I don’t know if I’m just a delusional nerd, but I am seeing a recent increase in activity, since the release of P3Dv5.3, in the P3d forum. This is, quite frankly, getting me pretty pumped. I hope this continues, since P3d is still by far my sim of choice.

Cheers, Pete

The Emperor has no clothes. 

Without question the forum (p3d) has been busier lately.  I'm guessing it's attributable to various factors.  

-release of 5.3

-MSFS setbacks combined with new toy syndrome wearing off.  

I think if/when PMDG releases it's new 737 for msfs, some of the activity will die down.  I can tell you I mostly on use the other simulator for pleasure VFR flying.  For me, I get bored with that quickly.  I'm enjoying p3d very much right now.  Also have a high level interest in Xp12 right now.  

P3D won't be revived developer-wise, that is really an illusion. That said, 5.3 is the best version ever and has now finally ironed out a lot (not all) of issues that have been introduced with EA. It does now look and perform good and basically has any add-on you need for study-level flying (except for the A300/-10). This will be the case for much longer (there will be no long-haul airliner in MSFS before 2023, probably even later; the SDK of MSFS is probably years off of allowing fundamental vital software like GSX, Chaseplane or ActiveSky, if at all), so even when there's no new stuff being added, what is already there is enough stuff to keep on simming for decades without getting bored. P3D 5.3 could become the new FSX (yeah I know that sounds weird 😄 )

I personally have MSFS and already invested a lot, but even a PMDG 737 won't have me coming back for now; the issues with the base sim are just exhausting my 34-year-old mind and soul... the server issues they have from the very beginning mean I always started up MSFS every evening after a hard day of work, fearing that the live weather could be bugged again (either due its complete absence or - worse - something like having 230 degrees celsius OAT at FL 240). I felt like being in an abusive relationship and finally broke out when reinstalling P3D, go figure...
I will come back to MSFS when/if there is GSX and some camera addon like Chaseplane, that's the minimum. Oh and when they stop breaking the sim once a month with their stupid obligatory updates. But to be honest, I really lost hope with Asobo/Microsoft at least in regards to serious simming, they have other priorities obviously.

Long story short I think P3D won't regain their lost userbase (at least not to any relevant amount), but it will still be used on a lower level for a couple of years at least.

I'm done with both sims. I can't find a way to make myself really enjoy MSFS for more than about 15 minutes due to the ongoing, nagging problems and persistent immersion-killers on top of the slow pace of improvements. People can argue all they want about this, but my opinion is/will remain unchanged for another year or two at the rate things are going at ASOBO. P3D still pales in comparison to the "eye candy" that MSFS offers, so that's a no-go too. I guess I finally got over my sim addiction from the way I catch myself sounding, which is fine, it frees up time and money for a RW license.

Msfs started with zero marketshare so of course there will be a share shift that affected the p3d user base. I was an alpha tester for msfs and back then I knew I wouldnt move away from P3D for the forseeable future. It has great visuals and even when more aircraft addons become available I am not so sure I will leave p3d completely. You do not know the future and nor do I. What if P3D v6 includes a more favorable sdk so our favorite developers can actually develope and release more addons quicker at a lower cost? Yes its a what if but we cannot know the answer to those questions so to say forsure that p3d will be dead beyond 2 years is kind of silly no?

12 minutes ago, captainjohn73 said:

 P3D still pales in comparison to the "eye candy" that MSFS offers, so that's a no-go too. I guess I finally got over my sim addiction from the way I catch myself sounding, which is fine, it frees up time and money for a RW license.

At times p3d does.  At others not.  The projected mesh of msfs looks really bad and blurry.  To the point that the tarmacs, taxiways, and runways of my p3d addons look better than my msfs ones.  Honestly.  But yes other things look much better in msfs.  

Gotta ask.  If you are over your sim addiction you should be aware you are perusing a sim forum.  So it still may have you.  

I came back from a long period away from simming and decided to stick with MSFS for GA VFR and use X-Plane 11, which I hadn't used much but was quite impressed with, for IFR. Then I realised (a) I had a number of aircraft that I really like for in P3D for which there are no good equivalents in MSFS or XP11, and (b) I had upgraded P3D to 4.5 but had never really tried it out, so I did just that. I don't don't know what happened between P3D versions but now my sim hums along nicely and it's performing better than it ever did. The only issue is the flying-on-rails tendency but I find that Active Sky knocks that on the head.

So I still have three sims. Each has its own set of strengths and weaknesses and currently each is getting equal amounts of flying time. I'm in a happier simming place now than I've ever been.. 

That said, I don't have any plans to go to P3D 5, but that doesn't mean I never will.

4 minutes ago, Holdit said:

So I still have three sims. Each has its own set of strengths and weaknesses and currently each is getting equal amounts of flying time. I'm in a happier simming place now than I've ever been.. 

Exactly my feelings. If I get frustrated with one, I use the other. If I get tired of one, I use another one. Good times. 

I'm also looking forward to XP12. 

2 hours ago, micstatic said:

Without question the forum (p3d) has been busier lately.  I'm guessing it's attributable to various factors.  

-release of 5.3

-MSFS setbacks combined with new toy syndrome wearing off.  

I think if/when PMDG releases it's new 737 for msfs, some of the activity will die down.  I can tell you I mostly on use the other simulator for pleasure VFR flying.  For me, I get bored with that quickly.  I'm enjoying p3d very much right now.  Also have a high level interest in Xp12 right now.  

when your up against a challenger 600 and  a 340-600 in one sim,  a 9 year old crj that flies in circles and a freeware neo gimmick that cant fly in managed mode (the whole point of an airbus) and then stuck with buying payware powerlines for 9 euros in the other,  you know youre on the right sim with p3d.

 

Edited January 15, 20224 yr by fluffyflops

I agree with rob.  The projected mesh that creates the fuzz look for MSFS is obvious.  The other glaring issue I have with MSFS is the look of water.  Sure it can look very nice if very windy and white caps are present.  Custom water masked areas help.  But man, so often default water in MSFS looks just terrible.  

I have been loving Xplane11.55 with Vulkan....OMG I see moving traffic with lights at night flying.

To be honest, I uninstalled P3D last night, just not worth it for me even though I pretty much have every major P3D addon made.  

32 minutes ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

If you look close, P3D SF City buildings are more numerous and more accurate height depiction than what MSFS provides with Photogrammetry and it's max LoDRadius.  I think the light scattering in P3D is a little too much but hopefully an adjustment for that will be coming in the near future.

If MS/Asobo wanted me to fully migrate to MSFS, they will need to bring a lot more to the table.  I'm not interested in free default airports and free default aircraft, but MS/Asobo just keep adding them ... not interested.  Fully accurate weather engine and functional ATC, now that's interesting to me but MS/Asobo needs to bring more than I've already got.

18 minutes ago, micstatic said:

The projected mesh that creates the fuzz look for MSFS is obvious.  The other glaring issue I have with MSFS is the look of water.  Sure it can look very nice if very windy and white caps are present.  Custom water masked areas help.  But man, so often default water in MSFS looks just terrible.

 

From those pics, there are bits I like in one sim that I don't in the other and vice-versa, e.g. the mesh of the hill in MSFS is more defined and has better texturing, whereas the LOD of objects in P3D is clearly better.

A lot of us simmers here on Avsim are interested in fidelity and complexity. While there are plenty of flight simmers who have transitioned from XP and P3D to MSFS for all sorts of reasons, the big problem is that we are a very small minority of MS' target audience.
If MS can entice even 1% of their 90 million monthly users of Xbox Live to use MSFS occasionally, that would be about double the best estimates of numbers who flight simmed regularly before MSFS arrived on scene. The interest level of your 'typical' Xbox user (whether console or PC) is not one where spending 30 mins to plan a flight, check the weather, call-up ATC for a flight plan delivery, and go through checklists is even remotely entertaining. The level is somewhere between flying in GTA V and Star Wars: Squadrons with an immediate start to a mission/level. That is the direction where the real efforts of Asobo have been directed—the Reno Air Races expansion pack confirms that.

My concern is over how slow progress has been on truly fundamental aspects of flight simming and even programming in MSFS. Yes, some parts are cutting edge, so there is some leeway to be given. However, the fact that installing even a small, overnight back-end update can wipe about 100 GB of downloaded files or the fact that the live weather function (when it works) is unavailable for over an hour on a daily basis, is hugely concerning about the long-term viability of the platform. People are losing faith in the development team and losing interest in an incomplete product.

Bringing it back to P3D. What I *love* about this latest version is that LM has delivered an incredible performance improvement. What would have caused a stutterfest even in 5.2 is now butter smooth in v5.3, even if FPS drops into the high teens (which is extremely rare for me and usually only momentary due to AI aircraft loading).

Additionally, HiFi Sim Tech is slowly but surely improving how ActiveSky is interacting with and manipulating volumetric clouds. There has also been a noticeable change over the versions where ActiveSky has introduced turbulence effects so that the 'flying on rails' sensation that the platform is berated for, is less frequent.
While LM still needs a rocket up their backsides to improve long-standing and well-discussed problems from both developers and users, the biggest advantage P3D has for me is that the platform has moved forward and been relatively stable while doing it.

Even when I moved to v5.0, a scene this detailed and maintaining performance would have been a dream...




Yes, the scope of MSFS is very broad and there are features that are light years ahead of P3D. Yet right now, MSFS feels like a flashy dessert from a Michelin-starred restaurant —fantastic, but not substantial. On the other hand, P3D feels like a satisfying main meal (YMMV).

I'm currently flying the fslabs with the EFB linked to my microsoft surface tablet.  I can control so many things on the ground from requesting boarding to requesting waste disposal or additional potable water.  In flight, I receive incoming ACARS messages about what stand I'm to arrive at my destination and volcanic ash warnings.  Not to mention the map that displays AI/VATSIM traffic around me, what controllers are online, weather systems, etc. It really is quite staggering how immersive it is. To tie this into the original post, in my opinion, there is nothing in any other sim that comes remotely close to what P3d has right now and I hope others stay/come back to the party.

If LM can truly button up EA and volumetric clouds and other visuals, I don't see why I'd ever want to leave.

Edited January 16, 20224 yr by okupton

What is the mesh resolution of that hill in the KSFO background in MSFS and P3D? I was under the impression that mesh resolution in MSFS was not that high, whereas I would have assumed that it is 10 metres in TrueEarth North California....