Simple questions for a simple mind

[wellis]

I am sure it has been asked but I've not found the answer yet. I am equivocating on whether to install P3Dv3.2, now that I have everything settled nicely into 3.1. I have downloaded 3.2.3 this a.m. and I can see some distinct advantages and improvements but am struggling with the decision owing to my uncertainty on what I will have to give up. AICarriers, Rob Barendregt's carrier ops gauge package, a multitude of Orbx products (for which FTX is still working on, just to get them to v3.1), Instant Scenery (they now have an update to cover it - thanks Falcon409 for the heads up). I have seen a couple of pages of stuff over at the Avsim forum but they are talking intalling "content files", backing up autogen from 3.1 and Orbx, etc - all way over my head so to speak and well beyond what I want to deal with. So I am assuming that it would be better for me just to uninstall 3.1, current orbx stuff and so on, the do a fresh install of 3.2.

So, anyone have experience, in particular with AICArriers and the Rob's carrier ops gauges in 3.2 yet?


Thoughts, suggestions, even chuckles re: my dilemma would be greatly appreciated.

wellis

 

[falcon409]

It is a dilemma to be sure and I'm on the fence as it were as far as future updates go for P3D. If you intend to continue with P3D as your go-to Sim for the foreseeable future. . .if you have a relatively new PC with decent speed (CPU and GPU) and currently find that P3D runs perfectly on that system and you consider yourself a serious simmer, then maybe updating the Sim as LM releases them is the way to go for you. P3D is a "commitment" at this point, unlike FSX who had. . .what. . .1 update for it's entire run? lol. Updates and upgrades are going to be a way of life at this point if you stay with P3D, 3rd party addons are going to be in a constant state of flux and you just have to accept that as truth. Maybe, somewhere down the road it will smooth itself out, but who knows when that will be.

If you are an on again/off again Simmer who enjoys flying, but not in an intense, do it by the book or not at all way, then these constant updates become laborious and agonizing as you wait, and wait and wait for developers to catch up. . .again. To be honest, I am at a point where my PC is capable of just so much and some of the really eye popping effects available to P3D 3.2 users go unchecked and grayed out on my Sim because they start pulling down the systems ability to keep up and still present a flyable atmosphere. I won't upgrade beyond what I have now (latest version of 3.2), honestly, I am hard pressed to see anything that made it worthy of the move from 3.1. To be fair, as I said, that falls mainly on the strength of what my current PC can achieve and I have no plans to make it any better than it is right now, so there's no reason for me to go beyond what I have. So that may not help you, but it is one persons view of how I see P3D and it's constant updates.

 

[Daube]

Here is my point of view, based on what I have read from the various forums, and my own experience.
As you may have already read during your investigations, to switch from 3.1.x to 3.2.3, you will need to perform exactly two steps:
- update the client (1 file: install_client.msi)
- update the content (2 files: install_content.msi and cont1.cab)

The client update is ultra easy. I'm sure you have already read how to do it on the various topics you have found. (uninstall current client from Windows Control Panel, install the new one, and register your licence again on the first sim start).

The content update is even more easy, because it won't ask you for any registration. HOWEVER, the content update will replace a few files by their default versions. This includes cloud textures, water textures and shaders, autogen definitions and such.
Your scenery library will still be intact.
Your planes will still be intact.
The only problem that may occur is if your are using FTX products:
- If you only have, like myself, a few OrbX regions and airports, just swith FTX Central back to FSX/P3D Default before updating the client, and you're good to go.
- If you have FTX Global, then you might want to ask for further clarifications. I don't have FTX Global, but I know the content update will definitely replace some of the textures and the autogen descriptions, and I don't know how to fix that.

So, if you have FTX Central, you should explicitely mention it here, so that other FTX Central users could answer you using their experience.

 

[wellis]

It is a dilemma to be sure and I'm on the fence as it were as far as future updates go for P3D. If you intend to continue with P3D as your go-to Sim for the foreseeable future. . .if you have a relatively new PC with decent speed (CPU and GPU) and currently find that P3D runs perfectly on that system and you consider yourself a serious simmer, then maybe updating the Sim as LM releases them is the way to go for you. P3D is a "commitment" at this point, unlike FSX who had. . .what. . .1 update for it's entire run? lol. Updates and upgrades are going to be a way of life at this point if you stay with P3D, 3rd party addons are going to be in a constant state of flux and you just have to accept that as truth. Maybe, somewhere down the road it will smooth itself out, but who knows when that will be.

If you are an on again/off again Simmer who enjoys flying, but not in an intense, do it by the book or not at all way, then these constant updates become laborious and agonizing as you wait, and wait and wait for developers to catch up. . .again. To be honest, I am at a point where my PC is capable of just so much and some of the really eye popping effects available to P3D 3.2 users go unchecked and grayed out on my Sim because they start pulling down the systems ability to keep up and still present a flyable atmosphere. I won't upgrade beyond what I have now (latest version of 3.2), honestly, I am hard pressed to see anything that made it worthy of the move from 3.1. To be fair, as I said, that falls mainly on the strength of what my current PC can achieve and I have no plans to make it any better than it is right now, so there's no reason for me to go beyond what I have. So that may not help you, but it is one persons view of how I see P3D and it's constant updates.

Thank you sir. I have a reasonably good pc I built with the help of a local fellow last year and it runs P3Dv3.1 beautifully, magnificent frame rates even at max settings. I also have FSX and FS9 installed as I still enjoy fiddling with paints and scenery objects for them, so I am pretty serious about simming (started out way back with a 286 machine and FS4). I had to give up flying the real thing a couple of years ago thanks to certain health issues so flight simulation is my surrogate and I have to say P3D has made it fantastic experience. FSX runs well enough but certain performance issues crop up (the notorious blurries) pretty quickly in high density settings.

I appreciate the thoughts, there is no rush and I will probably go ahead with 3.2 at some point. But for the time being I think I will enjoy the fruits of the current nicely stable install I have. Thanks again, the comments were very helpful..

 

[wellis]

Here is my point of view, based on what I have read from the various forums, and my own experience.
As you may have already read during your investigations, to switch from 3.1.x to 3.2.3, you will need to perform exactly two steps:
- update the client (1 file: install_client.msi)
- update the content (2 files: install_content.msi and cont1.cab)

The client update is ultra easy. I'm sure you have already read how to do it on the various topics you have found. (uninstall current client from Windows Control Panel, install the new one, and register your licence again on the first sim start).

The content update is even more easy, because it won't ask you for any registration. HOWEVER, the content update will replace a few files by their default versions. This includes cloud textures, water textures and shaders, autogen definitions and such.
Your scenery library will still be intact.
Your planes will still be intact.
The only problem that may occur is if your are using FTX products:
- If you only have, like myself, a few OrbX regions and airports, just swith FTX Central back to FSX/P3D Default before updating the client, and you're good to go.
- If you have FTX Global, then you might want to ask for further clarifications. I don't have FTX Global, but I know the content update will definitely replace some of the textures and the autogen descriptions, and I don't know how to fix that.

So, if you have FTX Central, you should explicitely mention it here, so that other FTX Central users could answer you using their experience.

HHHmmmm...thank you and yes I have FTX Central, Global, Vector, regions and some airports...maybe this won't be as bad as I thought...

 

[Dimus]

I have the same stuff as you. After updating content, a simple rerun of FTX Central reset everything as it should, including global textures and autogen. I also had to update REX and reapply the theme to get my REX clouds and other stuff back.

Frankly, it was quite painless, the only setback was waiting a couple of weeks for updates of ASN, REX, and ORBX objectflow.dll. Now all those are settled and sim is running better than ever.