Switched From P3Dv5 to P3Dv6

[dave2013 1,157]

On 5/1/2024 at 8:54 AM, Luis Hernandez said:

Are default airports better (regarding layout and parking positions) or are they as bad as in v5?

I don't have v5 installed so can't make an accurate comparison.

I have checked some large USA airports like KDFW, KATL, KPHL, and KBNA, and they all have quite good stock parking.  Of course, like all versions of the sim, they could use more parking and don't have enough heavy gates.

I also checked a few smaller GA airports and they have decent parking, although not as much as the real airport.

Dave

[dave2013 1,157]

Just discovered a couple more little improvements:

When I save a flight and load it again, the airplane follows the flight plan where I left off, whereas in v5 I had to delete all the passed waypoints and reload the flight plan.

The landing and takeoff sound effects are also more realistic now.

Dave

[jcomm 6,063]

This youtube channel is one of the 3 or 4 where v6 is being shown with success, and actually tempted me to reinstall it, and FINALLY get all of my ORBX stuff ( not many bt Global, OpenLC Europe, the freebies and MKStudios LPPR ) as well as the PMDG 777 working like a charm, together with Active Sky P3d v6 which I purchased at release time and FSHUD.

My plans are to buy the Q-400 and I dream of being able to use my FSLabs A319, 320 and 320 SL as well as the iFly 737 MAX too 🙂

 

P3D6.1 featuring PMDG B77F + Active Sky + Ezdok and ORBX Tru-Earth (youtube.com)

[rbs1000 5]

Triple7Guy has said that as soon as the PMDG 777 drops for MSFS he will abandon P3D.   Personally I am going to wait for FS2024 before I decide.

[dave2013 1,157]

6 hours ago, rbs1000 said:

Personally I am going to wait for FS2024 before I decide.

This is also my stance regarding MSFS.  If MSFS 2024 is a significant improvement over the previous version, and it has seasons and better AI traffic, then I'll likely get it.

I just saw that HIFiSim released ActiveSky for MSFS that includes historical weather, which is something I had been hoping for, so that makes MSFS much more appealing.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying P3Dv6.

Dave

[GCBraun 2,440]

REX and others have been offering historical weather in MSFS for years. Asobo also confirmed that this functionality will be part of MSFS 2024 as well.

Seasons and AI traffic are pretty well covered by third-parties already, but the built-in capabilities should also improve in the next version.

The only reason that I still had P3D installed was precisely due to the PMDG 777, which is now being released for MSFS in a matter of weeks. 

The latest AI-powered ATC solutions will probably never make it to P3D/XP and, after experiencing the immersiveness they bring, it’s hard going back to the clunky solutions available for the other sims.  

[dave2013 1,157]

Another brief update regarding v6:

I stopped using the volumetric clouds as they exhibited a sort of bouncing effect in which all the clouds move up and down rapidly against the background scenery.  It is a strange effect and takes away from the realism.  I switched to HiFi's ASCA clouds which work well with Active Sky P3Dv6 and I am quite happy.

The road traffic is quite a bit smoother than in v5, with less stuttering and jerky movements, although there is still a bit of that.

My earlier report of not having to modify and reload a flight plan upon resuming a saved flight turns out not to occur 100% of the time.  Yesterday I loaded a flight and had to delete all the passed waypoints and reload the flight plan like I did with v5.

Unlike with v5, I don't have to use Nvidia Inspector to set a max frame rate, but instead can successfully use the sim's internal target frame rate slider.  I do not use Vsync as my monitor is 60Hz.

Just like with v5, I get much better performance with Hyperthreading turned off, so no logical cores, only 16 physical cores.  I also set the Jobscheduler to not use Core 0.

So far, performance with v6 is overall better than v5 with smoother gameplay, better anti-aliasing, more realistic HDR, and more realistic reflections and shadows.  I was able to tweak the exposure levels in the CFG so the cockpit brightens adequately when looking inside the VC and dims to an acceptable level when looking outside.

Note that when using the temporal-type AA like TAA, FSR2, or DLSS, these tend to dull or blur objects a bit, so I set a sharpening effect to 50% which clears that up and improves the realism.  I do not use FXAA or MSAA.

Dave

[dave2013 1,157]

On 5/5/2024 at 11:35 PM, GCBraun said:

REX and others have been offering historical weather in MSFS for years.

I've never liked REX's weather engines, so that would not make any difference to me.

The only reason I would consider using MSFS is because of the realistic scenery, period.  That's really the only thing MSFS has going for it IMO, but it is an important thing.

Dave

[jcomm 6,063]

1 hour ago, dave2013 said:

I've never liked REX's weather engines, so that would not make any difference to me.

The only reason I would consider using MSFS is because of the realistic scenery, period.  That's really the only thing MSFS has going for it IMO, but it is an important thing.

Dave

Almost 100% with you...

My only hope for MSFS is now on 2024, regarding flight dynamics and overall physics modeling...

 

[dave2013 1,157]

28 minutes ago, jcomm said:

My only hope for MSFS is now on 2024, regarding flight dynamics and overall physics modeling.

While I don't want this discussion to focus on MSFS, I will comment on the flight dynamics.

Much ado was made about the improved flight dynamics in MSFS, and maybe it is better than P3D.  However, the military uses Lockheed Martin's P3D for training actual pilots, which tells me that P3D flight dynamics must be pretty darn good, certainly good enough for a flight simulator - I mean an amateur flight simulator as opposed to a professional one like airlines and the military use.

Dave

Edited May 10 by dave2013

[Rogen 1,102]

7 hours ago, dave2013 said:

I do not use Vsync as my monitor is 60Hz.

Have you trialled the NVidia Control Panel 1/2 refresh rate vsync ?

I found the option didn't work for p3D v4 but does work (and quite well at that) for P3D v5.3, so maybe it will work Ok for P3D v6 and you can enjoy the very smooth screen display vsync provides for.

I don't have v6 so cannot trial it myself.

Cheers

[dave2013 1,157]

11 minutes ago, Rogen said:

Have you trialled the NVidia Control Panel 1/2 refresh rate vsync ?

You know, I never thought of that.  I'm getting pretty smooth frames at 33fps in the sim, so probably don't really need vsync.

I'll try it, though, and see if it improves things.

Thanks!

Dave

 

Edited May 10 by dave2013

[jcomm 6,063]

9 hours ago, dave2013 said:

You know, I never thought of that.  I'm getting pretty smooth frames at 33fps in the sim, so probably don't really need vsync.

I'll try it, though, and see if it improves things.

Thanks!

Dave

 

AFAIK, at least from my experience, in P3Dv6 we have to enable VSync also in-sim because contrarilly to v5 the setting only through NCP or NI will not work.

OTOH I second that choice for adaptive 1/2 refresh rate in NCP or NI.

Also got from some other posts I've read in the past that we should use as few as possible settings from within the sim. Leaving VSync unchecked and not limiting FPS in sim works better, so they say, and can be forced through NCP or NI, and save CPU cycles and Temps... Problem as I noted aboe is that if I do not set VSync in sim and only set it in NCP or NI, it doesn't work, or at least the FPS counter in sim shws varying FPS way above 30 / 60 FPS... Thus, with v6 we have to also enable VSync in sim.

My only grip with P3D, also v6, are the temps it reaches, specially the CPU 😕 They're always a good deal suprior to what I get in either XP12 or MSFS 😞

 

Edited May 11 by jcomm

[d.tsakiris 423]

On 5/6/2024 at 6:35 AM, GCBraun said:

The latest AI-powered ATC solutions will probably never make it to P3D/XP and, after experiencing the immersiveness they bring, it’s hard going back to the clunky solutions available for the other sims.

Clunky - maybe. But extremely reliable. I use PF3 (also for MSFS), which does the stuff perfectly the newer offerings are still struggling with. Of course it also has it's drawbacks, but if I want to enjoy a normal A-to-B flight, that's what I choose.

That's the choice we have, and are always going to have: Use the tried & tested, but sometimes outdated alternative, or the flashy & pretty newer one and suffer bugs and missing features. It comes down to personal preference.

Edited May 12 by d.tsakiris

[jcomm 6,063]

Regarding ATC I'm great with FSHUD.

Have been considering pilot2atc since years, but it does not control AI traffic...