Version and licence question

[JonP01 104]

Hi,

I could not find a question to this on the P3D website, but if I were to buy a Professional V5 licence, does that also entitle me to use the Professional version 3 and 4 or do I have buy a licence specifically just for those older versions? Also, if I want a version of P3D which doesn't so much add a whole heap of new actual features over FSX-SE and is simply what one might call evolution and improvements versus revolution, would that be version 3 or version 4? I'm thinking of things that annoy me in FSX-SE such as the small autogen popup distances, the loss of performance every single time your mouse pointer is used on screen, native DX10 support out of the box, etc. I believe these sorts of things were solved in P3D but I am not sure which version.

And a final question. Would a weather theme designed for FSX-SE work "as is" in P3D without any issues?

Thanks

[Brianwhtn43 28]

I think you need to read this post: 

 

[JonP01 104]

I am well aware of that your royal highness. No need for the lecture. If I simply cannot ask a purely technical question about whether I can download and use an older version then there is something terribly wrong with people and policies here. I don't believe the intend of that policy was to preclude a fundamental technical question as to what I get and can download and use when I spend my money.

[Brianwhtn43 28]

Actually your answer is on the p3d website.

And no need for the sarcasm. But since you asked. You need to pay separately for each license

[Rogen 1,087]

Hi JonP01,

Did just that journey myself.

And P3D is essentually what FSX would have become had FSX continued developement.

I moved from FSX disk, to FSX-SE, P3D v3 and have P3D v4.5 as my main sim with P3D v5 as a test sim awaiting till it matures enough to be of value to myself.

Personally I'm very happy with P3D v4.5, does everything I want and is tuned to the limits of my hardware, it fixes all the thngs you speak about, supports DX11 and more.

I don't think you'll have any issues with a weather theme, not that I use them much, but I have on occasion swapped across to Orbx ones and have noticed no issue.

The main difference to consider is x86 or x64, plus be aware each major point version release will be a new purchase, for example I initially bought P3D v3, then had to re-purchase v4 and v5 but each minor point update is a no charge update, so for v4 I started with 4.3 and am now running v4.5 HF3 which were all free updates.

If you purchase P3D v3 you'll be on x86 which will be the most compatible with FSX given FSX-SE is 32bit.

However I really wouldn't consider it a viable option now that x64 is mainsteam. As an example in FSX-SE and P3D v3 I had to carefully manage what I was loading into the sim to avoid an OOM crash, whereas with P3D v4.5 being x64, I don't even give it a second thought and comfortably load ~900GB worth of scenery and addins and nary an OOM ever.

Another point to consider is if you've 32bit addins (like aircraft), these won't work in P3D v4+, nor will any Steam Purchased addins (they are DRM locked), that said there are often x64 versions of the addin freely available or for a nominal fee and you can even migrate some of the FSX-SE default aircraft over to P3D because P3D v4+ has recompiled gauges and such that the aircraft use, for example I have the famous Trike and the default C172 from FSX-SE running in P3D v4 no probs.

I have written a few posts along that journey, here's one you might find useful.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/314160/discussions/0/1489992080507529815/#c1621726179574247286

And just recently a post on kitting out a P3D v4.5 sim, same would apply to P3D v5.

Cheers R

 

[aeronauta 67]

I would advise buy P3D V5  , for starters  DX12 an why buy an old model when the latest is the same price...

 

Jorge

[JonP01 104]

Thanks for the very detailed reply Rogen. With the weather themes it would actually be my own program I wrote for FSX (back in the days last decade when sitting writing code for 12 hours a day was fun and relatively easy on the body and brain). Since I have had to make some minor changes to it over the years anyway, if for some reason P3D stumbles on the themes I generate I can probably figure out what has gone wrong. However since the exact same BGL compiler my program uses is still used for P3D I am probably OK.

So it sounds like I will probably go for Version 4.x since yes, the other reason is 64 bit. It would seem pointless trying to eek more out of the 32 bit platform. I have already had my share of memory related issues and I wasn't even drastically pushing things. I have just read enough things about the current version 5 to hold off a bit or at least till I build a whole new machine which is a while off yet. Bottom line is that this point I basically just want to "port" everything I have in FSX - precisely as it is now - to P3D - and worry about future upgrades and enhancements down the track.

I am not overly adverse to buying the new "whole number" versions down the track since in the scheme of things and the overall cost, when you consider a new computer and Virtual Fly Yoke, Quadrant and pedals will cost me literally many thousands by the time they allland on the doorstep, the cost of P3D itself is the least significant factor. OF course I do not have to buy any more ORBX stuff and my Milviz aircraft is dual licence too. I think I only have to worry about my A2A stuff.

I might be strapped for cash at the moment (which is mainly why I have stuck with FSX all this time) but when I get my hands on my superannuation I will be comfortable in life so will be able to afford the new generation CPUs, GPUs and monitors, etc that I used to be able to get back in my working days.

Again thanks for the reply - I really appreciate it.

[Bob Scott 7,721]

28 minutes ago, JonP01 said:

Thanks for the very detailed reply Rogen. With the weather themes it would actually be my own program I wrote for FSX (back in the days last decade when sitting writing code for 12 hours a day was fun and relatively easy on the body and brain). Since I have had to make some minor changes to it over the years anyway, if for some reason P3D stumbles on the themes I generate I can probably figure out what has gone wrong. However since the exact same BGL compiler my program uses is still used for P3D I am probably OK.

So it sounds like I will probably go for Version 4.x since yes, the other reason is 64 bit. It would seem pointless trying to eek more out of the 32 bit platform. I have already had my share of memory related issues and I wasn't even drastically pushing things. I have just read enough things about the current version 5 to hold off a bit or at least till I build a whole new machine which is a while off yet. Bottom line is that this point I basically just want to "port" everything I have in FSX - precisely as it is now - to P3D - and worry about future upgrades and enhancements down the track.

 

A lot of FSX add-ons do not port directly into P3D, and especially so from 32-bit FSX to 64-bit P3D.  The most successes I've had are with FSX scenery add-ons that were originally designed for FSX and not ported up from FS9 and earlier.  Of course none of the FSX sceneries will take advantage of PBR, dynamic lighting and such, at least not without significant modification--and you should expect to encounter many issues with ground textures, lighting, incompatible building models, improperly set draw flags in AFCADs etc etc  along the way.

So you should anticipate a mixed bag when it comes to porting over what you have...some clear successes, some compromises, and some obvious failures.  From my own experiences on this journey through the version jungle 'I basically just want to "port" everything I have in FSX - precisely as it is now - to P3D' is likely to prove an unattainable goal.

[JonP01 104]

Well the FSX-SE install I currently have is based on out of the box upon which I added ORBX scenery and Milviz / A2A aircraft. So they are all multi-installer products (bar A2A) and from the checking I have done will install into the 64 bit P3D v4. I don't have any other add-ons at all - I have kept the add-ons restricted to those three companies only. So far as I can tell it is just A2A where I have to purchase the extra licence / installer for P3D since all the other products are contained in the one installer and my licence covers the multi-installers. If anything I get one ORBX scenery for "free" since I accidentally and stupidly bought a P3D only airport from ORBX on one of the sales last year and it has been sitting there un-installed and un-used ever since...

But once P3D is running I intend to go all out and buy some serious hardware from Virtual Fly. And if I am spending thousands on that I might as well do it all properly from the start.

[JonP01 104]

14 hours ago, aeronauta said:

I would advise buy P3D V5  , for starters  DX12 an why buy an old model when the latest is the same price...

 

Jorge

Hi Jorge,

Since I am not going to P3D immediately I will keep that in mind however I am not sure how many of the add-ons I have are P3D v5 ready, whereas all of them are definitely P3D v4 ready. Just as an example, Diamond Point (2WA1) is up to v4 but not v5 according to the website. But many ORBX are now P3D v5 - just not all. Perhaps by the time I am ready to do this everything will be v5 ready in which case with a new computer , GPU and appropriate monitor then yes, v5 makes the most sense.

I am not busting a gut to do this yesterday so if some waiting is involved it is not a big deal (I've been FSX-ing for 14 years now...). ORBX, A2A and Milviz are obviously very committed to both P3D and the new MSFS so my hope is all products will eventually work under v5.

Anyway, the price of the current top end GPUs and my usual practice of buying the high end performance from the previous generation at a much lower price, a wait is possibly a good strategy.

Thanks for the commonsense suggestion - I appreciate it as you guys have all been through the upgrade shift to P3D from FSX so you are all way ahead of me.

[GSalden 4,657]

If I were you I would want the latest P3D version, in this case v5.

Why would you want to buy an older version ? 
With newer hardware performance is better than v4 and TrueSky clouds look more real. Sure it is under development but will get better with each free v5 update.

V4 looks very nice and if you have then you could choose to stay with that. But if you have to choose between v4 and v5 for the same money for me the choice would be very easy :

https://www.dropbox.com/s/e4qsjkhheq7trtd/Foto 03-02-2021 08 42 04.jpg?dl=0

[Bert Pieke 7,585]

4 hours ago, GSalden said:

Why would you want to buy an older version ? 

I have also moved from V4 to V5, but the hardware requirements are different!

If you have a GPU with 6+ GB VRAM, V5 is a good option... but V4 will happily run in 4 GB..

Not sure what hardware the OP is running..

[Patco Lch 1,465]

GPU is definitely a factor. Which ever version you decide on (I would definitely suggest V5 if you have the hardware to run it ) you can keep your FSX with all your addons until your new sim is like you want it. No law says you have to uninstall your present sim because you bought another one unless you're like one guy who said "Sims are like women, one's not enough and two is one too many."

[Skywolf 992]

58 minutes ago, PATCO LCH said:

Sims are like women, one's not enough and two is one too many."

I like to be able to play with 2 or even 3 "Sims" at the same time 

[Ray Proudfoot 8,955]

7 hours ago, PATCO LCH said:

No law says you have to uninstall your present sim because you bought another one unless you're like one guy who said "Sims are like women, one's not enough and two is one too many."

Currently I have P3D v3, v4 and v5 installed. No, I'm not mad. 😁 v3 is there purely for FS Labs Concorde, v4 was used for a couple of years and v5 was bought a month ago. Once I'm happy that v5 has all my v4 scenery then v4 will go and v3 will go as soon as FSL release a 64-bit Concorde.