Back from MSFS -- worth upgrading to P3D v5 from v4 ?

[Gabe777 132]

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EDIT. Sorry ! I currently have v4.5 installed.

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Simple question. Apologies if it's in the wrong section.

I do like MS Scenery Simulator but I need some realism.

Is it worth the cost and effort upgrading to v5?

I run Active Sky, Radar Contact, PMDG, A2A and Majestic (Dash 8).

Thnx for advices.

Edited December 22, 2021 by Gabe777

[Afterburner 374]

Upgrading from which P3D version?

[Sparkrite 188]

3 minutes ago, Afterburner said:

Upgrading from which P3D version?

Reading the title and post I would suspect from MSFS.

[Afterburner 374]

But he said that he runs Active Sky and Majestic Dash Q400, which are not available for MSFS.

[kevinfirth 1,396]

12 minutes ago, Gabe777 said:

Simple question. Apologies if it's in the wrong section.

I do like MS Scenery Simulator but I need some realism.

Is it worth the cost and effort upgrading to v5?

I run Active Sky, Radar Contact, PMDG, A2A and Majestic (Dadh 8).

Thnx for advices.

I would say most likely yes, as long as your expected use doesn't exceed your hardware specs, which we don't know...

My opinion is v5 is sufficiently better than any previous P3D version to warrant an upgrade.

Edited December 22, 2021 by kevinfirth

[Reader 2,021]

Reading the title, I would suspect from either FSX or an earlier version of P3D.

[Gabe777 132]

7 minutes ago, kevinfirth said:

I would say most likely yes, as long as your expected use doesn't exceed your hardware specs, which we don't know...

My opinion is v5 is sufficiently better than any previous P3D version to warrant an upgrade.

Hi.

So is v5 more demanding on hardware ?

(I have an i7 7700k and GTX 1080 from nvme m 2 drive and 32GB of 2400 RAM... but run at 30 fps locked)

[Ray Proudfoot 8,960]

1 minute ago, Gabe777 said:

Hi.

So is v5 more demanding on hardware ?

(I have an i7 7700k and GTX 1080 from nvme m 2 drive and 32GB of 2400 RAM... but run at 30 fps locked)

You'll get better performance in v5.3HF1 than with v4. Quite a bit more.

Running at 30fps will not place huge demands on your system. 1920*1080 I presume, not 4K?

LM have tweaked usage of CPU and GPU. Still a work in progress. You'll have JobScheduler entry in prepar3d.cfg. Leave it alone for now.

And you can enjoy sensible instructions from Radar Contact again! 😁

[Afterburner 374]

I don't have v5;  I am also using v4, so I can't tell from my personal experience whether it's worth or not to upgrade to the newest version. However, for me personally, v4 is very stable, robust and has few bugs. Most of those who use v5 will attest improved performance. My biggest gripe with v5 is the weather system, which is still bugged and doesn't allow to display local weather variations. You also have little things like dark cockpits (in some cases) and fewer parking spots at default airports. While v5 is improving with each update/hotfix, it's still not at a point that would make it viable for me to suspend v4.

[SimeonWilbury 220]

V5 Is very good. Better looking, better FPS. Best Performance I've ever had in an ESP-derived Sim.

Unfortunately for me I haven't yet managed the same stability I got on 4.5 yet, I still occasionally get CTDs on long hauls with no error in Event Viewer to go off. So I would advise caution in that respect.

[Gabe777 132]

Yes....  the weather system and variety of skyscapes courtesy of Active Sky is what I miss the most.

If v5 has weather issues, I wonder if Active Sky can override it ?

And Radar Contact is a must. Far from perfect but 100x better than anything else. I switch ATC off completely in MSFS.

I may look into the upgrade costs and compatibility etc for my main addons.

Does v5 require a complete reinstall ? #NightmareAtChristmas ! 🤣🤣🤣

[Republic DC9 234]

I’m not “back” per se as ai operate MSFS, XP11 and the very latest HF of P3Dv5.3, but I find that P3D 5.3 gives me the smoothest, fastest frame rates of any sim at the moment (like Aerofly FS2 smoothness but with water if that makes sense) even in “heavy” areas like Orbx TE Seattle and LA with add ons.

I don’t have AI plane traffic going nor vehicle traffic but do have Henrick’s ships and the Orbx ferries.

I was sufficiently thrilled with P3D to pick up a few new Carenados during the sale and am having great fun with the sim at the moment.

 

[Ray Proudfoot 8,960]

6 minutes ago, Gabe777 said:

If v5 has weather issues, I wonder if Active Sky can override it ?

I may look into the upgrade costs and compatibility etc for my main addons.

Does v5 require a complete reinstall ? #NightmareAtChristmas ! 🤣🤣🤣

All new versions require a new install. You can still keep v4 of course, space permitting.

All my v4 scenery works in v5. Copy and paste your add-on.cfg and edit path if required. You can point to v4 installs when running v5.

Enhanced Atmospherics is subjective. Some like it, some don't. I have it off and with ASP3D get very pleasing results.

[kevinfirth 1,396]

12 minutes ago, Gabe777 said:

I may look into the upgrade costs and compatibility etc for my main addons.

Does v5 require a complete reinstall ?

Negligible upgrade costs on add-ons for me for v5 specifically.

Complete reinstall yes, but if you have your add-ons xml based mostly it won't be difficult to update everything. Couple of hours doing some reinstalls max.

Ray is right re add-ons.

Edited December 22, 2021 by kevinfirth

[blaunarwal 432]

8 minutes ago, Gabe777 said:

Yes....  the weather system and variety of skyscapes courtesy of Active Sky is what I miss the most.

If v5 has weather issues, I wonder if Active Sky can override it ?

And Radar Contact is a must. Far from perfect but 100x better than anything else. I switch ATC off completely in MSFS.

I may look into the upgrade costs and compatibility etc for my main addons.

Does v5 require a complete reinstall ? #NightmareAtChristmas ! 🤣🤣🤣

I like how my P3D5.3 looks with Active Sky weather and textures. I also use Envtex and EnvShade, so I'd recommend to use it.

From 4.5 to 5 you can just move your addons in most cases, means add-on.xml to the new v5 directory and scenery.cfg too.

But, there are a few that don't like it. So if you have a lot of addons better move them in a few steps, rather than all at once, in case you need to trace down, what does not work this way. Of course you must be keen on file operations, drives and paths and manually edit  a .dll file etc. 

If you only have 10 addons, I'd recommend to just reinstall into v5. 

If in doubt about an addon, if it works with v5 you can always ask me or here in the forum. I know very few, which did work in v4 but not v5. 

Dan