Dear Keith, Why X-Plane 10?

[Calvin Waterbury]

A 64-bit program can use a lot more RAM than a 32-bit program. 32-bit programs are limited to just a few GB RAM. That's pretty much all you need to know.

I'm not sure I understand?

XPlane will be produced in 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Just choose the one that better suits you. You would *need* to run the 32-bit version if you have a 32-bit operating system. Since you have a 64-bit operating system, you could run either one. If you're running out of memory running XPlane in 32-bit, you should run the 64-bit version.

Thanks, JN.
Well, maybe I'm living on borrowed time, but I don't ever recall having a crash due to running out of memory, so I am not sure if I would benefit by using 64-bit. Should I continue to use 32-bit and if I ever have problems consider moving to 64-bit?

[JN_]

One more try...

If you just spent a few thousand dollars on a high performance machine with a lot of RAM (memory) -- let's say 16GB or 32GB -- and then you noticed that XPlane was only using 2GB of that memory, you would probably be very disappointed that your machine is not being used to its fullest extent. By moving to 64-bit, XPlane can now use more than 2GB of RAM.

If you have a 64-bit OS, by all means use the 64-bit version.

[Mark Hargrove]

One cautionary note: If you want to use multiple networked PC's for external visuals, be aware this feature is seriously broken in XP10. Even with everything configured correctly you cannot keep the views on the external visuals locked. If you pan the display on the "master" system (to look at instruments on the right side of the panel, for example), the slave displays pan as well. Also, no matter how your external displays are set up, the 3D cockpit appears on the externals and remains even if you pan back to your normal panel view. This happens when you pan via the hat switch. Panning with the keypad (to preset camera locations) is a bit better, but the external displays still jump weirdly as the camera view on your master display shifts.

If you don't have multiple displays, this particular bug doesn't matter at all. If you do, it's maddening.

My understanding is that it's a known, filed bug for XP10 but I have no idea if it will ever get fixed -- it's apparently been a known problem for quite a while.

-M.

[Calvin Waterbury]

One more try...

If you just spent a few thousand dollars on a high performance machine with a lot of RAM (memory) -- let's say 16GB or 32GB -- and then you noticed that XPlane was only using 2GB of that memory, you would probably be very disappointed that your machine is not being used to its fullest extent. By moving to 64-bit, XPlane can now use more than 2GB of RAM.

If you have a 64-bit OS, by all means use the 64-bit version.

Thank you, JN. That helps me. How much more of the 16BG or 32BG would be used in your scenario?

[Calvin Waterbury]

One cautionary note:...
If you don't have multiple displays, this particular bug doesn't matter at all. If you do, it's maddening.

My understanding is that it's a known, filed bug for XP10 but I have no idea if it will ever get fixed -- it's apparently been a known problem for quite a while.

-M.

Thanks for the heads-up on this, Mark. I was thinking of using triple displays and getting X-Plane 10. Do you know if this is an issue in v.9.70?

[Daddy O]

Was running 9x for years, and my simulator ran great-@ 1080p resolutions and everything turned way up.
Went to xp10 and now the system is boggy. Had to turn down video, waaay down. The weather is fantastic but will drain your system likea vampire. And load times are terrible. Then there is the multi monitor issue described above (i have to have a fwd button programmed to the hat switch to correct it.

Gotta say, i kinda wish i had stayed on xp9. At least until i got a buncha new PCs.

[ChristophPreinfalk]

Another note on 64Bit: I'm running X-Plane 10.10 final in 32 bit exclusively for PE. (I'm on a Mac and the PE plug-in isn't 64 Bit yet on the Mac).

I'm also running X-Plane 10.20rc in 64 Bit for off-line flying. Laminar are adding more and more diversity to the scenery objects, will need more and more ram. My PE X-Plane has the scenery details cranked way down, whilst my 64 Bit has the scenery settings in the mid range, the visuals are quite different.

I have a 512MB graphics card, and when I fly a Carenado plane, I'm using about 800 MB of video ram, which "eats" into my system RAM usage, thus the 4GB limit of a 32 Bit application is an issue when I try to crank up the scenery settings in my 32 Bit X-Plane.

Bottomline, I can run X-Plane 64 Bit with nicer graphics settings without crashing.

As far as X-Plane 9 and memory usage: X-Plane 9 simply doesn't need as much memory, because the scenery (and other features) are not as advanced as in X-Plane 10, therefore you won't run into crash issues due to the 4GB memory limit. Those issues arose with X-Plane 10 when more features were introduced that simply need more memory.

One more thing on the Mac: OS X has even more of a memory issue with X-Plane, because the graphics drivers take up application RAM, therefore they take out a sizable junk out of the 4GB RAM that's available to an application (which in Windows doesn't happen).

[JN_]

Thank you, JN. That helps me. How much more of the 16BG or 32BG would be used in your scenario?

I can't answer that as I'm still running the 32-bit version. The architecture (32-bit/64-bit) must match between XPlane and plugins, so I'm waiting for the plugins to be available -- most notably PilotEdge. It shouldn't be a long wait.

The answer to your question depends on how much RAM XPlane needs. If you turn up the settings, it will need more, and if you don't have the headroom because you're running 32-bit, then you're out of luck. See Christoph's comments -- he's able to crank the settings up higher in 64-bit.

Until now, Laminar has been hamstrung by the memory limitation -- they couldn't go crazy with the memory because it was a limited resource. By introducing 64-bit, they can now afford to spend a lot more RAM, which opens up future opportunities for improving sim fidelity. So 64-bit will give you some now, and hopefully a lot more later.

[Keith Smith]

JN_ are you using MacOS or Windows? If it's the latter, there is a 64-bit version of PE already available in beta form.

[JN_]

JN_ are you using MacOS or Windows? If it's the latter, there is a 64-bit version of PE already available in beta form.

I'm on Windows.