Prepar3D...The new FSX compatible Flight Simulator!

Prepar3D - Lockheed Martin has taken the FSX platform into a new level aimed at the professional.

Prepar3D...The new FSX compatible Flight Simulator!

Postby Fly2e » Fri Mar 15, 2013 7:41 pm

Welcome to the Lockheed Martin Prepar3D Forum

In 2009, 2010 Lockheed Martin announced that they had negotiated with Microsoft to purchase the intellectual property (including source code) for the Microsoft ESP product. Microsoft ESP is the commercial-use version of "Flight Simulator X SP2". On May 17, 2010, Lockheed announced that the new product based upon the ESP source code would be called "Prepar3D" (pronounced "Prepared"). Lockheed hired members of the original Microsoft ACES Studio team to continue development of the product. Version 1.1 was released in April 2011, with a retail license cost of $US499.00. A developer license is also available for a monthly fee of $US9.95. In March 2012, along with the release of version 1.3, the pricing strategy was revised. The Professional edition is now available for $US199, with an Academic License available for $US49.95. Prepar3D furthers the development of Microsoft® ESP™ while maintaining compatibility with Microsoft Flight Simulator X, allowing many thousands of add-ons to be used within Prepar3D. Click link to learn more and tell us what you think of this Simulator! Prepar3D
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John Baymore says...
For the serious simmer (as in home cockpit builders)... this is looking like a significant possibility. At about $200 the professional version is NOT all that expensive, particularly when you compare to the other expenses involved in a simpit. This has me seriously thinking.
Even for a desktop sim...... if this is truly a "professional' level product (flight schools!)...... when you compare it to a more "game" level sim like FSX the price difference for the better product is NOT all that much.
I'm really looking forward to seeing what our members do with this.
best,

.......................john



Pete the Master of all Webmasters proclaims...
From the Prepar3D website
Training meets reality with Lockheed Martin’s Prepar3D® simulation software. Private pilots, commercial organizations, militaries and academia rely on Prepar3D for immersive, experiential learning.
Prepar3D (pronounced “prepared”) is a visual simulation platform that allows users to create training scenarios across aviation, maritime and ground domains. Users can train anywhere in the virtual world, from underwater to sub orbital space.
Prepar3D furthers the development of Microsoft® ESP™ while maintaining compatibility with Microsoft Flight Simulator X, allowing many thousands of add-ons to be used within Prepar3D.
Pete said in a recent interview with Flight Sim Global Networks that... It will be interesting to hear from people who use it.... or intend to use it.






Pete has purchased the 'Academic license' ( $49.95) but hasn't got around to trying it yet ..... He will keep you posted! O0
<<t
COMING SOON!
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Re: Prepar3D...The new FSX compatible Flight Simulator!

Postby RAFSB » Mon Mar 18, 2013 7:46 am

I think that you need to consider your computer before you purchase Prepar3d.

My old computer was a "White box" AMD Athalon 4800+, 2 gig of ram and a 4750 ATI Vid card.
Prepar3d installed just fine and loaded up. But..It would only run for about 20 minutes before it shut down. I beleive it was the Vid card that did that.

I now have a HP AMD A10, 12 gig of ram and I am using the onboard ATI 6530 vid card with 2 monitors. Prepar runs great.
So. If you have a video card less than a ATI 6000 series..upgrade.
I hope this will help anyone interested in Prepar3d.

BTW. I met up with Steve yesterday and gave him the nickle tour of our Aerospace facility at CYKF and a look at Prepar3d.
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Re: Prepar3D...The new FSX compatible Flight Simulator!

Postby Steve M » Mon Mar 18, 2013 3:08 pm

Thanks for the tour Peter! Very impressive, to say the least. I mentioned in another thread that I plan to upgrade before I buy Prepar3d. My rig is over 7 years old and time to put it to pasture anyway.
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Re: Prepar3D...The new FSX compatible Flight Simulator!

Postby gregj » Tue Mar 19, 2013 12:53 pm

I have pretty much converted over to this Sim as a result of too many CTD's I was experiencing in FSX. I have a brand new install o FSX on my computer as well, but that literally was just to ensure some compatibility issues with an add-on.

I have found that this platform is:
1) more stable
2) appears to be more gfx friendly with smoother frame rates
3) supported fully by Lockheed and Prepar3d Admins
4) generously rich in terms of scenery add-ons from 3rd party providers.
5) robust in terms of community support from Prepar3d, FTX and ORBX

I chose the $9.99 per month version for now. I may up that in the near future.

My specs are listed in my signature, and this runs silky smooth.
Asus Sabertooth Z77
Intel I-7 3770K
EVGA 670 4GB
16 Ghz Corsair Dominator
Barracuda 1-TB
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Re: Prepar3D...The new FSX compatible Flight Simulator!

Postby Steve M » Tue Mar 19, 2013 6:23 pm

gregj wrote:I have pretty much converted over to this Sim as a result of too many CTD's I was experiencing in FSX. I have a brand new install o FSX on my computer as well, but that literally was just to ensure some compatibility issues with an add-on.

I have found that this platform is:
1) more stable
2) appears to be more gfx friendly with smoother frame rates
3) supported fully by Lockheed and Prepar3d Admins
4) generously rich in terms of scenery add-ons from 3rd party providers.
5) robust in terms of community support from Prepar3d, FTX and ORBX

I chose the $9.99 per month version for now. I may up that in the near future.

My specs are listed in my signature, and this runs silky smooth.








That looks like nice machine in your sig!
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Re: Prepar3D...The new FSX compatible Flight Simulator!

Postby FridayChild » Thu Mar 21, 2013 1:25 pm

Exciting news (at least it's news for me). :D
I almost forgot about these boards because life went on a great deal... a baby girl in the (small) house means no time at all whatsoever for all things that belonged to life as it used to be! There's a "before" and an "after" and currently flight simming belongs to "before" and "maybe in a future" :lol:
I am brought back by the automated email about the new boards, and find out about Prepar3D.
I read it's already better than FSX used to be in the graphics compartment as it supports new shaders and most of all multicore rendering for less blurries. If that's not exciting!
Question: setting aside cosmetic things (like the lack of a start screen) what's (what was) the difference between the consumer and the pro (on which this new product is based) versions of FSX?
The academic version looks very affordable, does this mean we're still in the game? O0

Thanks
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Re: Prepar3D...The new FSX compatible Flight Simulator!

Postby RAFSB » Thu Mar 21, 2013 2:45 pm

The main difference between the "Pro" and "academic version" is that the Pro will get the updates.
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Re: Prepar3D...The new FSX compatible Flight Simulator!

Postby FridayChild » Sun Mar 24, 2013 2:54 pm

Do you mean the Professional version will grant the right to, say, upgrade from 1.x to 2.x for no additional price (whereas I am sure that minor updates, i.e. 1.x to 1.x+y, are free for the Academic version as well)?
Anyway, I was asking about the difference between FSX and FSX ESP, on which Prepar3d is based.
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Re: Prepar3D...The new FSX compatible Flight Simulator!

Postby BE58D » Sun Mar 24, 2013 6:14 pm

I've looked at this, but $199 is a bit pricey! I just went back to FS2004 because FSX wasn't very friendly with my PC!

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Re: Prepar3D...The new FSX compatible Flight Simulator!

Postby JBaymore » Tue Mar 26, 2013 5:12 pm

BE58D wrote:I've looked at this, but $199 is a bit pricey! I just went back to FS2004 because FSX wasn't very friendly with my PC!

<<t


From my point of view if this delivers what it promises.... unlike FSX..... then that is CHEAP. For about only $150 more than FSX... you get the world to work with and it is stable and fast. Many have invested FAR more than an additional $150 in payware and addons to get FS2004 or FSX up to the standards they are looking for.

Any simpit type flight simmer would likely LOVE this platform base.

For the more casual flight simmer..... I can see FSX or FS2004 meeting their needs.

best,

......................john
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Re: Prepar3D...The new FSX compatible Flight Simulator!

Postby BE58D » Tue Mar 26, 2013 7:42 pm

JBaymore wrote:
BE58D wrote:I've looked at this, but $199 is a bit pricey! I just went back to FS2004 because FSX wasn't very friendly with my PC!

<<t


From my point of view if this delivers what it promises.... unlike FSX..... then that is CHEAP. For about only $150 more than FSX... you get the world to work with and it is stable and fast. Many have invested FAR more than an additional $150 in payware and addons to get FS2004 or FSX up to the standards they are looking for.

Any simpit type flight simmer would likely LOVE this platform base.

For the more casual flight simmer..... I can see FSX or FS2004 meeting their needs.

best,

......................john


I'm looking for stability as well, if there are folks that try and can provide some postive feedback and negative (so we know what to look out for), I'd spend the money for it! I'm just a bit leary right now.
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Re: Prepar3D...The new FSX compatible Flight Simulator!

Postby BrandonF » Wed Mar 27, 2013 6:41 pm

BE58D wrote:I've looked at this, but $199 is a bit pricey! I just went back to FS2004 because FSX wasn't very friendly with my PC!

<<t


Get the Academic version...$49.
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Re: Prepar3D...The new FSX compatible Flight Simulator!

Postby OldAirmail » Sun Mar 31, 2013 2:03 pm

RAFSB wrote:The main difference between the "Pro" and "academic version" is that the Pro will get the updates.

So the "academic version" will not get any updates, correct?

I assume that if I buy the current "PRO" version of Prepar3d now, that I'll have to buy the "PRO" Version 2 when it comes out.

And information on Prepar3d version 2 is, essentially, non-existent. I don't think that $200 is too much to spend for a better, and more capable, flight sim. Many of you have spent much more than that for addon scenery and planes. However, I don't think that I want to spend $200 now, and $200 later on for Prepar3d V2.


I have X-Plane 10 and am disappointed with it. Maybe it'll improve later, but I'm not betting on it. My e-mail from them is BUY this plane, or BUY that scenery pack of the west coast, an area of which I have almost NO interest. When I asked why there was nothing in X-plane for East Coast airports I was told to build them myself if I can't find any built by other X-Plane 10 fans.


The YouTube videos that I've seen purporting to show how much better Prepar3d is, show very little improvement over FSX, in my opinion.

So I'm still flying in FSX, and waiting. And waiting. And ....

At least my FSX has no lock-ups or crashes. It works perfectly on my 64bit Win 7 Pro system. I just want something newer than a 2006 program that can’t take advantage of the power in newer computers.
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Re: Prepar3D...The new FSX compatible Flight Simulator!

Postby FoMoCo63 » Sun Mar 31, 2013 4:07 pm

To me, it's like anything you put into FSX and just basically drop and play you get out of it just what you put into the program, which would be none to very little results if you just plug and play.
If you don't know a anti-aliasing setting from a anisotropic filtering setting you could be in trouble, or negitive load bias to knowing when to vertical sync clamp on, you could be in trouble. Knowing how the software was created as far as how it is redured. This is just the tip of the iceberg for any set up.
I'm sure this Prepar 3D is the same way. It's going to take some set-up on your end to get it right I have no doubt. I've seen some photo(s) of people using this program and it looks horrible, then theirs others not to bad. I'm sure I'll have the 3D someday myself, I was born into this world for a tile proxy, I eat, live, and breathe for a satelite imagery tile proxy.
For now REX and ORBX PNW and a great FSX is all I use and get some very good results.
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Re: Prepar3D...The new FSX compatible Flight Simulator!

Postby OldAirmail » Sun Mar 31, 2013 9:10 pm

There is a sim for you. Its called X-Plane 10.

Watch this video - Exclusive interview with Austin Meyer over X-Plane 10. Watch it ALL the way through.

The depth and dynamics of X-Plane 10 is fantastic, within it's core. But outside of a few aircraft and a city or 2 Laminar Research depends on a cadre of devoted fans and payware companies to fill it out. In time it just may be THE next flight sim.

For me it's not so hot, in that the vast majority of airports consists only of runways. And I'm talking about some major east cost airports, not just the small cities that I like to fly to. The scenery companies seem to concentrate on mountainous areas and islands. It's as if they think that everyone lives in California, Alaska, or Colorado. I have lived on the East Coast most of my life and enjoy this area. To each his own.

So after I was told to "just create the airports, it's simple", I just ignored X-Plane 10, "it's simple". I do have some unique talents, but I'm about as artistic as chopped liver. And at my age I have more to do. Like comb my 3 hairs, brush my dentures, adjust my hernia belt, clean out my hearing aid, shift the donut cushion under my butt. Oh, the list is endless. :lol:

Our interests are different. When I have time to fly, I just want to fly. If I need to get into the details, I do. I wanted a GPS in a touchscreen with REAL concentric knobs, and I made it happen. It wasn't hard at all, but it seems that no one else did it the same way as I did.

Either Prepar3D or X-Plane 10 will win out in the end. I already have X-Plane 10, but I'll wait until Prepar3D Ver. 2 comes out before I decide where to invest my time and money.
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