FSX to P3D.........is it worth changing?

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Nigel H-J
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FSX to P3D.........is it worth changing?

Post by Nigel H-J »

Cannot decide and hopefully some of you with P3D might be able to advise me.

Having seen that ORBX is going to release UK True Earth at some point in the near future, I am wondering whether to grab the bull by the horns and go for P3D. one of the reasons is that (correct me if I'm wrong) but FSX cannot use DX11 and can only use 2GB RAM when running whereas so much is happening with P3D (improvements mostly) that I feel FSX will fall way behind in what add-on developers can do, already with ORBX developing True Earth and releasing to X Plane very shortly followed by FSX with P3D to come later, I think that I may decide it would be better to go for a platform that has continued support and advancement.

Firstly, what type of licence do you chaps have and if and when P3D decide to bring out a newer version does this mean that you have to uninstall before upgrading and when is it best to upgrade?

Secondly, I have a number of ORBX Sceneries in FSX, can I install those into P3D? Also I have payware aircraft will these also work in P3D if installed like the JF Devon and others.

Sorry if some of the questions sound silly but don't want to really fall into a trap and find that I have to spend more money on things I already have.

Late Edit: X Plane, does any-one have it and if so what is your opinion of it.

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Nigel.
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Re: FSX to P3D.........is it worth changing?

Post by DaveG »

I moved over to P3d full time with version 3 and have never looked back. You do need a reasonably good PC with a decent GPU though. What are your current specs?

I don't use ORBX stuff (although that may well change when UK True Earth comes out :worried: ) but I believe it's compatible via their control/installation program, whatever that's called.

A lot of stuff is V4 compatible now, but you'll need to check for the latest installers. Some companies provide updates for free, others charge a small upgrade fee, and others require a new purchase. Worth taking the time to check your addons. If you've got a lot of A2A or PMDG stuff and want to upgrade them all, it's going to cost a small fortune!
Anything originally designed for FS9 will not work at all, best case is it simple won't display, worst case it may cause CTDs. Any FSX aircraft that use .gau or .dll type gauges or modules will need replacements as they are 32bit and will not work in a 64bit sim.

I think most here use the Academic license. Updates are free for the life of the major version, i.e. v4.0 to v4.?, when they get to v5 it will be a new purchase.
The P3d installer is divided into 3 parts, client (the main prog etc), content (aircraft, vehicles etc), and scenery. When you first install, the setup will install all 3 parts. When an update comes out, you can usually just uninstall the old client and then install the new one, (usually) leaving addons intact. If the update contains changes to the content and/or scenery you can also install those if you wish. Addons that comply with LMs recommended installation method shouldn't be affected by updates, or even a complete re-install, but of course, not all addon devs follow the guidelines, so you need to be aware that some things may break after an update. Addons such as FSUIPC or ActiveSky normally need updating to match the P3d version but they are usually ready in a couple of days. It's generally worth hanging on for a few days after an update until the addon devs catch up.

X-Plane. I've tried the demo a couple of times, but can't seem to warm to it. You can always download the demo and try it your self.
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Charlie Bravo
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Re: FSX to P3D.........is it worth changing?

Post by Charlie Bravo »

I've dropped FS9/FSX for X-Plane 11 and couldn't be happier.

I loved FS9 back in the day and bought numerous packages to enhance it further but I felt that it it's time had come. I spent quite a while looking at the options... P3D, X-Plane, FSW and FS2 but came to the conclusion that P3D was just a polished FSX that still looked like it had seen better days and FSW/FS2 lacked any real expansion options. I therefore downloaded the X-Plane 11 demo and was suitably impressed with both its looks and performance.

Fast forward a couple of months and I'm still pleased with my decision. One of my friends has both FSX and P3D and after speaking to him about X-Plane, he has also made the move and hasn't touched the other two since.

Granted there aren't anywhere near as many extras for X-Plane but the big developers seem to jumping on the X-Plane bandwagon having seen its potential. Give the demo a bash mate.
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Paul K
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Re: FSX to P3D.........is it worth changing?

Post by Paul K »

NIgel, I can't add anything worthwhile to the responses above, other than to say - bear in mind that P3Dv3 is 32-bit and P3Dv4 is 64-bit. I have a feeling that Orbx True Earth will require the 64-bit one. And as Dave says, the Academic license is the one for us normal everyday simmers. I have P3dv3, and am contemplating the move to v4 later this year, though I haven't ruled out X-Plane. As Charlie Bravo says, the demo is worth a look.

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Nigel H-J
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Re: FSX to P3D.........is it worth changing?

Post by Nigel H-J »

Hi DaveG and many thanks for your input, have to say I am still very much unsure about whether or not to go to P3D especially having read the following posts by Charlie Bravo and PaulK.

The one thing that may pull me towards P3D is the fact that aircraft I have bought in the past will go into that platform, not sure whether ORBX sceneries purchased for FSX will do the same though, maybe someone can answer that for me. ORBX will be releasing True Earth for FSX but obviously as it is not 64bit then there will be a slight difference but to what degree I don't know.

My specs are: i5-4690 CPU @ 3.50Ghz 8Gb RAM G-Force GTX 760. So hopefully my system should run either one or the other sims?

Charlie, I will download the Demo in a few days time though the one thing that may stop me from purchasing X Plane is the amount of money already spent on FSX in the way of add-ons and if most of them can be re-installed into P3D then obviously this would be the better option, as I am now an old grumpy pensioner this means that I can no longer throw money in for add-ons as I used to do.

Decisions, decision!!!! :doh:

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Nigel.
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Charlie Bravo
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Re: FSX to P3D.........is it worth changing?

Post by Charlie Bravo »

I know what you mean Nigel. I had several Orbx packages, various aircraft and other scenery enhancements but every time I reinstalled FSX, I was bored of it within a matter of days.
I appreciate the number of extras available for it and P3D has indeed injected some life back into the series but for me, it is showing its age. X-Plane however, offers very good default mesh, a handful of decent default aircraft (although jet sounds are poor) and airports that partly resemble the actual place.

I haven't installed it thinking I've now got to buy new mesh etc. I've purchased a few aircraft and a realism add-on.
The biggest hurdle was learning the new keys but an app on my phone helped with that.

Hardware wise, I've just upgraded to a new laptop but my old one ran X-Plane well. That had an i5-6300HQ, GTX960m and 8gb RAM. The demo will give you your definitive answer.

Edit...
Just had a look at the differences between your spec and my old laptop. Yours is definitely faster so you should be fine.

http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/In ... 8166vs2311
http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nv ... 7242vs2159
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Nigel H-J
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Re: FSX to P3D.........is it worth changing?

Post by Nigel H-J »

I know what you mean Nigel. I had several Orbx packages, various aircraft and other scenery enhancements but every time I reinstalled FSX, I was bored of it within a matter of days.
This is very much how I feel as well Charlie though I do get a lot of satisfaction when flying from PNW to other ORBX locations however that said, I have been thinking very carefully as well as watching X Plane V P3D on you tube. I do enjoy flying in the ORBX Regions of North America, the ORBX UK, Scotland and Wales will no doubt go through a major change, as ORBX will no doubt continue onwards with True Earth (which is now the way forward in flight simming).

With FSX it is at a disadvantage being only 32 bit whereas P3D and X Plane 11 are 64 bit which opens up the market for improvement.

Firstly, P3D has been around quite a while now but looking at some reviews (or criticism) it has not gone forward all that much, the default scenery is still very much like that of FSX. There has not been any improvement in the rain effects either and viewing some X Plane 11 videos the aircraft move realistically in heavy weather and also on the ground (vibrations and bumps).

I use A2A Accu-feel in FSX but it does not appear to match that of X Plane.

I will be downloading the demo version of X Plane 11 tomorrow and see how it goes.

My thinking at the moment is that if the demo goes the way I hope it will, then I will buy it but only after a good month (if the demo allows that time) of flying.

As for FSX, I will still keep it for those flights in America and discard flying UK as I would then purchase UK True Earth, in fact nearly all my flying is UK based so would not be needing as much in the way of payware add-ons as I did in FSX and I much prefer to fly around 2 - 4,000ft and view the ground.

Looked at the benchmarks on the links you gave and definitely will be able to run 64 bit versions, many thanks for providing that data.

Again, many thanks Charlie. Been a great help.

Regards
Nigel.
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Charlie Bravo
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Re: FSX to P3D.........is it worth changing?

Post by Charlie Bravo »

Unfortunately, the demo only gives you 15 minutes of flying time in 1 region before it disables all joystick/yoke inputs and displays a box stating the time is up.

These were some of the first screenshots I took within X-Plane and everything you see is default...

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

I was buzzing around northern Italy somewhere with no real purpose but it gives you an idea of how the default setup looks.

One tip - if you do buy X-Plane, get it on disc because the official X-Plane server is painfully slow.

Chris
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Nigel H-J
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Re: FSX to P3D.........is it worth changing?

Post by Nigel H-J »

Many thanks Chris though I feel that you would not really get a feeling in 15 minutes, think maybe half an hour minimum.

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Re: FSX to P3D.........is it worth changing?

Post by Charlie Bravo »

Fly and reload, fly and reload ;-)
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