Hi all,

Few quick questions:

• Is there a general consensus on which version of P3D we should use? It feels like there is a new release all the time and I wonder if add-on developers are struggling to catch up
• Are there any issues having both FSX:SE and P3D installed? Is it better to partition to OS and have one on one and the other on another?
• Is the general principles that P3D has better performance than FSX:SE because of better ability to leverage multi-core CPUs and GPUs compared to FSX accurate and accurate with all versions? (V3, V4, V5)

 

Thanks
 

Hey @dolbinau I've actually gone through this transition myself this week, from FSX-SE to P3D v5, and I have to say I deeply regret not moving to P3D sooner. I get much better performance and more importantly framerate stability on relatively old hardware: i5 4670K + RTX2080. So to answer your specific questions: 
 

• If you're getting into it now I'd probably go with v5, all the minor updates (4.3, 4.4, 4.5...) are free, but if you bought v4 you have to pay full price for v5. Therefore, buying v5 now means you'll get a relative long series of free updates in the future. Most addons from 4.5 seem to be either working already or being ported.
• No issues having both on the same system, I have this exact setup and it's working just fine.
• As far as I can tell the CPU utilization remains similar, first core pinned at 100% and the others fluctuating a bit, but somehow on my 4C/4T CPU I saw a massive improvement, from mid 20s ~ low 30s on FSX to 45fps solid on P3D v5, using the same ORBX scenery and the same A2A plane. I believe DX12 is more efficient overall and also possibly able to leverage your GPU a bit more. (This is based on v5, I didn't use previous versions).

Edited April 23, 20206 yr by FlyingRoo
more info regarding my framerates

1 hour ago, dolbinau said:

Hi all,

Few quick questions:

• Is there a general consensus on which version of P3D we should use? It feels like there is a new release all the time and I wonder if add-on developers are struggling to catch up
• Are there any issues having both FSX:SE and P3D installed? Is it better to partition to OS and have one on one and the other on another?
• Is the general principles that P3D has better performance than FSX:SE because of better ability to leverage multi-core CPUs and GPUs compared to FSX accurate and accurate with all versions? (V3, V4, V5)

 

Thanks
 

1. v5, it’ll be great, though there’s a cohort on Avsim who love to hate it.

2. Nope and nope.

3. Kinda, but to be specific the big advantage of v5 and DX12 is that we’ll progressively make more use of our shiny video cards as the software matures.

1 hour ago, dolbinau said:

Hi all,

Few quick questions:

• Is there a general consensus on which version of P3D we should use? It feels like there is a new release all the time and I wonder if add-on developers are struggling to catch up
• Are there any issues having both FSX:SE and P3D installed? Is it better to partition to OS and have one on one and the other on another?
• Is the general principles that P3D has better performance than FSX:SE because of better ability to leverage multi-core CPUs and GPUs compared to FSX accurate and accurate with all versions? (V3, V4, V5)

 

Thanks
 

Use the latest version. It is the best optimised and going forward it will certainly be the one which is necessary for the latest add-ons as developers make use of what DX12 will let them achieve.

No problems with having FSX and P3D on your computer, in fact, it is slightly advantageous to do this sometimes, for example if you have an old FSX product which won't install without finding the FSX exe file, you can install it and then manually port it to P3D, although in fairness, you can also do this with a 'dummy' FSX folder. 

Yup, P3D definitely runs better than FSX. That's true of pretty much all versions of it, but it is noticeably better on P3D v4, and certainly vastly better with v5. This is hardly surprising when you think about it; FSX dates back to 2006 and even back then it was based on much older code which was incapable of leveraging modern hardware. If you are concerned about your GPU handling things, then consider v4, but if you have a reasonably good GPU (at least 6Gb of vRAM and preferably DDR5) then v5 will be a better choice.

Edited April 23, 20206 yr by Chock

Thanks all, really appreciate your replies! And in terms of add-on compatibility with P3D V5, is it a safe assumption that for 'complex' payware add-ons, unless it has been specifically designed to work with P3D V5 I can assume it won't work? Similarly for add-on scenery? 

Generally speaking, I've found that if you are 'prepared' to manually point stuff at the V5 folder to install, it will work (scenery and add-on aeroplanes), however there are some add-ons which will show some visual anomalies or crash the sim. An example of this is shiny airframe textures not working well with the new display methods in the new sim, such as any polished metal paint jobs things such as the Carenado Beech D18S and the new Aeroplane Heaven DC-3. Similarly, some aeroplanes will have some parts which are transparent, for example the VC panel in that Carenado D18S. you can fly em, but visually, some paint jobs will look a bit iffy.

Some effects will be a bit wacky too and some can potentially cause the sim to crash, for example the Aeroplane Heaven Heinkel He111 bomber works fine in the sim, apart from its flame effect on the exhaust stubs, which are now a bizarre blue colour in P3D V5. Not a show stopper, but clearly needs a patch or a tweak. A2A aeroplanes, and any add-on aeroplane which uses the A2A raindrop windshield effect, will crash the sim unless you disable the windshield effect in the aircraft's panel folder, which is easy to do, just highlight it and type an x in front of the name so the sim can no longer find it and try to load it. Doing it that way means that if the sim is patched to use that effect, you can simply remove the x from the name. Alternatively, A2A may patch this.

There is the occasional add-on which flat out refuses to play ball with V5. Some examples include Sprucesim's FS REFUEL for FS2004/FSX/P3D, which will not function at all in P3D V5. Similarly, despite pointing Simworks Studios Nimitz Class carriers add-on at P3D V5 for the install, it still refuses to show up on the add-on menu. Also Just Flight's Traffic Global doesn't want to work in the sim and neither does Active Sky, despite appearing to have installed okay.

So, some things need patching and tweaking, but a lot of stuff does already work. See my thread in the P3D forum for a guide to what Avsimmers have found is working.