Part 2: Should I move from P3D v4.5 to v5?
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Thread: Part 2: Should I move from P3D v4.5 to v5?

  1. #1

    Part 2: Should I move from P3D v4.5 to v5?

    Never been sure if its worth all the time and fiddling.

    Interested to know what are Pro's and Con's.

    How much of FSX aircraft and scenery is not compatible?

    Wil I have to pay for the same a/c. Orbx, scenery etc that I have in v4.5?
    Striker, listen, and you listen close: flying a plane is no different than riding a bicycle, just a lot harder to put baseball cards in the spokes.

  2. #2
    I have both v4.5 and v5, for the most part i found V5 to be a good upgrade. There are some improvements in performance in V5 in there memory management and use of the GPU that made a small but noticeable improvement especially in reducing stuttering. On the negative side it also made the VC's in some aircraft noticeably darker.

    For FSX native aircraft I have never had any problem using it in V5 if it worked in V4 and I use quite a few of them.

    For FSX native scenery I don't use very much so can give as strong of a recommendation, P3D5 did update the base scenery library and airport database so there may be some incompatibilities caused like that but if you use lots of Orbx scenery its not that different.

    In terms of ORBX, I have quite a large ORBX library and the vast majority of V4 products are available in V5 and you don't have to pay anything extra to use it. There are a few V4 products they did not upgrade, With the exception of CityScene Honolulu which is only available for V4 and V5, the CityScene products are not compatible with V5, I remember that especially as I purchased CityScene Charlestown and Orlando a few weeks before V5 was released and felt cheated that they did not upgrade them.

    There are some payware v4 aircraft that I own that are not compatible with V5 and you can normally tell just by looking at the product info page for your favorite aircraft and see if they updated it. Sometimes they work sometimes they don't but I figure if they don't I can always go back to V4 if I really want to fly that aircraft. Again I have never had to pay extra for the V5 version if I had V4.

    I upgraded right when it was released and don't regret it, partly because I want to keep the product alive. I also buy X-Plane when new versions are released to keep them in business and I keep hoping they will release a version I would like to use (on that later part I keep being disappointed).

    I do have MSFS and use it but use P3D5 more, maybe as more AC are released for it and I become more familiar I switch fully over but there are way to may of my favorite aircraft where there is no equivalent in MSFS.
    Joe Cusick
    San Francisco Bay Area, California.

    I am serious, and stop calling me Shirley.

  3. #3
    SOH-CM-2021 BendyFlyer's Avatar
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    Expat - I never had 4.5 only ever V5 and off course now 5.3. Blanston 12 is correct there are significant under the hood changes to V5 which mean if you have a suitable GPU and CPU then its memory management and general operation is very good. I have had little trouble with stuff even from FSX providing it has 64 bit guages or updated bgl's if it is scenery.

    Scenery wise I have a very large scenery collection - most of ORBX's scenery which all works just fine with 5.3. A lot of payware and freeware as well, I also have a lot of stuff that was done for V4 and even FSX - that is a hit a miss outcome because of the way LM updated the world data in V5 (Yes it is more detailed and correct) so for example you no longer need ORBX Global Vector V5 is as good if not better. The only issue with older scenery will be either location or altitude or bleed through of default V5 objects. I would say only one or two have been badly off for location (but a look at them reveals they were really not V4 but ported FSX and even 2004 scenery) - answer there is no easy fix for this and I ditch them. Altitude issues and suppressing default objects can be managed via ADE and there is plenty of help stuff at various sim forums about how to do this. My golden rule even for all ORBX stuff is to install it outside the main P3D directory and let use the scenery editor to link it - I have no problems with any of this at all and the scenery has no stutters or bugs etc. As a guide I have nearly 700 airports and scenery packages installed outside of P3DV5 and no issues with this number or the way the scenery updates and sorts itself out on long flights or short flights. This you could never do in 32 bit FSX because it hit a physical limit at about 300 and by say 600 plus just could not longer handle it. I regard Lorby's organiser is an essential tool to help with all this. If stuff was done for 4.5 using the addon method then it will move over to V5 just fine as well.

    Aircraft wise generally if it was good in 4.5 then it will be good in V5 as it is already tweaked for 64 bit coding. Again if the installer wants to put it into the main P3D folder I let it, then after checking it, pull it out and create an addon xml and folder for it and move it to the addon folder as well. You will run into problems with stuff from the FSX and before era - if it is FSX native then usually not a problem but before that it is a no go because all P3D 64 bit aircraft file architecture requires there be two model files in the model container - the model and the interior mdl file. No interior mdl file then no VC and generally a fail to display. Texture wise I have been surprised at how well these old birds can look in P3D - sure PBR stuff is a bit nicer but overall if the paints were good in FSX or 4.5 they will be fine in V5. Guages can be problematic and difficult to cover here but there will always be a small suprise with older stuff either working or again not working. As I also do a lot of conversion work with older stuff I am up to speed with a lot of the glitches that can occur but depends on your skill set.

    Hope this helps.

  4. #4
    For what it's worth, I think the 5.3 shaders work better with PBR than 4.5, but are poor with FSX-style alpha channels, unlike 4.5. So if you have lots of FSX bare metal in your hangar, stick with 4.5

    DaveQ
    'Always do sober what you say you'll do when you're drunk. It'll teach you to keep you mouth shut' - Ernest Hemingway

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