What's the verdict?

[G.K.]

If you've got the bugs then I guess you've already bought it. LoL


Any money made from P3D is likely to be a very small amount by LM standards. It does make sense though, if it sells well it's more likely to get money put back into it.

[papituwall]

EULA:
It was written when Microsoft sold the licence to LM. At that time MS was interested in FS game market, but MS Flight was a big failure.
Or at present only is a way of keeping the program inside a "proffesional environment" by LM? (This in order to show to potential customers that P3D is not in any way a game).
Does LM pay a fee to MS for every unit of P3D sold? Solution: ACADEMIC that is a nice way of increasing sales with mutual benefit. This is my interpretation of the absence of control in Academic licenses.

P3DV2.1
Improves FSX, scenery loads very fast, no stutters, etc.
There is a serious antialiasing problem with Nvidia cards (i don't know with other cards), neither the Nvidia panel nor Nvidia Inspector can improve the application settings, except for SGSSAA, that luckily is the solution not without problems (not to be discussed here).
But finally you feel in a FSX not needing tweaks fixes, cfg's etc..

[Capt_Cronic]

"Bass Are you saying, we need to buy it, to get the bugs solted out faster

The more people that buy it, the more people can report bugs in there LM forum.
LM actually does look at these reports and tries to fix them rather than ignore the
situation like so many other companies that just eat your money.

[Daube]

Indeed.
When you are a software company and you complex programs, no matter how long the beta-testing phase is, there will ALWAYS be new unexpected bugs discovered by the customers as soon as they start using that program.

When the v2 appeared, on another forum we discovered a bug with the handling of the autogen: some big areas of autogen would flash several times per second on the places where the autogen was too dense. In fact, we were testing an addon that adds dense autogen over photosceneries.
I created a topic on the LM forums to notify them about the issue we found, with a video showing the problem. It was too late for the patch 2.1, but they investigated it for 2.2, and they found the solution.

[OldAirmail]

A point on support.

This is just a W.A.G (Wild A$%^& Guess) - At the low price that self taught imitation pilots (most of us) are willing to pay, I have absolutely no idea what tech support is. And I'm not going to ask for it.

I have join in on some of the LM/Prepar3d forums. Is that tech support, or self help? Don't know.


If anyone is interested in looking over their support forum go ahead. It is interesting.

It amazes me that a fairly large number of Prepar3d V2.x users, on that site, have no clue about Prepar3d NOT being intended for entertainment purposes.

But their questions get answered in a straight faced manner, as if they hadn't mention "playing" with it.



Daube is 100% correct as to there not being a legal interpretation of the Prepar3d EULA.

What I'm worried about, is LM clarifying that point after they get Prepar3d Version X.x to a polished product.

Ideally, LM would buy the entertainment rights from Microsoft.



Another side note - Prepar3d V2.19x behaves better with FSUIPC, SPAD, Saitek than FSX does.

For instance: differential brakes in FSX will often leave the brakes set, in P3d the brakes will act properly.



For what it's worth - At one time I had FSX, P3d, and the latest X-Plane 10.

I've totally deleted X-Plane.

It's not that I think that it's bad. But transferring the FSX knowledge to P3d is super simple. Add to that, most of my FSX software works on both.

If for some reason I can't use P3d, I'll go back to FSX. Current usage of P3d is about 55 - 60%. The rest of the time it's FSX.

[logjam]

I got my money back, no questions asked. At least they're honest.Just try that with ORBX or UTX. I bought a Cirrus from Flight 1, can't get the dam thing to work, just try and get your money back from them! I say, at least give P3D a chance, if you can't get it working, they'll give you your money back.

[G.K.]

Looking at the P3D forums I notice they have a multiplayer section.

The volumetric fog looks very nice.

[OldAirmail]

I downloaded Prepar3d V2 as soon as I heard that it was out.

Their website was packed with people having serious problems. But I knew that, in the end, they'd get it working for most people.

I figured that at worst I might have to buy some new computer gear. But when I bought it, it was a total unusable nightmare for me.

Now, it's pretty goon, and getting better & better.


At the moment I think that FSX is still a great buy. You WILL have to do some tweaking, and buy some add-ons (other than aircraft) though.


Aside from Prepar3d, X-Plane is the only other flight sim being developed, that's worthy of the name.




So those are your best choices.

Do you want to keep FSX (or FS2004, for that matter), and never change to another flight sim?

If you switch, will it be to P3d or X-Plane?

With X-Plane you'll have to buy EVERYTHING (software wise) all over again.

But a GREAT DEAL of FSX software will work with Prepar3d.

Using the MigrationTool from Flightsim Estonia most of your software can be installed to P3d.

The only software that I have that requires an extra fee to install in Prepar3d, is the weather program REX. And the clouds in Prepar3d, combined with OPUS is more than good enough.

On top of that, the next version of Prepar3d will have better clouds, so there may be compatibility problems. But even if that does happen, the problems will be resolved.



As to returning P3d, the main reason to do so would be because your system isn't up to running it without problems.

The program IS good. With a better computer, it's VERY good. In time it'll get even better. So why return it?

[G.K.]

59.95 USD = 36.1606 GBP

.......cheap too.

[logjam]

4 Reasons you might want to return P3D: 1.Publicized doesn't work with Win 8 or compatibility mode even if it sort of does. 2.Saitek hotas doesn't work properly neither does yoke and rudder pedals, well sometimes it does. 3.FSX works well. 4.FS9 works even better.

[Capt_Cronic]

many people use it with win8

quote from the LM website;

Prepar3D v2 is compatible with Windows 8. However not all hardware drivers have been updated for Windows 8 so it is important to check with the manufacturer of your hardware when upgrading to Windows 8.

[G.K.]

Well done for getting your money back.....if the customer ain't happy then that's what should happen.


I'm downloading it now. It's telling me 4hrs....oh well, should be downloaded before I go to bed.

[Fozzer]

Well done for getting your money back.....if the customer ain't happy then that's what should happen.


I'm downloading it now. It's telling me 4hrs....oh well, should be downloaded before I go to bed.

Severe thunderstorms and lightning forecast imminent for the Sussex area.

Expect power outages.

Paul.... ... ...!

[G.K.]

fnarf chortle............I've got a power lead that stretches to Dungeness B.



come on download..... 14% now.

[Clutch_Cargo]

What's the verdict?

The verdict is P3Dv2.2 update (due out this Monday) may be the game changer. May well put the final nail in the coffin for good 'ol FSX. Long may she rest in peace.