PMDG 737-800/‍900 Base Package for Prepar3D

[jahn 1]

Hi there,

I'm thinking of getting the PMDG 737 base package. I have no sim yet and it appears the PMDG 737 is available for both MS FS and Lockheed's Prepar3D.

My preference is for the Prepar3D version.

I would appreciate if anyone who has experience with this combination would care to tell me if there are any

    * problems

    * caveats

    * pitfalls

e.t.c....anything to look out for? Does the Prepard3D version choice  matter ( v3 versus v4 ?? )

Many thanks for your feedback

Jahn Drink

 

P.S.: If I sound clueless, that's because I have not been `simming` in 14 years. Last I was using X-Plane and Elite ( so Prepard3D is new to me ). I got interested again because I'd like to use the PMDG 737 package mostly as an educational/intellectual experience to play around with the aircraft systems and FMS.

[scandinavian13 5,192]

The sim you choose will be down to you, really. Functionally, they are similar, though P3D is an active product, whereas FSX (and FSX Steam Edition) is essentially just being kept on life support.

For PMDG purposes, the choice of FSX and P3D is up to you. We simply require that you purchase an FSX version of our product for your FSX sim, and a P3D version of our product for your P3D sim. Should you choose P3D, then the license type - the agreement between you and Lockheed Martin - is not of concern to us as PMDG, and we can't provide guidance for license type.

[downscc 1,327]

1 hour ago, jahn said:

e.t.c....anything to look out for? Does the Prepard3D version choice  matter ( v3 versus v4 ?? )

I don't think anything matters as much as making sure you select P3D v4 over v3.  The difference is 64b verses 32b, and even with FSX most users with lots of nice addon scenery and complex aircraft were having problems completing a session without running into the memory allocation limit imposed by using only 32b application.  As hinted at by PMDG, there is a big difference between a simulator platform that is almost a decade old and not being updated to one that is still getting major updates, and minor updates as issues arise and are resolved.

The only pitfall that some fall into is not reading the Introduction and flying the Tutorials.  This is a feature-rich complex aircraft and even if you are type rated in a B737 you should still run thru this to become familiar with how to use the simulation.

[eslader 1,808]

I agree with downscc and would strongly recommend getting the p3d version, along with p3d version 4 if you don't already have it. The only reason to get the FSX version is if you intend to never do long flights, at which point getting a tubeliner at all is going to be cumbersome.

 I ended up buying the 747 twice because any time I tried a long flight in it under FSX, the sim would crash. Usually right as I was getting ready to turn final at the end of a 2+ hour flight - that was rage-inducing. 

It's not PMDG's fault at all - FSX has an upper memory limit of 4gig, and by the time you sim the plane you're flying, any other planes in the area, the scenery, the weather, etc etc and then run a multi-hour flight without restarting the sim, FSX just runs out of memory and crashes. 

P3dv4, being 64 bit, has dispensed with the 4 gig limit and so out-of-memory crashes are a thing of the past. You will still crash from time to time thanks to Windows being its sucky self. But unless something is wrong with your system, it will be far less frequent.

To that end in answer to your P3d version question, yes it absolutely matters. P3d was a 32 bit application until version 4, so upgrading to version 3 would not solve the problems you will face if you stay with FSX.

Edited December 12, 2018 by eslader

[jahn 1]

Hey thanks everyone:

eslader, downscc and scandinavian13!

Got my bearings. Looks like the OS is going to be windows, and P3D with a preference of v4 over v3 ( scandinavian13: I take it that in your product's sim requirements statement, Prepar3D v3.3+ implies v.3.3 onwards including v4?? )

Hoping to get it going on the iron I have ( 64-bit Win7, core-i7, 36G RAM, 2G Nvidia ).

Thanks once again for taking the time to reply

Kind Regards

Jahn

 

P.S.: Currently I am more interested in the sim as a 737 systems simulator with flying capabilities...once I learn the aircraft I'll get more serious and put together a rig that would be customized to comfortably host the sim and the add-on.

[eslader 1,808]

your specs should run it decently at least -- "core i7" doesn't tell us *which* core-i7 you have, or the speed, and the vidcard's ram is a little light if you have addons, but I ran FSX/P3d for years on similar specs. BTW, your ram number is a little odd. Do you have mismatched ram sticks or something? Usually ram numbers are in a doubling sequence (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, etc) 

[jahn 1]

Hi eslader,

thank you for your `encouraging` remarks regarding the specs. They describe my laptop ( docked to a hi-res DELL display ). This setup must do for now...until I procure a rig that's dedicated to simulation.

As for the RAM number......YES indeed 36G does sound screwed...should be a power of two!......My bad!! I apologize!

Many thanks

Jahn Drink

[Ephedrin 418]

But to be honest with a 2GB video card you won‘t get too far... If you have the money left consider getting an up to date pc.. I personally wouldn‘t recommend a CPU older than gen 6 and a video card older than the GTX900 versions, even if You don‘t mind about scenery. Older hardware will very likely create stutters when something is loaded...

[eslader 1,808]

You can do OK if you keep the graphics sliders to a reasonable level. Until about 3 months ago when I did a full new build, I was running the 747 on a 2 gig card and a creaky old i5. I had to do things like turn off the copilot displays, etc, but I managed to get decent framerates as long as I avoided really large metro areas like LAX.

 

[jahn 1]

I installed P3D and PMDG 737.

Next I took the default Piper cub and did some low-level flying.....awesome framerates.....at least good enough for me.

With the 737 I've seen the scenery do one or two isolated jerks ...sort of like the the aircraft was moving ( as you could observe on the gauges ) but the secenery was stuck in one place for 1-2 seconds then it refereshed.

Sure better card, better rig...plan to do so in the future.....but my laptop will have to suffice for now.

Jahn Drink