P3D v3 vs P3D v4 - what's the real advantage?

[Hobart Escin]

If one is considering upgrading from v3 to v4, what's the real advantage from a hardcore simmer's perspective? I'm pretty happy with v3 at present, and even though it's 32 bit code, I've never personally experienced an OOM incident, including with complex add-ons. V3 performance seems pretty okay to me as well with my current settings and add-ons.

So, what ultimately would a frequent, happy v3 simmer as myself gain from moving up to v4 besides 64 bit memory 'insurance'? Realistically, would I see any tangible increase in smoothness or FPS going from a 32 bit to 64 bit platform? Dynamic lighting looks wonderful in v4, but I'm not ready to sacrifice performance loss to accommodate it, as is the current situation from my understanding.

I've read a plethora of online reviews on V4 of course, but sometimes there is so much fluff in those kind of evaluations that I really don't always get a lot of tangible information in this regard. Therefore, I'm a lot more trusting of experienced simmers' opinions, especially from those who are not invested commercially in promoting P3D v4. Thanks for any insight you can offer!

[Molly - A2A]

The main difference would be the 64 bit move, dynamic lighting, and increased autogen draw distance option. Other than that, it's pretty much exactly the same as V3 (for the average user, anyway.) Oh, there are new precipitation effects but they're not that much better.

[bladerunner900]

Yes, what molleh said and; it will also be very nice to finally get the older war-birds into P3D, officially.


Steve.

[Hobart Escin]

The main difference would be the 64 bit move, dynamic lighting, and increased autogen draw distance option. Other than that, it's pretty much exactly the same as V3 (for the average user, anyway.) Oh, there are new precipitation effects but they're not that much better.

Aha, the voice of reason and straight-forward candor (harder and harder to find in the sim community these days), thank you! So, from your own personal experience, no appreciable performance gains on any facet (smoothness, FPS)? The Microsoft legacy of 'two steps forward, one step back' lives on it would seem, argggh.

[Lewis - A2A]

I think it's fair to say it's a lot more stable and the increased autogen comes at no cost so it tends to look better out the box so to speak.

For me personally it just runs better on my desktop. I can't say for my laptop as it's only ever had v4 on it.

Thanks,
Lewis


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[Molly - A2A]

The main difference would be the 64 bit move, dynamic lighting, and increased autogen draw distance option. Other than that, it's pretty much exactly the same as V3 (for the average user, anyway.) Oh, there are new precipitation effects but they're not that much better.

Aha, the voice of reason and straight-forward candor (harder and harder to find in the sim community these days), thank you! So, from your own personal experience, no appreciable performance gains on any facet (smoothness, FPS)? The Microsoft legacy of 'two steps forward, one step back' lives on it would seem, argggh.

Well, I wouldn't say it isn't a big step forward. I know you said you've never run into the 32 bit limits, but it is a huge improvement going to 64 bit for those who have (and there are many!) As for FPS, I didn't do a direct back-to-back comparison, but I would say the performance is about the same, although some things, such as accessing the ATC menu initially and adjusting backlighting in PMDG aircraft, cause a sharp drop in framerate... but these are minor things.

In other words, it is a worthwhile upgrade IMHO, because it's already quite nice and it will be updated over the coming months I'm sure. It's just not the huge jump that say, XP10 to XP11 was. If you recently paid $200 for P3D v3 Pro, it would be a harder recommendation to make. For me personally, I was just paying the $10 monthly developer license so it didn't really make a difference (aside from having to wait for the v4 compatible products.)

[pilot37]

I bought in pursuit of smoothness rather than frame rate and because of the enthusiasm of developers for it. I uninstalled V3 (quite a liberating experience) and got my life back while I wait for the Orbx airports to become available.

[AKar]

I at least seem to get a good FPS gain in particular in larger towns with identical settings to v3. For instance, with default Baron, I'm now keeping around 30...40 in Orbx LAX with settings that are way too aggressive for my rig with those large cities. Also, the overcasts seem to do better: with v3, default planes at Orbx Anchorage + full low overcast layer and rags under gave me maybe 30 fps, now I'm upwards from 45. Of course, yet to bring in any addon airplanes. It seems to me to be relieving the CPU a bit better while not raping the GPU with anti-aliasing and shadows and all as bad. As if the 'bottlenecking' was somewhat reduced.

-Esa

[Mikenor]

For me strangely my frames are worst in V4, and find the experience not as smooth. Could be my GTX660Ti showing its age...

[ClipperLuna]

It seems to me to be relieving the CPU a bit better while not raping the GPU with anti-aliasing and shadows and all as bad.
-Esa

Anti-aliasing is one aspect I'm particularly interested in. Is it any better in V4 or pretty much the same?

[Lewis - A2A]

For me strangely my frames are worst in V4, and find the experience not as smooth. Could be my GTX660Ti showing its age...

100% yes you are on the limit for v4 I would think. v4 really does go back to the old days of flightsim of ideally wanting a top end or in this day and age a standard gaming rig to run the software.

thanks,
Lewis

[nojwod]

Autogen!!! Right out to the horizon, no matter where you are. That's my experience.

That alone is worth the upgrade. If popping autogen or cutoffs in the middle distance don't worry you then you might not get much out of it. That said, over dense cities such as Seattle and New York there is a definite performance improvement.

[Mikenor]

Bit the bullet and finally built a new rig this weekend (had built my last one in 2010!) and all I can say is WOW, and that is for both the price of the new rig (ouch) and the performance that comes with it which is amazing. I had picked up FSLabs a320 a few months ago and gave up on it as it was un flyable with my frames, now have her sitting in a FlyTampa CYUL, all settings mostly max. and getting frames in the 40's. Needless to say frames for all my A2A aircraft in P3D V4 are off the charts - me happy...

[Lewis - A2A]

Good stuff, happy simming on the new rig

[pchamney]

Bit the bullet and finally built a new rig this weekend (had built my last one in 2010!) and all I can say is WOW, and that is for both the price of the new rig (ouch) and the performance that comes with it which is amazing. I had picked up FSLabs a320 a few months ago and gave up on it as it was un flyable with my frames, now have her sitting in a FlyTampa CYUL, all settings mostly max. and getting frames in the 40's. Needless to say frames for all my A2A aircraft in P3D V4 are off the charts - me happy...

Are the FlyTampa airports running in P3DV4? Doesn't seem to say they are V4 ready on the website.