To Steam or not to Steam, that is the question!

[Aussieflyer38]

Well I've finally reached the crossroads. This morning tried to fly three times FSX bombed three times got one "fatal error", and twice during a flight no control response. On top of this, I've already posted about patches of no scenery and aircraft parts missing. So I think it's time for  either Steam or P3D.

I assume that Steam is (hopefully) a slightly updated version of FSX, so if I go this way, does it work okay on Win 8 or 8.1. Can any of you guys on Steam tell me if it is a LOT better than the old FSX Gold. I don't want to change and have the same issue's I have now. If that's the case I might  as well go to P3D.

Any and all help appreciated. Thanks

 

Don

[neucoas]

Works great with W8.1, also W10.

 

It's not A LOT better. It just better for me.

 

The price it a huge factor between the both... You can grab FSXSE for just $5-7 vs $60-200 of P3D. Also if you upgrade to P3D you maybe will have to repurchase some addons or lost compatibility.

[Matthew Kane]

It is stable for me too, I can still crash it with the PMDG 777 flying into an FSDT airport with ORBX regional scenery but that is because that is a lot of bells and whistles, very rare to crash it though

 

FSX would crash with far less

[Luke Stirling]

I'm running FSX:SE and P3D. Both run really well on newer Windows versions. As neucoas points out, price is a big differentiator. The Steam winter sale is about a week away. When that happens, FSX:SE should be just a few dollars. P3D is always going to be way more than that.

 

Also, depending on what addons you have FSX to FSX:SE is going to be a more more painless exercise that going to P3D. You'll still possibly run into difficulties with a few things, but nothing major. Buy if you get P3D note, that prey much means v3, and there's a lot of stuff that hadn't made the jump yet. While Orbx stuff is seemingly going to be ready in a coming weeks and months, the same cannot be said for many other things, especially freeware.

 

I can't speak to stability. I've really only been doing shorter GA flights on both, so I haven't been stressing anything all that much.

[VH-KDK]

I use P3Dv3.0  Don and I am having no problems at all.

I suppose it depends what and where you fly.

Nearly all of the ORBX regions are now compliant and the airports are starting to come through.

There are getting quite a few aircraft too.

I am currently running FSX with just FTX AU, OZx airports and ASN without any trouble.

I am also running both P3Dv2.4 and 3.0.

Myself I would go for P3D but it is expensive, AUD267 when I brought it recently compared with 196 when I got v2 a while ago.

Anyway we all have our different preferences so good luck in choosing.

 

 

 

[Bullfox]

Aussieflyer,

The symptoms you describe are similar to problems I had related to out of memory problems.  Steam is supposed to be less suseptable to OOM problems.  From what I have read the most critical thing about making the change to steam is to be absolutly sure you get rid of every trace of FSX.

[Aussieflyer38]

Thanks everyone for your comments.

4 hours ago, VH-KDK said:

I use P3Dv3.0  Don and I am having no problems at all.

I suppose it depends what and where you fly.

Nearly all of the ORBX regions are now compliant and the airports are starting to come through.

There are getting quite a few aircraft too.

I am currently running FSX with just FTX AU, OZx airports and ASN without any trouble.

I am also running both P3Dv2.4 and 3.0.

Myself I would go for P3D but it is expensive, AUD267 when I brought it recently compared with 196 when I got v2 a while ago.

Anyway we all have our different preferences so good luck in choosing.

 

 

 

 

Hi Martyn I fly my A318 mainly between capital cities in Oz. My problems with scenery come in mainly towards the end of a flight. The other night I made it to Sydney and couldn't land because the airport was blacked out. Really frustrating  after flying for an hour to have that happen. For other I fly NZ and PNG and occasionally other area's. Other birds I fly - Duke, Legacy, 800 XP Biz jet, Learjet, Dash 8 - main ones.

I also have my old problem back, the one where some parts of my aircraft are missing when I load it.

Do you have FSX and P3D on the one HDD and what OS do you run?   

The possibility of having to repurchase some addons is a bit of a put off with P3D.

The thought of having to re-install everything makes me shudder,  particularly as I've just finished doing it.

I guess it's going to take a fair bit of chewing over before I decide. You wouldn't think I'd be having these problems with a new install on a brand new HDD and OS.

Thanks for your help mate.

Don

 

[drwalker]

+1 for p3dv3. I think all of the Orbx regions are now done - what a huge job, btw, thanks to everyone at Orbx. What I really love about p3dv3 is its memory handling - I haven't managed an OOM with PMDG aircraft and Orbx scenery. The Orbx airports are now starting to come through. Carenado is upgrading all of their aircraft. The Majestic Dash 8 has a beta patch which works flawlessly for me. The other thing I enjoy is - NO MORE TWEAKS. Install and run and let it do its thing. No tweaking config files or anything else. PFPX works, ASN works, Rex soft clouds etc works. The only downside is the cost as mentioned above. This is a major consideration. But for the sheer improvement in appearance, performance and ease of use, it is the current state of the art in the FSX world.

[Scott Harmes]

I have recently installed FSX Steam edition just because it was on sale very cheap.  I don't think it's on sale right now, but they have had a lot of sales, and may have another one in the near future.  I bought it just to check it out.  Previously I had FSX boxed and P3D V2.5 installed, although I really haven't spent a lot of time in P3D V2.5.

 

I did have a few small issues with the installation of some products in to FSX Steam, as there seems to be conflicting opinions about how to install to it.  Some say to totally remove FSX and treat the Steam version as the boxed version, which may include some registry hacks, and some say to leave FSX boxed installed and run FSX:SE alongside it.  Others say to remove FSX boxed, install Steam, and use Steam installers.  So there seems to be some conflicting opinions.  

 

Personally  I needed to clean out my FSX boxed install anyway, so I totally removed it and I am using FSX Steam as FSX Steam, which means using Steam installers where they are available.  I haven't found any issue installing non Steam products either, you just need to manually direct the installer to the FSX Steam installation.  The only real problems I have come across so far have been an Update for ORBX Wales that FSX Central keeps telling me I need, although it won't let me install it (and I don't think I need it, Wales should be up to date as I ran the new Quad installer), and VistaMare which controls some moving ground services etc for Aerosoft Airports doesn't work in FSX Steam.

 

Apart from that at first I couldn't see much difference in frames, but it did seem smoother, and it seems to be better on OOMs.  I have had some good experiences with frames set to unlimited around some major airport add ons, with the frames being around 40-50 FPS and very smooth, but then there are other airports where I still only get 12-15 FPS, although these again seem to be pretty smooth.  Since I started investigating FSX:SE I have wondered if all of the good points people have made are just due to not having many addons installed yet.  I know that was a problem with OOMs in FSX boxed, that scenery nowhere near your flight was still loaded and contributing to the total VAS usage.  also a clogged up, full FSX installation folder couldn't have been helping FPS.  Unfortunately I am yet to find out myself if this is the case, but so far the performance of FSX:SE does seem slightly better overall.

 

I haven't really used P3D so I can't comment, but P3D V3 seems to be the way to go for the latest and greatest.

 

Cheers,

[neucoas]

You can just get FSXSE the next sale, and see yourself if it works for you. If no, go towards P3D

Personally, i treat the steam edition as the boxed. I reinstalled my OS way back when SE was released, just to be sure that nothing of FSX was left on.

But you can just uninstall it and clean all registries and folders of %appdata%. Then your FSX SE will be the same (folders, registries) as the boxed version.

Neu.

[Jiri Kocman]

If question is FSX boxed or FSX:SE, my vote will be FSX:SE. Wait for next sale as you have boxed now.

 

If question is FSX or P3D... my vote is: depends  Depends on your addons and compatibility, depends if you have to pay for dedicated P3D version (PMDG, A2A, GTN...) depends if you want more eye candy sim, depends if you have good system for run P3D. For FSX GPU is much less important than for P3D...

 

I switch to P3D about half year ago and few weeks ago I definitively uninstall FSX (ok I install it for KFHR comparsion shots here, but it is gone again)

[wedge1047]

_{Hi Don}

_{If you were happy with your boxed FSX before your problems you will  definitely like steam. I have FSX SE and P3D installed ,each on its own drive and have found FSX SE To be honest, the only time I see frames dto be smoother and reliable. I am using DX10 with steves fixer and the sim is very heavily loaded with addons, scenery and aircraft.. Frames are good but not massively better but I can fly most areas without problems. Even London with Orbx England and all England airports} enabled only drops to low 20`s but is still acceptable and flyable. I have all orbx sceneries excepting all but three of the aussie  payware airports installed and do not use any scenery editor and still consider it a good performer. If you make sure you remove all trace of the old program you should find that most installers, certainly the Orbx ones, will find your FSX SE when directed to FSX.

 

I have to say that P3D v3 has a lot of potential but because of its very strong graphics I get much lower frames and have to set frames at 25 to smooth it out, FSX SE is running unlimited. However the graphics are very good and most setting are reasonably high.

 

My problem I believe may be my gpu,

 

 gtx 780 3gb, Lockheed martin recommend 4gb for v3. by the way, cpu i7 4690 in standard set.

 

I would suggest your best bet as some have mentioned above would be to try FSX SE, if your system runs boxed FSX it should certainly be okay with steam, and you will see an improvement and get reliability.

Cheers Reg

 

[Jiri Kocman]

1 hour ago, wedge1047 said:

My problem I believe may be my gpu,

 

 gtx 780 3gb, Lockheed martin recommend 4gb for v3. by the way, cpu i7 4690 in standard set.

 

 

Depends on your resolution, but for me at 2560x1080 P3D never exceed 2,5GB VRAM alocation. So I think that 3GB is fine amount for FullHD. Performance of your card is not excelent for P3D, but you can achieve good results with realistic settings.

[wedge1047]

2 hours ago, Jiri Kocman said:

 

Depends on your resolution, but for me at 2560x1080 P3D never exceed 2,5GB VRAM alocation. So I think that 3GB is fine amount for FullHD. Performance of your card is not excelent for P3D, but you can achieve good results with realistic settings.

Hi,Jiri

Yes I`m quite happy with the results I`m getting, was offering this as possible reason for lower frames in P3d .

cheers Reg.

[Tim Harris]

Hi guys,

 

I have cleaned this thread up and re-opened.

 

Discussion of P3D EULA or licensing is strictly off-limits here on the Orbx support forums, and so are personal attacks against other members.

[merlinux]

18 hours ago, wedge1047 said:

My problem I believe may be my gpu,

 

 gtx 780 3gb, Lockheed martin recommend 4gb for v3. by the way, cpu i7 4690 in standard set.

 

Trust me your GPU is fine for P3D.

I have a 750ti 2GB and I run it with sliders almost all maxed up.

You have a good graphic card...

[dominique]

Hi Don

 

You may not like what I'm about to say . You will gain a lot switching from FSX but you will not cure your problems which are not linked to FSX  Like many, I've had FSX for years without fatal errors or dismantled aircraft in mid-air and I see some having the same troubles as you have in P3D. Your problems come from the way you manage you simulator and/or a failing hardware (including bad drivers). And the same cause brings the same effects. Do not overtweak using the last miracle solution touted by some (snakeoil can kill people, you know) and do not use addons that are not well known and proven. It's always a temptation to get new freeware aircraft, new airports but comes the day where one brings havoc to your install. When such errors occur, it is generally better to reinstall which does not mean just deleting the FSX folder but using the uninstall procedure and hunting any leftovers from the previous install. If the problem persists, a piece of hardware is acting up.

 

Now switching from FSX is  the way to go. Knowledgeable people say that the Steam version is performing better so this one of the solution. Use DX10 of course then . But this is still FSX with some makeup.  You don't make a young gal from an old lady with a little rouge on the cheeks, right ? FSX will be 10 years old in 2016 ! An eternity for a software.

 

P3D v3 gets excellent reviews from everybody trying it. The price of the academic version is reasonable and OrbX has announced that everything will be converted free of charge or at nominal cost before the end of the first quarter.  Why is it better ? Just try it, LM offers a 60 day trial with a refund if you are not satisfied. Faster, smoothier, more beautiful than FSX, I bet you won't come back to any version FSX, anytime soon.

 

 

[jaydor]

FSX-SE is far more stable than FSX GOLD.  You will be able to take off and land at your destination without the dreaded OOM's as long as your computer software is in good condition.  Many faults related to FSX are in fact windows problems and not FSX.  Steam has done many improvements to stabilize the program and one of the biggest was to match FSX-SE to you graphics card.  Even without the sale the cost is still very low compared to P3D.  I paid £19 Sterling for mine.  I do use Steve's DX10 fixer with my edition ans it has never crashed on me yet.  (Touch wood).. 

[Aussieflyer38]

6 hours ago, Tim Harris said:

Hi guys,

 

I have cleaned this thread up and re-opened.

 

Discussion of P3D EULA or licensing is strictly off-limits here on the Orbx support forums, and so are personal attacks against other members.

Hi Tim, all I was looking for were opinions from the guys on which way and the best way for me. I'm pretty sick and tired of the way FSX operates with all these scenery faults (big black blocks) blocking out the scenery and other things, because if this is what I have to put up with for the money I've invested, then I'll go car racing. So now from the helpful comments I have here, I can now decide with which platform to proceed. I was not aware of any personal attacks on another member, in fact I've never ever seen that on this forum.  Thanks for your input.

 

Don

[Aussieflyer38]

Thanks guys for taking the time to help. Now I think I'll take a step back and sift through the info you have given me and then bite the bullet. Daunting that I have just finished a re-install and now am about to have to do another. However it will be well worth it if it fixes my problems.

Thanks again.

 

Don

[VH-KDK]

On ‎16‎/‎12‎/‎2015 at 9:01 PM, Aussieflyer38 said:

Thanks everyone for your comments.

 

Hi Martyn I fly my A318 mainly between capital cities in Oz. My problems with scenery come in mainly towards the end of a flight. The other night I made it to Sydney and couldn't land because the airport was blacked out. Really frustrating  after flying for an hour to have that happen. For other I fly NZ and PNG and occasionally other area's. Other birds I fly - Duke, Legacy, 800 XP Biz jet, Learjet, Dash 8 - main ones.

I also have my old problem back, the one where some parts of my aircraft are missing when I load it.

Do you have FSX and P3D on the one HDD and what OS do you run?   

The possibility of having to repurchase some addons is a bit of a put off with P3D.

The thought of having to re-install everything makes me shudder,  particularly as I've just finished doing it.

I guess it's going to take a fair bit of chewing over before I decide. You wouldn't think I'd be having these problems with a new install on a brand new HDD and OS.

Thanks for your help mate.

Don

 

If it is the Aerosoft A318 that is already V3.0 compliant but I am not sure about the others and there lies one of the big problems.

I have FSX on Drive C which is a bit tight for space, with P3Dv2.4 and V3.0 running together on Drive D where I have plenty of space.

I don't understand the inner workings of computers but like you say you should not be having problems like this.

From memory you have Fly Tampa YSSY which would not work for you. I had the same problem with P3Dv2.4 but on V3.0 it works a treat

I don't know how you uninstall FSX but below is a link to how I did it.

I hope it is ok but hopefully someone else with more knowledge can advise if it is good or not.

http://support.precisionmanuals.com/kb/a87/how-to-uninstall-and-reinstall-fsx.aspx

It is great to see the help you are getting from folks and it is interesting reading.

I will be interested too to see which path you follow.

Good luck.

[Aussieflyer38]

Hi Martyn, thanks for your help and the link, I'll probably need it. Yep the guys here are unbelievable with the help they offer, and it's interesting to read the different opinions and what other guys are doing. Flight simming is a very complex thing (well for me anyway), and I learn a lot from the forum, just wish I had more time. Also wish I had more computer savvy. The reason as you would have gathered by now for my absence from the screenies forum is I've been trying to sort out my problems. Had I not been re-installing FSX and the ORBX stuff onto a new untouched HDD I would have  thought some of my problems were due to old files left  behind on a uninstall, but that   cant be the case here. Anyway I'll mull it over for a couple of days before I make a decision. With Christmas just around the corner, time is short, so it might have to be delayed a bit. I'll keep in touch and let you know what I do.

 

Don    

[Bullfox]

I agree with Dominigue.  What goes unsaid in forums is the importance of how you manage the sim.  If you try a long flight in FSX with the sliders maxed out you are going to run into weird control problems, strange scenery artifacits, OOMs and blue screens.  FSX is an amazing program but it has real limits.  Steam has the same limits, but better managed and Pd3 has the same limits even better managed.

 

Here's a couple of things that I believe are important.

Keep the installation simple. Don't over tweak.  Keep the add ons to only top of the line companies. Don't rely on miracle cures.  Keep in mind that you have a limit to memory usage in FSX and budget it.  Short flights, say an hour or less, can have higher slider settings as long as you are happy with frame rates.  Longer flights need more memory management.  For example, what's the point of maxing out autogen at 20000 feet?. You can't see those little houses and trees anyway  Leave it higher for climb and descent if you want, but cut it way back in cruise.   See strange scenery save.  Then if you close and restart at the save you should be ok.

[Aussieflyer38]

Thanks Bullfox. Yes I'm onboard with Dominique also. As I don't have a lot of computer tech knowhow, I use the KISS method and don't mess with anything I don't have expertise on. Most of my flights say in my Airbus are about an hour, that's the longest I fly anywhere, and even at FL390 or whatever, the blocks on scenery don't really bother me that much as you can't see anything at that   height anyway as you say, it just bugs me because they shouldn't be there.

 

"Keep the installation simple. Don't over tweak" I don't tweak ever, in case I mess something up.

Most of my addons are ORBX, except for a couple of AUSCENE SYDNEY&ADELAIDE.

Slider settings I can work out, never had a problem there I know how they work, but one thing that baffles me is the missing aircraft parts. Sometimes when I start FSX the plane is complete, other times not. I've assumed this is a bad load when bits are missing, so shut it down and reopened it, sometimes the same, other times okay. It doesn't stop me flying as the VC is 99% of the time, intact, can't figure that one out.

Anyway thanks for your help, great advice

 

Don

[ridinroun]

I'm with those touting P3D v3. They really did get it right and there's a ton of stuff that's been updated for it to keep you busy til more becomes available.

[CLA1836]

Hi Aussieflyer38

Don't forget that Sydney has a curfew from 11pm till 6am - if your recent flight was due to arrive after 11pm that would explain why it was blacked out , regardless of 

FSX, FSSE or P3D would it not?

Cheers, Bill.

 

[Aussieflyer38]

Thanks Bill, but no they have all been morning or early afternoon flights. Also the black is in blocks not a complete blackout, and happens on the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Adelaide and others. Wish it was that simple.

 

Don

[farman]

On 16/12/2015 at 11:19 AM, drwalker said:

+1 for p3dv3. I think all of the Orbx regions are now done - what a huge job, btw, thanks to everyone at Orbx. What I really love about p3dv3 is its memory handling - I haven't managed an OOM with PMDG aircraft and Orbx scenery. The Orbx airports are now starting to come through. Carenado is upgrading all of their aircraft. The Majestic Dash 8 has a beta patch which works flawlessly for me. The other thing I enjoy is - NO MORE TWEAKS. Install and run and let it do its thing. No tweaking config files or anything else. PFPX works, ASN works, Rex soft clouds etc works. The only downside is the cost as mentioned above. This is a major consideration. But for the sheer improvement in appearance, performance and ease of use, it is the current state of the art in the FSX world.

+1 for P3D v3 by me, too. It seems like thare are no more - or much more less - issues do to memory usage.

[Voyager]

Even if nothing will be done to improve P3Dv3, I think it has arrived at a point where others have never been or will be.

 

If by chance something is done to increase the "core" efficiency and thus it gets a stupendous increase in FPS, so, my friends, we got a real flight simulator.

 

Until then, indeed P3Dv3 is "the simulator"!

 

Cheers,

Voyager