Farewell Prepar3d v4
In preparation for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (MSFS2020), it is time to bid farewell to P3Dv4.5 and all the associated add-ons. While my P3Dv5 instance is still awaiting the availability of the PMDG Boeing 777, I have enough add-ons in v5 to keep me fully entertained until such time as the Triple Seven can be installed.
P3Dv4.5 Was Amazing
I joined the P3D bandwagon when P3Dv2 arrived on the scene and in my opinion, while v5 is finally proving to be stable….P3Dv4.5 was just simply rock solid. Almost from day one, the much anticipated 64 bit release showed us exactly what a flight simulator should be and remained almost trouble free for just over three years. However, between the P3Dv4.5 install and all the associated add-ons adding up to over 275GB of SSD space, I need to remove it to make room for the new Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 which is planned to release in just a few days from now (18 August).
A Bit of a Three Ring Circus
My current gaming machine was designed and built with the future in mind. At just over two years old now, at the time of the build I installed a 1 TB M.2 SSD as the main drive. I moved over a few older 500GB SSD drives along with a 500 GB SATA drive for video work. To maximize the performance of P3Dv4, it was installed on the 1 TB M.2 SSD along side the Windows OS. I have one 500 GB SSD dedicated to Steam content such as Farming Simulator, Truck Simulators etc. and use the remaining SSD’s for backup and non-gaming content.
When I installed P3Dv5, I installed it onto one of the SSD drives and it’s performing just fine. But I believe I’ll want MSFS2020 to go onto the 1 TB M.2 SSD for maximum performance. So to make this happen, unfortunately I must sunset P3Dv4.5.
It really isn’t that big of a deal as I’ve been using P3Dv5 exclusively now for over a month. Now that I have P3Dv5 dialed in, the performance is better than what I had been experiencing with 4.5 so now is just a good time to say goodbye.
MSFS2020 Requirements
According to the published minimum requirements of MSFS2020 as it relates to available disk space, I will need a minimum of 150GB. Clearing out P3Dv4.5 and all its associated add-ons along with doing some additional cleanup, I will easily have over 500GB of free space on my main 1 TB M.2 drive. Certainly more than enough. At least for now.
Looking Forward, Never Backward
While a lot of flight simmers may plan to ditch Prepar3D and X-Plane on day one of the MSFS2020 release, as I’ve stated before…Prepar3D v5 will remain my main simulator for simulating jetliner flights. However, between home DIY projects and other responsibilities I do anticipate flying in MSFS2020 with any of the default GA aircraft as I explore the world flying low and slow. My first flights most likely will be as follows. Depart KAPA and fly over my house and the greater Denver area. Flight number two will probably have me depart EBAW (Antwerp, Belgium) and fly over the area where my in-laws lived along with the Antwerp area. Then who knows? Most likely I’ll hop around between Alaska, perhaps fly around Innsbruk Austria…really the complete world is my option.
Until next time…
Happy Uninstalling and Flying!
Jerry
Jim Estep
August 12, 2020 - 9:06 am
I sort of got away from any flight sim. I did xplane and prepar3d for awhile, but not the same. Now excited for this. I think I will be a little rusty, lol. I want to dedicate a drive for Steam which is how I bought MSFS2020, but no clue how to migrate. New computer coming soon.
GrizzlyBearSims
August 12, 2020 - 12:55 pm
Moving your Steam games over to a new PC is pretty easy. You’ll of course need to reinstall the Steam client and then reinstall each of the games on the new PC. Then for Steam content such as Farming Simulator, American Truck Sim, ETS2 etc. you just move those individual folders which are under your Documents directory to the new documents folder on the new PC. I’ve done this a few times and these are also the folders you want to occasionally backup as well.
Ross
August 12, 2020 - 4:55 pm
Hi Jerry
I have both P3Dv4.5 and P3Dv5 which you state is stable !
Like so many other users I have seen a never ending stream of posts to LM on the forums requesting a fix for the GPU crashing re cache etc. It seems everyone gets the same crash message yet LM suggest it is the addon scenery or the way it uses DX12 etc. However I am running DX12 on v4.5 and it is rock solid with no issues at all.
The crash can occur no matter what scenery is or isnt installed be it Aerosoft, Orbx, whatever, even clean and bare boned installs still suffer the same crash.
Having a top end GPU RTX2090 or CPU or lot of RAM does not guarantee suffering the crash.
Sometimes it will work without missing a beat other times barely get aircraft fired up from cold and dark and it crashes.
Until this problem is resolved v4.5 will be used of ppl are going to transit across to MS2020
GrizzlyBearSims
August 12, 2020 - 5:45 pm
Hi Ross,
Thanks for the comment. I too had some early instability issues with v5. Once I updated Windows 10 to update 2004 and applied all other updates, I’ve yet to experience a CTD. I’d estimate this to be ~100 hours and over a month. Of course, tomorrow could be a completely different experience and of course I’m not claiming 2004 is the magic cure. Just my experience. Most likely had v5 not stabilized in the way it has (for me), I would have continued with v4.5 much longer. Ironically the most problematic aircraft I typically experienced my CTD’s with was the Aerosoft Airbus (319, 320, 321). I didn’t have issues with the FSLabs A320 or the PMDG’s. But as I said, I’ve been running CTD free (knock on wood) for the past month.
Thanks again for stopping by and commenting.
Jerry
Ross
August 12, 2020 - 10:56 pm
Hi Jerry
Thanks for the prompt reply. I am already running latest windows 10 Pro 64bit OS ver 1909. Not sure what you run on your system but have all ORBX scenery. I am running 3 x 32″ + 12″ monitor off a GTX 1060 6Gb G1 Gaming card and run a i7-7800X 3.7Ghz oc 4.3Gb on an ASUS X299TUF socket 2066 mobo. The 3 x 32″ monitors using the Nvidia surround setup as 1 monitor 5760 x 1080 and use SpadneXt for the various Saitek panel and have chaseplane for various viewpoints in virtual cockpit and external views I run both the PMDG 737-800NGX and now the NGXu which both work very well on v4.5 the only negative is Flytampa Sydney does draw on framerates which is a known issue but is still manageable at 13-18fps. v5 indeed loads just about everything so much quicker and also the FPS is improved marginally and only have the NGXu loaded in v5. Have provided a link to a recording of a flight a friend and I did real time into a tropical low which developed the next day into a Cyclone and then devastated Cairns YBCS Xmas Day 2018 which showcased how bad the weather was not to mention how good Active Sky represented real weather online as we flew into Cairns. Hope you enjoy it
https://www.facebook.com/ross.francis.714/posts/2193936910935140:16
Anyway keep up the great work as love reading your articles
Cheers Ross
GrizzlyBearSims
August 13, 2020 - 7:04 am
Hi Ross,
I wasn’t able to view the video, it said the content wasn’t available. I’ll check back later. I too have lots of addons. If you click on “Flight” then Scenery it will display a map of all the add-on airports I have and then click on add-ons will show everything else. I have most all the North American Orbx scenery and some in your neck of the woods as well. My hardware setup is also listed. Hopefully my 1080Ti (11GB) GPU will do the trick with MSFS2020.
Like you, I’ve discovered not all add-on scenery airports are created equal. LatinVFR Miami seems to hit the hardest but I can still fly in/out without issue. I learned a long time ago to not worry about FPS and just tweak my setup for a smooth experience and for the most part that is exactly what I get. The only times I truly see a few lags is during larger VATSIM events where I have lots of other traffic around me. But I think that’s the case for most everyone.
Thanks again for reading and I’ll check back on that video later today.