I came across this post in another thread here.

LM has committed to provide the necessary tools to licensed developers to allow them to make any necessary changes to their products to support Prepar3D v2.0...

 

Doesn't this imply that V1.4 and earlier products as well as FSX products will not be compatible with V2.0 unless they are changed?

Does it also imply that V2.0 products will not be compatible with FSX?

 

Doesn't this imply...

 

Does it also imply...

No.

 

and

 

No.

Prepar3D will be DX11 compatible, so some addons may not work (probably the scenery with DX10 issues at the moment.

IMHO, I believe there is so much time between now and v2 that I prefer to concentrate on what I have now. The only thing I do not want to get tempted to do is starting buying each and every add-on that I really like. So far I am using primarily what I already had for FSX, with the exception of the Aerosoft Airbus X and a great B737NG :-)

No.

 

and

 

No.

 

Has Lockheed Martin confirmed that?

Has Lockheed Martin confirmed that?

No

... seems to me that some of us will grow hair on the palms before they will put their hand on V2 ... LOL 

Has Lockheed Martin confirmed that?

Confirmed "what"? You, the master of parsing words in the past, are now assuming something about what Fr. Bill wrote. You're thinking/assuming that any added v2.0 benefits must, I repeat must, mean a loss of prior functionality. Aren't you? Why must that be so?

If (and it's a big If) P3D 2.0 goes 64 bit , then no there will be no backward compatibility for aircraft that require code. (ie: DLL's)  A 64bit conversion would be required. The 3D models themselves and scenery, I would think could retain some compatibility 

Confirmed "what"? You, the master of parsing words in the past, are now assuming something about what Fr. Bill wrote. You're thinking/assuming that any added v2.0 benefits must, I repeat must, mean a loss of prior functionality. Aren't you? Why must that be so?

 

Confirmed that V1.4 and earlier products will be compatible  with V2.0.  Can you confirm that?

 

I assumed nothing. I asked two questions based on a published statement. I asked very reasonably, if it's necessary to make changes to earlier products will they be compatible with V2.0. 

 

You are assuming that they will be. Why must that be so? . Remember FS9 propellers in FSX?

 

I'd have thought this was a serious point worth considering, so why be so touchy about it?

Confirmed that V1.4 and earlier products will be compatible  with V2.0.  Can you confirm that?

 

 

 

Gerry, this is not directed at you personally, this is just my own opinion.

 

Lets look at it from a 3PD. point of view, (lets take Orbx for example) and lets assume that V2.0 will not be compatible with V1.4, why will they go out in the open and tell you (us) that it is not, here is a GOOD reason...because you will probably (as others also) stop buying their plane or sceneries and wait until V2.0 is out and see what kind of major enhancements (if any) you see and MAYBE start buying new sceneries (DX11) IF you are pleased with what you see, so it's a win/win situation for 3PD if they keep their mouth shut assuming that V2.0 is not compatible with V1.4. (they keep selling and you keep buying)

 

Now, if V2.0 IS compatible with V1.4 (or later V..) tell me why they will not (Orbx/Prepar3D) tell you (us) that it is in fact compatible and dissipate all confusions or questions you may have on the compatibility subject, and by doing so you will keep buying their today's sceneries.....(no NDA excuses here please...).

 

To me it's more a DX11 issue rater then a 64-bit compatibility, if V2.0 IS DX11 you will need to buy a patch (unless it's given to you for free by 3PD) for your old sceneries to see the benefits of DX11 or 3PD will sell you brand new DX11 sceneries out of the box for Prepar3D V2.0.

 

Gerry, this is not directed at you personally, this is just my own opinion

 

It wasn’t taken personally.

 

My original questions arose from the comment by n4gix, who is knowledgable and well informed.

 

If tools are needed to make any necessary changes to their products to support V2.0 then the possibilities seem to be

 

• It’s needed to change all existing products because otherwise none will work with V2.0
   
• It’s needed to change existing products only so that they can make use of the new features of V2.0 but unchanged ones will still work. (It’s difficult to understand the implications or this not knowing what the changes might be.)

 

If V2.0 has additional features then I can’t see how models using them could work in FSX. After all, models using FSX specific features don’t work with FS9 and the same company developed those. Some developers say they now only develop for FSX because it’s no longer worth their while to develop models for FS9 as well.

 

On a wider point, I feel that it’s inevitable that P3D will break backwards compatibility with FSX sooner or later. FSX is at the end of a long line of development and I seem to remember comments that FS11 wouldn’t have been fully compatible with FSX – Flight certainly wasn’t. Lockheed Martin is developing P3D for the commercial training market and it will do whatever’s necessary to support that market

 

I take the point about commercial considerations will affect what is said. The advice “follow the money” seems applicable here.

 

I'm not an expert on graphics but my understanding is that the models are first processed before DirectX is called. On this basis I think Lockheed Martin would re-write the processing to call DirectX 11 rather than DirectX 0.0c. Even so, any features of DirectX 11 that are not recognised by existing models won’t be useable.

 

 

_{A good point Gerry but , IMHO, a bit premature. Far too little is known about V2 or even DX11 to make ANY assumptions whatever. You may very well be correct, that I do not dispute, but I don't think that anyone can give an answer to that question that is credible except LM - and they aren't talking.}

 

_{I am sure they are well aware of the backwards compatibility issue and, unless they are ready to go with many new a/c and scenery add-ons, will do their best to retain backwards compatibility.}

 

_Vic

I'm not making any assumptions but simply considering the possibilities. I shall hold off switching to P3D until V2.0 is released.

 

I'm sure that Lockheed Martin is aware of the backward compatibly issues. But I imagine its not really concerned about maintaining backward compatibility with a wide range of FSX add-ons of variable quality and standards. Its aim in developing P3D is to support its military/commercial training business.

All this P3D backwards compatibility talk. I bet the 3PD's are suffering right now. Everyone spends there FSX $ very carefully. Backwards compatibility is yet another consideration when buying Add-on's. If I never heard of P3D V2 a few months ago I would have spent a lot more on FSX add-on's than I have. Heck I would have built a new dedicated FSX system by now. I have turned my nose up to great add-on's that I would love to have and I have only bought when I see a sale like in those reported in the Bargain section of the web-site. There must be a lot of simmers who are being cagey like me for the very same reason and that means that 3PD sales must be down. I know my FSX spending will be kept to the absolute minimum until something concrete happens