What's the VERDICT on P3d V6?

[spilok 1,136]

So, just curious, what is the verdict on V6 of P3d?  I'm still using V5.4 very successfully and it's very compatible with just about everything.  Is V6 a product still developing, or is it something that still has compatibility issues?  I bought it when it first came out but it's residing in "suspended animation" on my X drive.  I do want to activate it at some time in the future IF it becomes an improvement over 5.4.

I don't seem to see that happening from what I'm reading (not reading) on the forums. I truly believe it should not have been released unless it was more of a threat to MSFS.  Maybe V7 will be that...I'm just not sure.

Stan

[dave2013 1,130]

I installed it several months ago and played around with it.  Performance was very good and graphics looked fine, but this was a vanilla install with no scenery addons. 

I would like to make it my primary sim, but my P3Dv5 modified airports won't work right with it, and I can't update them with Airport Design Editor as the author retired and won't update it to work correctly with v6.

A couple months ago over at FSDeveloper I asked if anyone, including the author, would be willing to make ADE work with v6 and got the "I'm retired" response from the author(even though he still actively participates in the forums) and some interest from a few people, but so far nothing.  It wouldn't take much to make ADE work properly with v6, but someone with knowledge of how it works, plus author permission, would need to update it.

So for now I'm staying with v5.

Dave

[Joseph29 225]

I am still using P3D v5.4. I want to use v6 but don't want to go through the hacks just to get things working in v6. I hope one day I will be able use v6, but since the developers don't seem interested in v6 I don't think that day will be anytime soon.

[Emile 28]

Hello, 

Installed several months ago and updated up to the last version

I like a lot.

Active sky, Little Nav Map, all my previous free aircrafts, Flight Plans , Tera Emergence 2.6.1,  PILOT'S FSG - FS GLOBAL ULTIMATE 2024 FTX P3D4-6

Good performances ...

 

[hschuit 11]

I tried v6 and went back to v5.4 because v6 HDR cannot be disabled. The v6 world looks gloomy / brownish as if I am looking through sunglasses, v5.4 with HDR disabled looks much better for me.

[blaunarwal 432]

Never tried it, since it broke compatibility with older addons again. I made a great effort to adjust my addons to v4 then v5 and did not want to go through this again, since I got much more addons since v4.

I have no hopes in a version 7, beeing compatible again with older addons. LM is certainly not going backwards.

So this story ended with 5.4 for me. It's somehow sad not having a perspective into the future but on the other hand it's relaxing not having to run update after update for all of my addons. This seems to be a fulltime job, if all my planes and sceneries had gotten updates every month. The only thing that still updates is GSX. All other updates have been stopped by now. Time to fly.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,980]

LM are rubbish at promoting their products. I saw nothing in v6 screenshots that convinced me it was worth buying. Plus CP would need buying again. ADE won’t work and many airports may have issues.

I’m staying with v5.3HF2 as 5.4 caused freezing issues with some AIG BGL plans. I now have stability bar the occasional CTD with ucrtbase.dll but those appear confined to FSL Concorde with a Texture Res of Ultra. Lower it one notch and it seems more stable.

If I don’t change sims my current system will remain excellent for the foreseeable future.

[NATORDEN 2]

I don't think its worth the move for us as commercial users, probably whomever p3d was first made for (Lockheed's direct customers) might see a benefit in v6, but not us when none of the developers are serious with p3d anymore (I wish addon devs dropped their prices to reflect them dumping p3d development).

Right now I'm on v5,4, and after a few thousand euros in investment into hardware and software, lots of time tweaking and the time taken to learn and make a few personal airports that aren't on the market, I see myself on 5.4 until MSFS reaches a point where I feel like it is mature enough of a platform to use.

Its a shame we wont see some airliners in p3d anymore though, I think the last big one will be the MD11 by TFDI. I really wished Aerosoft released their a330 with more engine variants back in 2020, but looks like they're doing this in MSFS.

[dbw1 445]

I have V6. I have SimAddOns Canadian airports from coast to coast including the high arctic, ASN wx, FC Scenery for several provinces and the majestic Dash 8. it imho is very good. Wish there were more add-on aircraft. Waiting patiently for Xtremes Lear Jets. Pleased with it.

[jcomm 5,939]

20 minutes ago, dbw1 said:

I have V6. I have SimAddOns Canadian airports from coast to coast including the high arctic, ASN wx, FC Scenery for several provinces and the majestic Dash 8. it imho is very good. Wish there were more add-on aircraft. Waiting patiently for Xtremes Lear Jets. Pleased with it.

I'd say, P3dv6 + ASP3D6 + MJ Q-400 can well be used as a Q-400-dedicated simulator 🙂

I only regret not being able to have Hervé's Nav and Airport Data updates available for v6 😕

[Beardyman 604]

8 hours ago, hschuit said:

v6 HDR cannot be disabled

Was not aware of that - really not a feature we were asking for...

Edited April 3 by Beardyman

[Sabre57 46]

V6 is my primary sim.  I've kept V5 mostly so I can update my ORBX libraries from time to time.  On top of that I have AS6.  I only have a couple of payware aircraft and was able to move them over the V6.  If ORBX releases for V6 I will be using it even if I have to buy it again.  Lighting still needs to be worked on though.  I have 4 different profiles depending on the time of day.  I occasionally use the "other" MS based sim but it's still too quirky for my taste.   

[nizar_AF 3]

Took the plunge and bought V6 when it came out and also bought  Active sky V6 and Chaseplane. I even managed to install ORBX which improved over V6 default textures but since I mostly fly PMDG and those don't work properly in V6 I uninstalled it and kept using V5.4.

[spilok 1,136]

Looks like the majority of responses to this question are what I expected when I posted this.  That's unfortunate, and I would hope that Lockheed Martin is reading this and does something about it.

[CO2Neutral 278]

V6.x is a great platform and has brought about a lot of new features:

• DLSS support (excellent AA and great performance)
• AFR support
• SSAO (depth to all objects)
• Much improved trees
• Much improved weather/cloud rendition
• Much improved slopped runway support (more granularity)
• Much improved lighting (tone mapping)
• Much improved wet surface and rain
• Snow/rain accumulation

Sadly not much 3rd party support and what there is they don't leverage the new features and keep working a compatibility pipeline which doesn't help V6 look and feel better.  So much potential that isn't being utilized by 3rd party.  There are a few issues that still need to be address (haze layers, overly aggressive impact of sunlight on terrain surfaces, night time lighting on PBR materials is wrong).

EDIT: with that said, if you're looking for max compatibility stick with V5.x

Edited April 3 by CO2Neutral