What I learned in class today.

[papituwall]

The reason because the VC in P3D are so dark (and worsens when interior shadows are activated) is the HDR rendering, I've learn that in X-plane. Uncheck the HDR and you have the same light as in FSX.
NVIDIA GTX660

[OldAirmail]

Daube.

I gave SweetFX a try. At first I crashed Prepar3d. After trying various changes, I switched to SweetFX Configurator, and the crashes stopped.

I have no doubt that it was my fault.


But, other than cropping an occasional picture, I'm as talented as an ox. None of the changes that I did were pretty.

It WILL do what I want, but not thru me. I'll have to wait for more talented people to show me the way.



Papituwall.

I tried P3d with an without HDR checked.

At first I thought that there was not enough of an improvement.

If anyone wants to see the difference, download these two pictures, and cycle back and forth between them. The change is more obvious when you do that.





Much better. But a little bit more, and I'd be happy.

Thanks guys.

[Daube]

Concerning SweetFX, I'm a little bit in the same situation than you. I'm not able to tweak it by myself to find some "pretty" settings.
So instead, I try various presets that can be downloaded from some places on the internet. Some of these presets actually gave me a result close to what I was looking for: more vibrant colors.

Now, I have to find a new preset than makes the general lighting a bit warmer (color of the light a bit more yellow). My ultimate goal is to find a preset that would give me the same results I had on FSX when using the "Sunlight" ENB mod made by the guys at REX forums (downloadable for free, but ENB works only in DirectX9)

Concerning your "obscure" cockpit, I believe you are trying to fix something that should NOT be fixed.
You cockpit is dark because it's in the shadow.
With the HDR active, your cockpit is darker because of the contrast with the bright outside. If you zoom on the cockpit so that you can't see the exterior, then it will be less dark, because HDR imitates your eyes or a camera lens. When you look outside, everything inside looks much darker than what they really are. And when you look inside for long enough, then you can see everything nicely, but if you look back outside, you are blinded by the sunlight which seems much more intense than before (because your eyes got used to darkness in the meanwhile). HDR does that. Switching it off is, for me, a step back in the visual realism.
If you interior is too dark, switch on your cabin lights. That's what they were made for
(of course, you'll need some cabin light effect that can be activated in day time as well. Most of the default lights are automatically deactivated in day time, they start working at dawn, which is bad...).

[OldAirmail]

I suppose that it's pretty much something that's "in the eye of the beholder".

For the most part, the "outside" colors suit me fine. More vibrant grass & skies would seem odd to me.

At different times of the year, and in different locations, the sky may even be a pale light blue. Something similar can be said for the grass or trees.


But I have to go back to that analogy about driving a car down a city street at night - "But the human eye/mind makes adjustments: the interior of my car as I drive down a city street at night doesn't seem dark & dingy."

Now if I were to take a picture from inside the car on a bright sunny day, the camera would try to adjust to the bright light, and the interior of the car would be darker than the human eye would perceive it to be.


In the end we all enjoy the flight, however we see it.

[papituwall]

Good explanation Daube, but as OldAirmail says, my eyes do not feel comfortable.
In Airplanes like Beech Baron can be aceptable, but in those with transparent canopy not, but are FSX native.
Let's wait. But I have experienced the same in X-plane10.25

[OldAirmail]

What did I learn in class today???

That the newest version is a winner.

I will keep FSX on the computer "just in case". But clearly, Prepar3d V2.2, has enough improvements in it to make it MY flight simulator of choice.



Without actually having the full version of FSUIPC, most people are unlikely to see how important it is.

But once you do play around with it, you will discover how VERY useful it is.



Although I had saved the Control folder from the old %APPDATA%\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v2 and copied it into the "new" %APPDATA%\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v2, the controls didn't respond properly due to the lack if FSUIPC.

Other than that, all my flight buttons & switches etc. were restored without any problems that I can detect.


The Migration Tool from FlightSim Estonia to the rescue!

I'm thinking is that Pete Dowson will come out with a newer version. Possibly FSUIPC V5. Until then, this is a work-around.

If he does, I'll be more than happy to buy it.

So if you can, let's support those who help us.

[OldAirmail]

More on the Migration Tool.

There is a new version of the Migration Tool out for the latest V2.2.

There are two changes that are worth note.

Small news first -

Edit menu (2) provides access to Options dialog. From there,
backup options can be set, and several extras can be installed as well.

Please note that by checking Extended backup in Options
dialog, Migration Tool will create a full copy of all configuration
files that are unique to the setup. Left unchecked, only a backup
of files modified by Migration Tool is made.

The change is that now you can make a more complete FSX AND Prepar3d backup.



BTW - After a while, you'll want to delete some of those backups. Mine had gotten to just over 222 MB!

BTW 2 - The Migration Tool backup has saved me many hours of re-building after a particularly bad screw-up.



BIG NEWS!

There are a number of FSX aircraft that Prepar3d V2 didn't have. Such as the Cessna 172.

When I copied some of them over, the C172 did work, but sometimes the aircraft paint scheme was missing.


Well, now the Migration Tool gives you a way to copy all of the standard FSX aircraft into P3d.

Tools menu (3) allows to create a backup of FSX and Prepar3D
configuration files (see pg 18) and copy FSX default aircraft to
Prepar3D. The initial simulator configuration screen can also
be accessed.

Neat & sweet.


Some of the aircraft were missing their color but it was there after restarting P3d.

[OldAirmail]

Today, I learned that a GREAT dinosaur is not dead.

Plan-G 2.0.5 was the best FREE moving map system that I've ever found.

Unfortunately, its creator (Tim Arnot) was asked to pay Google more money than he felt he could justify, especially for a free program. So he switched to alternate sources like OpenStreetMaps.

And while OpenStreetMaps may have it's good points, it's not real big on terrain elevations.

Plan-G 3.07




Until last Fall I'd been using V2.0.5 and was quite happy with it.

And then it started crashing.
And then it started crashing.
And then it started crashing.

For awhile, I was able to get it working.

And then it started crashing.
And then it started crashing.
And then it started crashing.

Perhaps it was natural for me to think that it was Google blocking the program.

And perhaps I was wrong.


I've been using Plan-G V3.x for the past 6 - 8 months. The program itself is great. But the topography was miniscule.

But just like an amputee, people can get use to anything, and I got used to Plan-G V3.x.



Officially, it's no longer available for download (my guess is that Tim A. had to remove it from the internet per Google's request).

But I still have my copy, and just for the heck of it, I reinstalled Plan-G 2.0.5 today.



Plan-G 2.0.5 works with Prepar3d V2.2!!!!




Plan-G v2.0.5




Plan-G v2.0.5 shots from other posts.

[OldAirmail]

CORRECTION

"Officially, it's no longer available for download (my guess is that Tim A. had to remove it from the internet per Google's request)."


It should read;
Officially, it's Plan-G 2.0.5 is no longer available for download (my guess is that Tim A. had to remove it from the internet per Google's request).


Actually, I think that I saw a Plan-G 2.0.5 download on some Russian web site, just before I found it on an old hard disk.

Now Plan-G 2.0.5 is burned to a CD so I can't (easily) loose it.

[OldAirmail]

The days not over yet, so I'm still learning.


OK. So the Migration Tool can import the "standard" FSX aircraft.

And that's good. Depending on where I'm flying, I like to use certain aircraft.

And the Air Creation Buggy is one of them. It fun to fly into, and out of tight twisty canyons, and over a cliff into a sharp dive.


Anyway, in P3d you can actually hear the wind in the rigging. It's there in FSX, but very faintly. And then, only after you turn off the engine.

I also noted that the wind has more of an effect on light aircraft in P3d, than in FSX. NICE



I might as well show some more pictures. Death Valley, again.

[Bass]

Some progress on your journey, i must say

[OldAirmail]

Thanks Kurt.


To the people who grew up with some of the greatest video games, FS2004, FSX, and Prepared must be looked at as something quite mundane.

But I was 30 when Pac-man came out. So being able to move freely about in a 3D world, and to see it with the clarity shown in the pictures above, is amazing.


My very first exposure to a flight sim was this.



The first one that I bought was (I think) this one.


After that I didn't touch a flight sim for 20 - 25 years, And I certainly wasn't expecting all that much from FSX.

BOY, WAS I SURPRISED!



Comparing FSX to the early flight sims you can see an incredible difference. Comparing Prepar3d V2.2 to FSX, the differences are minor.

FSX is still great, but P3d is now at the next step.

I no longer need to think about completely switching over to P3d. Once I've transferred/added/installed everything that I want into Prepar3d, I'll probably uninstall FSX.

It may still have problems, but many things work and look better.

[OldAirmail]

I was having all kinds of fun this past weekend, and was somewhat late getting to bed because if it.

Some of the things were;
* I installed the newest version of OpusFSX - Not only did it work well with Prepar3d V2.2, but the clouds that it produced, using the basic P3d clouds, was so good that I'm probably not going to reinstall REX Essential+. Of all the FSX software that I've bought, I consider this was a waste of money. The newer REX 4 looks much better, but even so, at this point I wouldn't buy it for Prepar3d.

BTW - Opus has built-in, personally modifiable controls that improves the ButtKicker responses. And it's fantastic! Download their demo if you have a B.K.


* If you have a spare monitor, Plan-G 2.0.5 & Plan-G v3.1 works perfectly with P3d. .Plan-G v3.1 is freeware. But if you do use it, it'd be a nice thing to give Tim a donation, even a small one.

PS - Plan-G V2.05 has started to work again with Prepar3d V2.2.


* SPAD is without a doubt THE BEST way to control most of the Saitek panels (excluding the instrument panel). And not only does it work well with P3d, but a few of the minor problems that I had in FSX are now gone.


BTW - From the creator of SPAD - Source code released;

Definetely I have no time to further develop Spad.

So.... do you think you can add some new fancy-super-duper features to Spad ??
The source code is for you.

The source code is released under GPLv2. Please, keep it open source.

Ciao,
Massimo

How long will SPAD be available? Get it while you can. Hopefully someone else will take up the work from Maxx.

For the moment Jan Vanne is helping to keep it going. And if the original SPAD site goes down, you can go over to SPAD - FlightSim Eindhoven.


* FSUIPC works just fine with Prepar3d. READ THE MANUAL! You'll need to use SimConnectP3D.dll with P3d.

The current version of FSUIPC will not (kinda) work with Prepar3d V2.2. Read What did I learn in class today??? if you want to get it working until Pete Dowson can update FSUIPC.

Using that method, I've had no crashes as reported elsewhere.

Unfortunately there isn't a trial/demo version of FSUIPC. But If you want to do more than take a quick flight, you'll want FSUIPC (and quite likely SPAD too).



All in all, I had a great time flying P3d this weekend, and those are only SOME of the highlights.

[OldAirmail]

I'm just starting to play (a little more seriously) with the "Graphics Settings", and it's given me a surprise or two.






This is the static screen, with everything switched off. The CPU is an i5 2500K, running at 3.3MHz.




FXAA
First off - On my system, the FXAA setting made NO difference whether it was on or off. The P3d install had it set to On, so I left it on.


Texture Filtering and Texture Resolution
The Texture Filtering and Texture Resolution settings had VERY strange results.

On the default settings I was getting between17.x & 19.x FPS.

If I increase the Texture Filtering to 16 the FPS drops. OK, I guess you're asking the video card to do more work.

BUT! At 8X the FPS actually went UP from apx. 18.x to 21.x FPS

Some of my scenery textures are in 2048x2048. Changing the Texture Resolution from 1024x1024 ALSO increased the FPS!

Not only that, but the FPS is fluctuating MUCH less! It's now between 23 & 25 FPS.

However, when I move the Texture Filtering back up to 16x, the FPS take a big drop again.

The morel of that story is that 8x may be the "sweet" spot for my card.


MSAA
The MSAA has four settings - None (off), 2, 4, and 8.

The MSAA on None.


The MSAA on 2 samples.


The MSAA on 4.


The MSAA on 8.



If you notice the white markings on the runway, nothing changes. None of the settings have any effect on it.

But over all, the high settings DO have an effect on the FPS. With my card, the FPS start to drop only a little at 4, and quite a bit more at 8.

So I could use the 4 setting, but the way that I look at it - I'm not really going to notice that small irregularity in the second picture while I'm flying.

After all, everything else looks just fine, so I reset it back to 2.

[OldAirmail]

Just a small PS - the moral of this PS is that a morel ain't sweet at all.

Sometimes I see what I think should be there, instead of what is there.