Upgrade to V4.5 or V5 ?

[FLNG 6]

I'm building a new computer so starting from scratch.  I'm on V4.3 still due to inertia. 

Was going to put V5 on the new machine but am now thinking V4.5, since so many more existing add-ons appear compatible with it than with V5.

If it weren't for MSFS 2020's arrival I would suppose everything would eventually be V5 compatible but I'm worried that P3D, FSX, X-plane development will be slowed or arrested due to MSFS.

Am i off-base. ?.

 

Thanx

Jeff

[jon b 2,050]

I think you’re quite right, MSFS has put a spanner in the works and slowed upgrades and development in P3D and XP.

To your question though, I stuck with 4.5 for quite a while as I didn’t see the point in upgrading to V5 just for the sake of it, I didn’t see much difference.  However I was completely wrong, when I did finally upgrade to V5 as 4.5 broke On me, I was amazed at the smooth performance and amazing visuals in V5, it’s a much nicer and much more pleasant sim in my opinion, I should have moved over earlier.

If you’re starting again from scratch I’d definitely go with V5 unless there’s something in V4 you just can’t live without 

[Biggles2010 343]

1 hour ago, FLNG said:

Was going to put V5 on the new machine but am now thinking V4.5, since so many more existing add-ons appear compatible with it than with V5.

If it weren't for MSFS 2020's arrival I would suppose everything would eventually be V5 compatible but I'm worried that P3D, FSX, X-plane development will be slowed or arrested due to MSFS.

As you already have P3D 4 it costs nothing to upgrade to 4.5 HF3 which has some improvements. However, P3D5 does give somewhat smoother performance and is worth it if you can find the aircraft and scenery addons that you might want.  General advice is to use only addons published as fully v5 compatible. Others may work, but some can cause random issues.

Even in the past few days, after months of inactivity, there has been a number of new releases for P3D5. It looks like at least some developers are keeping their options open.

It's apparent from Avsim posts that many previously keen MSFS users are starting to get irritated by the update process continuing to cause problems. There also seems to be more awareness that the direction of development is being influenced by the need to appeal to the largest market, which is not the members of Avsim.

 

[Bert Pieke 7,585]

1 hour ago, FLNG said:

Was going to put V5 on the new machine but am now thinking V4.5

If you have a good video card (8GB VRAM) V5 is the way to go.

But you can start with V4 and upgrade later if you want to save money..

[mikeymike 362]

I went back to v4.5 hf3

i would opt for you to go  to v4.5 hf3 , I will stay put for a little while till truesky is more mature.

cheers 

mike

[Simicro 247]

I tried V5 and in my particular case I did not see a significant performance improvement with my GTX 1080 8Gb.

I was unhappy with the Enhanced Atmospherics (EA). And finally the default scenery enhancements were not obvious to my eyes.

So I reverted to V4.5 and enjoy all the sceneries and aircrafts available for V4.

Edited March 10, 2021 by Simicro

[ms2 184]

you have the version 4 then install and keep the v4.5, because is the best version (follow me of LM)...  Why?, simply to keep most of aircrafts and airports done for p3d !

yes, p3dv5 having some avantages for textures and some landscapes but, but, but... a lot of airports and aircrafts are not converted to v5. (I have 30% of acquisitions in v4.5 not compatible for v5)

Gsx is more interesting and immersive (logos on vehicles ) in v4 then v5.

I keep v 4.5 and v5 active and is the flight+airports+ aircraft that determine “The” choice between v4.5 or v5 😉 

(plus for a very long haul, v5 is recommended to avoid blurring)
 

60% v4.5, 35% v5, and 5% msfs for trying ( msfs not ready to use for me (sic))

A cornelian choice indeed 

 

[FLNG 6]

Thanks for the advice all.  The issues you all mention are exactly the ones I am trying to balance.

Don't have to decide till I complete the hardware portion of the build though so I can keep thinking for now.

Jeff

[Noel 4,503]

I'm not speaking as someone who went to v5, but I do have some input on the topic as I have gone thru the decision when I put this machine together exactly one year ago.  

I have 100% perfectly smooth, stutter-free performance in P3D v4.5, in the PMDG NGXu/777, and can land at any airport anywhere and maintain that fully.  Once MSFS arrived I stopped trying to make P3D look anywhere near as REAL as MSFS does, because it's not possible because its land-class, paint-by-numbers approach just does not equate to reality, until you go to TruEarth regions which are small for airliner context, take up huge drive space and cost $$, and performance will take its toll for sure.  

Because of this realization I've disabled the Orbx regions that impact performance too much, have moved autogen/vegetation all the way down to sparse, and set detail distance to high as well as tesselation to high.  I used to try to get those up very high but then would end up stopping the flight on approach when my 5gHz CPU would start to choke w/ the PMDG birds going into nice 3rd party airports like KPHX, KSFO-HD, etc.  But no more because in the  end, even w/ high settings, it's just not the real world under your plane as it is in MSFS largely now.  It's just an invitation to stop and adjust.

What I do now exclusively in P3D is to fly in low light conditions always, when P3D actually looks great.  Night lighting is pleasant, and dawn/dusk sky colors are nice.  Reality doesn't matter in low light conditions.   I use FSCaptain, and have a career going.   This morning I flew in the NGXu from KMSO to KRNO, departing the gate at 0550h, and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise.  I generally try to fly in the direction of the sunrise/set so that lighting stays similar throughout the flight.  After arrival, I will hop in MSFS and the TBM930 to KSBA from KRNO, and marvel at what the real world looks like below :o)

Have you been able to nail down a new high end GPU?

[Christopher Low 5,354]

Compatibility is one of the reasons why I am still using v4.5HF2. I use Earth Simulations Guernsey/Isle of Man/Isles of Scilly in P3D, and I am not optimistic that they will work properly in P3Dv5. Of course, if ORBx had stuck to their original plans, we would probably have new versions of these products now (and Jersey as a bonus), but unfortunately something new and shiny appeared to divert their attention.

I have zero confidence that ORBx will ever develop those addons for P3D. Just like I have zero expectation of those runway centreline markings at EGPN Dundee being "straightened up" (after nearly a year of asking).

Edited March 12, 2021 by Christopher Low

[newtie 533]

On 3/10/2021 at 12:08 PM, Simicro said:

I tried V5 and in my particular case I did not see a significant performance improvement with my GTX 1080 8Gb.

I was unhappy with the Enhanced Atmospherics (EA). And finally the default scenery enhancements were not obvious to my eyes.

So I reverted to V4.5 and enjoy all the sceneries and aircrafts available for V4.

I went back to this as well for the very same reasons.

Never had a smoothness problem due to the way I setup my machine, Not interested in EA. I have access to some of my favorite ORBX airports that they clearly are not going to upgrade to V5, AND, all my favorite Milviz aircraft are back in my hanger.

Plus, as mentioned above, there are a slew of 4.x aircraft that you know are going to go on sale!

Cheers,

Mark

[OzWhitey 3,353]

It’s a long time since i’ve flown v4.5. With a good GPU, v5 is a much better sim, and EA is a nice option to have despite its limitations - i’d say i fly with it on 80% of the time.

There’s really not a lot of scenery that doesn’t work with v5 - a couple of my Orbx airports are the only ones that i miss a bit.

There’s also very little I miss in terms of aircraft - all the major players are compatible now.

In the month or two after release, v5 was suspect but - despite the unusually large number of v4 fans here - it’s the sim that most p3d flier use, and definitely what i’d install if i was going with a new setup.