P3D v4.4 is now available

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

P3D v4.4 is now available

Postby Daube » Thu Nov 29, 2018 6:07 am

Hi all,

I'm surprised this topic hasn't been raised before :)
The latest version of P3Dv4, named "4.4", is now available for download from your account.

The change log is quite long. It includes mostly bug fixes and some optimizations. Also a few improvements for the virtual reality (menus and tooltips are now visible, at last).
A cool new feature is the introduction of PBR. It is a new graphical rendering technique that allows more realistic-looking materials for 3D objects and their textures. Of course, such effects are only visible on objects that were created specifically for PBR. Old objects will be displayed just like they were before. Not better, not worse :)

I haven't installed the update yet. I plan to update only the client and the content.
Be aware the new 4.4 content will get rid of all the default Beechraft airplanes. I suppose LM had some licencing conflict with them, most likely.
For the King Air, it's not a great loss, since this airplane had not been updated since its FS9 days. The external model was so so, and the virtual cockpit was simply terrible.
For the Baron, I've got mixed feelings. I liked that plane a lot back when I was still flying on the screen. Now that I use a virtual reality helmet, I realized the virtual cockpit of the default Baron is completely out of proportions. The seats are too small, and when you are sitting in the cockpit, the lower part of the seat is going right through your chest :D So I guess the Baron is not a great loss either.
The Carenado A36 though, is quite a loss. The model and the VC were superb. I strongly recommend you save a copy of that plane and its gauges before you uninstall the 4.3 content.

I have been reading the feedbacks about the 4.4 on various forums. A few problems were expectable: TacPack and Active Sky don't work anymore, like a few other external addons (F1 GTN and stuff like that).
Active Sky already has a 'beta' patch to make it compatible with 4.4 though.
FSUIPC seems to be ok, no need for update.
I'll wait for the updated TacPack.
Beside these problems, and ignoring the users who obviously have no idea about what they are doing or how the sim works, the feedbacks are very positive and I saw many reports of performance improvements on recent hardware (= less than 4 years old).
User avatar
Daube
Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant Colonel
 
Posts: 6583
Joined: Wed Oct 05, 2005 8:34 am
Location: Nice (FR)

Re: P3D v4.4 is now available

Postby pete » Thu Nov 29, 2018 8:13 am

Thanks for the update.
I might stick with 4.2 for now. .... runs fine. No temptation from what I read to update. But may do in time.
There must come a time when MDLXMDLH aircraft will not work - maybe only PV20MDLH --- not looking forward to that too much. Maybe v5. Glad not yet .
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. – Leonardo da Vinci
User avatar
pete
Administrator
Administrator
 
Posts: 10222
Joined: Mon Jan 01, 2001 2:01 am
Location: Cloud Cuckoo Land

Re: P3D v4.4 is now available

Postby Daube » Thu Nov 29, 2018 7:06 pm

Ah well, P3Dv4 already got rid of the FS9 planes, so we have to get used to the idea that outdated planes can't work with newest versions of the sim.
And nothing prevents a simmer from keeping a copy of P3Dv3.3 to enjoy the FS9 planes with all the goodies (shadows, no display bugs), and P3Dv4.4 to enjoy the new stuff.

From my side, I have updated just the P3D v4.4 client tonight.
The update went smoothly and I deleted the shaders at the same time.
The subsequent flight was quite smooth. I chose one of my photoreal areas with a payware little airport on top, with the default F-22. Flight was a little bit smoother than before, I could notice it when taxiing slowly and watching 90° left of right. In VR the difference is quite noticeable, and appreciable.

One very bad point though, is that TomatoShade is not compatible with P3Dv4.4 yet. I was using it in v4.3 and got a superb render in my sim thanks to it... and now that I'm back to the default shaders, the world looks very very fade, even above some very nice photoscenery. I hope a compatible version appears soon. (Version 2.6 of TomatoShade is NOT compatible at all, contrary to what I read on another forum).
User avatar
Daube
Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant Colonel
 
Posts: 6583
Joined: Wed Oct 05, 2005 8:34 am
Location: Nice (FR)

Re: P3D v4.4 is now available

Postby Daube » Sat Dec 01, 2018 9:06 am

Just an update for those who use VR helmets: the fact that gauges/buttons labels now work is really a game-changer.
The label will appear as soon as the mouse touches an instrument or any clickable area, without any delays.
The text does not appear in a white box. It's just the text, written in while, quite thick so it's very easy to read.
For me, there's no way back to 4.3 already.
User avatar
Daube
Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant Colonel
 
Posts: 6583
Joined: Wed Oct 05, 2005 8:34 am
Location: Nice (FR)

Re: P3D v4.4 is now available

Postby tjitah » Sat Dec 01, 2018 10:03 pm

Daube wrote:Just an update for those who use VR helmets: the fact that gauges/buttons labels now work is really a game-changer.
The label will appear as soon as the mouse touches an instrument or any clickable area, without any delays.
The text does not appear in a white box. It's just the text, written in while, quite thick so it's very easy to read.
For me, there's no way back to 4.3 already.

That sounds great, but losing the default Beechcraft aircraft is a deal-breaker for me, especially the Carenado A36, which is/was pretty much my go-to aircraft.
i7-4790K @ 4.6 GHz, ASUS Maximus VII Gene, GTX 1070 8GB, 16GB DDR3 2400MHz, ASUS PG348Q 34" 3440x1440 monitor, CH Products Fighterstick, Pro Throttle and Pro Pedals, Track IR 5, Oculus Rift, Windows 7 64-bit
tjitah
Ground hog
Ground hog
 
Posts: 46
Joined: Thu Jun 15, 2017 6:53 am
Location: South Africa

Re: P3D v4.4 is now available

Postby Flacke » Sun Dec 02, 2018 2:29 am

tjitah wrote:
Daube wrote:Just an update for those who use VR helmets: the fact that gauges/buttons labels now work is really a game-changer.
The label will appear as soon as the mouse touches an instrument or any clickable area, without any delays.
The text does not appear in a white box. It's just the text, written in while, quite thick so it's very easy to read.
For me, there's no way back to 4.3 already.

That sounds great, but losing the default Beechcraft aircraft is a deal-breaker for me, especially the Carenado A36, which is/was pretty much my go-to aircraft.


Yes, I too love the Carenado Bonanza A36. The sounds, the Avionics, and the superb handling make it a joy to fly on low-level short to medium range flights. I also enjoy it on medium altitude IFR flghts in weather.
User avatar
Flacke
1st Lieutenant
1st Lieutenant
 
Posts: 451
Joined: Sun Apr 21, 2013 8:25 pm

Re: P3D v4.4 is now available

Postby Daube » Sun Dec 02, 2018 4:00 am

Well, you simply need to make a backup of the plane and its gauges (there are a few .CAB files to pickup from the \gauges\ folder) and put it back in P3D once the 4.4 content has been installed :)
Several simmers have reported that the A36 works perfectly in 4.4.
Also, a new aircraft from Carenado appears in the 4.4 content: the AC11. Looks like a mix between a Cherokee and a Socata Tobago, with retractable gears.
So if you backup your A36 correctly, you end up with one more Carenado aircraft in your hangar :)
User avatar
Daube
Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant Colonel
 
Posts: 6583
Joined: Wed Oct 05, 2005 8:34 am
Location: Nice (FR)

Re: P3D v4.4 is now available

Postby papituwall » Sun Dec 02, 2018 5:01 am

This is the way for recovering an aircraft:

From Simobjetcs/Airplanes, make a backup of Carenado A36 BONANZA P3D

1- SEARCH FOR EFFECTS AND LIGHTS

Open aircrft.cfg from Carenado A36 BONANZA P3D and search in the text for lights and you get:

[lights]
//Types: 1=beacon, 2=strobe, 3=navigation, 4=cockpit, 5=landing
light.0 = 2, -8.8, -15.3, 1.7, fx_strobecartresseisA36,
light.1 = 2, -9.0, 15.2, 1.7, fx_strobecartresseisA36,
light.2 = 1, -24.6, 0.0, 6.8, fx_beaconcartresseisA36,
light.3 = 4, -7.7, 0.0, 1.0, fx_vclightcartresseis2A36,
light.4 = 10, -9.5, 0.0, 3.6, fx_vclightcartresseisA36,
light.5 = 10, -14.0, 0.0, 2.8, fx_vclightcartresseisA36,

The text shows that are carenado (car) lights, they are placed in EFFECTS folder, search for: *a36 . Apart from the effects (fx files) you get two bmp files: fx_alaefetresA36 and fx_efetres2A36, those files should be also of this plane so make a backup , they are placed en a subfolder of effects, named texture

Same search for "effects", in this case you get:

[effects]
wake = fx_wake
water = fx_spray
dirt = fx_tchdrt
concrete = fx_sparks
touchdown = fx_tchdwn_s, 1

Those are default P3D (FSX) effects, backup is not needed.

Other aircraft have effects in a section named [smokesystem], follow the previous procedure to recover them.

2- SEARCH FOR GAUGES

Open panel.cfg from Carenado A36 BONANZA P3D/panel and read carefuly, you get the following gauges:

From:

[Window00]
Background_color=49,49,49
size_mm=500,520
window_size_ratio=1.000
position=0
visible=0
ident=794
window_size= 0.320, 0.444
window_pos= 0.020, 0.505
zorder=0

gauge00=CarenadoG430_3D_A36!GNS430_nc1, 2,0,500,266
gauge01=CarenadoG430_3D_A36!GNS430_nc2, 3,252,500,266
gauge02=BA36!Toggle_GPS, 115,38,274,164
gauge03=BA36!Toggle_GPS, 114,291,278,164

Here we get two gauges to search for and backup in gauges folder are:

CarenadoG430_3D_A36
BA36


Follow reading and you will get the following gauges in total:

CarenadoG430_3D_A36
BA36
A36Manual
RadioA36
APBK_A36
DIGTTRANS_A36


Search them in Gauges and make a backup.

3- SEARCH FOR MANUALS

They are placed in Ecosystem/Carenado/A36 Bonanza

4- OTHER

Other aircraft have folders in Sound, this one not, but in general Carenado adds sounds to this folder.
User avatar
papituwall
Captain
Captain
 
Posts: 833
Joined: Thu Sep 19, 2013 1:42 pm
Location: LEZG

Re: P3D v4.4 is now available

Postby Daube » Sun Dec 02, 2018 11:30 am

Ah, thank you very much for reminding me about the effects !! I completely forgot to make a copy of them :o
Will do that now. I haven't installed the 4.4 content yet, but might do it in the coming hours...
User avatar
Daube
Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant Colonel
 
Posts: 6583
Joined: Wed Oct 05, 2005 8:34 am
Location: Nice (FR)


Return to Prepar3D

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 257 guests