Migration from old PC to new

[delta_lima]

Hooray - finally getting around to getting a new pc in a few days! Running V4.5 at the moment.

My questions are as follows:

1) Does it make sense to port over the whole P3D install (say on an external HD) to the new PC, or do a whole new reinstall? I ask since there's mods like MAIW Matrix that are not available any longer - would hate to lose that install.

2) Thinking of treating myself to a new sim. Am thinking of either V5, V6 or (gasp!) MSFS. Note, my priorities are naval aviation (T-45, Harriers, Hornets, Tomcats), followed by rare NASA gems - the recent PBR POSKY 747 SCA/SOFIA, as examples. Suggestions are welcome.

New PC will be this or something close to: https://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX00128019

Not decided on monitor(s) yet, but the main questions are around points 1 and 2.

thanks in advance!

dl

[Mach3DS]

Not sure that MSFS really does Naval aviation any justice from a full experience point of view....from what I've seen. If you really want to get as close to the experience as you can, you may try out DCS, with the Super Carrier, Hornet and Tomcat Modules. There's nothing like it. Deck crew, functioning everything. You can be at the LSO station, or the Air Boss. There's nothing like it. Full Carrier ATC is modeled.

As for porting over, those addons you mentioned, you may not want to lose those. I would back up the install at the very least.

[Daube]

DCS is indeed the best choice when it comes to simulating military operations, especially Carrier ops.
However, if we try to stay within the OP's choice between P3D and MSFS, I have a few remarks:

1- Nothing prevents you from having both sims on the same computer. It's just a matter of space, and SSD drives are pretty cheap these days Using MSFS will not require or force you to stop using P3D.

2- MSFS is about just as ridiculous as P3D when it comes to the realism of aircraft carrier operations. You just get much better weather conditions and slightly better flight models in MSFS. The Heatblur Tomcat will most likely be your favorite baby (payware), the freeware Hornet and default Super Hornet will be your sidekicks. Dino's F-33's are there as well, just like his T-45, but they are payware now...

3- I don't remember for sure how the P3D files are distributed... I'm mostly worried about the side config files (XML and CFG and such) which might be in other folders. Excepted that, you will have to reinstall at least the client anyways. So maybe it's wiser to go through a full clean install there.

4- MSFS requires you to have an active "XBox Live" account. While this sounds to some people like an unbearable/unacceptable thing, this is basically just a simple registration stuff, exactly like your account here at SimOuthouse. And if you maybe already have some Microsoft-owned email account (I had a hotmail account for example), then it's very easy to switch it to an XBox Live account. And it's free, there's no subscription or any stupid things like that.

5- Finally for MSFS, please take your time to decide which version you want (standard/premium and I always forget the name of the third one) and especially which PLATFORM you want. MSFS is sold in two "versions": Steam or MS Store. I took the Steam one because I already use Steam for many games, but I never used the MS Store for anything. I'd like to say the Steam version has appeared much less troublesome than the MS Store version regarding updates, but this is just what I saw through the topics here and there, and I lack personal experience on that topic anyways.

Don't hesitate to ask questions.

[expat]

Hi Daniel,
Re transferring programs, with a new machine and clean hard drives you really want/need fresh installs, e.g., P3Dv4 itself, Active Sky, Orbx etc. The MAIW Matrix thing you might be able to copy over, - or essential parts of it - I don't know.
Congrats on your new rig and don't abandon us loyal P3Dv4.5 simmers!
expat

[DaveQ]

Hi Daniel,

For what it's worth, the visuals of MSFS are stunning but I've found it difficult to set up sufficiently well to attempt carrier ops, even with Rob's very docile Banshee. For me it's a sight-seeing sim...!

I've stuck with P3DV5.3 since it was released, primarily because i find that later versions don't work reliably with XMLtools which I use for simple loadout managers. And I like painting for it.....

And please stay with us; there are diminishingly few of us left sticking with FSX/P3D

DaveQ

[delta_lima]

Thanks all.

No worries - I consider you guys friends, seeing as we've travelled together through the sim experience here since the FS9 days.

Appreciate the guidance on the installs, and the sim feedback. The reality is I suppose I've usually only had one flight sim installed at a time, whereas it may make sense to look at DCS to scratch the mil ops itch. To that end, I see no reason to ditch v4.5 for now; if nothing else, it'll smoke along on the new box. Perhaps look at either v5 or v6 - I'm pretty happy with my carrier ops with RAZBAM Harriers, RFN freeware birds and carriers, and FSXBA Hornet, so maybe that's an option to get a better sim but still have access to those great FSX/P3D gems.

Either way, I'm not going away - thanks to all.

dl

PS - box and monitor picked up today, but backing up all my content ... takes hours... lol.

[Daube]

Well, MSFS does have "something new" for the military ops: the sceneries.
Sure in FSX/P3D we got some very nice photoreal sceneries, such as FranceVFR or the OrbX TrueEarth. These sceneries are close to perfect, but their coverage is limited to very few areas. When it comes to flying into countries that have never been decently covered in any of our previous sims, MSFS does an outstanding job at bringing you a great flying environment.

I'll take a simple example: Afghanistan. Flying there with FSX or P3D is just a pain. Scenery is extremely poor, generic ground textures that don't even match the region, autogen placement and type is ridiculous.... In MSFS on the other hand, you get immediately a decent mesh (not perfect for sure, but compared to previous sims, it's like night and day), photorealistic ground coverage everywhere at 1m/pixel by default, and a localized autogen that matches the shapes and colors of the local buildings/house. Flying in there in your F-15/18 or in your C-17, or even in a helicopter, offers you visuals that are very close to what we used to see on the news, back when the real-world military operations were still on-going over there.

And that's just an example. I could mention Africa, or some central+eastern countries as well. Basically, the photo coverage and especially the very nice autogen, coupled with the new weather system (yes, there's a lot of negative things to say on that one, but still...) will give a totally different taste to your wanderings in military jets.

Of course the ground textures sometimes look terrible. Weird colors, some autogen textures here and there where a cloud was masking the ground on the original arial photo material, mesh quality varying a lot... But despite all of this, it's hard to describe the pleasure of choosing almost any place on the planet to enjoy a photorealistic flight. Even for "well known" places that we all spend a lot of time into back in the older sims. Earlier this week for example, I finally decided to try a flight from Lukla to Katmandu, at day-end. The panorama I got during my flight, with low level clouds/fog in the valleys in which the city/road lights were starting to light up, and the approach over the city lights of Katmandu while the sun dissappears under the horizon, and finally the landing with the photorealistic Himalayan mountains in the background with the pink/orange tint from the low sun...