I have been flying in P3Dv4 since October 2018, and I still get plenty of enjoyment from it five years later. There will probably be a day in the near future when I upgrade to a more modern flight simulator, but one aspect of sticking with what I have for now is that I can "fly the flag" for a handful of flight simulation products that many others have left behind. I am proud to still be using these, whether because of a high degree of respect for developers that have left the flight simulation industry, or because I was involved in some small way in a product's development. Read on for a description of the addons that have made my flight simulation experiences in P3D so memorable....

 

• EARTH SIMULATIONS - the addons that Darren and Vicki Vincent developed were in some respects way ahead of anything else when they were released. The attention to detail in their products was nothing short of astonishing, and they hold up very well against the P3D addons of today. Whilst Shawbury Fields and Alderney have been replaced by more recent ORBx software, I still have the Isle of Man, Guernsey, and the Isles of Scilly installed in P3Dv4, and I fly to the first two in that list on a regular basis in my PMDG 737NGX. All three are exquisitely detailed, and (if I am being honest) absolute masterpieces of their day. In fact, just writing these words here has convinced me that I need to visit the Isles of Scilly again (landing a 737 on a 2000 feet long runway would obviously be impossible, but I can make a low and slow flyby, and admire the view from above).
• Back in the day, I enjoyed posting about the quality of Earth Simulations software on this forum, and helping others who were struggling with the (now legendary) installation routine

 

• UK2000 HD and XTREME AIRPORTS - I beta tested every single one of these airports for Gary Summons, and it was a pleasure to do so. Whilst these airports were not the most detailed available for P3D, they were extremely consistent in terms of quality and level of detail provided. In other words, customers knew exactly what they were getting with every release. Gary has obviously moved on now to the new Microsoft Flight Simulator, but I still fly my 737 to every one of them (apart from Cumbernauld for obvious reasons, but I still use that as a waypoint when I visit Glasgow) Beta testing all of these airports was very therapeutic and relaxing, and I enjoyed slewing around each one looking for errors/bugs/missing items etc. It might sound daft, but finding a multitude of issues that need to be reported can be a bit of a thrill

 

• UK2000 VFR AIRFIELDS - I beta tested five of the six versions of Gary's UK2000 VFR Airfields packages (two versions each of three volumes). In fact, purchasing Volume 1 way back in 2009 (I think) convinced me to ask Gary if I could become a UK2000 beta tester....and the rest is history! I have a special place in my heart for version 2 of these packages, since I rebuilt the AFD files of eight airfields from scratch in version 2 of Volume 1 (after being asked by Gary), and (unofficially) quite a few for Volume 2. I am extremely proud of the contributions that I made to these packages, and I distinctly remember one customer saying that my rebuilt version of EGHL Lasham could have been called Lasham Xtreme!

 

• FSREBORN AI LIGHTS REBORN PROFESSIONAL EDITION (AILRP)- this product was part of the process that reignited my passion for the Cosford Flightsim Show in October 2018, when I met Raul (Simbol) for the first time, and was press ganged into the FSReborn beta team I enjoyed beta testing the product over the following year, and then got to demonstrate it with the A-Team (Raul, Monika, Kevin Firth and Erich Berner) on the FSReborn stand at the 2019 Flightsim Show. That was easily the best time that I have ever had at Cosford, and I sincerely hope that we can all meet again next year.
• I have used AILRP in P3Dv4 for the past five years, and it has improved my enjoyment of the simulator immeasurably during that time. I have made a handful of flights during those five years where I forgot to activate the product, and the difference was all too evident My thanks to Raul and Monika for making me feel like I was a part of the adventure, and hopefully I can be involved in other adventures in the very near future!

 

• PMDG 737NGX - I have been flying the original NGX for twelve years (2011-2014 in FSX, and 2014-2023 in P3D), and it has passed the test of time very well indeed. I personally feel that the quality of the product (3D model/VC/texture quality/system depth/ground handling) is still top notch, and I was never convinced that I needed to upgrade to the NGXu. Yes, it has the infamous "geometry error" with respect to the windscreen (and there are no split scimitars in sight), but it remains one seriously impressive piece of kit after nearly a decade of use! The old ground handling model feels excellent to me (one of the many reasons for not upgrading to the NGXu was the less than stellar appreciation for the new handling), and I can use the default pushback mode without worrying about the "bounce" when I need to stop it I just think that it does everything that it needs to do with style and precision, and it still looks gorgeous to boot!

 

So, there you have it. This was just a brief trip down memory lane to say thank you to the developers of these software packages that have given me so much satisfaction over the years. I am still "flying the flag" for these products, and will probably be doing so until Microsoft/Asobo can convince me to burn it and buy a new one

Is anyone else proud to still be flying the flag for older products in P3D?

 

Edited October 1, 20232 yr by Christopher Low

I don't have V4 installed at present but love to read about folks' reasons for staying with older platforms and fully respect their reasons. Even the occasional FSX or 9 enthusiasts. On those sims I look back wistfully at the LVLD 767 and the A2A Stratocruiser. Each has certain nice things we leave behind for progress so called. It's just besides storage space when I reinstall the older platforms, I just don't use them enough to keep them on the space. Of course, for the same reason I've installed and uninstalled MSFS for about three or four times.  

A really nice post Christopher.

It’s hard to believe it was only a few years ago that simulation was more of a cottage industry than the mainstream monster it is now.

I have to be completely honest and say personally I’ve almost completely transitioned on to the modern platform nowadays. However I’ve still kept a large collection of physical media boxes and printed manuals from simulations of yesteryear.

Excellent post and a big thank you for what you shared !

I am using p3dv5 with my beloved addons, PMDG 777 200 LR, a2a 172, Comanche and P-40, and the freebies by Milviz, Orbx, aerosoft Madeira , just purchased MkStudios LPPT and was offered LPPR by my friend Alexis, and last but certainly not least those unique FSLabs 319, 20 and just purchased the 321 SL.

I wait calmly for as much as possible of these and other great addons to be made available for V6.

Contrarily to most simmers, mfs 2020 and in some way xp12, were big deceptions, so I am glad there is still so much to enjoy here on Prepar3d 👍

Edited October 1, 20232 yr by jcomm

If I may add one more advantage of V4 is I never worried about VRAM crashes with my 8G GTX1070. In fact, to my memory CTDs were pretty much gone until V5. Worst you got were studders, pauses and low frames if setting were too high but you just adjust those down. Now it's the white screen of death if you're not careful. 😱

P3Dv4 ran fine on my old PC, and that only had 2GB VRAM! I was pleasantly surprised to see FlyTampa EHAM Amsterdam Schiphol and ORBx TrueEarth Netherlands rendered at maximum scenery complexity and autogen density settings (and probably 150 AI planes on the ground and in the air) without the system crashing. Quite remarkable to be honest, considering some of the crazy reports that I see these days concerning how much VRAM is being used.

22 hours ago, jcomm said:

Contrarily to most simmers, 

This should be in your sig jcomm 🫡😀

1 hour ago, DD_Arthur said:

This should be in your sig jcomm 🫡😀

Advice followed ! 😁

I fly the Coolsky DC9.

Jim

CYWG

Love the UK2000 scenery. 

Do any other users of P3D still use Earth Simulations software? I had to disable one file in ORBx TrueEarth GB North (which does not appear to affect the scenery in any significant way) to use ES Isle of Man properly (the autogen was not displaying if I arrived at the island from an external location), and I also had to transfer a few ES texture files to the main P3D Texture folder to resolve some "jet black buildings" issues. However, it works very well indeed in P3Dv4.5 HF2, and the scenery looks every bit as good as anything else that I have installed.

Edited October 6, 20232 yr by Christopher Low