It's bee a while but you now what ? It's great !

So after getting comfortable with FS2020 and now 2024 I was having a bit of a clear-out and found my P3D folder ....

God only knows what I spent on scenery and aircraft but some are pretty unique so I though lets have another go !

Spent yesterday installing on a spare 4Tb drive I had kicking around and it still looks great !

I have the same thoughts on a regular basis.  Such a stable platform--and I could again use the thousands of addons purchased over the years that are sitting idle. Really miss the A2A aircraft.

Tell you what ! You come over here for 2 weeks and you can use my P3D setup !!! I'll pop over to Florida and spend 2 weeks in the sun !!! 😆

There are two reasons I will always stick with P3D. the first is that I have a Mickey Mouse internet connection and it can't even reliably stream a highly compressed Full HD movie. Even basic websites take achingly long to load. But this is Victoria, Australia and without saying disparaging things about the state of my nation at the moment, all I will say is if something works at all then I guess one cannot complain....

But there is another reason - I have my own private weather "engine" that I actually began writing all the way back when Weather Themes became a thing back in FS2004. I have continued to work on it over the years and even just last month I made quite a few more refinements to it based on how Prepar3D does things differently to the FSX I had up until mid 2024 (which in turn did things differently to its predecessor FS2004). And I honestly could not go flying without my own generated "weather" because it is the thing that resolves (at least to my mind) the "issue" that X-planers like to criticise of Prepar3D - the lack of the feeling of being in the actual air as a dynamic "fluid" itself.

I know there are lots of commercial add-ons that do very complex stuff but I like what I wrote because I can tailor it precisely to what I want, it is totally offline and I was able to tailor it specifically to the sorts of weather patterns and characteristics I get in the region where I live (certain wind pattern characteristics, high humidity, thermals, an unofficial "wet season", etc).

Obviously I cannot use what I have written with anything else other than Prepar3D (my latest version won't even work with the old FSX anymore - too many changes have occurred under the bonnet with Prepar3D) and I am extremely thankful to Lockheed Martin that not only did they retain the Weather Theme functionality introduced all the way back in 2004, the refinements they have made to it are quite amazing - especially when you spend as much time with that functionality as I do (keep in mind, being offline, I couldn't get online weather anyway).

FS2024 is slowly growing on my external hard drive for a lot of reasons.  P3Dv5 is still my main sim. I have invested a lot of time in both retro AI traffic and present time AI traffic. 

@Neutrino Flux, you don't mention your hardware but if it's capable of supporting v5 I really would recommend you consider it.

They made huge improvements to the world scenery including detailed coastlines, lakes, rivers etc. So much so that I dumped UTX Europe and America. They were superfluous.

Plus Enhanced Atmospherics transforms the skies and lighting in general. My old 1080Ti couldn't cope with it but the 4090 takes it in its stride. A 2000 card or better will be fine.

Having all the aircraft I need I just don't see the need for MSFS for the kind of (IFR) flying I do. I will probably keep v5.3HF2 for as long as I'm capable of flying it.

3 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

@Neutrino Flux, you don't mention your hardware but if it's capable of supporting v5 I really would recommend you consider it.

Well, his hardware can run MSFS2024. I'm sure it can do P3Dv5 too, if OP is willing to get a license for this.

I’ve been with 4.5 since it came out. After all this time, I’ve had maybe 3-4 CTDs. As Ray suggested, I want to try out v5, but I have so much stuff installed that I keep postponing it. Yes, some add ons are outdated, but I can live with that. 

Edited February 16Feb 16 by DuduGuimaraes

On 2/14/2026 at 2:40 PM, Ray Proudfoot said:

@Neutrino Flux, you don't mention your hardware but if it's capable of supporting v5 I really would recommend you consider it.

They made huge improvements to the world scenery including detailed coastlines, lakes, rivers etc. So much so that I dumped UTX Europe and America. They were superfluous.

Plus Enhanced Atmospherics transforms the skies and lighting in general. My old 1080Ti couldn't cope with it but the 4090 takes it in its stride. A 2000 card or better will be fine.

Having all the aircraft I need I just don't see the need for MSFS for the kind of (IFR) flying I do. I will probably keep v5.3HF2 for as long as I'm capable of flying it.

Thanks Ray I'll have a nosy at that. 5900x and a 4070.

1 hour ago, Neutrino Flux said:

Thanks Ray I'll have a nosy at that. 5900x and a 4070.

What are you waiting for? 😁 What aircraft are you flying in v4?

19 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

What are you waiting for? 😁 What aircraft are you flying in v4?

Permission from the Mrs 🤣Apparently I'm spending toooo much money in my retirement !! 

Aerosoft Lightning of the English Electric variety my beloved Lancair Legacy and Turbine Duke ( I do have the Duke in 2024 ) Twin Otter. I do have the Aerosoft A320 but never actually used it so may have a crack at that.

Running My Traffic Pro 6 so a bit behind the times but nice to see Monarch again ! Rex weather and most of the Orbx airports and scenery for the UK.

I did have a full install of AIG but not sure I want to invest the time setting that all up again.

2 hours ago, Neutrino Flux said:

Permission from the Mrs 🤣Apparently I'm spending toooo much money in my retirement !! 

Tell her it’s cheaper than joining a golf club! 😁

All those aircraft should be fine in v5. If you want a 737 the iFly is available. PMDG stopped sales of theirs a while back for P3D.

Nothing beats AIG but it does take an effort to get it configured.

On 2/17/2026 at 5:58 AM, Neutrino Flux said:

Thanks Ray I'll have a nosy at that. 5900x and a 4070.

Just take care that there are addons that never got updated for v5 (or properly updated), so you may have to forego some of them if you upgrade. For e.g., In my personal hangar I had to let go the fabulous MilViz F-4 Phantoms, but I was able to keep the MilViz T-38's, and that was "enough" for me.

It might be that someone's figured out how to get them running in v5 (or v6!), but I'm simply referring to there being some significant addon compatibility differences between the two versions.

A good idea of what you might run into is well illustrated on the Blackbird Sims P3D page: Blackbird Simulations - Freebies. I.e., MOST are available for v4x, but at least one is v5 only, et al. Oh, and if you didn't know, ALL of the old MilViz addons are 100% FREE for the download! 🙂 

Edited February 23Feb 23 by UrgentSiesta

On 2/24/2026 at 6:14 AM, UrgentSiesta said:

Blackbird Simulations - Freebies. I.e., MOST are available for v4x, but at least one is v5 only, et al. Oh, and if you didn't know, ALL of the old MilViz addons are 100% FREE for the download! 🙂 

Additionally there are some nice fixes for the Milviz Beaver, especially if you're running P3D v4.5.