cowpatz wrote:Thanks for the initial heads up Ade.
Could the performance gains you describe be partly due to a new install with few, if any, add ons installed?
The folder structure does sound like a big improvement when it comes to installing newer P3D revisions. That is always painful.
Did you keep 2.5 as well?
You're welcome. Hope it goes some way to help you decide on your preferred solution.
Certainly database compile and scenery loading times are faster, but as you say I would expect that on a clean install. I'm sure it will slow down when the addons arrive.
As far as actual flying is concerned, I've found a reliable method of testing performance on defaults is simply using the P3D default flight (F-22 from Langley AFB). This area contains photoreal, complex landclass, water bodies, large areas of vegetation, high building density, traffic and watercraft. As there is no interference from third party content in this area (well unless you use FTX Global etc), performance is always the same even if you have addons installed. For 3.0 I just replicated this flight and found it to be smoother with fewer microstutters than 2.5. I tend not to get many microstutters anyway, but obviously the F-22 at top speed pushes texture loading to the limit, so any stutters if they occur become much more noticable. Comparing default 2.5 with default 3.0 flying this same route, there was some improvement.
I should mention that I have to lock FPS at 30 with vsync and triple buffering on due to my weak GPU but achieved a very solid and constant 30 FPS on both addon content and defaults under 2.5 so I wouldn't expect 3.0 to be much different when I do test some addons. HT is off and I don't use an AM so the main thread is on core 0.
There was a lot of howling and dissent when the folder structure was changed for 2.5 due to the need for a full reinstall and the fact it broke some addons, but it really is a revolution if you're prepared to put the time in to get it set up. dll.xml and exe.xml also now reside in \ProgramData as of 3.0.
I've installed my addons like this post-2.5:
P3D-dedicated addons in \Microsoft Flight Simulator Common\P3D
FSX-dedicated addons in \Microsoft Flight Simulator Common\FSX
Addons for both in \Microsoft Flight Simulator Common\ALL
FS9 portover aircraft in \Microsoft Flight Simulator Common\FS9
Installers can be fooled by putting the appropriate sim .exe file into each folder and editing the relevant registry keys.
Then you just add the external paths into P3D's new simobjects, effects and fonts.cfg files (and with 3.0 you can do the same for autogen, gauges, scenery, sound and textures... haven't tried that yet, but it looks like they have changed the format in the files for 3.0).
Result: Your addons are recognised in the external folders and work in P3D as if they'd been installed to the P3D root.
When a new version comes out, you can upgrade P3D itself and then just repoint the .cfgs to your external addons. I can usually get back up and running in about thirty minutes after a patch. I do always keep a backup copy of the default P3D fileset to paste back in in the event of any disasters.
It also means you can use the same addon files in FSX to a limited extent (extra simobjects paths in FSX.cfg and manually copying over any common content) which saves hard drive space and time spent doing multiple installs (we've all been there!)
I still have my P3D 2.5 licence but have uninstalled it for now simply because I wanted to make some changes to that install anyway. Had that not been the case I would have definitely kept 2.5 alongside 3.0 until addons have been upgraded and we know 3.0 can be trusted
I'll probably have time for more detailed testing tomorrow. Oh joy, it's GPU-Z, Task Manager and Process Explorer time again...!
My specs:
Intel Core i7 3770K 3.50GHz (overclocked to 4.50GHz) Ivy Bridge 64-bit CPU
Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
TeamGroup Elite 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel RAM
Enermax Galaxy DXX 1000W PSU
MSI GeForce N580GTX OC Twin FrozR II 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Cheers,
Ade
