Is 4.5 to V5 Worth it? (opinions request)

[anthony500 27]

to OP, I would not hesitate one second and go for V5 vs 4.5.

I have a similar system (i7-8700K OC to 4.9, RTX 2080 and 16GB RAM), and V5 is just much smoother for me. 

I was using lately X-plane 11 with VULKAN and when I installed V5 I didn't really have high hopes I have to say (vs 4.5 which Always felt stuttery although quite high FPS).

V5 is night and day difference for me.  

 

[cwburnett 1,809]

48 minutes ago, Noel said:

With all due respect as you're seeing the differences first hand, but those photos don't look different than what I'm seeing in 4.5 w/ the various weather and texture additions we all have by now save the photo real Hawaii as I don't have any PR scenery.  The cloud coloration in the first photo I see on a regular basis and w/ at least as much or more drama to the scene it's shocking how much it's improved over v3.4.  I know you're a veteran 4.5 user so surely you're duly impressed by 5 but again, those just don't look any different to me than what I already have.

First, yes. 4.5 is good and is wildly more stable as it exists today. No question.  In 4.5 I had Envtex+Envshade+ASCA+ASP4.  But...I did a test - I took off from LVFR KMIA in 4.5HF2 with ASCA+Envtex+Envshade+ASP4 into the sunrise, and then did the same with v5/w Truesky. The difference is huge, IMO. They were at the same time/date in-sim:

v4.5HF2: https://i.imgur.com/8JNMl0k.jpg

v5: https://i.imgur.com/7TMa8HQ.jpg

Maybe I could have better tweaked 4.5 with more config changes and PTA profiles or tomatoshade or whatever - but there's something to be said for not having to load up the sim with 4+ add-ons running outside the sim to make the sky look good.

The other thing that sold me is the effect of flying through an actual volumetric cloud, and hand flying in IMC conditions with them, is much closer to the real thing with Truesky; if I had a good capture card, I'd make a video.  As a RW pilot, this is something that has always frustrated me with even the best 2D sprite clouds before, so this is major for me.  Part of that also is that in 4.5, with the 2D cloud textures, certain scenery objects would pop through low visibility and clouds - sometimes trees or other airport objects would become visible even though you're in dense IMC.  This doesn't occur with Truesky.  The pics in this thread show this difference and you can see in the v4.5 picture the trees ignoring the lowered visibility...

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by cwburnett

[mtr75 653]

55 minutes ago, Noel said:

With all due respect as you're seeing the differences first hand, but those photos don't look different than what I'm seeing in 4.5 w/ the various weather and texture additions we all have by now save the photo real Hawaii as I don't have any PR scenery.  The cloud coloration in the first photo I see on a regular basis and w/ at least as much or more drama to the scene it's shocking how much it's improved over v3.4.  I know you're a veteran 4.5 user so surely you're duly impressed by 5 but again, those just don't look any different to me than what I already have.

They don't look anything different than what I have in 4.5 either, but that's with Environment Force. Which I can't use in v5. It makes an enormous difference in v4.5, it's like night and day. But the Caribbean in stock v5 looks comical. Fly around St. Maarten and post a screenshot (TNCM is the airport identifier). 

[Sethos 4,346]

The v4 screenshots make me cringe a bit now, those 2D clouds that don't receive proper shading / lighting from the sun, it looks terrible. 

[Jetman67 517]

I wouldnt go back, i have the best performance and visuals i have ever seen, 4.5 was great but 5 is awesome you just have to keep an eye on video ram usage and deal with the bugs until fixed with a patch 

[vp49p3 216]

9 hours ago, mtr75 said:

So, in the end I think v5 will be great. But right now I just want to fly rather than beta test. And 4.5 is just awesome. 

+1

[mtr75 653]

1 hour ago, suchw said:

I wouldnt go back, i have the best performance and visuals i have ever seen, 4.5 was great but 5 is awesome you just have to keep an eye on video ram usage and deal with the bugs until fixed with a patch 

I had piles of VRAM left, and it looked comical. Performance was wonderful, but without REX products it just doesn't look good. At least where I like to fly. 

[Noel 4,503]

2 hours ago, mtr75 said:

They don't look anything different than what I have in 4.5 either, but that's with Environment Force. Which I can't use in v5. It makes an enormous difference in v4.5, it's like night and day. But the Caribbean in stock v5 looks comical. Fly around St. Maarten and post a screenshot (TNCM is the airport identifier). 

Tell me more if you will about that statement, 'makes enormous difference'.  I'm using SkyForce & some textures from Texture Direct and it's bloody awesome the variety an realism is just remarkable.  What will EF bring for me?

[mtr75 653]

3 hours ago, Noel said:

Tell me more if you will about that statement, 'makes enormous difference'.  I'm using SkyForce & some textures from Texture Direct and it's bloody awesome the variety an realism is just remarkable.  What will EF bring for me?

I had texture direct before I got Sky Force, and Texture Direct was fantastic. The combo with Environment Force is simply the most beautiful I’ve ever seen a sim look. Sky Force selects all the textures from EF for you, and it simply does a better job than I can do by mixing and matching with Texture Direct. But Texture Direct with Sky Force may be amazing as well. All I know is that EF and SF together is incredible:

https://youtu.be/XIUONB6MVMM

https://youtu.be/006YwvezVOg

[CFIJose 5,485]

Can someone post a pic of TNCM in P3D v5? I'd like to post a comparison pic. Thanks!

P3D v4.5HF2 (PTA & REX SkyForce)

Edited April 30, 2020 by DJJose

[OzWhitey 3,353]

If you’re a flightsim/P3D fan, you’re going to be buying P3Dv5 at some stage. Why not just get it now, and - as other have said - run 4.5 and 5 in parallel?

Don’t be one of the minority who put it off for 2 years, then upgrade, then complain when v6 comes out that “I just paid for v5!”.

V5 is already a beautiful sim, and it’s going to get progressively better over the 5.1/5.2/5.3/5.4/5.x journey.

[threexgreen 3,139]

One of the benefits with trueSKY and the new enhanced atmospherics to me is that you get a stunning and realistic atmosphere out of the base product and don't have to use textures to completely replace everything sky and atmosphere and then use shader tools and whatnot to make it look like that. And even then you only have 2D textures for clouds and not actual volumetric ones. Of course this advantage might be a bit of a moot point if you already own all these addons, but it's a huge advantage nonetheless. Overall, with trueSKY and the enhanced atmospherics (probably the same thing...) I feel I'm getting in the sim what I see outside.

Edited April 30, 2020 by threegreen

[Noel 4,503]

16 minutes ago, threegreen said:

One of the benefits with trueSKY and the new enhanced atmospherics to me is that you get a stunning and realistic atmosphere out of the base product and don't have to use textures to completely replace everything sky and atmosphere and then use shader tools and whatnot to make it look like that. And even then you only have 2D textures for clouds and not actual volumetric ones. Of course this advantage might be a bit of a moot point if you already own all these addons, but it's a huge advantage nonetheless. Overall, with trueSKY and the enhanced atmospherics (probably the same thing...) I feel I'm getting in the sim what I see outside.

Do you have live weather as well already?

[Christopher Low 5,354]

1 hour ago, OzWhitey said:

If you’re a flightsim/P3D fan, you’re going to be buying P3Dv5 at some stage. Why not just get it now, and - as other have said - run 4.5 and 5 in parallel?

Don’t be one of the minority who put it off for 2 years, then upgrade, then complain when v6 comes out that “I just paid for v5!”.

V5 is already a beautiful sim, and it’s going to get progressively better over the 5.1/5.2/5.3/5.4/5.x journey.

This does not make sense to me. Why buy v5 just because it's available? I will buy it when the bugs have been fixed, and compatibility issues have been sorted out. I am enjoying my flights in P3Dv4 at the moment, so I am not missing anything.

[Noel 4,503]

1 hour ago, OzWhitey said:

If you’re a flightsim/P3D fan, you’re going to be buying P3Dv5 at some stage. Why not just get it now, and - as other have said - run 4.5 and 5 in parallel?

The 'why not' would be A, I already have fantastic visuals & performance and B, MSFS is right around the corner which quite possibly will offer more than V5 does, and C there is no way I will run both sims there is no need nor desire they are essentially identical, V4.5 and V5.  I understand performance IS or WILL BE superior in v5, but again, I'm suffering exactly zero performance issues in V4.5 and it is fully tricked out already w/ fabulous atmospherics, the same exact planes, ATC, etc etc.  If MSFS bombs (which for me could be having no ATC, let alone no improved ATC), then I will consider paying the $199 for V5/V6. This was not true a few years ago when P3D was arguably the most robust platform for content.  It's valid to say we're very much at a realistic crossroads for flight simming w/ MSFS looking as it does.  One thing is certain:  flight simming has definitely come of age, finally!  My first foray began on my brother's Apple II GS in 1987 with its stick figure VC.  Come to think of it for me it began in 1961 when me and my friend Scotty fashioned a cockpit out of a sawhorse, put plywood sides on it and drew avionics on it, and pretend flew and we could turn our heads and see realtime live weather and totally realistic scenery--in his back yard 

Edited April 30, 2020 by Noel