Which Sim?

[Tomliner]

With the benefit of your hindsight and experience, I was wondering if you were migating from FS9 at this time which sim would you opt for,FSX or P3d ?.From reading the posts on here,it seems that LM frequently upgrade to a new version of P3d requiring updates of some add ons. EricT

[DaveG]

Personally, I'd go with P3d if you've got reasonable decent hardware (P3d requires a DX11 capable video card).
Yes, LM does update quite frequently, which usually breaks FSUIPC, ASN, ORBX and some others, but normally it's only a day or two before they catch up. If you go with FSX-SE, updates to that can also cause similar issues.
Sometimes P3d updates do require a full re-install, but I think with V3 they are trying to avoid this by splitting the program into sections, i.e. client, content and scenery. For the recent 3.1 update it was only necessary to uninstall the client, then install the new one. FSUIPC etc still needed an updated version, but other addons (aircraft etc) were fine.
Of course, you don't have to update straight away.

[Dev One]

I think P3D cost wise is beyond my pension means as it seems to need cash with each upgrade, as well as it seems to be very complex to incorporate the new updates! I would love to be able to produce for it, but again I think thats beyond my current brain power!
Keith

[DaveG]

Cost-wise, P3d can be expensive, depending on which license you get. FSX-SE is much cheaper.
LM only charge for major versions, which is no different from FS9 to FSX for example.
One point to watch for, mainly with aircraft, is some payware companies do charge more for P3d versions.

[Paul K]

If I was making the move from FS9, I'd try the FSX:Steam Edition, if only because it's on sale right now for £3.99. At that price, you can't go wrong. I've gone down the P3D route, but I have FSX:SE ready to install, just in case Dovetail develop it into something better than P3D.

[paulsl]

I tried P3D v2.5 after I started getting memory issues with FSX. I almost immediately disliked it - I couldn't see the instruments in the dark cockpit at midday. I'd put ORBX England on and flying from EGNV found that the entire North Sea had become a green field with some pretty awesome brown cliffs. Unloading ORBX cured that, but it was obvious that (IMHO) P3d is just a souped up FSX, albeit well and truly souped up; it's still 32 bit though and so isn't going to cure any memory issues.

Being a casual weekend flier I wasn't ready to put the time into curing all the things I didn't like in P3D, and they released v3.0 two weeks after I bought it*, so I unloaded it and got a refund and went back to FSX.

Something like a flight simulator should be using the bleeding edge of technology, as it used to be in the good old days. Neither FSX or P3D are there; they're just old tat and their limitations are easily exposed by loading up a few add-ons. Really, the power of modern PCs hides the limitations of the programs.

Of course, there's a corollary to that - you can get a much better experience from the old simulators, because of the technology. And, if you've been an MS FSn guy, they are familiar to drive.

When I tire of FSX, which won't be long I think, I'll be looking for at least a simulator that is a 64 bit program. So, FSX or P3D? Neither for me, but since you ask, FSX:Steam. Lockheed's licensing and business models are silly, and I at least see nothing in P3D over FSX to justify it. Oh boy, INCOMING!!!!

That's about $0.05 worth, Paul

* another thing that ticked me off. To upgrade the version I bought a fortnight ago, I "had" to unload it, ask for a refund and then buy and download the new version. In 2015..... really?

[Scorpius]

Merry christmas Paul!

Nev (converted to P3D)

[blanston12]

I have been away for a while and have recently got back into simming. I tried both FSX-Steam and P3d. FSX-Steam is pretty cheap but they have done nothing to it except re-compiling it for more modern versions of the OS. It still has the X16 Autopilot oscillation bug that was introduced in Acceleration.
LM is at least continuing to develop the platform and as a company knows something about flight models. It is more expensive, I got the 10$US per month developer subscription. And it is missing some of the default aircraft from FSX like the cessna's, boeing's, CRJ, DC3, Goose, Lear Jet, A321. Granted they were not great and there are other aircraft to replace but only airliner is the Constellation. Granted if you have an old copy of FSX its easy enough to just drag them in and I don't think the default AC will be a major factor for anyone on this site.

[TSR2]

Hi Eric,

If you want to just jump in and fly without worrying about patches and upgrades etc, FSX is a very known quantity. Yes P3D has many improvements, but I suspect you'll get more enjoyment out of FSX than P3D.

[DaveB]

Agree, and you won't need a pc capable of running the EU
Atb
DaveB