FSX player considering moving to p3d has questions!

[Sinver]

Hi all, I hope you’ll forgive the intrusion.

I’ve flown on FSX for a long time, and very much enjoyed it. I’ve bought many addons, especially planes like ifly and qualitywings for example. These made me realise perhaps there’s improvements all round available. I honestly believed the new Microsoft 2020 would be it, but at least now it really is not when it comes to airliners.

Many are quoted as saying “back to p3d”, so I wanted to see if it was worth it! So my questions are,

Is p3d a 64bit improved version of fsx and was / is fsx only 32 bit?

The price between pro and student licence is pretty big. Other than the watermark is the student version ok to use?

Does the student version allow all the addons, free or pay?

If a student licence is purchased, can it be upgraded to pro or would I need to buy again at full price?

Is the pmdg 737 really as good as it looks? I have ifly 737 for fsx which itself is excellent, but the pmdg looks amazing!

I’m sure there’s other things I missed but I appreciate you taking the time to read this.

Kind regards

[JorgenSA]

Hi - let's take your questions in order:

1. P3D versions 1-3 are 32-bit, from v. 4 onwards 64-bit. That means versions 1-3 run with the same limitations as FSX, within a 4-GB virtual address space.

2. The "student" version, which is really called "Academic" is perfectly fine.

3. The Academic version allows all add-ons, no limits except for compatibility.

4. As far as I know you'll have to pay full price if you want to go from Academic to Professional.

5. I do not fly payware add-on aircraft myself, so couldn't tell you.

Jorgen

[Martyson]

@ Sinver ,

P3D5.1 system requirements for your review:

https://www.prepar3d.com/system-requirements/

[Sinver]

Thank you for the kind responses so far.

Reading the prepar3d site, I’m getting the impression that casual sim fans like myself are somewhat looked down upon. I feel a little overwhelmed.

I’m never going to fly in real life, and I’ll never be an expert. Add to that the official stance is this sim is “not licensed for home entertainment use” I’m a little worried to purchase.

I have built a small home control panel using an arduino and various led displays, encoders and momentary switches, I use it with my ifly 737. So I guess I’m not entirely casual :)

Is this, particularly v4 and 5, worth the step up from fsx?

[Martyson]

@ Sinver ,

You could try your home setup with P3D.

P3D return policy:
https://www.prepar3d.com/support/refundpolicy/

[JorgenSA]

Sinver,

I am, I guess, more casual than you, since I don't have a home cockpit and have no intention of building one - and I don't think that would sit well with my S.O. also!

The question if it is worth going from FSX to v. 4 or v. 5 is a very personal and subjective one - something that might be one person's cup of tea wouldn't cut it for another. Personally, I found it worth going there - but I still have and fly FSX also.

On my system, FSX, P3D v. 4 and P3D v. 5 all co-exist happily, but I also have them each on their own SSD.

Jorgen

[graziano56]

I also have the same problem, with my signature configuration, can the Prepar3D V4 version work? Obligatory the 1920x1080 monitor?

[JorgenSA]

Graziano56,

V. 4 might run, but do not expect stellar performance, especially not with add-ons.

Jorgen

[graziano56]

... the 1920 x 1080 monitor is mandatory or is a 4: 3 1280 x 1024 also okay?

[JorgenSA]

You may have problems with that.

Jorgen