I accidently posted this in the P3D forum 8h ago and someone noticed, so reposting here.

It had been awhile since using P3D but I have to say I really enjoyed the ritual of setting up a flight from KSFO > KDEN in the PMDG 777 and discovered an unexpected positive effect of using MSFS for the past month almost exclusively:  no need to run P3D w/ the highest graphic settings anymore as it's not going to compete w/ MSFS anyway so why bother.  So we unchecked Orbx NCA/SCA, turned down autogen to 'Sparse', vegetation to Normal and made sure I had ample headroom for anything, and indeed did.   So the entire flight was smooth and allowed me to focus only on setting up the flight using GSX II and FSCaptain and executing a perfect flight.  Nice to not have to make P3D visually shine, which can kill performance in the big cities in the PMDG birds on my system.  There are a couple of things, a very few, I like visually in P3D much more than MSFS.   I really detest the way stars and some if of the lighting looks in MSFS.  Often stars look like round solid balls w/o sprites, and to me they do not look natural at all, whereas in P3D stars from dusk to dawn look so much more like what they look like in the real world:  sharp, flickering slightly, and that is what it looks like on a clear dusk/night/dawn in the real world.   Same same for some of the airport lighting and nav lights on aircraft are too bright, too large, round blobs of light.  I posted about this on the MSFS forum but I don't think it got much traction, so it's a pet peave for me.

Nice to have both sims up and running but it's easy to imagine a time when we can say Hasta La Vista Baby to the old sims forever. 

Prepare yourself....

Haven't been back to P3D (or X-Plane) in a couple of months. Don't need the space though, so no need to delete them.

I fired up P3D to see how it ran fully loaded on my new system purchased to run MSFS.

After, a nostalgic flight in my A2A 182 and amazement at how good P3D ran, I haven’t gone back in.

It’s installed, just haven’t felt the urge to click on the icon...

Been flying MSFS almost every day though!

I enjoy sitting in my RV7A and feeling 100% "in control", including the autopilot, GTN 750, and its flight plan..

Have not quite gotten to that stage in MSFS.. 😉

Someone called P3D a "Cockpit Simulator", and that may well be what I like the most..

 

Edited December 18, 20205 yr by Bert Pieke

2 minutes ago, Bert Pieke said:

Someone called P3D a "Cockpit Simulator", and that may well be what I like the most..

That is another way of saying what I was thinking Bert.  I really enjoyed the entire ritual of setting up the flight in P3D & FSCaptain w/ GSX and doing the flight, and not trying to make P3D compete visually w/ MSFS works very well I learned and that is because largely, it's a cockpit simulator which is good in itself.  It will be something if n when we have a comparable level of that in MSFS.  I do miss the planes in P3D for sure.

What is P3D?

I haven't been pack to P3D since the MSFS Alpha.

no .

I didn't touch P3D from the time MSFS came out in August until early October, and then I tried a few flights in the NGX. But, most of them I did not complete. I have not launched it since mid-October. I am willing to see how P3D5 and 6, if it comes about, develop and what it will have to offer. But at the moment I have not thought to return back to that environment. I am enjoying GA flying a great deal and I am learning things. 

Edited December 18, 20205 yr by Cognita

2 hours ago, captain420 said:

What is P3D?

FSX 64v5

Edited December 18, 20205 yr by jbdbow1970

10 minutes ago, Cognita said:

But, most of them I did not complete.

That is largely what happened w/ me early on.  I would start a flight in P3D then kill it after 45 minutes or so. I completed a couple of flights in P3D recently and it's really the great PMDG birds along with FSCaptain that keeps it alive enough that I'm happy to be able to enjoy P3D.  It was illluminating to turn down the graphic settings enough to let the 777 fly out of KDEN in good shape and not miss anything meaningful in the scenery.  The comparison between P3D's scenery even w/ Orbx regionals just does not compare favorably w/ MSFS, so again nice to no longer be trying to make P3D look more realistic and just use it for what it does do very well.

I still do IFR flights in P3Dv5, simply due to the fact that with the exception of the A32Xneo mod, nothing really useful is available in MSFS. But what I also noticed:

- ASP showed the correct weather at my departure and destination airport

- There was winter in the landscape around me, as it is in reality now in Europe. Some regions even had snow...

- The plane worked as expected, no autopilot issues, no strange icing depiction, just fine. 

- I was able to follow ATC (ProATC/X), which correctly assigned me a SID and STAR. 

- around me, the simulator was full of life (AI traffic, AI boats and ships), although not entirely realistic for the current pandemic times, it still was nice to see...

- the ground services (GSX Level II) actually worked and it was nice to see a pushback being close to reality again without asking strange directions that are executed with a huge lag.

Overall, it was just a wonderful, working and immersive IFR flight experience. As I flew from a very good scenery to another very good scenery, at least on and around the airports, the visual quality was also very high. That the world between the departure and destination was only rendered with landclass and vector data was not even that obvious. Only thing that really struck my eyes: the lighting and as such the whole visual "ambiance" of MSFS is by far better. But what a surprise if you consider the age of the P3Dv5 engine...

Verdict: for this kind of flying, MSFS has a loooong way to go. But I really hope (and I am optimistic about it) that we once get there. Just for now, some stuff still works better in P3Dv5 and I am happy I did not delete this sim after installing MSFS...

Yes I am spending a lot more time back in P3D. In fact just purchased the FSL A3XX and enjoying it very much. For me you can’t beat P3D for simulated airliner flying with PMDG, FSL etc. The complex aircraft and the accurate weather along with other mature add ons bring me a sense of immersion.

What I miss in the approach is that wonderful scenery that MSFS has to offer. I look forward to the day when I can enjoy the level of PMDG, FSL and the others in a visual environment like MSFS has to offer. I really hope this is achievable.

For now I will enjoy both sims for what they have to offer and wait until I can have all in one sim.

3 hours ago, Bert Pieke said:

 

Someone called P3D a "Cockpit Simulator", and that may well be what I like the most..

I've come to the conclusion that this is where I've landed. What I like the best about flight simming is cockpits and systems and flight model realism.

To each his own, and we certainly have some choices now days, but looks aren't enough for me (and dog knows MSFS looks awesome).