is why...

I only started simming in 2015 with FSX Steam Edition and converted over to P3Dv4 since its release.  Spent thousands on aircraft, addon's, sceneryetc.  I guess since the switch over to v4 I was expecting more from the sim.  Performance for me wasn't increased that much more from FSX.  Irritatingly P3D stutters more then FSX ever did with the same CPU (i7 4790k) but an upgrade from a 970 to a 1070, particularly coming into payware scenery when the airport and custom autogen loads into view.  Other niggles with shadows dancing around and autogen constantly flickering.  The terrible flickering night lighting (admittedly could be an ORBX problem) which makes my eyes bleed at night.  Not to mention the introduction of Dynamic Lighting which is a serious performance hog but is mandatory on the PMDG 737, turning off DL means lights aren't cast on the ground which makes flying at night into detailed scenery nigh on impossible.  Some of you guys are probably thinking well that's just user specific but I've seen enough threads around here to know its affecting lots of other users.

I bought XP11 when it came out but never really gave it a chance because of all the money invested into the P3D platform.

The first turning point for me was buying the FlightFactor A320.  Having previously used the FSLabs A320 I could make a direct comparison between two identical aircraft across two different platforms.  Straight off the bat the A320 performes so much better, granted its still BETA and some features are missing but they are coming.

The 2nd turning point was the performance, I fly on Pilotedge a lot.  With Ortho covering SoCal flying the FFA320 into LAX my frames were rock solid at 30FPS with not a single stutter!  Man that is impossible using ORBX SoCal and the FSLabs A320 in P3D.  In P3D its a stuttering mess (certainly my experience)

The 3rd turning point was the announcement from ORBX.  I mean seriously the video showing their TruEarth England is absolutely mouth watering.  Yes the TruEarth series are coming to P3D but I think the XPlane videos look so much better.  Even better ORBX are covering the Pacific NorthWest which is part of the PilotEdge coverage, another plus.

The 4th turning point was FlyTampa LGKR.  I bought this the other day and its absolutely amazing, I own this scenery for P3D and the XPlane version is on another level in my opinion.

The 5th turning point was covering the UK (I'm from England) in Ortho + X Europe and marvelling at just how more realistic it is looking out the window.

The one thing I am really really missing in XPlane is a decent weather engine.  I believe Active Sky have said they are porting their stuff for XPlane, when they comes oh boy will I be happy.

So right now I have two sims to choose from, best of both worlds but I am seriously leaning towards XP.  I honestly believe its the future, once Active Sky come across and some of the other big players I think more people are going to switch.

I've been wanting to write this post for a while now just for others to look on if they are in the same position as I am.  I don't want a flame war, its just merely my observations of both platforms.

Thanks

 

 

[newtie 533]

All that is fine and I'm glad your happy with it.

Until developers start producing apps at the same rate and quality that they currently do for P3D, I'm not going anywhere 

Cheers,
Mark

 

[t4murphy 24]

Same here as sidfadc, XP has little issues with dynamic lighting and the traffic doesnt seem to impact fps much and so much more realistic. The picture is crystal clear. So many free addons that you would normally pay for in p3d or fsx. Now that UK2000 and many others are jumping on the XP11 platform I fly less p3d. The latest Zibo mod 737 is awesome. Even have a free remote fmc for my android pad to operate it. Like sidfadc I fly on pilotedge and the socal region with orthoxp blows orbx socal out of the water.

Edited April 13, 2018 by t4murphy

[hs118 706]

19 minutes ago, sidfadc said:

I've been wanting to write this post for a while now just for others to look on if they are in the same position as I am.  I don't want a flame war, its just merely my observations of both platforms.

Thanks

Thomas,

Your post is a great summation of the positives in the current state of XPlane. And, your experience with other sims, including Prepar3D, adds a great deal of credibility to your opinion. 

If I might, your bias is the same as any other flight simmer's....you are not using the sim(s) in the same flight profiles/addon combos/aircraft features as EVERYONE else. Your fear of starting a flame war is, unfortunately, a valid one because of this bias that EVERY simmer has, to some degree or another.

This is not a criticism of your post as much as it is a criticism of the community as a whole. 

I, for one, am a member of a very small flight sim community that prefers modern USNavy aircraft, scenery, and flight profiles. How would you assess the various sims for my usage? Do you even know of what I speak?

Again, thanks for what is a very good analysis of the current XPlane positives. 

Have fun and keep writing, you have a good perspective.

Edited April 13, 2018 by Henry Street

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

I doubt that this thread will start a "flame war" because most people here are convinced that neither sim is a panacea and each has positive and negative aspects.

[G-RFRY 1,705]

If it`s not intended to start a flame war the best place to post this would have been XP forum not were it was originally posted, you would get 100% agreement there. 

[Bobsk8 12,489]

2 minutes ago, rjfry said:

If it`s not intended to start a flame war the best place to post this would have been XP forum not were it was originally posted, you would get 100% agreement there. 

If you are going to post how great Chevrolet is, posting on a Ford forum is probably not the best idea in the world. 

[LRBS 942]

Henry,

That's his opinion. Unfortunately his "criticism" is quite right about P3d when many people are complaining about so many issues that are not fixed for a long time.

Talking about me now, I got P3D Professional version 1 since 2013, there are very good parts in their sim that evolved spectacular but unfortunately there is a constant issue with them lately. Every update brakes something else and the old stuttering and blurry textures are not fixed.

Being part of small or big sim community we should not be subject to constant updates with this kind of issues.  

I also spent thousands of $ in this P3d hobby and the way they conduct themselves I find it unacceptable.

I'm also running XP11 and of course it's not a perfect PC simulation either. The only difference I noted (perhaps I'm wrong) their updates did not break anything else that before was running ok.

What worries me is and actually should worry them more is that lots of people (customers)  and developers are getting tired  of these mishaps. 

And for Raymond, this is the perfect place for these kind of statements because is about P3d.

He basically left P3d to XP11 after he spent thousands of $ because of real problems with the software itself. We should be able to discuss all these problems and actually P3D to listen up and get their quality control in line with the customer request. 

This should not be a "flame war" or pretend that everything is OK when is not.

I dearly hope that cool heads prevail and something good will come out of this.

[John_Cillis 2,406]

1 hour ago, sidfadc said:

Hi guys

I don't want this to turn into a flame war but over the last month or two I've been using XPlane for most of my simming and this is why...

I only started simming in 2015 with FSX Steam Edition and converted over to P3Dv4 since its release.  Spent thousands on aircraft, addon's, sceneryetc.  I guess since the switch over to v4 I was expecting more from the sim.  Performance for me wasn't increased that much more from FSX.  Irritatingly P3D stutters more then FSX ever did with the same CPU (i7 4790k) but an upgrade from a 970 to a 1070, particularly coming into payware scenery when the airport and custom autogen loads into view.  Other niggles with shadows dancing around and autogen constantly flickering.  The terrible flickering night lighting (admittedly could be an ORBX problem) which makes my eyes bleed at night.  Not to mention the introduction of Dynamic Lighting which is a serious performance hog but is mandatory on the PMDG 737, turning off DL means lights aren't cast on the ground which makes flying at night into detailed scenery nigh on impossible.  Some of you guys are probably thinking well that's just user specific but I've seen enough threads around here to know its affecting lots of other users.

I bought XP11 when it came out but never really gave it a chance because of all the money invested into the P3D platform.

The first turning point for me was buying the FlightFactor A320.  Having previously used the FSLabs A320 I could make a direct comparison between two identical aircraft across two different platforms.  Straight off the bat the A320 performes so much better, granted its still BETA and some features are missing but they are coming.

The 2nd turning point was the performance, I fly on Pilotedge a lot.  With Ortho covering SoCal flying the FFA320 into LAX my frames were rock solid at 30FPS with not a single stutter!  Man that is impossible using ORBX SoCal and the FSLabs A320 in P3D.  In P3D its a stuttering mess (certainly my experience)

The 3rd turning point was the announcement from ORBX.  I mean seriously the video showing their TruEarth England is absolutely mouth watering.  Yes the TruEarth series are coming to P3D but I think the XPlane videos look so much better.  Even better ORBX are covering the Pacific NorthWest which is part of the PilotEdge coverage, another plus.

The 4th turning point was FlyTampa LGKR.  I bought this the other day and its absolutely amazing, I own this scenery for P3D and the XPlane version is on another level in my opinion.

The 5th turning point was covering the UK (I'm from England) in Ortho + X Europe and marvelling at just how more realistic it is looking out the window.

The one thing I am really really missing in XPlane is a decent weather engine.  I believe Active Sky have said they are porting their stuff for XPlane, when they comes oh boy will I be happy.

So right now I have two sims to choose from, best of both worlds but I am seriously leaning towards XP.  I honestly believe its the future, once Active Sky come across and some of the other big players I think more people are going to switch.

I've been wanting to write this post for a while now just for others to look on if they are in the same position as I am.  I don't want a flame war, its just merely my observations of both platforms.

Thanks

 

 

I love Xplane but have none of those problems with P3DV4.  I cannot compare it to FSX because my computer is much more powerful than the old one I ran FSX on.  I get no stutters or graphical artifacts in P3D.  Since I run photoreal scenery autogen is not present which may be the cause of your stutters.  But...and a big but...P3D does not handle AI well on my system and AI coming into view if set higher than 33pct will cause a stutter when AI loads.  With Xplane11 I can max everything, especially AI and it flies.   Great framerates in and out of the cockpits with my two aircraft add-ons, Aerobask's Eclipse and Carenado's PC12.  My Carenado aircraft work fine under P3DV4, no stutters in the cockpit with AI set as I have it, AI is the only limit I place on the sim, graphics are otherwise all maxed.

John

[hs118 706]

43 minutes ago, killthespam said:

Henry,

That's his opinion.

And, Alex, you have your opinion. There is a saying that compares opinions to colonic orifices, I will extend that analogy to say that we never know how bad ours smells to other people. You have your bias, just as Thomas and I do. 

We have another saying where I am from: "A hit dog will holler". This may also apply. 

Edited April 13, 2018 by Henry Street

[newtie 533]

57 minutes ago, Cactus521 said:

but have none of those problems with P3DV4

Me neither.....

[CFIJose 5,485]

No native seasons, a need to fix aircraft ground handling, sounds are just poor quality, and the dynamic weather sucks. Those are the primary reasons why I spend 100% of my simming time away from XP 11.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, sidfadc said:

I don't want this to turn into a flame war but over the last month or two I've been using XPlane for most of my simming and this is why...

Every other thread of A vs. B turns out to be a flame war and often gets moderated and sometimes shutdown ... lets see if this one is any different.  There is nothing inherently wrong with A vs. B compares but what usually happens is the facts get distorted to fit one's convictions.  But whenever you compare A vs. B vs. ... people become very passionate about their "choice" and defend their choice or attack someone else's choice.  So long as it stays polite and within the AVSIM ToS, this thread and those before it will stay intact and healthy.   

2 hours ago, killthespam said:

The only difference I noted (perhaps I'm wrong) their updates did not break anything else that before was running ok.

For example, my experience with both P3D and XP11 is that updates to the platform certainly HAVE broken other aspects, but those broken aspects consist of 3rd party content.  I personally don't consider platform changes that introduce incompatibility with prior version add-ons as a "fault", it's progress and bug fixes that sometimes requires the add-on providers to update their products to re-establish compatibility.  This is a "normal" process when platforms have powerful SDKs that are used by content providers and it will always be this way ... that's reality of having an SDK and Flexibility and ability to build aircraft, objects, and the virtual world. 

There are facts on both P3D V4 and XP11 and FSW and AF2 and DCS ... it's really more about what's important to the user.  Some users may value PBR as extremely important, other users may value weather/water/seasons as extremely important.  A user goes down the feature list and decides on their "value" ... or  the many user that can't decide and uses them all ... the true simulator junkie ;)  I find all 5 of those products I listed as having things of importance/interest and hence use them all ... that may change as/when/if the platforms change.  My limiting factor is time.

I would love to see a day, where I just click the buy button and everything just works without any other interaction, but that day will never happen and I've come to terms with that reality and make the best of it regardless of FS platform. 

Cheers, Rob.

[Dazkent 113]

Interesting post, as a 5 year user of FSX and have dabbled with P3D in the past and a tiny bit of X plane they all have their good points and bad points. If some bright spark could make a sim that took the best parts of all of them and produced a new sim with it then they could be onto a winner.

I will probably move to P3D at some point but for now my FSX runs smoother, as i don't have a 30hz monitor i could never get stable framerates running at 1080p in P3D nice and smooth. i recently saw a video online where you can force your monitor to display 30hz so maybe i will give it another try.

 

[dmarques69 316]

3 hours ago, sidfadc said:

The first turning point for me was buying the FlightFactor A320. 

My turning point also! look at him, so got dam beautiful...

 

Edited April 13, 2018 by dmarques69