davethewave2

For my part from fsopen software. Open clouds works fine Open server does not as underlying network transport looks like it's now encrypted.

Verdict so far: My weather engine (Open clouds) worked fine with no changes which is what I expect as it works with all versions of P3D. So if your addon uses standard simconect then you should be fine. The networking side of multiplayer has changed considerably, not sure if it's encrypted now but these differences is why it's not possible to join up between the standard and steam versions of the game. You will need to open and forward UDP 6112 and 27016 if you want to host. Also, the old bug in multiplayer was players would join in a glider and spawn lots of towplanes by requesting a tow then releasing it. This bug seems to be there still. I left a session open for an hour to return and find it was running extremely slowly, suspect because of this exploit.

I doubt it's a different version of simconnect.

Thanks for the feedback guys, disappointed that they've removed the option to connect directly as it prevents both versions of fsx from flying together. However, if users are having to validate via a steam logon and can be banned from a hosting server then I can see a benefit in just using steam multiplayer. Something that was always a problem with gamespy/direct connect. IVAO/Vatsim I expect work fine as they really use the client in single player mode and inject other players with simconnect.

Can old versions of fsx connect to it directly at the same time do you know?

So it's been re-compiled with vs2013 so it might take advantage of new cpu features particularly avx (Sandy bridge onwards) and avx2 (Haswell onwards) Would be great to see if there is a fps difference between versions on someone who has a Haswell cpu. I somehow doubt it but you never know

Jim, I said I was hoping it would still let players connect directly, in the same way that with gamespy you could still by pass it and connect directly.

How do you know this Jim?

I'm just hoping their new multiplayer system will still let original versions connect directly

fsx was last compiled in 2007 with acceleration/sp2, therefore it can only target technology that was around at that time. Currently this means p3d takes advantage of directx11 and avx cpu instructions. Going forward I expect further improvements such as directx12 support (expected to increase performance to counter amd's mantel) and I'm sure there will be a 64 bit version at some point. At some point it will be a no brainer to upgrade but there will always be some that won't, just the same as some still fly with fs9! Since you get any updates for free until version 3 comes out, and it works alongside fsx, why not buy it now?

I'd never tried fraps with p3d with earlier versions so I'd just assumed that it was because p3d always runs in window mode as opposed to full screen.

Probably, it's not something I've tested as it's a free upgrade to 2.4, don't know why you haven't?

As you are probably aware, fsx is cpu bound, adding cloud shadows will not help the situation. If you have a fast video card try Prepare3D, it's taken the fsx enginge and moved more of the graphic work to the gpu and it supports cloud shadows (and cockpit shadows) right out of the box. I was surprised to take a stock fsx plane, stick it in P3D and cockpit shadows work.

Chrome works fine for me Bill. If its just this site then maybe the cookie is there but is invalid (Doesn't correspond to a valid token in the database against your user) Try deleting all cookies for avsim and let it create a new one.

Loving it so far. This is now so much better than fsx, don't think I'll ever go back now. Cloud shadows next