P3d V2.....first thoughts.

[brianwilliamson]

Have just been trying the new Version 2 on my flight sim computer just on an ordinary 1080 LCD screen. It has a GTX 680 with 4 g. ram on it and running the cpu at 4.5 g.

So first off, the install was not very good as I could not get it to install with the setup.exe so had to use the MSI. I guess they got their instructions wrong on that one.

Seems to have a lot of problems as to weather not loading when you use your own setup, etc. Lots of small things that appear not to be correct as yet. Could be due to the install as well.

Good news is that the graphics are great and the previous problems of FSX are pretty much gone. Clouds are terrific, so much so, that I figure that add-ons are not needed. That is a good point at this stage of development, that I would advise against any add-ons at all. They can add to problems !

The 4g. video card does the job very well, as I have tried 3 screens on the 1080 LCD and get good frame rates. The heavier the clouds are, there is a drop in frame rates but seem manageable.

So all in all , I think with time, this will be a winner, but suspect that this version was rushed before Xmas for profit !

Hope some others chime in with their thoughts on V 2.

Cheers..............Brian W.

[XOrionFE]

I have the same rig as you roughly but didn't not get that great of frame rates but I was running 3 monitors at 1080p but with 4 windows to create the correct angles.   Not sure if you were running that way or as one large single view.   I agree on the clouds.    It shows promise for sure.   That said, it won't pull me away from X-Plane which I still feel is superior with hardware.   Getting better all the time I think with Avionics and cockpit building.

Scott

[Garys]

A lot of program install issues with win 7 and up are due to not using  the "run as administrator" when first launching the setup.exe  Not suggesting that was the case here as it could very well be a corrupted download but definitely something to keep in mind as a troubleshooting tool.

I agree with your thoughts though and once a few of the issues are sorted out I think it will be a solid platform. I think its still too early (at least for me anyway) to make the change. Looking fwd to V2.1 and hopefully SLI support.

Xplane - Still waiting for Tekworx drivers for the FDS radios and transponder + a good engine sound set. I just cant seem to find good sound set for my aircraft type. This is one area where I find FS9, FSX and P3D to be far superior. Hopefully PMDG will be able to come up with something for 747 if they ever build that for xplane.

Gary

[Nat Crea]

P3D v2 is my proffered Sim now...feels like "home" but better.
LM has a few silly bugs to iron out but no show stoppers.
Once I gave up on trying to run it on one computer, and went back to my trusted
multi-channel...smooth as silk.
And yes the clouds are sensational. I just happened to pull out the phone last night and shoot
a few minutes of video buzzing through the clouds.
This is ALL default textures and clouds...Zero tweaks and Add-ons:

Nat

http://youtu.be/g0MDWP8zuUQ

[Garys]

That's a great Video Nat. I will have to revisit this method as well.

Gary

[Kennair]

Much the same as Nat for me i.e. my preferred sim platform.  Still running v1.4 but really only to transfer installed scenery across to v2.0.  No install issues at all for me but did run the setup.exe as Admin.  Although frame rates can go down at time it doesn't seem to have the same slideshow effect of previous versions.  I run mine with 3 undocked views into 3 HD monitors so testing the GPU a bit (GTX680 2Gb) but you can hear the GPU fan ramp up as it belts out the pixels.  v2.0 starts faster than v1.4 and FSX but can take a short while for the frames to settle in after the scenery has loaded but this is stated in the LM documentation.  Yes a few quirks still but hopefully to be adressed in v2.1  Loaded lots of Orbx airports and FTX Global without issue, running in Legacy mode for the likes of FSInn but makes no difference to performance.

Having said that I'm also keen to get more into X-plane for obvious reasons however I do find the aircraft very twitchy to fly, I'm sure its up to axis settings but can't seem to get it sorted so far.  Too little time to spend on it at the moment but at least we now have a path to progress.

Ken.

[Nat Crea]

Maybe a coincidence,  but afte installing FTX Global on
all machines, Im getting very frequent BSOD on the right channel only.
It may well be the computer, but gee its annoying....

What kind of frames do you get at your heaviest airport Ken?

Nat

[brianwilliamson]

Nat, pays to have a read here:
http://forum.avsim.net/topic/429245-well-at-least-one-dev-is-waking-up-or-is-it-retreating/

I have always used Orbx in the past for Australian scenery, but was a little wary of trying it on P3D V2 after reading some of these posts.

So I guess time will tell if there is a fix coming for some of the problems that seem to be emerging.

Win 7 seems to be some of the install problems some of us are having, as I had to go in and allow the last folder made by V2 and give it clearance before it would finish the install. So typical W 7 having to have admin rights everywhere even with UAC turned off.

Cheers................Brian W.

[Kennair]

Maybe a coincidence,  but afte installing FTX Global on
all machines, Im getting very frequent BSOD on the right channel only.
It may well be the computer, but gee its annoying....

What kind of frames do you get at your heaviest airport Ken?

Nat

Nat, around 15's at heavy airports like Orbx YMML.

My install and subsequent running of v2.0 has been without issue apart from niggles with black full screens etc however these are known and being addressed in v2.1 I beleive.  My installation is side by side with v1.4 but v2.0 is on its own SSD.  All addon scenery and airports are simply directory sourced from v1.4 to v2.0 except for FTX Global which is a full installation into V2.0  The Estonia Migration Tool has also been used to install the likes of F1 aircraft and PMDG 737NGX along with FSInn.  No problems with anything as yet but awaiting v2.1 to tidy up some issues.  Have been getting some aircraft and ground vehicles bouncing unceremoniously and still working through the cause and solution for that but seems to be related to addon aircraft.

EDIT: Ok it seems turning Tessellations off is the fix for the bouncing aircraft and ground vehicles.

Ken.

[Nat Crea]

Thanks Ken.
Just wanted to make sure it wasn't isolated,
I was getting 20's at YMML..not good enough for
my liking. Getting more than double with multi-channel...
how do you guys put up with that???

Nat

[XOrionFE]

Any issues putting in wideview Nat?  I read some other threads where it seems it was not working or at least had to be manipulated to get the menus to show up.

Scott

[sagrada737]

After reviewing the range of comments on Prepar3d 2.0 ...  Just a guess, but it seems that this software is not quite ready for the market.  The idea that most folks trying it, all have some sort of issue with its behavior.  It makes me a bit skeptical to give it a try at this time.

Is there suppose to be a new release coming soon, or is it better to wait for a few months?  I know the answer to this is somewhat subjective, but I wondered if those that have tried it, in hind-sight, would have waited.  In my case, I am using Sim-Avionics for the flight model.

Also, do you think it is better to run it on its own HD or SSD (fresh install) or should it run along side of FSX?  Are many of these issues related to the Migration Tool, and does the Migration Tool have an ongoing impact once Prepar3d is installed?

Hats off to those of you who are brave enough to take the lead on new products like this.

Mike

[rhysb]

After reviewing the range of comments on Prepar3d 2.0 ...  Just a guess, but it seems that this software is not quite ready for the market.

Just like FSX then sorry mike couldn't resist!!

[saabpilot]

Mike,

P3DV2 is a really nice experience on its own merits, but if you want it as an exchange for FSX - it is too early.
There are almost zero addon airport scenery available that will work in P3DV2, and I believe it will remain so for at least several months.

So, my 2 cents - you will be better off waiting until you see airport scenery on the horizon   

The Estonian Migration tool has no impact at all.
It only cheats the installer to believe you are installing in FSX.

In general P3DV2 is a huge lap forward compared to FSX - silk smooth with few bugs.
It will however like an I5 or I7 OC:d to say 4.5 and a late graphics adapter in the top range with 4 GB memory.

Best,
Bjorn

Proud P3DV2 owner albeit not at this moment - user.

[Nat Crea]

Gday Scott,

Once you add a fake folder and xml into P3dv2,
Wideview works 100%,. menus and all.
I'm away for a few days, but email me so I can send
you the info.

@ Rhys....LOL

Nat

[markfire]

All


Just to confirm Wideview works 100% but you need to add some stuff to P3D to get it working.  Vatsim FSinn works if you start P3D in legacy mode!


I'm not convinced yet as it shimmers really bad and most of the great tweaks we had in FSX dont work.


It'll be a waiting game methinks!


Back to FSX and enjoy the flying : )


Mark

[HarryZ]

P3DV2 is a really nice experience on its own merits, but if you want it as an exchange for FSX - it is too early.

P3D was never meant to be nor likely ever be an exchange for FS X. That wasn't in LM's plans and it certainly isn't in their license from MS....which is very restrictive.

LM needed a decent training tool and FS X provided the ESP platform that allowed them to do that relatively quickly.  Add on airports, scenery, utilities etc can only be done if the 3rd party people decide there is a sufficient enough market to do so.  So for the time being, it is a very slow process.

[Kennair]

Well all addon airports I've tried so far work without issue in v2.0, and other options such as FSInn and EZDOK also when running in Legacy mode.  Haven't had a chance to do any long flights so far (bloody Christmas cheer:) ) but I would agree with Bjorn that although it's a huge leap forward and looks very promising it does look as though it was released way too early, the bugs being experienced must have been seen by the beta testers and for my mind should have been addressed before release.  Having said that the LM developers are very active in the support forums and have v2.1 coming out soon I believe.  They also mentioned they would probably be releasing a series of small patches to cater for issues more swiftly rather than wait and release a large update.  And yes it will be an update not another full release as with v1.X updates, so should not impact on current installation addons and tweaks.

Ken.

[rhysb]

One thing of note which I think people are forgetting. Yes all FSX addons 'should' work with P3D 2.0 now but remember when it goes 64bit most things will not work and will need to be rewritten into 64bit!!

P3D 64bit will be like starting again!

Just 

Rhys b

[tennyson]

Brian and Nat,
I have also been testing P3D V2 in prep for my cockpit, using 3 x High def projectors, like Nat's.

There are a lot of wise words here, including the one's about giving it some time.

Out of the box, I found it to be stunning, with great FPS and awesome clouds, etc. ,just like Nat's video showed.

I bought FTX Global, cos it's the only ORBX scenery built for P3D V2 at the moment. I'm disappointed that I can't have my beautiful Ozzie airports in their full glory, because there isn't any installers yet, but when they come, I'll ditch Global and go back to my AU regions.

I honestly believe we will see a huge shift now, with the development community, when they realise the growing consumer base.

As well, and has been mentioned, no other platform takes advantage of our newest hardware like P3D.

So, for the moment, I will continue to test it and evaluate it and try and iron some of the kinks out.

I believe it will be worth it in the end,



Frank Cooper

[ETomlin]

Nat

Just got through watching your video. A couple of comments.

1) Your visual system is about the only one I've seen so far that makes me (slightly) question my plans to use 3 really large HDTVs. Bravo on the visuals- looks really great.

2) Someone over on YouTube posted as a comment to your video the following: "Nat, sorry to burst your bubble but there are no volumetric clouds in P3Dv2. Possibly in v2.1. There is only a pseudo-volumetric fog layer and the clouds have some better fading and scaling while flying though them but they are the same 2D textured sprites as in FS X. But that doesn't make P3Dv2 any less impressive though."

Well, that may be true (I do not know myself) but regardless, it appears to me that the clouds are far and away better looking in P3D. It may be shading/shadowing, etc. but it def looks much better.

Bravo again!

[Maurice]

I don't know what volumetric clouds are supposed to look like but all I can say is that flying through clouds in P3d is 'volumetrically' better than in FSX where the 'clouds' seem to wraparound your airplane when you fly through them.

It may well be volumetric fog that you see in P3d but who cares as long as it looks very nice & almost real

Maurice

[XOrionFE]

As well, and has been mentioned, no other platform takes advantage of our newest hardware like P3D.

Frank Cooper

Far from true.  It is 32 bit app still.    X-Plane on the other hand is 64 bit.   Truly XP currently is the only platform that can take full advantage of todays hardware.

P3D v2 is definitely a step in the right direction but far from utilizing todays hardware.  It is still largely old code and a 32 bit app.

[Bob Reed]

Scott is correct! I do not think Microsoft sold the base code so it will stay a 32bit app. It is not the savior everyone seems to think it is going to be. Microsoft may have sold them use of some of the rights, I can tell you they did not sell them the code.

[Maurice]

Microsoft may have sold them use of some of the rights, I can tell you they did not sell them the code.

So what? If LM can design the F16, the F22 raptor and many other aircrafts, I'm sure they have enough very competent software people that could write their own code, assuming of course they think it's a big enough market to bother with it.
The fact that they even bothered creating P3d suggests to me they think it has a future, but who knows? 

Maurice