P3D v3 -- who needs planes?

[toprob]

While I'm waiting for Orbx to release a v3 version of their NZ AI, I'm wandering around empty airports, and really enjoying it.
The combination of v3 and my new GTX 770 brings the realism to another level.

I've posted screenshots of this view before, but this is the best so far:


These are old models, not yet updated, but they stand up really well because of the P3D lighting. You can see my shadow (avatar mode) on the ground if you look carefully...


With the real-time reflections, you can now see Mokoia reflected in the Rotorua terminal:


Wellington joyride -- the water/sky is a vast improvement over 2.5, and leaves FSX in the dust!

[Splitpin]

Amazing .... Im still very much a newbie at this P3D , but i agree, atmospherically it ( P3DV3) makes FSX look almost cartoonish .
Im sure I'll be shot down for that comment ... do i care ? No.

Rob , i see an upgrade to v3 is out ... Im not sure what it all means , but it may of use to you.

Great screens ...

[deeknow]

Very nice Rob.
And yeah I agree, P3D is definitely a pleasant step up huh

(don't think I've posted yet about my recent conversion, better do that )

[cowpatz]

To me FSX was always cartoonish (especially without ground shadows) which is why I bypassed it and went straight from FS9 to P3D.

[toprob]

...
Im sure I'll be shot down for that comment ... do i care ? No.

I thought that too when I wrote the post, as a lot of people have worked hard to get a nice-looking FSX. But really, Prepar3D is the modern update which we all wanted for the 10-year-old sim. There's certainly no going back. I don't remember the last time I fired up FSX, probably a month at least. I have been meaning to try it with the new graphics card, though...

When I bought v3, it was already 3.1, so I don't know what the update brought with it.

One thing which is hard to describe is the new lighting. In FSX -- and Prepar3D 2.x to some extent -- the lighting was just too simple, and although there were a lot of ways to improve it -- Shade etc -- it was always lacking somehow. With P3D 3, the default lighting actually improves the appearance of everything -- even old, low-res textures look better, especially moving in the sim, screenshots don't always do it justice.

Although in some respects the better rendition does show up flaws, so developers will need to be a bit more careful.

[Adamski]

Rob - the current NZAI works fine in P3Dv3.1

I think a new version/update is in the works though.

Adam.

[toprob]

Rob - the current NZAI works fine in P3Dv3.1

I think a new version/update is in the works though.

Adam.

Cheers, good to know. It's always a bit disconcerting when there's nobody around at an airport, reminds me of the Langoliers:)

By the way, I finally fired up FSX today just to see how it performed with the new GPU. This is the first time I've ever seen the initial settings all at maximum -- it only took me ten years to get it performing great!

[Charl]

This is the first time I've ever seen the initial settings all at maximum -- it only took me ten years to get it performing great!

Meh... if I think of all the vitriol spilled over that decade, in the FSX/FS9... let's call it "debate"!
As far as NZ flightsimming goes, I do believe that my FS9 sim offers a much more complete NZ in all respects, than anything available in any other sim.
Long may it remain so I may do a hardware, software (and mindware) upgrade when there's a 32-bit sim on the market!

At some point I want to start a discussion thread based on the concept of the "Uncanny Valley" but that will require some effort to get right.
Google it in the meantime if you are not familiar with the term, some interesting food for thought.

[toprob]

At some point I want to start a discussion thread based on the concept of the "Uncanny Valley" but that will require some effort to get right.
Google it in the meantime if you are not familiar with the term, some interesting food for thought.

I've been thinking about that a lot lately, especially after trying the Martin jetpack simulator, using the Occulus Rift. (Funny enough, this rift is just up the road from the Uncanny Valley...)

My most immersive flightsim experience was with a simple wire-frame simulator. Visually, it defined runways but nothing much else. Mountains were drawn in the distance, as a simple zig-zag. But I can recall that I really felt that I was up there, and when the weather turned bad, I was actually sweating.

What helped back then was the pre-visualisation. This very basic sim came with about 5 kgs of manuals etc, so by the time you'd read the manual, you were already in a suitable state of mind to get into the experience.

I don't really believe that adding more and more visual realism can get me back to that state, but it is fun trying!

At the moment I am working on the belief that a good VR experience coupled with the utmost visual realism will go a long way towards this. I've mentioned before my one short VR sim experience, using the jetpack simulator. At one point I was flying at skyscraper rooftop level, seeing very basic (and in my opinion ugly to the extent that they let P3D down) autogen buildings, but really feeling that there was a big scary space between me and the ground. I couldn't actually bring myself to 'quit' this sim in flight, I wasn't able to think about anything else until I had it back on the ground. (My landing was ok-ish, from watching videos of the actual jetpack, everybody bounces a little...)

So now I'm wondering what would happen if those ugly autogen buildings were 300% better, would it be 300% more immersive? Maybe not, but I am working towards that.

[Splitpin]

Just found your shadow .... ...your huge
But really , that in itself is amazing .