FSX V P3D To be or not to be?

[BendyFlyer]

I currently have a FSX-A setup which after many years is working just fine and tuned well to my PC, I also have a modest collection of models and scenery which I have accumulated over time including a grab bag of scenery I have done for flying boats etc via Instant Scenery. That's where I am at.

Now, I have been greatly interested in P3D since it arrived back when and followed its developments closely however for me to get it up and running would require a very special endeavour as I have to download it and the download size is significantly large as to make the exercise problematic because I have a crap internet service provider and know from past experience any files that run into the GB size can chew up the download and half way through the connection will drop out and fail the download but now and then you get lucky. So to contemplate P3D requires careful planning and evaluation so here is the next question and users input would be appreciated.

Does it really improve upon the sim experience compared to say FSX-A. From all the screenies I have seen I can see no discernable difference so it has to be a performance thing or stability outcome. Is it worth the hastle of installing and what about all the addons, I mean I dread the thought of doing gibabytes of ORBX stuff again simply because of the internet issues. So is it worth it or not?

Yeah I know how long is a piece of string.

[Ian Warren]

Bendy , It took others here to get P3D here on my PC .. I still use FSX A myself , One great thing I instantly found was a huge performance straight off , the other thing is the changes in light and shadow and only in the last couple of days is the change in colour with the same scenery compared to FSX currently getting worked on , I see Rob mentioning a new version of P3D incoming ... maybe wait till that arrives.

[toprob]

I'm a big fan of Prepar3d, but it is possible that we'll see v4.0 this year, so I'd be inclined to wait. It may be that v4.0 is x64, so you'd need a suitable system.
We have always paid full price for each major version, and this can mount up over time -- even the Academic version will set you back NZ$99, which has always been great because it buys constant minor updates, but if you are really keen to keep up with development, you may need to buy v4 all over again within a few months. Might be better just to wait and see.

[Ian Warren]

It would be interesting to find out what P3D Version four is going to offer , the thing was, I was impressed what the version I have here had to show so saving for the next I guess.

[BendyFlyer]

Understood thanks, I heard they had fixed a lot of bugs in FSX. So I will wait on the next version, your right about the cost, for me it is the bloody Telco download charges that kill it at the moment because I would have to shell out about $100 to have the download capacity (with a margin for stuff ups by them of course). As I live in rural OZ there is nothing I can do about it as we have no optic fibre available but rely on a mobile internet donger which is fine but well flaky. I have a 64 bit system so that is not an issue and FSX-A is fine my biggest concern after all that is my JBK flying boat collection and whether they would port across, especially the C Class which is now significantly modded to make it real and the Sunderland aka Hythe and the Shorts Calcutta. I guess If I can't port them across I would not do it being stuck on the Pacific and the Coral Route etc. Not sure if Instant Scenery files that are now ok for the flying boat bases I have been slowly constructing would be added in to P3D or if even Instant Scenery would work there either. So many problems bugger!!

Off topic but we have a small farm and we had to suffer the ignominity of a court order for them to lay the optic fibre through some top paddocks (well because they wanted to take it through the water table and some springs and through solid granite, idiots, told em so let em try sure enough they had to go round and then round again, hope it cost them a bundle) but would we get a connection to the house, no way can't be done and won't be done apparently its for the large towns only, give me a break, and all they offer is a satellite system which is no better than the 4G mobile system we have.

[Ian Warren]

Hmm the Comm's I am pleased to live in the concrete jungle, technology close by and everything else to supplies and tech gear course a good transport hub, I'm not sure how I would go in the Wop Wops for to long.

[BendyFlyer]

You get used to it, we mix between solar and generator power which means really long flights in FSX remain a logistical nightmare, either because there is not enough solar power or I have to keep topping up the fuel on the generator (which is an extremely reliable beast). But all it takes is a good thunderstorm around the area or it seems elsewhere for the whole internet thing to go boom for a while. That being said 4g mobile stuff here is very good and good enough for us to watch streaming TV if we want or Netflix a movie. But as you know the more pixels the bigger the download and the bigger the chunk out of the allocation. Up until last year we were rationed to 25GB a month because they did not have the bandwith on the mobile tower systems to do any better, we still can get kicked off now and then if user demand is high, you know the symptons, the little round whirly thing appears in the middle of the frozed screen. And that is the reason my presence on line can be very intermittent, either no power or no internet or work to do outside.

[Ian Warren]

Truly it is not that much more different into the satellite area's around primary NZ cities hence reason to stay put, my brother recon's I should head out his way, it is changing hugely , I really thought New Zealand was way behind in connection , In city .. it appear to be bloody good other than the bloody providers can keep honest records, that is the only problem here, soon as Vodafone hooked in , that was the only downfall .

[cowpatz]

Even if P3D V4 came out at the start of the US summer it would probably take at least until the end of the year to iron out the inevitable bugs and hardware issues. Of course Pete Dowson (FSUIPC) will most likely be away on holiday at release time as well Some proactive aircraft and scenery developers, that have access to the V4 beta, will have new versions available but there may or may not be a cost to the user.
even current versions of P3D may not run what you have, especially if it's origins hark back to FS9.
I would suggest stay with what you have and wait for a stable V4 to materialise.