Prepar3D v2 First Trip Report - LFLJ to LOWI!

P3Dv2. I was originally planning on my first trip to be from LHBP to EFHK, but I was unable to get LH Simulation's LHBP scenery to function properly in Prepar3D v2. After looking at the weather and other different options, I decided on a short 270 NM trip from the French Alps to Austria, from the Courchevel (LFLJ) Alitport to Innsbruck Airport.

My goal of this first trip was to be able to ascertain how Prepar3D v2 performs during such a flight when using complex mesh-enhanced scenery, as well as to dispel any notion and sentiment about Prepar3D v2's performance being too sluggish.
Bandwidth Warning! Over 80 high-res screenshots!

I have not had any performance problems, and I suspect that configuration issues are likely the cause of anyone not getting the most out of their fast graphics card. With this in mind, I'd like to point out the importance of configuring the Frame Rate Controls correctly:

It is imperative that you configure your system to have Aero enabled, that you set VSync to On with Triple Buffering selected - see the above screenshot. For this first trip I've specifically chosen Target Frame Rate to be set at Unlimited so that you can see the performance impact in terms of FPS in the Prepar3D v2 screenshots below.

The route I chose from LFLJ to LOWI takes us across the French Alps into Northern Italy, then across Southern Switzerland, with a few more minutes in Italian airspace before we enter Austria and land at Innsbruck:

I found quite a few fixes and navaids from my Jeppesen database missing or named differently in Prepar3D v2. It's a shame that the Flight Planner isn't slightly more sophisticated and I wish it had the ability to share some of the same AIRAC data that add-on aircraft ship with:

In case any of you wish to replicate this flight and compare it with your own Prepar3D v2 setup, the routing was as follows:

The Terminal Forecast for LFLJ and LOWI at the time of departure was given as:

The complex Alpine elevations that are embedded in the NEXTmap France mesh data I used are rendered by Prepar3D v2 in impeccable detail and clarity. The Courchevel airport environment is really stunning and you get a real sense of being up in the Alps:

In FSX and Prepar3D v1.4 I frequently had problems with sloping runways that had an underlying complex mesh, and I can say that none of these problems were evident during today's departure from Courchevel:

The default scenery in this region really doesn't look bad at all, the addition of the high-end mesh and weather environment depicted by OpusFSX really makes a noticeable difference in enhancing the overall look and feel of the world outside of the cockpit:

Having said that, the change of scenery from default to Switzerland Professional is very noticeable, the beauty of the Swiss Alps and the incredible amount of detail that the add-on offers in conjunction with the NEXTmap Swiss mesh is quite remarkable:

Cruising at FL210, the low lying clouds covering the Swiss Alps confirm the end of one of my biggest gripes with FSX and Prepar3D v1.4, the quivering clouds caused by Z-buffer clipping, they are now a thing of the past:

Descending towards the Austrian border, the complex weather visuals that can be rendered through the use of volumetric clouds and fog are really evident and absolutely stunning:

Intercepting the OEV localizer the Duke turns west towards Innsbruck. The visuals generated by Prepar3D v2 with Austria Professional X along with the NEXTmap Austria mesh don't disappoint:

Descending into LOWI there was a sudden shift in visibility with the airport now visible in the distant haze:

The airport lighting obviously needs to be enhanced, fixed or upgraded in the Aerosoft Innsbruck airport package, as the ALS, REIL and PAPI lights appeared to be off during my approach:

Prior to departing Courchevel I had switched on the Buildings Cast and Receive Shadows options  in the Lighting settings. Using the Time Preview function one can see how the the shadows generated by the buildings shift with time, all with a very acceptable frame rate:

What can I say, the performance is everything and more than what I had expected. In FSX and Prepar3D v1.4 my system (i7-3930K CPU & GTX Titan GPU) was never able to attain a constant frame rate above 25 FPS over complex scenery. The above screenshots clearly demonstrate that Prepar3D v2 not only greatly improves the visual quality, there is a massive performance increase too, one without any sacrifice in terms of scenery complexity and quality when compared to FSX and Prepar3D v1.4.

I hope you've enjoyed this report on my first trip in Prepar3D v2. None of the add-ons I used were specifically designed for Prepar3D v2. With the introduction of DX11 and performance requirements having shifted from the CPU to the GPU, OOMs should be a thing of the past, with those memory demands now being catered for by VRAM. I see tremendous potential in Prepar3D v2 and am excited about the future. Wes and his team have worked very hard and have delivered so much more than just a graphics upgrade with Prepar3D v2.

The following add-ons were used for the above trip report:

RealAir Duke B60 Version 2.0
OpusFSX Weather
NEXTmap Mesh France
TRUElandscape France Landclass
LLH Créations Courchevel Altiport
NEXTmap Mesh Switzerland
FlyLogic/Aerosoft Switzerland Professional
NEXTmap Mesh Austria
Aerosoft Austria Professional X
Aerosoft Approaching Innsbruck

Lockheed Martin Prepar3D v2

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