P3D Explained

[AS267 Rob]

Hi all,
I have FSX with SP1 and 2 plus exc and have become interested in purchasing P3D.
Not being a computer guru, from what I have read P3D is not a stand alone sim like FS9 or FSX but runs along side of FSX, is this assumption correct ?
With payware and freeware Addon aircraft and scenery, do they download straight into P3D or is there a lot of transferring files etc.
If anyone that has P3D could give me a few simple explanations regarding installation and operation of P3D, I would greatly appreciate the information.

Thank you and cheers
Rob

[Leemazz]

My personal opinion is that between FSX with DX10 fixer and P3D there is not much difference other than clouds cast shadows on the ground .

I have both and i prefer FSX , i just dont see much difference other than cloud shadows and some dodgy HDR thingy effect . The P3D guys will slate me but my FSX just runs too well to turn to the dark side .

I will wait for a 64bit sim

[JSkorna]

P3D is another flight sim, but not for entertainment purposes. Some FSX things will work in it. Other things require a new purchase. If you load it up with FSX stuff, it will look and run just as FSX does, so why bother?

[AS267 Rob]

Thanks for the replies.
I guess it is wait and see with Dovetail for improvements and to bring our sims more up to date, but I do not think I will rush out to buy it on the first day of release as I am sure it may have a few teething problems, till then, I will stay with FSX as is.

Cheers
Rob

[Leemazz]

I agree Rob

The problem might be developers might start to stop developing for fsx as FS Dreamteam hinted at with the KMEM release as a lot of FSX users had problems with it where as P3D and FSX steam users did not .

That is my only worry , i think FSX is still good for a year or two . I do hope Dovetail pull through with a great new sim but with the release of flight school im worried it wont be up to much

[AS267 Rob]

The reason I originally asked about P3D was because I was having so much trouble with FSX freezing in the the last 2-3 months, I was lucky to complete a flight, and was going to try Steam or P3D or even X-plane so I could fly again.
After trying everything mentioned on the web, task manager, event viewer, I gave up and deleted all my addons and FSX.
I re-installed FSX and left it at its default settings and frame rates at 30 and all seems to be working fine having done 3 flights using the default 737, so now I will start adding my payware aircraft, Orbx, REX and all that good stuff and see what happens

Cheers
Rob

[Mark Vall]

Hi Rob,

some of payware addons has significant impact on Frame rates as well as on overall FSX performance. The biggest "offender" for my PC is airport addons in US - landing in JFK with REX, ORBX, Active sky, Traffic addon, using PMDG 777 and having JFK in full details... I can expect landing -1500 as it won`t be smooth approach and landing at all.
I fly without REX time to time, where REX makes not too big effect (flights in Greenland or Afghanistan )
Your approach is the correct one - adding slowly, testing, testing and testing

Best of luck, mate

[AS267 Rob]

Thanks Mark,
I am not really worried about the eye candy stuff at this stage as I normally fly jetliners so am up around 30-40 feet with not much to see from there.
With the take-off, approach and landing with IFR I like to input as much manual handling as possible, so do not have much time to look at the city scapes etc, to busy watching dials and twiddling things.
I have re-installed my PMDG and IFly 737s so will use these two aircraft and tweek the sim from there.

Cheers
Rob

[AS541-Brian]

I am an avid P3D user...

Yes, cloud shadows and lighting are a big improvement. However, what P3D does for me is memory management. It far surpasses that of FSX. If you ever have OOM issues, P3D is the way to go. I am using 3.3.5 and I have not had an OOM in ages, even with high end payware scenery using the PMDG aircraft.