I have always felt that it would be a good idea to  have two flight simulation programs; one for jet airliners exclusively and one for GA alone.  It seems the flight sim community is, to a great extent, divided into two groups based on this fundamental preference.  Although I am exclusively a GA enthusiast with no interest in jetliners, I know there are many whose preference is the just the opposite.

There is a world of difference between simulating the flight of a plane and simulating the programming of a plane to fly itself.  The efforts to combine both into one sim have, IMHO, been the source of unnecessary complexity and instability (bugs) in the flight sim experience.

What are the common factors between, for example, landing a Bonanza in a crosswind and a thousand mile trip in a 737.  Wouldn't dividing these simulated activities into separate programs contribute to more optimization in both ...and  tighter more reliable code? 

Such a division might enable both kinds of users to spend more time actually flying than troubleshooting.  That ratio becomes more and more extreme with each new year.

Fund it.... (just kidding)

Well, actually, the first years of FSX were something like that: FS9 for heavies, FSX for VFR. Same situation happened with MSFS (until Maddog's release): MSFS mostly for VFR; P3Dv4/5 for airliners.

Edited December 16, 20223 yr by Luis Hernandez

I would tend to disagree.

Your proposition feels to me a bit like wanting to have two cars: One to go fast and one to go slow.

I think the majority of people probably would prefer a vehicle that does both, according to mood and need.

Please do not get into any debates about this Sim versus that Sim.  

I have been multi-sim for quite some time, which has advantages indeed but comes with a number of shortcomings:

- You have to mange both (or more) of them, follow fora, note tweaks and tricks, try them, maybe reject them... it just multiplies. And yes, this applies to all of them.

- All sims have different keys and different setups. I have a hardware panel plus a networked PC for driving a 2nd screen (and alternatively a VR headset), and you need time and effort (and sometimes addons) to get all this properly running. Some people sport even more advanced hardware.

- Most sims take advantage of addons to really shine, even though they all can run without them and some people use them that way. This doesn't involve money only but time for buying + downloading + installing, including sometimes frequent updates, even if they are free.

All this lumped together drives me more and more away from the multi-sim approach to using just one sim (not to name which one in that place).

Kind regards, Michael

46 minutes ago, pmb said:

I have been multi-sim for quite some time, which has advantages indeed but comes with a number of shortcomings:

This has been my experience. The software maintenance is not just double or triple...more like exponential. I still have DCS but decommissioned my P3D install when rebuilding my computer.

My detailed thoughts and experience:

https://uchisworld.wordpress.com/2022/09/02/oh-noes-philosophy-part-2022

1 hour ago, pmb said:

All this lumped together drives me more and more away from the multi-sim approach to using just one sim

Your'e right about this of course.  This is exactly what I'm suggesting..one sim that is dedicated to the type of flying that is preferred by the user without being bogged down by extra code that is only required for the other.

 

40 minutes ago, TASCHMANN said:

Your'e right about this of course.  This is exactly what I'm suggesting..one sim that is dedicated to the type of flying that is preferred by the user without being bogged down by extra code that is only required for the other.

The "extra code" is generally contained in the add-ons themselves, and when a particular add-on is not running it isn't "bogging down" anything.  If I fly a 737, my Garmin 750 gauges aren't running (or even loaded), and when I fly a GA bird, the FMS code in my PMDG 737 is not loaded.

For me, the justification for keeping multiple sim platforms goes to the strengths and weaknesses of the respective environments.  An impromptu GA flight where ground references and sightseeing are the primary takeaways takes advantage of different capabilities than a flight in a transport category aircraft where other capabilities reign supreme (e.g. forecastable and/or historical weather with accurate visibility, ceiling, and winds aloft, animated ground support, quality 3rd-party ATC, etc.)

Also, the availability of add-on aircraft can be a major driver--I initially got into X-Plane in addition to P3D because there are some good add-ons there that aren't available in P3D...e.g. the A340, B747-200, B-727, Challenger 650 etc

Last, having an additional platform that runs just fine when internet-based streaming services go down or become unreliable is useful.

Not only software is involved, you need to consider ‘Hardware Compatibility’ as well, for example: FCU from Skalarki Electronics, Home Built cockpits, Remote MCDU, etc.

It really boils down to what you want and like and if you have the storage space.  As others have said, the upkeep of keeping multi sims updated can be quite a chore.

I, myself have 5 sims installed on 5 separate SSDs. 

P3D V3 on one,  Only have that installed because I like to fly the FSlabs Concorde, but I really never use it because the Concorde is still too demanding on that 32bit platform and I get OOM.  P3D V5, Still use it occasionally for one of my favorite planes, the majestic Q400, PMDG T7 and 747. But once that is available in MSFS, I most likely will retire P3D. X-plane 11 on a third drive. Never really got into X-plane, as most of my payware was  on P3D and I preferred it instead. DCS on a forth drive.  I do use DCS a lot for combat flying and finally MSFS on my 5th drive. Its my main Sim now and use it 99% of the time for both GA and Airliner fights It also gives me the best performance with VR. I mainly have always been a Airliner pilot. 

So yes, you can have multiple sims on your computer if you have the space for them. You can love them all 🙂 

 

I regularly switch between XP11 and P3Dv4 for different airliner available. surprisingly the keyboard layout not bother me anymore, while main flight and AP is done using hardware input, things like switching view, using ATCs etc I still got on keyboard and both use default layout, but I just got the right key without thinking too much.