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Simulator Switch


Mardoc94

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Simmers

I have been into Aviation for as long as I can remember I would be into Commercial Flying with Boeing 777, 737, and Airbuses instead of shooting things up with F/A Hornets or Apaches. So basically I need a bit of help I have had FSX for more than ten years and it never gets old to fly but game is out of date completely and it is getting harder to tweak for performance and quality I do have a good High End PC to run good games and sims.

So I decided to enquire on Switching to P3D V3 or V4 and I have so much question that needs to be answered and I hoping to receive help from Aerosoft or Simmers.

1. Switching to P3D V3/V4 should be a piece of cake and I can also purchase a few extra tools like the PTA tool to help with performance, also Active Sky 2016 and REX OD/4 and of course if required ORBX Global, but the real question is are most scenery from Aerosoft or Simmarket which requires P3D in different Versions e.g. V2, V3 and V4 compatible to work or do I have to wait for the scenery to be modified to be compatible or it doesn't matter?

2. After I install P3D do I have to do manual tweaks to the sim itself or is it not required?

3. Is there a recommendation for a PC to work P3D, I know I can find the specs on the website of P3D but I'm asking for an opinion from simmers or is PTA gonna help with that.

4. Is it recommended to rebuy PMDG Products like the 737, 777 and 747 QOTS or is there a trick around that.

Finally

5. When P3D is installed does FSX have to be uninstalled from the Hard Drive or does it matter it's just memory you have to consider.

That's all I have in mind to ask at this time please feel free to answer any of the five questions if you do please put the question number before the answer so I would know which is which.

 

Thanks

 

P.S. Answer can only come from P3D owners, Just in case of uncertainty of answers.

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If you consider going for P3D make sure to get v4 right away. At this point not all addons are compatible yet, but things are getting closer day by day and more addons are released day by day for it.

 

1) PTA is more about visuals and less about performance. I could at least not see much of a difference in my performance with it. That's with the freeware version, but with the paid one. I haven't gotten (and won't get) the paid version.

The different P3Ds aren't just "different versions" as the name may suggest. They are different simulators with differences just like, if not even bigger than, FS2004 and FSX. And just like with FS2004 and FSX not all FS2004 addons are compatible with FSX and the other way round.
Only addons with the P3Dv4 tag should be considered compatible to this simulator.

 

2) As always when asking about tweaks, some people will say this, some people will say that. Personally I didn't need to do any tweaking and I do not know a lot of persons who would actually have gained something from tweaking v4.

 

3) There is no real golden solution for a v4 computer. Get something decent, but don't spend several thousands of Euros for something that will be outdated in less than a year.

 

4) PMDG, as well as some other developers, follow a different license -> different product policy. You will not get around rebuying these products if you still want to use them in v4.

 

5) P3D and FSX run completly independant from one another. In fact I have FSX Acceleration, FSX Steam, P3Dv3 and P3Dv4 installed at the same time on my computer.

Of course you want to get some good hard drives to cover all the space that your addons will eat up with 4 sim installations, but modern SSDs aren't that expensive anymore.

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I'm in the same boat as him.. moving from FSX directly to P3D4.. I'm lucky that i'm able to jump directly to the 64-bit V4.. Although my primary sim is XP11, I will use P3D4 for all my long hauls (AS330, PMDG, QW787). The ecosystem for long haul flights is still better in P3D. 

 

my only question is if i install the latest SODE 1.51 (for V4), will it work with airports that are still not updated to V4? Do aerosoft airports use SODE or is it some native code that moves the jetways? Coming from an FSX/AES background, i am not familiar with which software does what.. between GSX, SODE & airport devs, who is responsible for making jetways move and dock correctly?  Is dual jetway movement supported like in AES? Thanks!

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Simmers

Thank you Emanuel Hagen and vin747 for the detailed replys appreciated, but I do have more to ask you.

There are still some confusions regarding this topic and I like to know enough before buying P3D, I can be strict with money and careful of what I buy even from Lockheed Martin. So to the questions.

1. Does it matter whether I buy P3D V3 instead of V4 or can that be a risk to take?

2. If I'm the owner of P3D V3 and I got most of my good add-ons installed and then I decided to update it to V4 and if I do does that mean I have to reinstall my add-ons again and rebuy some again e.g. PMDG Products?

3. If I'm the owner of P3D V3 how do I get P3D V3.3 OR V3.4 or will that be supplied by Lockheed Martin?

4. Is it possible to install FSX add-ons to P3D without any tools or is a tool required?

5. Is it recommended to keep updating P3D by buying new versions e.g. V3 to V4 or is remaining with one version O.K?

 

That's all I have in mind for today.

Again feel free to answer any.

Thanks for answering my first five questions.

 

Thanks.

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1. Like Emi said, when you're buying P3D for the first time (or any sim for that matter), go for the latest and greatest and stable version.. for e.g XP11 came out in Nov 2016 but it took 6 months to become stable and optimized with good addons etc.. I'm going to give P3D 6 months to become stable and hopefully by then the 3rd party devs would have flooded the market with P3D4 native addons.. my experience with sims is, always go for native addons rather than ported stuff from older sims.. if native is not available, then 2nd option is to port from somewhere.. but native is the best as it uses all best features of the latest sim..

 

2. v3 to v4 - most airports might be free upgrade.. AS might charge a small upgrade fee (read Mathijs post).. PMDG not charging for v3 to v4.. Activesky may charge.. 

 

3. when u buy P3D v3, you get the latest 3.4 or whatever.. u dont get to choose earlier versions.. 

 

4. FSX to P3D - Estonia migration tool - also being redeveloped for 64bit now.. like i said, this is not preferred option.. get native P3D installers

 

5. totally your preference.. i started with FS9, moved to FSX, then XP10, then XP11 and now will get P3D v4 in Dec for my long hauls.. I see some people in forums still buying addons for FS98!! go figure! its your individual preference on whether you want to stick with one sim forever or keep upgrading every few yrs to enjoy latest technology.. 

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On 6/14/2017 at 2:07 AM, Emanuel Hagen said:

Of course you want to get some good hard drives to cover all the space that your addons will eat up with 4 sim installations, but modern SSDs aren't that expensive anymore.

Emi,

I am really curious what capacity of SSD you have to accommodate 4 SIMs. What I noticed recently is that FSX:SE remains a big cache after closing it on the drive. My wife is running AutoCad on same computer and always is complaining for insufficient disc space, if I don't clean it :)

 

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I,ve got another questions,cause i will switch to prepare v4 very soon.

1. if im not wrong, your policy is that if i have bought your add ons por fsx, i will have it for prepare to right?

2.  for example i have FSX installed in my main SSD for windows, and all the add-ons to. Right know i only have 145-180 GB free (FROM 500). So i will buy another SSD to install prepare there, but since i read here in there forums, add ons on V4 will installed on document folder, so, how i can do it to not reinstall or move Fsx stuff from their locations and have enough space with the other ssd to P3D stuff?

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6 hours ago, Mathijs Kok said:

Keep in mind that FSX;SP2, FSX;STEAM And P3D V3 can share many of the same file, no need to install the scenery three times. I got one communal scenery folder and for 80% of scenery that works fine.

so? if i have your airbuses, i have all the sim versions?

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Simmers

Thank you vin747 for the recent detailed replys and I'm almost close of knowing which P3D Version but not fully.

So to the questions. I am still trying to make up my mind of either buying V3 or V4 but my mind is set on V3 but I'll think about it during my busy time of year with work.

1. According to my PC Specs at the bottom in my signature box will V3 and V4 work like a charm running at least 40fps with those components at the bottom?

2. Can it be guaranteed that all add-ons that are available for P3D from V1 to V3 will be soon be compatible for V4, and when I say all that includes ones like T2G, LatinVFR and Flytampa?

3. I have read the System Requirements from the Prepar3d Website why are the specs getting more higher in numbers?

 

That's all I have in mind for today.

Again feel free to answer any.

 

Thanks.

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1. i7 is good, but 4.0 GHz and above will be ideal.. but good thing is newer sims seems to be distributing the workload better and passing more work to GPU than CPU.. your GPU is an earlier generation with a 3.5GB VRAM.. it should be adequate for moderate simming, but don't expect to max out all settings.. If you want 40 fps in the PMDG VC on final at KLAX - ain't gonna happen.. but you will get 50 fps when cruising at FL350 in spot view.. so FPS varies a lot based on what you're doing in the sim.. which FPS matters more to you? - inside the VC or spot view? then optimize for that.. for me the real test is when you're on final to a large airport, complex aircraft VC with some challenging weather.. if i can get 25FPS in that situation, then that's a good rig.. 

 

2. No guarantees here - some have released official upgrade policies, others haven't.. most are busy playing catch up and it will take 6 months to know the full picture.. i think eventually, everyone will make it to V4.. Flytampa is releasing boston v4 with native P3D V4 support (i.e. dynamic apron lighting), but they will take their own time in retrofitting their other airports with V4 features.. likewise Aerosoft & Imaginsim will release WSSS later this year with V4 features.. but retrofitting their addons will come at their own pace.. what you can expect is this - almost ALL airports will be workable in P3D V4 within a month's time, but most will not have V4 specific features.. 

 

3. every new sim gets optimized to run faster but also keeps adding more eye candy in line with demands of the simmers.. so the specs go up.. 

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Simmers

 

Thank you again vin747 for another recent detailed replys. Just to correct you about the cpu clock speed if you have missed it my cpu is overclocked from a 3.7 to 4.2 GHz so that should be good, what do you think in your opinion?

I'm very close to my decision but it is not a fair one I will buy V3 because I'm sick of seeing lags below 30fps its tiring but I know it is gonna be hard to max out all setting on P3D thats understandable I am more into performance than quality sometimes.

That's it for now I will be back later in the day.

Thanks.

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I switch from FSX to P3Dv4 myself. I have an i7-4790 that I OC'd from 3.6ghz to 4.2ghz. I also upgraded my video card from a Nvidia Geforce 960 2TB to a 1080Ti 11GB model. The only change I really made for P3D was adding the 1080Ti, and FlyTampa airports with A2A aircraft are all showing awesome performance. I do have 16GB of DDR3 1866 RAM which I installed when I built the PC. P3D will run with your 970 but not sure what it will look like. I wanted the best performance out of the door so that is the only reason I went on ahead and upgraded to the 1080. I cannot comment on v1-v3 as I never saw a point in paying for FSX again since it was still 32 bit. I will tell you the jump from FSX to v4 is out of this world!

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Simmers

Thanks for joining this Topic Roadburner426.

I have been thinking about it but it is getting harder to choose because I have learned that my specs cannot handle V4 but it can handle V3 but there is a little hiccup I have two Separate HDD each 1TB and one is a hybrid to a SSD and that's the main drive for the OS, while the other is what I use to handle FSX and its add-ons and tools but it is not SSD Hybrid, I have read from the P3D official website looking at the requirements and I have learned that an SSD is recommended to work is that really needed or not.

That's all for now.

Thanks.

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I have to add I am getting by just fine without a fancy system. My specs are 8GB trident z ram @ 3200mhz, I6600k overclocked to 4.4 GHZ, and a R9 390X GB VRAM on a 49 " 4K TV. And I have to say I am very happy with the performance. Sliders are not all to the right but it is looking so good and smooth.

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