Sartanius

I use only P3D now and have stopped installing FSX/FSX-SE after PC rebuilds (exclusively using Windows 10 Preview builds). The much improved lighting adds a level of visual realism and immersion FSX can no longer satisfy. This is likely due to my system specs, but the results are undeniable to me. Since many add-on developers are porting their products to P3D, as well as developing new content for P3D, I think the future is bright. Of course these are my experiences... not trying to say this will work for everyone since this is such a diverse community. But for me, P3D rocks!

Rick - I have updated 8.1 installations that had FSX and P3D installed, and both, including the T7 and NGX worked perfectly afterwards. No reinstalls of sims or add-ons were required. I have also updated Win10 tech preview machines that had both FSX and P3D installed (along with the PMDG stable) and all worked just fine after upgrading to a later Win10 TP build. While I understand there are countless hardware/software combinations out there, I had zero problems at all with the sims and add-ons on my computers. There were, however, issues at times with Win10 TP builds, but that is to be expected with "beta" code. You'll probably be just fine with the Win10 upgrade, but again, your computer and suite of add-ons are different than mine so YMMV.

For what it's worth, I have been using preview builds of Windows 10 since the fall of last year with all versions of flight sim (FSX, FSX-SE, and P3D2.x) and all versions work as well or better than they did in Windows 8.1. Windows 10 is even lighter on resources than Win8.1 so performance is very good. This has been my experience, I'm not saying it will be the same for anyone else. For me, Win10 is a huge improvement over Win8.x, esthetically and performance-wise. The disjointed feel of Win8.x is gone and we're back to a more Win7 type look and feel, but with some of the "modern" look in the new Start menu. It works just fine. Microsoft is doing whatever they can to distance themselves from Win8.x as quickly as possible and offering free (no strings attached) upgrades to legal versions of Win7 and Win8.1 is a brilliant thing to do. It's not a gimmick. Any software company would want their user base to be on the same version of their software from a configuration management point of view. I believe (from all I've seen since late last year) that Win10 will be a hit for Microsoft, like Win7 was after Vista. Maybe not as big a hit, but certainly a major improvement. Time will tell. At this stage, having installed and used all released Win10 builds with flight sim (primarily P3D2.5), I am a very happy camper. Again, YMMV.

Freeware charts can be tough to find. Here are old charts for Nassau (MYNN).

Good day, Tom Try this link to VATSIM. They have links to most regions around the world and you can usually find charts, although most aren't up to date. I found an alternate link for Mexican charts here.

Robbie, I agree with all that's been posted so far. However, from the data you supplied, I don't believe you are using the correct method to determine how much Virtual Address Space (VAS) you are using or that you have left. This takes you to en excellent write-up on what VAS is as well as a link to a free tool (Process Explorer) you can download from Microsoft's Mark Russinovich. This tool shows you how much VAS you are currently using. You can also use FSUIPC to measure VAS, and this method shows how much VAS is remaining. Here's a link to an excellent explanation and easy instructions on how to configure FSUIPC. Hope this helps a bit,

I have been using Win10 since the first Technical Preview, upgrading on each successive build as it is released. FSX, FSX-SE, and P3D 2.5 all run just fine. Stable with zero issues, and NO joystick disconnects! As with any "preview" software there's always a risk, so go into this with your eyes wide open. I don't believe you'll be disappointed, though... Win10 really is quite good.

You can also use FSRecorder, which is free.

If you have an Nvidia graphics adapter, Shadowplay works really well, and it's super simple.

Pete - I have seen numerous references to v1.18.6 but only see v1.18.5 on the Ezdok beta thread. Where are you getting v1.18.6 from?

+1 It needs to be stressed before doing this install that you have disabled UAC and your antivirus. Then, after you've cleaned out all remnants of any prior Ezdok installation, re-install 1.15 using the original wrapper. After the v1.15 install, do not run the v1.15 configurator. Follow the rest of the instructions for v1.18.5 linked above and then run the v1.18.5 configurator. After all is working in P3D, don't forget to go back and re-enable UAC and your antivirus.

Claude - I have a very powerful computer and get superb FPS and fluidity in P3D with all the FTX, FSDreamTeam, FlightBeam, etc. add-ons plus A2A and PMDG aircraft. I have used Shadowplay to record very smooth flights, but the play back is jerky and stutters badly. Is there some trick to getting smooth playback?

For what it's worth, it is always best to do a clean install so you're assured you have the cleanest possible installation. The Windows registry is a massive thing and gets filled with "cruft" and can get sluggish over time. Doing an update over an existing install modifies the registry, but doesn't wipe it out since you want to preserve all the applications, etc. that are already installed. I've done Win10 TP upgrades over Windows 8.1 and bare metal clean installs and all has been as expected, but still not perfect considering this is beta code. But I am extremely pleased and looking forward to the final release in late summer (probably September). However, although there's been some discussion that the final Win10 RTM release can be used to upgrade a Win10 TP installation, I haven't yet seen anything definitive from Microsoft confirming that. So, if you upgrade to Win10 TP right now, there's no guarantee that you can just update to the final Win10 RTM version when it releases. But you will certainly be able to upgrade an existing Win 7/8/8.1 installation with Win 10 RTM and preserve all your existing applications, etc.

Joe - If I missed someone that already answered this, my apologies. In my testing there was zero impact on my A2A C182 (don't own the C172). Apparently PMDG products benefit the most from this tweak. I get a ~35% FPS improvement with both the T7 and 737 NGX.

Remarkable... a terrific discovery! By my calculations I'm getting a ~35% improvement in FPS in the T7, and I was already very pleased with its performance on my rig. Went from 32.2 to 42.6 in a default start-up situation I always use for bench marking. Amazing! Update: My frames on the 737 NGX went from 27.9 to 37.9, a ~35% FPS gain there as well. Looking forward to finding out exactly what this cfg is doing.

Sent my feedback as well. Appreciate the tip.

Ahmet - I noticed that the file you highlighted has a double ".fxml.fxml" extension. That just might cause a problem. Suggest you go to your "...\Documents\Prepar3D v2" folder and change the file names to remove the duplicated file extension and see if that helps. In the future when you save a flight in P3D there's no need to add the file extension to the name. Just type the name you'd like to use (e.g., KEWR-SPIM) and the program will add the appropriate extension.

Looking forward to VS 2015 as well, Rob. Not sure there's a better IDE out there, IMHO.

Rats... I was actually hoping you were right since your numbers were far more appealing In any event, Rob, I appreciate all you do. Keep it up.

Rob - quick question. In the documents I reviewed explaining how to set up Process Explorer, the instructions directed me to add the Virtual Size column to see VAS. In your screenshots you're using values from the Private Bytes column. Which is correct since your values are definitely less than the corresponding values in the Virtual Size column?

Thanks, George... that was the trick! I wasn't aware I needed to select the new resolution within P3D to enable DSR. It works, but only if you have "Black-out Desktop" under P3D Full-Screen Settings selected as well. With all that I did get it to work, but the image isn't pleasing at all. With 2.00 and 33% Smoothing (2715x1527x32) the in-game red text gets smaller but there is way too much blur for my tastes, so that won't work. With 4.00 and 33% Smoothing (3840x2160x32) the in-game red text goes back to the normal 1920x1080 size (would have expected it to be even smaller that the 2.00 setting) but the cursor grows to three times it's normal size... quite strange. Also unpleasing. Haven't played around too much yet, but my early experience isn't encouraging. More experimenting will be needed. Thanks a ton for showing me how to get it to work! Much appreciated.

I have similar settings as described here in this thread (matching settings in both NI and P3D) and am using the NVIDIA 347.52 drivers on a 4GB ASUS GTX980, but no joy with any DSR setting using the ALT-Enter switch. My settings details: - P3D FXAA :off MSAA:8X VSync: On Triple Buffering: On FPS Limiter: Unlimited Ansio: 16x - NI MSAA: 8xQ SGSS: 8x Ansio: 16x Neg LOD Bias: Clamp Texture Filtering Quality: High Quality BTW: I love P3D's performance as it is... simply superb. I just want to try DSR since my cloud performance struggles a bit and I understand SGSS affects that. I've read that DSR compensates for SGSS which would allow me to turn SGSS off and see better cloud performance. But, can't get DSR to work. Suggestions appreciated.

Well written and spot-on! I am all-in with P3D and no longer use FSX. While P3D isn't perfect, it is a much improved experience over FSX, and it's on a continuous development path. Folks ought to be as excited about this as they would have been had Microsoft restarted FSX development. And with LM's focus on the commercial/military market, there's likely to be steady revenue to keep development moving forward. As an FS geek, I couldn't be more pleased and encouraged. Again, great post... +1

Go to Lockheed's Prepar3D website, check out the requirements, then email them and ask. Enjoy!

Ivan - you seem to be justifying your decision to stay with FSX almost defensively like somehow we will think less of you because you don't join us out on this exciting P3D frontier. If that's the case, nothing could be further from the truth! Your commitment to FSX and the 3rd party add-on community, not to mention the hours you've committed to PC flight simulation, is commendable and only helps make this hobby stronger. The cool thing is that you can maintain that stable, mature setup you have now with FSX and still install P3D for those times when you want a glimpse of what's happening out on the front lines. P3D installs perfectly well alongside FSX, so it won't hurt at all to check it out. Come on in, the water's fine!