P3D plus........ what add ons?

A question seems to already have been answered on here, that P3D is appreciably better then FSX. For me, when FSX first came out and I discovered that the Frasier River still disappeared 40 miles east of Vancouver and I would need to buy Ultimate Terrain AGAIN, well I just went back to FS9. Which is where I still am, and still making FS9 scenery. Does P3D work stand-alone? I would be tempted by ORBX, to cover as much of Canada and Alaska as I can (and did before with Holger's sceneries, I find he is now with ORBX!) but what else is necessary? And what else is available anyway, in Canada and Alaska? I would appreciate some opinions, both upsides and downsides. And computer specs too; I am currently on an i5 laptop with a dedicated graphics card.

P3D is standalone if, as I presume, you mean is it independent of FS. The FTX (ORBX) website shows all their offerings, of which I have all the North America regional sceneries which include landclass, textures, mesh, airports, more, with most airports populated with aircraft and vehicles, and many also with people and other surprises. Wonderful stuff. I also recently got the FTX Global Base, Vector and OpenLC NA Alaska/Canada (I'll get the US, too, when it's available). Most FTX stuff has installers for both FSX and P3D.

 

UT USA V2 works fine with P3D V2, and has installers for both P3D and FSX. UT Alaska includes a bit more than the USA does, adding buildings and other things (not aircraft, though) to most areas in Alaska, in addition to the stuff the USA version adds.

 

Rearranging scenery priorities (in the scenery library) lets you use both UT and FTX (ORBX) Global stuff, including Vector, with your choice of which sets of roads and some other things.

 

They're both pretty good, but FTX (ORBX) comes out quite a bit ahead on scenery appearance when you compare the two, and is (Global Base and Vector, not OpenLC) world wide, to boot, not just US/Europe.

 

If your "dedicated graphics card" is an nVidia "m" series (mobile) gaming card (or maybe AMD has something too), then you can likely use P3D just fine, though probably not with most sliders maxed.

A question seems to already have been answered on here, that P3D is appreciably better then FSX. For me, when FSX first came out and I discovered that the Frasier River still disappeared 40 miles east of Vancouver and I would need to buy Ultimate Terrain AGAIN, well I just went back to FS9. Which is where I still am, and still making FS9 scenery. Does P3D work stand-alone? I would be tempted by ORBX, to cover as much of Canada and Alaska as I can (and did before with Holger's sceneries, I find he is now with ORBX!) but what else is necessary? And what else is available anyway, in Canada and Alaska? I would appreciate some opinions, both upsides and downsides. And computer specs too; I am currently on an i5 laptop with a dedicated graphics card.

 

More research needed: ORBX provide increasing numbers of triple installers; you had no need to buy Ultimate Terrain again, and in any case trying to run P3D on a laptop, even one with a dedicated graphics card, is likely to be unrewarding, to say the least.

 

P3D is a professional level simulator. You need to approach it with the hardware and the mindset that does it justice.

 

For you, and yours, I'd recommend FSX-Steam Edition. It's a few bucks and probably better suited.

I meant "stand-alone" as: is the standard of scenery good enough that it does not need something like UT to make it as realistic as a chart, which was the case with both FS9 and FSX? It was UT that changed FS from a game and into a simulator.

I have looked at the web site, and also watched some comparative videos on YouTube. One appeared to show very little difference between FSX and the FTX Global Base?

How much do the regional sceneries improve the airports within the area? I would get them anyway, but if the airports are realistic representations too then that would be a huge bonus. I am only interested in Canada, Alaska, and the northern part of the US, particularly the northwest, areas where I have already flown for real (it's all about reminiscing!)

The next step is to also investigate making scenery for P3D, I have only made for FS9; that question will go to Holger.

Any and all comments will add to my almost zero P3D knowledge base.

Steam doesn't work for me, as I do not always have a reliable internet connection. As I sit and type right now I am on a small mountain in Asia. Hence, also, the laptop. I would expect a top-end "gaming" Toshiba laptop to cope with anything.

I meant "stand-alone" as: is the standard of scenery good enough that it does not need something like UT to make it as realistic as a chart, which was the case with both FS9 and FSX? It was UT that changed FS from a game and into a simulator.

 

In that respect, it's just like FSX, and responds to UT and ORBX the same way.

 

How much do the regional sceneries improve the airports within the area? I would get them anyway, but if the airports are realistic representations too then that would be a huge bonus.

A lot. They're not all made to be exactly like the real ones, but they are much closer to the real ones (for some they make custom buildings), and have static aircraft (beyond those waiting for their time from the AI traffic), vehicles, dumpsters, often telephone pols, light poles, people, and some even have other "clutter" such as orange traffic cones, 55 gallon drums and more.

 

Even the remote strips usually have at least a hangar or small building, maybe an aircraft, usually one or more vehicles, and a number of (not quite all) the unpaved strips aren't flat, with bumpy, sloping runways. Some places there are deer or horses or cattle, perhaps a few airports with someone walking a dog (animated, too).

 

And the mesh is much better resolution than you get from most other products that I am aware of. Of course lakes, rivers, roads, railroads, ponds, etc. are pretty much matching the real world -- you can certainly fly VFR using a chart, better than with UT. And airports now rarely stand out like a sore thumb, except for the bigger ones -- no more "postage stamp" look.

Thanks for all that. One last thing I just thought of (though maybe not the last!) is it sounds like I do not have to get Genesis terrain mesh for North America?

Not for the regional areas. They have their own mesh. Global Base and Vector from FTX do not have mesh included, but they do have a mesh product that covers the whole world (but the regionals override that). And the regions cover most of the western US except for the southwest, and they do cover BC and part of Alberta, plus southern Alaska.

 

For me, with Global Base and Vector, I feel the eastern US is mostly just fine without adding mesh (certainly the area of KY I am familiar with is very recognizable and looks good.

I am slightly worried by the pink pyjamas that you go flying in, even if it's in Kentucky.

I am slightly worried by the pink pyjamas that you go flying in, even if it's in Kentucky.

 

Hmmm... First, that picture was taken in Rockford, IL, and second, that is an orange (not pink) flight suit, a USAF hand-me-down. Note the CAP major standing beside me on fatigues -- he was my CAP Squadron commander and owner of the Aeronca Chief pictured there. We were in Rockford for a practice search mission. That was 1969, BTW.

 

Also note the totally different attire with my own L-21 (above) in the late 1990s.

It's pink. How do you include a pic anyway?

 

P3D is a professional level simulator. You need to approach it with the hardware and the mindset that does it justice.

 

 

 

It is? Still has the same washed out cartoon colours of FSX. Along with the avatar, looks like it's marketed toward kids.

It's pink. How do you include a pic anyway?

I still have it -- it's orange every time I see it. Below is a larger version. If you still see it pink, you need to adjust your monitor.

 

The two on my posts are done in my forum profile, one for avatar and one in my sig. But to include a pic in a post you go to advanced, then you can scroll down to Manage Attachments.

It is? Still has the same washed out cartoon colours of FSX. Along with the avatar, looks like it's marketed toward kids.

 

Well, good job Lockheed-Martin wrote the EULA and not you. It's far less capable of misinterpretation.

And where is it marketed toward kids? It isn't marketed in the consumer space. At ALL.

Evidence?

Is "forum profile" the same as "profile"? I don't see any place in my profile settings for either avatar or signature. Maybe it is orange and it's my eyes that are at fault.

When you click on Membership above, or on Settings at the very top, then down the left side is a My Settings box that includes Edit Profile, Edit Avatar, Edit Signature, etc. Click on those. Sorry that when I said profile I was working from memory (senior moment?).

I dunno Larry - sure looks pink to me!! :) complements the red hat!!

 

Vic

I dunno Larry - sure looks pink to me!! :) complements the red hat!!

 

Vic

 

Yes I wore similar flight suits when flying in the states and they often ended up looking pink in pictures. Note how pink the face is as well. I think it was probably the fact that most people were using Kodacolor or Kodachrome style film which was red pigment based. Ectachrome or Ectacolor film had more of a blue-green base and oranges came out much more life-like. (My spell checker is going nuts. It's been so long since I used Kodak film I probably spelled all four brand names wrong.)

Steam doesn't work for me, as I do not always have a reliable internet connection. As I sit and type right now I am on a small mountain in Asia. Hence, also, the laptop. I would expect a top-end "gaming" Toshiba laptop to cope with anything.

You do NOT need a constant internet connection. Simply switch it to off-line mode.

Well, good job Lockheed-Martin wrote the EULA and not you. It's far less capable of misinterpretation.

And where is it marketed toward kids? It isn't marketed in the consumer space. At ALL.

Evidence?

 

Some lawyers wrote the EULA - which nobody ever reads by the way.

 

It looks as plastic fantastic as FSuX did. Shame.

More research needed: ORBX provide increasing numbers of triple installers; you had no need to buy Ultimate Terrain again, and in any case trying to run P3D on a laptop, even one with a dedicated graphics card, is likely to be unrewarding, to say the least.

 

P3D is a professional level simulator. You need to approach it with the hardware and the mindset that does it justice.

 

Steam doesn't work for me, as I do not always have a reliable internet connection. As I sit and type right now I am on a small mountain in Asia. Hence, also, the laptop. I would expect a top-end "gaming" Toshiba laptop to cope with anything.

Not sure which Toshiba laptop you have, but I use P3D daily a lot (just ask my wife ha) on a MSI GS60 thin laptop with a 970m GPU and 4710HQ CPU that I use as my main machine to drive a Dell 34" 21:9 (3440x1440) external monitor without issue...

 

This is running P3D v3.1, native res of mentioned monitor, most sliders 3/4 or full, locked 30fps, PMDG NGX/777, ASN, full Orbx regions/airports, FlightBeam stuff, CaptainSim stuff, RealAir Duke, all A2A GA stuff plus B377 & B17, Carenada, FlightSimWare etc.... it all runs and looks fantastic!

 

Please don't discount P3D simply because you have a laptop, as I've used laptops exclusively for 10+ years and have yet to find a need for a desktop.

 

Good luck in your hunt, in case you haven't picked up on it, I LOVE P3D! I also have FSX, FSX-SE, MS Flight, X-Plane 9&10. P3D is my choice by far.