What I learned in class today.

[OldAirmail]

This is for anyone who uses an extra monitor

This is something that I just learned today from G.K.

The original question was one that most people would overlook - How can I save panels on my monitor?

Another alternative is to get P3D. The monitor layout is saved with the flight.

I never knew!



So this isn't earth shattering news, and most people with just one monitor probably could care less.

Actually, depending on how you like to fly, you might like having one ot two instrument pop up in the EXACT same place all the time.


As far as I know, this will work for ANY aircraft panel that you can open on top of you screen.




I'll use the DesktopAviator GPS Panel w/Monitor as an example of how I'll use it.



The DesktopAviator GPS has a small monitor that displays the GPS from your aircraft. So to use it you need to open the GPS (no biggie), and then drag, drop, and position your aircraft GPS onto the monitor. Then you stretch it to fit.

None of this is hard to do. BUT to fully use your GPS add-on you have to do this every time! Again, it's not all that hard to do----But who wants to do it every time they want to fly?




If you have other monitors, drag & drop panels to the other monitor. When you have everything setup for a certain aircraft/flight simply save it. Next time you load that flight your other monitor will be set up.

So have fun and make up your own panels. Every time that you open the same "saved flight", your instruments will be there on the spare monitor, justas you lest them.

This could be fun with a large touch screen monitor.



This may not be a perfect solution to a full cockpit mock-up, but it is free and it is easy.

Good flying

[OldAirmail]

. . . . .What a scare!

Installing Prepar3d V2.3




It started last night when I received this message "attempt to call a nil value stack traceback:" when starting Prepar3d V2.2.




If I click on OK, P3d stops loading. Then the computer will lock up too.

If I wait until P3d has loaded before hitting OK there's no problem.

It seems to be a somewhat uncommon P3d problem. The only answer that I found was from a programmer who said that it was bad coding, and to start uninstalling whatever you've installed lately.



As an aside -One of the problems with the Lockheed Martin Prepar3d programming team is that they often skimp on the error handling routines.

All too often it'll crash to the desktop when it runs into an error. Luckily, that happens less often than FSX.

This error may not be caused by them, but the crash is.



Whenever I have a ".exe" download, I install it to a folder called - C:\Users\My\Desktop\New.

K.I.S.S.

When the installer program is done, I move the files to where they need to be.

If everything works out well, as it usually does, I delete the folder called "New".

If there are problems, then I can use the files listed in that folder to be certain of removing only those files.


This has always worked. Till now.

Not only did I uninstall the scenery & aircraft, but I even did a System Restore.

No change




Now there have been a few people with problems after updating to V2.3, and small number of those haven't been able to use P2d, EVEN after uninstalling V2.3.

OK, I'll grant that most of those probably didn't do a very good job of removing all traces of V2.2 before installing V2.3, or removing V2.3 before reinstalling V2.2.



This is an important part

My next problem was downloading Prepar3d V2.3.

I downloaded the full instillation 3 times. None worked.

I installed a download manager. None of them worked, either.


On the download page LM provides the checksum (a hashtag)



In a very small nutshell: if the hashtag of your download matches the number shown on the LM site then your download should be good.



And the simplest way to check that is to download & run Hash Tab

After running it you can right click on the file to check the download hastag (checksum).

Just right click and choose Properties.





See how easy it is to become a geek? Nothing to it.



Back to the problem

So I downloaded the individual files, check the hastag, and put them in a new folder,

When done I ran the installer AS ADMINISTRATOR.

Everything worked fine.....kinda.

More on that later, this is getting way too long.



Oh yeah, the scary part?

This morning when I was checking things out I noticed the Prepar3d folder was extremely small.



So I checked my backup.



Then I remembered the new version doesn't have all of my downloaded aircraft or scenery.

[Daube]

I guess I was lucky. My 2.2 version was working fine, and the patch to version 2.3 worked fine as well.
The only problem I had was after the 2.3 => the sim would crash during the flight loading.... But it was just because I forgot to update FSUIPC

What do you think of the 2.3 finally ? I have t osay I'm pretty happy with it so far. Especially because I could finally re-enable the cloud shadows, they don't impact the FPS anymore.
I still need to apply the cloud size fix, though...

[papituwall]

You didn't forget update FSUIPC, LM forgot coordinate with Mr. Dowson. Great stupid mistake.

After the problem with FSUIPC, cloud problem: Clouds are FPS killers in V2.3, see what LM suggests. It is another P3D mistake. It's a pity, V2.3 was born uncompleted and untested. ¿neverneding story?. Two weeks fighting against V2.3. They are getting the best sim but fail in stupid problems.

http://www.prepar3d.com/forum-5/?mingleforumaction=viewtopic&t=7984.0

• Browse to the ShadersHLSL folder. This is in the main application folder where the Prepar3D.exe is. You may need elevated permissions to do this if you installed into program files with standard windows security settings.
• Open Cloud.fx in notepad or another text editor
• Look for this this line (should be around line 300 if you have line numbers enabled in your editor):
GetScreenQuadPositions( quad, width, height );
• Scale the width and height down by half with this change:
GetScreenQuadPositions( quad, width*0.5, height*0.5 );
• Save your changes and close the file

Our system should detect the newer file and rebuild the shader, but if it does not, you can clear the shader cache:
• Go to DRIVE:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v2\
• Delete the Shaders folder and/or all of its contents. This will clear the cache.

As I have posted in a few other threads, you can also disable the volume effect by finding this line:
#define VOLUMIZE

and commenting it out
//#define VOLUMIZE

The volume effect should be a 5-10% hit in the worst case, but the hit was being magnified because there were 4x as many pixels in the bigger cloud sprites. If you like the effect but turned it off for performance reasons, you may want to try turning it back on after fixing the cloud scale.

[OldAirmail]

I did a thorough cleaning before the installation.

Prepar3d V2.3 worked absolutely perfect the very first time that I started it up.

EXCEPT FOR THE FPS BEING WAY DOWN!


Luckily it didn't take very long to find out about the "cloud" fix.

BTW - Am I the only one who had to read through that a few times??

Even after following it step, by careful step, the improvement was minimal.

But about the third time that I started P3d up it ran better than ever, and was very steady.

I haven't a clue as to why it needed that many sim restarts.



As for the Prepar3d programmers. I think, that for the most part, they're very good. But wonder how many of them there are?

It's almost like "We" are the beta testers.

I never considered P3d V1.x, so I can't form any opinion about that.

P3d V2.1x, for me, was horrible.

P3d V2.2x was a HUGE improvement


Now we have P3d V2.3x.

After they iron out the problems, I expect V2.3x+ to be significantly better too.


As I've said before - There's probably a LM executive that's hounding them (the programmers) to produce SOMETHING NOW!

[Blaunarwal]

I'm no longer free coworker of LM testing faulty software.

I buried P3D after trials with installation of 2.0, 2.1, 2.2 and finally 2.3. I have never seen so many problems of an install routine with any program. Updates seem not to be possible, so every time you install a minor update of P3D you also have to install all addons again. I could accept this, for major updates which bring a whole new program, but not for just bugfixing. If it was only possible to do the full install, but with 2.3 even this wasn't possible anymore, since the uninstall of 2.2 wasn't successful.
LM told in the forums, that the users systems are corrupted, it's not their fault. Ok LM, you don't need the users. Go on creating software, no one can ever use.

[logjam]

Seems that some have no problems, yet others are plagued with problems. On the face of it, LM are right, all those with problems have corrupted systems. I would like to see a full analysis of systems that do or don't to further examine what actually is the corruption. Of course, don't expect LM to do this, it costs them money.

[papituwall]

I'm no longer free coworker of LM testing faulty software.

I buried P3D after trials with installation of 2.0, 2.1, 2.2 and finally 2.3. I have never seen so many problems of an install routine with any program. Updates seem not to be possible, so every time you install a minor update of P3D you also have to install all addons again. I could accept this, for major updates which bring a whole new program, but not for just bugfixing. If it was only possible to do the full install, but with 2.3 even this wasn't possible anymore, since the uninstall of 2.2 wasn't successful.
LM told in the forums, that the users systems are corrupted, it's not their fault. Ok LM, you don't need the users. Go on creating software, no one can ever use.

It seems surrealistic, for every bug they correct, they create 3 new ones.

I'm used to DCS and X-plane updates, never seen that. It seems that the F-35 is manufactured in that way, Company policy...

In spite of that I think this sim is the best in general image quality. I say general (light, clouds, etc.) because for having a good VC I need to adjust Nvida with AA_MODE_REPLAY_SGSSAA_4X and that means my GTX660 overheating 10º C more than with FSX.

And take care, last Nvidia driver not working with P3D Tessellation.

[Blaunarwal]

It seems surrealistic, for every bug they correct, they create 3 new ones.

I'm used to DCS and X-plane updates, never seen that. It seems that the F-35 is manufactured in that way, Company policy...

In spite of that I think this sim is the best in general image quality. I say general (light, clouds, etc.) because for having a good VC I need to adjust Nvida with AA_MODE_REPLAY_SGSSAA_4X and that means my GTX660 overheating 10º C more than with FSX.

And take care, last Nvidia driver not working with P3D Tessellation.

DCS does it great, Trainsimulator (Steam) too. Even major updates just run automaticly.

I like the "Neverending Story" It seems to be neverending unless they run out of money one day . They don't get more from me, that's for sure.

[WPadgett]

I'm no longer free coworker of LM testing faulty software.

I buried P3D after trials with installation of 2.0, 2.1, 2.2 and finally 2.3. I have never seen so many problems of an install routine with any program. Updates seem not to be possible, so every time you install a minor update of P3D you also have to install all addons again. I could accept this, for major updates which bring a whole new program, but not for just bugfixing. If it was only possible to do the full install, but with 2.3 even this wasn't possible anymore, since the uninstall of 2.2 wasn't successful.
LM told in the forums, that the users systems are corrupted, it's not their fault. Ok LM, you don't need the users. Go on creating software, no one can ever use.

I never had the computer expertise, patience or time to correct the myriad problems with each P3D version. I'd rather fly my sim than trouble shoot.

CP ASMEL Instruments

[OldAirmail]

There's a limited way to transfer some of the settings from one version to another if anyone doesn't want to use the "Patch" upgrade.

[Bass]

Thank you very much for this, guys
It makes me feel very comfortable with what i got atm

[G.K.]

I get what folk are sayingbut have reached a different conclusion.

I run it vanilla now, clean machine (albeit average hardware), separate drive. I'm more than happy with the experience. I do get some texture lag and some minor stutters but it all looks so much better than FSX. It's good enough to warrant the outlay as far as I'm concerned.

As I've said before: Flight simmers are inveterate tweakers and tinkerers, it's no wonder that there are a lot of broken operating systems and dodgy hardware configs. There's also a lot of youngsters who want it to be perfect in every detail ( Homer this grill will cook a whole cow in 2 minutes......"but I want it now " whines Homer). One person on the LM boards complained that one scenery object was improperly rendered and he called it a "Major Scenery Bug" requesting a patch all on it's own......jeez. Who'd be a LM moderator.

That said, I thinks LM's beta testing could be a little more thorough.

OldAirmail: Re the saving monitors post which I've only just noticed, no problem and my pleasure

[Daube]

I'm also extremely happy with the 2.3 version right now.
I can understand that some of us don't want to act as "beta testers". But from what I see, there are far less problems in the current version of P3D than what I had in my FSX. And from a performance point of view, my poor old GTX480 is giving wonderful results.

Yes, the clouds are oversized in 2.3 and the fix is already available. But since my transparency AA was disabled, these big clouds had no impact at all on my performance. And the current stability of the sim is quite appreaciated.
There are a few things I'm really missing though, compared to FSX:
- the ENB bloom: despite all my efforts with SweetFX, I cannot reach the same excellent colors I had in FSX DirectX9. My P3D looks very nice of course, but I liked the rendering of the "sunlight" ENB mod better. Too bad the ENB works only in DX9 :/
- the FS9 planes: there were very few FS9 planes left in my FSX hangar, but I liked to fly them from time to time. In P3D, this is not possible anymore, because the VCs are not clickable anymore :/
- the real-world weather: I liked the results I could sometimes get with the real-world weather in FSX. In P3D, I have to use the freeware FSRealXW, which also gives excellent results... but I miss the simplicity of the FSX native feature.
- the TackPack: I REALLY miss my laser targetting screen and my beloved Super Hornet... But VRS announced that they will finally bring them into P3D, so it's just a matter of time.

Even PMDG announced they would finally bring their products to P3D. I'm not a liner pilot, but this was a major no-go for a lot of simmers willing to migrate to P3D. A very welcome news I think.

[OldAirmail]

Let me throw 2 cents, pence, pfennig, or what you will, into the ring.

For those who are using FS9 and are happy with it, Great! Enjoying what you're doing helps to make life worthwhile.

For those happy with FSX, No problem at all. With many of the great software add-ons like Orbx and others, FSX is much better today than it was a year or two ago.



Look at my signature. It says FS12

Prepr3d isn't FSX anymore, but it is still a direct descendant.

Once it was working right, I kept comparing it with FSX for a long time.

I then ported over just about everything into P3d. Almost all that was important to me worked, so I switched permanently to P3d.



So here I am today trying get things working as well as it did before I screwed up.

And so far I haven't noticed any striking improvements. Yes, the FPS is a bit more steadier than before. Big deal. For me, P3d V2.2 worked smother than FSX did.

If you have V2.2 working well, just sit this one out.



Here's something to try to remember - Did you have any problems moving from FS9 to FSX?

I bet that you did.