It's here early 11-24-13

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

Re: It's here early 11-24-13

Postby pete » Fri Nov 29, 2013 5:10 pm

That looks like there should be an easy solution ...... Don't give up! :pray: :P
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Re: It's here early 11-24-13

Postby OldAirmail » Sat Nov 30, 2013 9:36 pm

I'm having a hard time giving this up.

This is the screen I get when I TRY to start Prpar3d.

Image



But when I run dxdiag I get these results saying that DirectX 11 is just fine.

Image


Image



I do have FSX re-installed and working, again.

Because Prepar3d & FSX are so similar (you can't even run both at the same time), I thought that if I were to uninstall FSX and Prepar3d, and then re-install Prepar3d ONLY, that Prepar3d might install & run. No go.

Because Internet explorer is so heavily integrated into Windows 7, I thought that replacing IE 10 with IE 11 might replace whatever file(s) are causing the problem. No go.



That's it for now. I must be the only person on earth who has a capable computer, but can't get it running right!

I'm just waiting for another Prepar3d re-install.
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Re: It's here early 11-24-13

Postby Daube » Sun Dec 01, 2013 5:33 am

Your video card is a Radeon 6800 ?
From what I saw, it is indeed a DX11 video card.
The problem might come from your video drivers. Did you install the latest ones ? Did you install them properly ?
Did you also (attempt to) update your DirectX runtimes in Windows ?

Normally, the blue screen you're seeing is a kind of "loading" screen.
I get this as well when I launch a flight. Light blue screen, and then after a few seconds the runway appear, then the ground, then the other details progressively. Complete picture loading takes more or less 20 seconds I think, and my P3Dv2 is on a SSD. My computer has an i7 960 @ 3,6GHz coupled with a GTX480, running Win 7 64.
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Re: It's here early 11-24-13

Postby OldAirmail » Sun Dec 01, 2013 12:17 pm

The actual card is an ASUS Radeon HD 6870. According to Tom's Hardware it's the equivalent of the NVidia GTX 560, but it'll run 3 monitors right out of the box.

A simple way to check the DirectX version is to type dxdiag into the search box (if you're running Win 7).

Image



As to the video drivers, I had the latest drivers before I started the install. Later on I'd read that some people had problems with the latest drivers (although that was with some GTX cards).

So I went back 2 iteration on the Radeon drivers. All 3 drivers were downloaded to the desktop and unzipped to their respective folders. Later, after repeted failures of Prepar3d V2 to run, I even downloaded the latest beta driver.

My process on each version was to delete the current driver, restart the computer. Install the video driver, and restart the computer. Test to see if Prepar3d would run. Then do it all over again with the next driver.



An attempt to update DirectX 11 won't work. Once the MS installer sees that you already have DirectX 11, it stops the install. No repair option.

You can, with quite a bit of work, uninstall DirectX by doing several back flips with your eyes crossed and holding your nose (in other words not very easily).

That didn't help either.

Another requirement is MSXML 6. I had that too. But I went to MS and reinstalled that also. Same problem.



"Normally, the blue screen you're seeing is a kind of "loading" screen."

Originally, when I first ran Prepar3d V2, I would get a totally black window (out of the 2 that I normally run). You can hear the engine(s) running, and in a few seconds the plane crashes into something.

After this happened a few times I learned to cut the engine and set the breaks.

I left that black screen running and went shopping. A little over an hour it was still there, I don't use screen savers as I find then annoying. The same for power saving on the monitors.



Once the plane was safe, I could select different planes. The screen STAYED black until I selected to show the cockpit.

At that point, EVERYTHING outside of the cockpit windows was black. If I selected ANY outside view, the MS Windows screen showed only black.

Image

As you can see, only the scenery is black.

By using the "-" and "+" keys I can get some color, but that's like zooming in on a small patch of paint.

Image


For what it's worth, I'm using an SSD too. The rest you can see in one of the DirectX screen shots.
Last edited by OldAirmail on Sun Dec 01, 2013 12:31 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: It's here early 11-24-13

Postby OldAirmail » Sun Dec 01, 2013 12:18 pm

I've posted this info on the LM hardware site, and hopefully they'll come up with a solution.

I think that it's some setting in my computer.


If they can't come up with an explanation I'll ask them to let me install it on a spare reformatted drive with a fresh Windows 7 installation.

I don't want to do it without their permission incase they void my license for multiple installations.
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Re: It's here early 11-24-13

Postby Daube » Sun Dec 01, 2013 12:25 pm

Edit your P3D.cfg.
Change the following lines to match these values:

FullScreen=False
...
Location=320,115,1360,893,\\.\DISPLAY1
LocationFullScreen=0,0,1680,1050,\\.\DISPLAY1


That should force the sim to start in windowed mode. Wait a bit before trying to switch in fullscreen.
Last thing: swith back to windowed mode before leaving the sim. On my computer, if I don't do that, I end up with a permanent black screen next time I start the sim, and I cannot switch back to windowed mode either.
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Re: It's here early 11-24-13

Postby OldAirmail » Sun Dec 01, 2013 12:41 pm

When I first started Prepar3d it was in full screen. The left screen had Prepar3d, kinda working. The right screen was totally black.

I then switched to windowed mode and let it at that.

Now when I try to run Prepared I just get this:

Image

I no longer get any startup screen.
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Re: It's here early 11-24-13

Postby OldAirmail » Sat Dec 07, 2013 1:29 pm

There's a post on the Prepar3d hardware board that mentions a problem with some computers (in this case a Dell laptop), that have the same problem that I now have: cant start Prepar3d V2 because Prepared can't detect DirectX 11.

In that post, Nvidia GT555M DirectX 11 Video Card - P3D V2 Will Not Start, Zach Heylmun of Lockheed Martin says

"Mr. DelFranco,
Your machine does have another graphics adapter.
Your i7 processor has an Intel HD Graphics 3000 chip built into it, and that is what is being detected as your primary graphics processor. Your system doesn't show it because it uses NVIDIA Optimus to switch between them seamlessly ( in theory). It looks like your machine does have an HDMI adapter, which should connect directly to your discreet gpu. Try deleting your Prepar3D config, then close your laptop screen so that the only display is an external monitor plugged directly into your discreet card, then start P3D."

The original poster tried his (and other) suggestions. Nothing worked. So far.



So I looked up my i5 CPU, and YUP. I has an Intel HD Graphics chip built into it too. It's an Intel HD Graphics 2000 chip (even though my Asus Raptor MB doesn't have a video port on it).

I'm about to try their suggestion now. (fingers crossed)
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Re: It's here early 11-24-13

Postby OldAirmail » Sat Dec 07, 2013 2:23 pm

NO GO.

My i5 CPU has an Intel HD Graphics 2000 chip built into it.

I have the latest BIOS for that MB.

The Asus Raptor MB has no monitor ports, and I'm thinking that Asus figured "Why bother putting something in BIOS to turn off a little dinky GPU built into the CPU? As soon as you put a video card in, the Intel GPU will automatically shut down."

Device Manager, PC Wizard, and dxdiag show only the Radeon HD card.

My wild ass guess is that the Prepar3d V2 software is looking for ANY non DirectX graphics rather than determining what is the primary graphics card.



Maybe this particular problem will be resolved in Prepar3d V2.x, or Prepar3d V2.xx
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Re: It's here early 11-24-13

Postby Daube » Sat Dec 07, 2013 2:39 pm

OldAirmail wrote:NO GO.

My i5 CPU has an Intel HD Graphics 2000 chip built into it.

I have the latest BIOS for that MB.

The Asus Raptor MB has no monitor ports, and I'm thinking that Asus figured "Why bother putting something in BIOS to turn off a little dinky GPU built into the CPU? As soon as you put a video card in, the Intel GPU will automatically shut down."

Device Manager, PC Wizard, and dxdiag show only the Radeon HD card.

My wild ass guess is that the Prepar3d V2 software is looking for ANY non DirectX graphics rather than determining what is the primary graphics card.


So you can't deactivate the integrated graphic card from the BIOS ?
Maybe this particular problem will be resolved in Prepar3d V2.x, or Prepar3d V2.xx
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Re: It's here early 11-24-13

Postby OldAirmail » Sat Dec 07, 2013 8:11 pm

Daube wrote:
OldAirmail wrote:....

So you can't deactivate the integrated graphic card from the BIOS ?

...

Unfortunately, no.

My motherboard has no built-in video card. But it looks like Prepar3d V2 is looking at the i5 CPU to determine if you have DirectX 11.



The link below is for others who are wondering if they MAY have this problem with Prepared V2 (this problem does not exist for Prepar3d V1.x).

The reason for the emphasis on the word MAY is that most people are not having this problem. Of course I don't know how many of those "not having this problem" have AMD processors.

For anyone wondering, here's a handy chart Sixth generation, Sandy Bridge - DirectX 10.1



Software for useful info

CPU-Z If anyone isn't sure what CPU they have.
Image

HWMonitor Useful for a lot of things. And in my case, this is one of the few programs that gets my video card number exactly right.
Image

dxdiag It's built into Windows. Just make sure that you click on the 64 bit button if you need to. Otherwise it will give you misleading info.
Image

Image

After clicking that button this is what you'll see;
Image
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Re: It's here early 11-24-13

Postby OldAirmail » Mon Dec 09, 2013 11:50 pm

Someone posted that DisplayLink causes Prepar3d V2 to screw up.

Yes & no.

As soon as I uninstalled DisplayLink, Prepared started working.

Kinda. As good as it gets for me. There is still no scenery.

.
.

So I went from this;

Image


Back to this;

Image

.
.

After uninstalling DisplayLink , Prepar3d runs.

Next, I reinstalled DisplayLink, and guess what! PREPAR#D V2 STILL runs!

My two small 9" monitors, and the GPS monitor, use DisplayLink.

Now, EVEN though I can't see out of the windows, I can drag & drop instruments to the DisplayLink monitors.

.
.


Sample screen shots using Prepar3d V2 and two DisplayLink monitors.

What the computer sees:
Image

What I see:
Image

The blue in the center screen just happens to look like my desktop wall paper.

.
.

CONCLUSION
DisplayLink CAN cause Prepar3d to not detect the Video card.

Once Prepar3d finds the video card, you can reinstall DisplayLink.

.
.

As can be seen Prepar3d & DisplayLink CAN work togather.
Image
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Re: It's here early 11-24-13

Postby zswobbie1 » Tue Dec 10, 2013 2:23 am

Lucky you... My laptop give me the 'rendering message as well. Dxdiag tells me on page 1 - dx11, on page 2, dx10.1.
"SIGH" Any ideas? (i5 laptop, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 , DDI version 10.1)
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Re: It's here early 11-24-13

Postby OldAirmail » Mon Jan 06, 2014 11:59 pm

ONE big problem solved.

The previous pictures were just to show that Prepar3d V2 was working with various monitors, BUT that it didn't have any scenery.

The LM-Prepar3d team is still having a hard time. Although (I believe) most people have only limited problems, some find it unusable.

For the later, the LM-Prepar3d team is unable to help. At a certain point they simply stop responding to you.



I do, every now and then, try to find a solution to the scenery problem in Prepar3d V2.

The inspiration for this solution was in a post, elsewhere, about the problems in downloading & installing one particular bit of scenery.

The solution was to turn off their antivirus program whenever they wanted to use that bit of scenery.


:think: :think: :think: :think: :think: :think: :think: :think: :think: :think: :think:


OK.

Lets uninstall MS Security Essentials (It's maked so that a virus or malware can't bypass it by secretly turning it off).

Next step, uninstall & reinstall Prepar3d V2 with MS Security Essentials no longer on my computer.



This is the result. I went from this,

Image

To this,

Image


Prepar3d V2 is now useable. But it still has some problems.

Image

Just for fun a sub over Philadelphia.
Image

Image


THE ONLY DIFFERENCE WAS THAT I INSTALLED IT WITHOUT ANY ANTIVIRUS ON MY COMPUTER!

When I reinstalled MS Security Essentials, Prepar3d V2 continued to work.

ONE PROBLEM DOWN.
.. .
Get the most out of your controls - SPAD.neXt

Image
. . . . . .Any time, any plane, any weather.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . Prepar3d V4
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Re: It's here early 11-24-13

Postby OldAirmail » Tue Jan 07, 2014 11:50 am

By the way, ALL of the recommendations to turn down the settings were TOTALLY useless in so far as resolving the total absence of scenery that I experienced.

The Radeon HD 6850 may not be the fastest around, but it's more than good enough.

Also, even though the rest of my system is nowhere near the top, I can, now, fly Prepar3d V2 with it's original settings.



The only change that I did make, was to move the "Target frame rate:" up to "Unlimited".

The FPS is usually between 20 and 45, depending on the scenery and aircraft.

AND THAT'S WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS.

Not jitters, no flashing, no jagged lines, no hesitations. Nice and steady.

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image



Blaming the users hardware is nice and easy.

But just MAYBE the Prepar3d team should look at their end a little bit more!

At any rate one problem down. On to the next.
.. .
Get the most out of your controls - SPAD.neXt

Image
. . . . . .Any time, any plane, any weather.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . Prepar3d V4
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