Future of p3d ?

[sim4life 24]

16 hours ago, jlohrenz said:

When it comes to external integration with the simulator P3D is king plain and simple.

If you're doing serious integrations you'll for the most part depend on other systems and interfaces like prosim or the plane's own SDK and various other libraries and software. You simply can't build a realistic cockpit just by utilizing generic functionality in P3D using simconnect. Simconect was bad 20 years ago and it's almost just as bad today. And it's purpose is not to cover every single feature in every single airplane, it's a generic system.

This is of course true for any other sim as well and it's the way it should be. No sim should be bloated with such functionality but it should be written in such a way that it allows 3rd party developers to integrate their stuff, which is the case for all the big sims on the market.  In other words, your argument is totally pointless.

17 hours ago, jlohrenz said:

Right now my focus has been on P3D because I can get the most realistic operations for MY situation.  It is subjective, and it is also based on your intended means for simulation.

Nobody can argue with this as it's absolutely true.

However, this topic was supposed to be about the future of p3d.

There are many important things that p3d can do for me right now that the other sims can't. I could do like most of you guys in here and conclude that this makes p3d better than the others. However, I'm thinking about the future. I don't want the FSX situation over again, where my sim is pretty much a flying museum using old core software and ancient addons where all the developers left 10 years ago.

The other sims are moving forward and have active communities and active 3rd party developers. P3d does not have any of that. It simply doesn't. They all left and they're not coming back. There are issues in p3d that are pretty much showstoppers for me and there are certainly similar showstoppers in other sims. However, this is about the future. As LM still haven't managed to fix many of the 20 year old FS/FSX bugs, I wouldn't bet my money on them fixing anything any time soon. The other sims are actually fixing stuff and working together with the community. That's way way more important for me than which sim does what better than the others right now.

 

[Juliett Alfa Romeo 541]

37 minutes ago, sim4life said:

The other sims are actually fixing stuff and working together with the community.

Hummmmmmmmmmm.............................

[Ray Proudfoot 8,964]

49 minutes ago, sim4life said:

As LM still haven't managed to fix many of the 20 year old FS/FSX bugs

Why not list them so we can cross check? I’ll tell you the ones they have fixed…

1) Takeoff and landing options for both ends of a runway can now be chosen.

2) Vehicle road traffic no longer causes stutters every few seconds.

3) The pause as you cross the Prime Meridian in London has been fixed.

4) The load of the simulator has been spread across 3 primary cores instead of just one.

I’ll leave you to post the rest.

[Reader 2,026]

58 minutes ago, sim4life said:

the FSX situation over again, where my sim is pretty much a flying museum using old core software and ancient addons where all the developers left 10 years ago.

That is to misremember the "FSX situation".
In fact, the absolute stability of the existing platform, due exactly to the fact that there were no simulator developers tinkering with it,
allowed third-party developers to make FSX capable of things that even its authors did not imagine at the outset.
The third-party developers stayed with it right up to the creation of its successful 64-bit version, known by then as Prepar3D version 4.

Edited May 6, 2023 by Reader

[newtie 533]

50 minutes ago, Juliet Alpha said:

Hummmmmmmmmmm.............................

Good point.

[Luke 782]

59 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

4) The load of the simulator has been spread across 3 primary cores instead of just one.

To be fair, this happened with FSX SP1 - Phil Taylor was talking about it in his blog posts. Now LM has made strides in improving things over time, but the heavy lifting was already done in FSX.

Cheers!

[Ray Proudfoot 8,964]

38 minutes ago, Luke said:

To be fair, this happened with FSX SP1 - Phil Taylor was talking about it in his blog posts. Now LM has made strides in improving things over time, but the heavy lifting was already done in FSX.

Cheers!

Really? I still have P3D v3 and the stuttering as I approach UK2000 Gatwick is dreadful. In comparison the performance approaching the same airport in v5.3 is transformed.

FSX was the worst performing release by Microsoft. I can remember trying it on Microsoft’s own computers at a UK show in 2007 and it was awful.

[Reader 2,026]

13 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

FSX was the worst performing release by Microsoft. I can remember trying it on Microsoft’s own computers at a UK show in 2007 and it was awful.

My experience of FSX was that for whatever reason, it was way ahead of the capabilities of the average PC at the time.
Whether that is interpreted as it was badly written, or whether it is interpreted as being ahead of its time, once again, in my experience,
it became very much better overall once the hardware caught up with the software.

 

[Ray Proudfoot 8,964]

3 minutes ago, Reader said:

My experience of FSX was that for whatever reason, it was way ahead of the capabilities of the average PC at the time.
Whether that is interpreted as it was badly written, or whether it is interpreted as being ahead of its time, once again, in my experience,
it became very much better overall once the hardware caught up with the software.

Yes. Back in those days computer power was increasing with Moore’s Law. So a couple of years later it was acceptable. The old advice was to buy the fastest CPU you couldn’t afford. 🤣
You also didn’t need to spend stupid money on graphics cards.

[Doug47 574]

5 minutes ago, Reader said:

My experience of FSX was that for whatever reason, it was way ahead of the capabilities of the average PC at the time.
Whether that is interpreted as it was badly written, or whether it is interpreted as being ahead of its time, once again, in my experience,
it became very much better overall once the hardware caught up with the software.

 

I also can and did - even on older hardware - get/got a smooth experience with FSX. 
A tweak here. A tweak there. Some sliders here. Some sliders there. it wasn’t too difficult. 

 

 

[joby33y 152]

3 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

The load of the simulator has been spread across 3 primary cores instead of just one.

Is that a V5 specific thing Ray?  I’m still on 4.5 but this intrigues me.  

[Ray Proudfoot 8,964]

30 minutes ago, joby33y said:

Is that a V5 specific thing Ray?  I’m still on 4.5 but this intrigues me.  

It’s actually 5.3HF2. A very significant hot fix. 😁 v5 delivers better performance than v4.

[Christopher Low 5,354]

1 hour ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

......You also didn’t need to spend stupid money on graphics cards.

I have never spent stupid money on graphics cards, and I never will

[Ray Proudfoot 8,964]

2 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

I have never spent stupid money on graphics cards, and I never will

Depends on what you consider stupid I suppose. The bar is lower for some and non existent for the lucky few.

[Christopher Low 5,354]

I have just checked the price of Nvidia RTX cards on Amazon UK, and it seems that "stupid" was an understatement