Thinking about p3dv5

[n421nj]

Any performance increase by switching to v5? Thinking about the switch only because a2a is making planes for it.

[TymK]

There are some noticeable (sometimes very noticeable) performance gains, especially in the areas which have always been problematic (such as Seattle and the San Juan Islands). The problem is that v5 was released before it was ready, really, so there are stability and compatibility issues at the moment.

My biggest problem is that the new version still looks pretty bad out-of-the-box, but none of the existing shader tools (except Envshade, which offers very little flexibility) work anymore. If you're fine with the "stock" visuals or willing to live with the limitations/bugs of the new Enhanced Atmospherics feature (which is labelled beta and shows some great promise, but is still rather buggy and feels like alpha at this point...), it shouldn't be too bad. However, while you can get some spectacular screenshots under the right conditions, in day-to-day use you're likely to run into many situations where it looks really bad...

Another thing is add-on compatibility. Some scenery devs offer V5-compatible versions which haven't really been updated to work properly in V5, so you get things like (semi)transparent runway textures, objects showing through fog, etc.

I've been trying to make it work for me, but I keep coming back to V4.5... I'd say it's not ready for "production" use yet but, of course, YMMV

Regards,
Tym

[socalf1fan]

V5 has erased 4.5 on my desktop. Everyone’s mileage may vary but to me the Enhanced Atmospherics (ie TrueSky) makes every other available sim look like trash. Especially when flying in actual IFR conditions. Don’t get me wrong, pick your favorite cloud texture add on for 4.5...and they look good from far but rotating 2d sprites as you fly through them are now obsolete. The ability to actually get lost in a cloud is quite impressive.

With that said, some people have problems. DX12 implementation is not stable for everyone, as has been mentioned some devs have been sloppy in their V5 addons and not taking the time to actually recompile it with the V5 sdk or take time to actually optimize their releases. I can tell you that the A2A planes function awesome in V5.

[Ron Attwood]

What exactly do you mean by 'performance'? My guess would 'FPS' right? FPS is not a measure of 'performance'. Look out of the side window and ask yourself, is what I'm seeing passing under my wing smooth. If that's what you're aiming for then P3Dv5 avec hot fixes is for you. No question.
So go get it and turn off your frame counter. Nothing more distracting than watching FPS on short final.

[n421nj]

What exactly do you mean by 'performance'? My guess would 'FPS' right? FPS is not a measure of 'performance'. Look out of the side window and ask yourself, is what I'm seeing passing under my wing smooth. If that's what you're aiming for then P3Dv5 avec hot fixes is for you. No question.
So go get it and turn off your frame counter. Nothing more distracting than watching FPS on short final.

By performance I’m referring to smoothness. I could care less about frames however there is a strong correlation between frames and smoothness and thus immersion. I fly out of KCDW in real life and in the sim if weather is IFR then my sim doesn’t run as nice as when I’m say 6,000 feet up. Makes practicing for my IFR rating very frustrating.

[AKar]

My experience with v5 is much improved performance in almost all aspects compared to v4.5. In fact, ever since I changed from FSX to P3Dv2, every new 'big' release from v2.5 thru v5 has brought an improvement to the sim performance.

It might be worth noting that this experience has been completely opposite to the worries of some camps that PC upgrades are necessary whenever the sim gets a major upgrade. Though I had to change to Win10 for v5.

-Esa

[Ron Attwood]

What exactly do you mean by 'performance'? My guess would 'FPS' right? FPS is not a measure of 'performance'. Look out of the side window and ask yourself, is what I'm seeing passing under my wing smooth. If that's what you're aiming for then P3Dv5 avec hot fixes is for you. No question.
So go get it and turn off your frame counter. Nothing more distracting than watching FPS on short final.

By performance I’m referring to smoothness. I could care less about frames however there is a strong correlation between frames and smoothness and thus immersion. I fly out of KCDW in real life and in the sim if weather is IFR then my sim doesn’t run as nice as when I’m say 6,000 feet up. Makes practicing for my IFR rating very frustrating.

Excellent. Then you'll be more than happy with v5

[MkIV Hvd]

OK I think I'm convinced (guess I'm done with "quaint"), but a quick question: what are you guys using for scenery in v5? Are the performance gains being seen with default scenery of does Orbx have v5 compatibility?

[Ron Attwood]

*Sigh*
P3Dv5 + bits (otherwise known as HF2 plus very nearly everything that Orbx does runs as smooth as the smoothest thing you can think of.
I have a few other carefully selected bits of scenery and a coachload of aeroplanes. My system is a lowly 6700K @4.2Gigawhatsits, a GTX1070 Stryx (8ghzeses VRAM) 16 giggles of 3200 ram (in a very fetching red) Most of my sliders are edging up towards the high end but not too aggressively. PLUS the dreaded VR
My advice to you would be 'fill yer boots'
Oh, I have been a lifelong opponent of FPS quotations, I look out the window and enjoy the view.
I forgot: Unlimited framerate. VR decides that for you.

[MarcE]

some run it great, some curse more than ever..

FPS should be above 20-25 and stutters should be eliminated to call it a good performance, constantly above 30 and no stutters I'd call a great performance (For P3D, not for other games )

with a computer that matches the recommended system it should be fine. As long as you're not one of those who CTD every second flight.

[Ron Attwood]

some run it great, some curse more than ever..

FPS should be above 20-25 and stutters should be eliminated to call it a good performance, constantly above 30 and no stutters I'd call a great performance (For P3D, not for other games )

with a computer that matches the recommended system it should be fine. As long as you're not one of those who CTD every second flight.

Couldn't put it better myself. I think.

[MarcE]

some run it great, some curse more than ever..

FPS should be above 20-25 and stutters should be eliminated to call it a good performance, constantly above 30 and no stutters I'd call a great performance (For P3D, not for other games )

with a computer that matches the recommended system it should be fine. As long as you're not one of those who CTD every second flight.

Couldn't put it better myself. I think.

Isn‘t it the greatest answer to the question?

Does it work? Are we good? Do you forgive me? Will you marry me?

- Maybe.

[MkIV Hvd]

Thanks for the additional info guys! I've bought the sim and installed all my A2A airplanes but haven't figure out how to install Orbx scenery yet and I don't want to fly without it...working on that today...

[Ron Attwood]

Do you have Orbx Central? If not, why not?

[MkIV Hvd]

Ya I do...and I figured it out shortly after posting that who knew it was that easy!

Thanks Ron!