Is there much merit in these continual  P3D updates?

I did a clean install of P3Dv5.2 and got all my Addons up and running in October-still there

It seems such a lot of work for marginal gain to be continually repeating this process never mind Addons being broken by the update

Admittedly I do some flying in MSFS 2020 where updates seem to be seamless and certainly need no work  by me

Perhaps I just begrudge the loss of flying time !

xxd09

25 minutes ago, xxd09 said:

Is there much merit in these continual  P3D updates?

I did a clean install of P3Dv5.2 and got all my Addons up and running in October-still there

It seems such a lot of work for marginal gain to be continually repeating this process never mind Addons being broken by the update

Admittedly I do some flying in MSFS 2020 where updates seem to be seamless and certainly need no work  by me

Perhaps I just begrudge the loss of flying time !

xxd09

takes about two minutes to remove the old client and install the new one

I'm still on 5.2HF1 since July 2021. Zero CTD after 70+ flights with tons of scenery, FSL/PMDG, AIG/ASky/REX/ORBX. I decided for myself that a single full reinstall per year is more than enough  unless there is something radical comes into the sim. Hence, I'm in a waiting mode until July 2022. V5.4, V5.6, V6...whatever comes first!   

2 minutes ago, ha5mvo said:

takes about two minutes to remove the old client and install the new one

It's not that simple, especially if you have heavily customized sim

5 minutes ago, G-YMML1 said:

It's not that simple, especially if you have heavily customized sim

If you have it set up with your add-ons outside the sim, then all the add-ons will normally work straight off. I think from memory I only had to re-install one airport.

exactly.  Highly recommend orbx library's and using add on xml installation method for scenery.  Lorby's add on manager further simplifies.  

Edited January 29, 20224 yr by micstatic

56 minutes ago, IanHarrison said:

If you have it set up with your add-ons outside the sim, then all the add-ons will normally work straight off

But they all don't do they?

FTTF, ChasePlane, EnvShade, ASP3D, etc., to name a few.

However I agree that most sceneries and airports should be ok with a point (.) update.

To me I FAR prefer having optional updates.  I don't know how you (OP) could say MSFS updates are seamless

-they take forever

-most of the time you have to move your community folder 

-They can cause addons to not work anymore.  Which is major since the updates can't be avoided.  

 

Considering that.  I'll take the p3d updates.  

1 minute ago, micstatic said:

To me I FAR prefer having optional updates.  I don't know how you (OP) could say MSFS updates are seamless

-they take forever

-most of the time you have to move your community folder 

-They can cause addons to not work anymore.  Which is major since the updates can't be avoided.  

 

Considering that.  I'll take the p3d updates.  

Once I moved ORBX outside of P3D main folder the updates were really quick and easy.  For Chaseplane I just run ORBX Central and its done.  By the way for MSFS, I have never moved my Community Folder and not had a problem.

16 minutes ago, Sparkrite said:

But they all don't do they?

FTTF, ChasePlane, EnvShade, ASP3D, etc., to name a few.

However I agree that most sceneries and airports should be ok with a point (.) update.

In most cases that doesn't matter either, because P3D uninstall/install won't touch any files which aren't originally from P3D even when they were located in P3D folders like effects, simobjects, etc.

2 hours ago, xxd09 said:

Is there much merit in these continual  P3D updates?

I did a clean install of P3Dv5.2 and got all my Addons up and running in October-still there

It seems such a lot of work for marginal gain to be continually repeating this process never mind Addons being broken by the update

Admittedly I do some flying in MSFS 2020 where updates seem to be seamless and certainly need no work  by me

Perhaps I just begrudge the loss of flying time !

xxd09

My opinion is simple. If everything is working perfectly to your satisfaction, then why update unless something really significant has been added?

1 minute ago, Christopher Low said:

My opinion is simple. If everything is working perfectly to your satisfaction, then why update unless something really significant has been added?

Well, switching between core versions of sims does matter. Meanwhile, since you're still on 4.5, I would rather wait for V6 🙂 Hopefully, we will see it this year.

2 hours ago, xxd09 said:

Is there much merit in these continual  P3D updates?

I'm glad LM continues to update P3D. Thank you Lockheed-Martin. 

Some simmers complain LM doesn't update P3D as frequent as others update their sims and some complain that there are too many updates. Clearly a subjective issue. 

We are all one group of customers enjoying these products and our interactions about them. For me, I typically wait to update until the early adopters (thank you pioneers) post their impressions and until some key products I use match the update. For P3D, I'm motivated to update when the update brings better performance, bugs fixes, new technologies, etc. Sometimes new updates also bring bugs and incomplete features, and this typically makes me wait until repairs are in place--it took me a while to move from v4 to v5. 

Now enjoying P3Dv5.3HF2 and hoping for more updates and versions. 

1 hour ago, MarkW said:

For Chaseplane I just run ORBX Central and its done.

Yep, but will only after/when //42 have updated Chaseplane to recognize the new P3D version.

1 hour ago, Nemo said:

In most cases that doesn't matter either, because P3D uninstall/install won't touch any files which aren't originally from P3D................

But it does matter, if you enjoy using these addons.......ie.:- FTTF, ChasePlane, EnvShade, ASP3D, etc

as none of them will run (properly?) with a P3D version number mismatch.

 

26 minutes ago, Sparkrite said:

FTTF, ChasePlane, EnvShade, ASP3D, etc

Yeah, but they're all updated to run on the current client version, so I don't see any problem here.

I agree with others here that if you set up most of your stuff outside of the sim (which can be kind of tedious to do especially for older "non officially" compatible things like scenery, but you only have to do it once), reinstalling P3D is not a big issue. I also highly recommend using Lorby's Add-on Organizer as already mentioned.

I explained it multiple times here on the forums how you can keep even the stuff that installs in your P3D main directory. Just uninstall P3D correctly (each component individually) and reinstall to the same folder.

Then update / reinstall the remaining stuff:

FFTF: Install the update and run it, done
ChasePlane: Update and run it, done
EnvShade: Update, start EnvDir, Re-Apply to the Sim, done
ASP3D: Install the Update, update the connector if it asks for it, done

Maybe do a "resync" via ORBX central after all of that, but even this isn't really necessary if you just backup your terrain.cfg.

A full reinstall of P3D does only take some minutes for me and everything works like before, but of course it depends on what you actually use. It's true that some add-ons aren't initally compatible after LM releases a new version, but currently everything of the major stuff should just work.

I'm still surprised that people fear to update because there seems to be so much "of trouble" by doing it. Maybe I'm just lucky by rarely having any kind of issues. /shrug And I'd consider my P3D installation as "heavily customized" (currently 150+ add-ons via add-on.xml + the remaining stuff that can't be plugged into the sim this way).

Edited January 29, 20224 yr by roesti