Time for me to stop reading.
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MSFS is based on the FSX engine, but donât forget that the engine is so massively different that theyâre just not the same animals.
Since when did FSX have streaming scenery?
Since when did FSX have terrain dependent weather (as in winds that actually vary depending on what side of a mountain youâre on?)
Since when did FSX have JavaScript based aircraft gauges?
Since when did FSXâs NavData and approach database depend on a secondary database (instead of the approaches being part of the airport AFCAD?)
To me itâs clear that they had to reprogram the majority of the engine, and the FSX engine is only an inspiration.
3 Likes
Wow that FlyTampa Dubai scenery addons is really bad and nothing like Dubai except for a few similarly shaped buildings. Was it a paid addon?
I donât think thatâs correct. Or to put it on other words: engine isnât the right word here. MSFS does use some (?) data from FSX but certainly NOT anything âgraphical engineâ related.
I like the screenshots from the OP! Specially the first one shows what always annoyed me with FSX and P3D: both sims have no LIGHT. MSFS does have LIGHT. FSX/P3D always look like itâs a cloudy day. In MSFS the sun can really SHINE and blind you. Itâs incomparable. And a dream come true.
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You can do that, but itâs true. They worked off the FSX code base. Is it a little hyperbolic? Yes. I donât deny that.
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If they had used FSX code, the game would have had fewer bugs. 
They could have ported or reused code from FSX, but given the level of redesign, any serious developer would disregard trying to understand, realign and reuse any 14-year-old code. A lot easier to rewrite.
To be fair the only part of the game that reminds FSX is the ATC phraseology/options.
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Uhh what now ??
Graphics Engine used is a slightly modified FTECH engine (Same engine used in Forza series by Turn10 studios). Turn10 studios have been providing them with technical help to better understand the FTECH engine all these years.
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It depends on what you call streaming scenery?
Technically it has always been streaming scenery + autogen. You can not simulate a whole planet without streaming. Whatâs new is the Bing connection and Blackshark AI augmenting the autogen and photogrammetry. If you fly to areas that have no Bing coverage, the scenery looks just like FSX or barely better. I know, I have been flying through Canada, Greenland and Arctic Alaska since release. Itâs like flying on Pandora, the planet from the Avatar movie. Floating lakes and surreal terrain formations all over.
The weather you point out also does not work quite as advertised. Terrain dependent weather is great, but the grid of the weather model is so coarse that we get inaccurate and sometimes unrealistic weather globally. I try to steer clear of mountains anyway.
I am not saying everything is really bad with MsFS. It has many positives. Negativity always seems amplified in written text. I am not trying to bash Asobo, although I am not in favor of some design decisions that were taken and how someone responsible took the decision to release a version that was obviously downgraded from the final alpha builds (missing watermasks etc.).
I mean, after 15 years of having FSX, improved aircraft gauges and other unique selling points are somewhat expected to be honest. Sadly those Java gauges were released in a really buggy state and the community is working hard to fix and improve everthing. On a per airplane basis, the gauges are also not working entirely correct for the most part. Take the C208 torque meter, the wrong fuel guages on the C152 or the EIS of the Diamond Aircraft.
Itâs also a bit sad that I canât open any doors. Not a cruicial feature at all, but I always enjoyed that in previous versions of the sim.
tl;dr
Yes, they are different, but you can clearly tell the heritage here.
Yes. Graphics engine.
A sim is not all about graphics, though. Itâs about data structure and all the other stuff that makes airplanes fly etcâŠ
I would call it the flight dynamics, which they are trying to adapt to a new, significantly better engine.
One that has never been seen before, and thus they are having their challenges.
It can indeed be frustrating, but Iâm sure it will get better.
With the exception of installation ones, FSX had just as many issues when it was released.
Not in my P3DâŠ
I disagree. I compare my overall experience with each. Addons or not.
Which sim do I want to fly today, and why? Thatâs what matters when I boot my pc.
So, lets put this particular discussion to bed once and for all.
As a long time [years] user of P3d I can definitively state that MSFS 2020 is not just visually superior to P3d, it is visually superior to any, and all, other sims out there.
This is just a truth! Donât fight it!
Further, Once MSFS 2020 has been through as many iterations as all the other sims and has had the chance to time ripen, I expect it to be superior in every other way as well.
4 Likes
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZâŠ.sorry this old trope about which Sim is better is really boring. Comparing P3Dv5 to MS 2020 is like comparing The Bahamas to Hawaii they both have some eye candy but when going to the outer suburbs you see some blight. The big and mostly only difference with MS 2020 versus P3Dv5 (besides the cost of add-ons in P3Dv5) is that out of the digital box you get same eye candy anywhere in the World! The rest flight dynamics, real weather, etc.âŠ. Is a work progress yes but, me thinks that MS 2020 has a great head start over any other SIM. So lets argue about more important things like which show is better Star Trek Discovery or The Expanse?
5 Likes
Haha.
Well said.
I have been watching the new Battlestar Galactica which was naff first time round, but this latest series is surprisingly dark. Haha.
Is it wrong to say that the P3D pics look better?
whatâŠtoo soon?
Yes. On both counts.
hehehehehehe 
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Only, MSFS has addons as well.
So yeah, skewed comparison.
I heard them talk about that and WHY EXACTLY they switch to Dx12. Performance is NOT the main reason, like many here want to believe. The main reason are effects, graphics and features that work only with Dx12, like, for instance Raytracing. Thatâs the reason they will upgrade. You can check that in the Q&A. So, in a sense, what youâre saying is true.