Adding scenery and Aircraft

[G.K.]

I followed your advice OldAirmail and purchased the scenery migration tool. It's mostly been successful but with the odd failure, it could be something I'm not doing right though.

Tongass Fjords went in a treat, nothing missing that I can see and it works well
UT2 I haven't tried because I've read elsewhere that this doesn't work, I'm not willing to risk it.
UTX Europe went in well and as far as I can see at the moment works a treat.
GEX will not go in. The original destination folder for the installation is program files (x86) and this doesn't seem to tie in with how the migrator tool works......shame. anyone know of a solution?

I haven't tried it with any aircraft installers because I don't tend to use payware aircraft......I have very simple needs in that area

I initially thought the FSX aircraft worked well using the drag and drop method but I've since had some texture problems. All paint schemes on a particular model came up as the default plain paint job. It seems that P3D doesn't like "texture= " or "texture=0" so I've renumbered the textures and am hoping that this will work.

I also had a dark texture issue with the imported FSX planes, it looked like they were all in shadow, very un attractive. They had worked well for a couple of days , they just suddenly went dark and wouldn't revert.......I deleted them and re imported and presto all was good again. Heaven knows what that issue was.

....looking at the P3D forums many people are experiencing minor bugs. I would guess that many of them have come about because of incompatibilities with add-on scenery and aircraft (IMO). Some of these issues are not going to be solved, some stuff just ain't going to work.

[OldAirmail]

I've thought about all you said. And the answer is YES.

There will be hits and misses along the way. I think that the FS2004 crowd will be able to bring up similar problems between FSX/FS2004 when FSX first came out.



Dragging and dropping planes from FSX to P3d may have problems if the plane that you installed in FSX way back when has gauges & effects that you've forgotten about.

See if you can find the original download file. Then install it just as you would with FSX.


Some copy protected software may cause instillation problems that the Migration Tool can't get around.

So far, most software producers (aside from REX) seem to be quite willing to let you install their software in either, or both, programs without additional charges. You can, after all, only use one program at a time. Installing the software on a different machine would, of course, be problematical.


When you come across software with and EXE installer, do as Jetranger does - Install it to a folder on your desktop. From there, drag & drop the files into the right locations.

BTW - AFTER you copy them, you may want to "uninstall" (NOT delete) them from your temporary desktop folder. That'll keep your "Uninstall" list simple and uncluttered.

I'll usually do that after I've tested the plane/scenery to make sure that I want to keep it.


Fortunately, there are less problems with prepar3d as time goes on. They're very conscientious about tracking down problems, so I'm not worried.

[G.K.]

......and of course the respective Eula's are causing issues for some add-ons.

I am quite happy to use P3d as an educational tool at home, my conscience is clear with regards to the LM EULA....BUT..... if an add-on's EULA describes itself as entertainment then I am clearly breaking a legal agreement by installing it into P3D.

Flight1 software are particularly adamant that some of their software should not be migrated into P3D. Correct me if I'm wrong but It seems I'll have to dump UTX and GEX (and possibly Tongass Fjords) and purchase the ORBX P3D stuff instead.

[OldAirmail]

"BUT..... if an add-on's EULA describes itself as entertainment then I am clearly breaking a legal agreement by installing it into P3D...."


I disagree to some extent.

There's a great deal of software that was created long before Prepar3d was published. So without buying a new copy of the software, we wouldn't normally be able to read the new software.

You could go to the software provider to find out what their policy is towards installing it on P3d NOW.

But can a EULA be applied retroactively? I wouldn't bet on it.



So far, the only paid software that I have, where the seller wants an additional fee, is REX. The good part of that is that they only want $5 or $10 more.

And while I don't find that too high, I feel no need for their software and haven't installed it.

ALL of my other payware software permits me to install it in P3d. But than, aside from mesh & Orbx scenery, I don't have all that much payware.



On the "entertainment" side of the issue. Don't worry.

Most things that can be used for entertainment, will also be used professionally. Think of a soccer ball.

Add to that, I haven't seen any software saying that it is not permissible to install in P3d.

It may be out there. I just haven't seen it.

[G.K.]

I'm not a lawyer OldAirmail so I don't know the legal ramifications........I do read other forums though and the makers of UTX and GEX are not so keen on making software that's P3D compatible. In fact with GEX in particular they have threatened to revoke licenses if anyone is found to have migrated Gex into P3D.

Here's a thread from the Flight1 forum, It makes clear their position......It's a longish thread but maybe worth a read.

http://www.simforums.com/forums/i-got-p ... 47919.html

I found another thread yesterday on the Flightsim Estonia site. It relates a very interesting story about an alleged flight sim software developer posing as a flight simmer with a false ID. According to the FSE mods he was trying to undermine the legality of the migrator tool...........I'll not post a link, most on this forum have probably already read it anyway........I had no idea that the online flightsim community was such a hotbed of controversy.


It seems clear to me that ORBX is the way to go for add-ons.

[OldAirmail]

Interesting.

As I said, I don't have a great deal of payware scenery, or planes for that matter. And (apparently fortunately) NO UTX or GEX.


I haven't read anything about other companies prohibiting the instillation of their software on P3d. Although Flight1 does ring a bell.

Now if they want to charge an additional charge to install it in P3d, fine. Go ahead. I have no problem with that.



There's also the problem that some software will not work with the Orbx/FTX software. And Orbx/FTX is THE big dog, at the moment.

I wonder if their problem is that they don't have enough programmers to change the software & installer? Some small software companies will hire an outside programmer to do work, as opposed to having full time in-house programmers.


OpusFSX is a great example of how to (in my opinion) do it right. Whenever P3d has changed, and that change has caused problem, Opus will update their software within a few days.

They also expand the capabilities of their software. I've bought some software, like G.A. Panel, where there has been no improvements in years. Guess which one I'm more likely to support in the future.


My stance is simple - If someone wants me to buy a Prepar3d version at an upgrade, or full price, I'll conceder it. If it's good enough, I'll buy it again.

But if someone has good software that can be installed in either flight sim, then I'll probably buy that one.

[G.K.]

That seems like an entirely sensible approach.


I downloaded the ORBX free Iceland scenery....it looks good to me. And it has a P3D installer.

[OldAirmail]

I think that I must be the only person who DID NOT like the Iceland scenery.

The roads in particular.

The houses, buildings, and ground scenery were all to often cut short.

Once you left the developed areas behind you, THEN things got better.


On the other hand, if FTX Global & Vector V2 were to disappear all of a sudden, I'm not too sure what I'd do.

They may be (relatively) expensive, but I'd rank both of them as MUST HAVE items, right after a good joystick or yoke.

[G.K.]

Agree.....It's probably not the best ORBX scenery but it is better than what's there by default, and it's free.