Flight Simulators - P3d v4 and the Future

I've decided that it's time for me to share my perspective on P3dV4 and the current status of simulators now that I've been busy flying v4 and slowing replenishing my hangar with compatible aircraft that will work with it. I can't vouch for XPlane, as I've never tried it and am leaning towards not investing in it. Very sorry for our SPA Pilots who have opted for that simulator in that I'm consciously making a hard decision not to support that simulator with my personal addon programs. Fear not though - as long as developers have addons that will work for you - particularly ACARS programs for uploading your pireps - I'm willing to try to configure them for SPA to accept them. Before I get too far astray, let me share my current thoughts on v4 (P3d) based on my experience.

What I like:

V4, like earlier versions of P3d have maintained much of the FSX functionality so that pilots converting to it will not have to relearn a whole new simulator environment. Most of the functions, menus, etc. are identical or nearly so to that of the MS simulator format.

The graphics I think tend to be a bit better than the old FSX, and while I can still bring my FPS to a crawl with all the eye candy added, I can run things a whole lot higher than I could with FSX - even with the DX-10 settings of FSX, and without all those DX-10 fixes.

Stability - Yes, I find v4 much more stable than FSX. I don't get the occasional frustrating crashes with v4 that I would occasionally get with FSX.

Compatibility - Scenery, at least, is relatively compatible with the FSX scenery. Therefore, our Adventure Packs are likely to work for FSX and v4. I've tried several now with almost no issues, and I believe that pilots can use the Adventure Packs with v4 without major issue. Aircraft models are more complex however, which Segues into my "What I don't like" area.

Compatibility - Simconnect/FSUIPC - With v4 using simconnect and FSUIPC also maintaining compatibility with it, many addons for FSX will continue to work with v4, including my own SPAACARS and newly release SPARRCAB addons.

RTMM (Misty Moorings) supports v4 and are working hard at ensuring their wonderful scenery is compatible with it. This is a huge plus for P3d v4 users, as much of their scenery rivals that of FTX/Orbx, and it's free once you purchase the few necessary FTX and FSAddons scenery packages.


What I don't like:

Paying to restore my previously purchased addon aircraft into a compatible v4 format. While some developers have provided their v4 upgrades freely to previous fsx owners, many have added an upgrade fee (usually around half-price of the new purchase). While I can appreciate the need to be compensated for a lot of work to make them compatible, it doesn't take the sting away from those of us loyal customers.

Lockheed Martin's burdensome development arrangement. It might be wrong to put this on LM, but their chosen development tool (a 3rd party provider) currently offers their tool at several hundred dollars. LM also wants developers to pay annual or monthly developer license costs that are also in the hundreds of dollars. This is prohibitive for all but the big addon developers, and will hurt or slow the development of reasonably priced or freeware addons that I think helped make FSX such a successful platform. Fortunately, the best minds are hard a work finding freeware alternatives around the expensive tools, so there's hope that those of us who dabble in development might have access without mortgaging our homes.

Unless I'm missing something, I think the compatibility with simconnec/fsuipc, Misty Moorings, and the look and feel of earlier MS flight sims puts v4 on the fast-track for success. Being an early adopter of the 64-bit platform and one of the first to hit the market gives LM a head start on the competition that might be hard to catch up with unless they have something really special to offer. Only time will tell.

Feel free to share your thoughts.

John