Jeroen

If I want to just install REX textures can I can just point it to P3D like you would fsx, I never use the weather just textures as you know.

Jeroen

If I want to just install REX textures can I can just point it to P3D like you would fsx, I never use the weather just textures as you know.

 

I suppose so but I don't know for certain because I haven't used P3D yet… There is an option in REX that has to be unlocked first (by paying $ 5,-) after which you can tell REX where P3D is. However, I asked about this on the REX forum (two days ago already), if the current version really is P3D 2.0 ready, but I don't get an answer. Others are asking it too but the devs don't seem to be interested…?

In truth it's because sometimes folks do install to a ..\temp folder and then try to drag-n-drop files piecemeal into their sim, often screwing up files in their haste and/or confusion, then proceed to scream loudly in forums that the product is "junk" not realizing that it was their own incompetence that caused their problem(s)... :unsure:  :wacko:

 

Also, sometimes there are Registry entries created by the installer's process that will be wrongly pathed if the initial install folder is improperly chosen (such as the above mentioned ..\temp folder.

 

To be fair though Bill some installers do throw stuff into your FSX folder that's not strictly necessary (HD textures, paint kits, Google Earth KMZ files, even Windows desktop wallpapers!) and after a while you end up with lots of superfluous junk in your FSX folder.

 

My two pet peeves here are:

 

i) When a developer makes their own folder for manuals, paint kits, etc but then in their next product installer change the name so you end up with two folders for the same developer - Iris are terrible for this.... "Iris Flight Sim Development Studios", "Iris Development Studios", "Iris Platinum Series", "Iris Premium Series", "Iris Pro Series".... you get my drift.

 

ii) When an installer overwrites the uninstaller for another product. Usually when the developer was too lazy to make a unique name for their uninstall.exe and you now find you can't uninstall the old product, which might be compounded by the problems mentioned above when the original installer scattered all sorts of stuff across your FSX folder.

 

I like Aerosoft's approach - an automated installer that's thoughtful enough to present the user with a list of files and folders that were installed.

 

 

As for the OP's question....

 

There should be no problem running P3D and FSX side by side, as they are unique programmes with their own registry entries, etc. You may have problems if you try to install the same addon in both sims (particularly if the installer is not P3D aware) with regards to registry entries that might point to one sim or the other, as well as uninstallers.

 

I think it would be foolhardy to think the transition is going to be totally smooth. The smart money would be on sitting back and letting the dust settle for a couple of weeks, let the early adopters find out what does and doesn't work and then take it from there.

The smart money would be on sitting back and letting the dust settle for a couple of weeks, let the early adopters find out what does and doesn't work and then take it from there

Where's the fun in that :-)

Would require patience too....I'll probably have to wait until tuesday, the UK being ahead of the states, but no longer.

 

I see Bill's point on support, but I do hate installers and registry entries.

Most of my non-AC addons have been installed not to FSX but to an FSAddons folder, and I expect most of the scenery to be directly usable from there.

But I won't scream to the developer if its not :-)

 

Cheers

Keith

 

 

I think it would be foolhardy to think the transition is going to be totally smooth. The smart money would be on sitting back and letting the dust settle for a couple of weeks, let the early adopters find out what does and doesn't work and then take it from there.

 

As I always do with new addons. We don't get smarter with age... just wiser.

I see Bill's point on support, but I do hate installers and registry entries.

I was speaking "in general terms" rather than any specific installer.

 

Rather than depending on a procedurally limited 'installer creator' I use NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Installer System), which is an Open Source program and one which is used by many of the largest software houses such as Adobe, et alia.

 

With this, I take full control of the install process, and even script my own custom "uninstaller" that's called from the single installer program. This leaves no residual files on the user's system, and will remove only that which I specify. My installers make no Registry entries whatsoever, depending only on reading the Registry to find the paths to FS9, FSX, or P3D depending on the user's choice.

 

One of the more interesting features of any NSIS installer package is that one can use any zip utility such as 7-Zip to open the compressed package and see the contents without needing to even run the installer! :ph34r:

You'll be fine. As I posted in my earlier post: according to your computer FSX and P3D will be just as different as for instance Adobe Photoshop and MS Office are.

 

Absolutely.  It's not going to be an issue because always the OS will look for the full path to get to the folder to be created or dumped into, so even if subfolders have the same name they never have the same full path.  Despite the paranoia about installing  OS & simulator on the same drive, I decided to use this approach this time w/ a SATA III SSD and there is no performance issue whatsoever w/ regard to FSX.  I plan to install P3D on the same drive, 500Gb, which is only about 1/3 used w/ a complete OS & FSX install.  I do use this drive ONLY for OS w/ FSX--there is absolutely nothing else I use the drive for except for AIDA64, Core Temp and the ASUS II suite.  After reading about parallelism in modern SSDs, w/ the rate and amount of data moving there really is no significant penalty in terms of performance w/ the OS & simulator on one drive.  I will likely remove FSX from the drive once certain add ons are proven useable in P3D v2 (and they start w/ P and end w/ G), at which point I will have ample drive space once again.  Even having both on the same drive will still be quite adequate by my account since I am not inclined to continue installing tons of add ons beyond the ones I already use.  I did this in the past but settled on only 4 planes I ever use now, FTXG, REX E+, and some regional ORBX scenery.

Hi,

 

 

 

 

can anyone tell me,

if I can realy use the Migration Tool

(http://secure.simmarket.com/fsx-to-prepare3d-migration-tool.phtml)

with the newest P3D (I think v2.2) ?!

 

 

 

Thanks in advance :-)

So here's the things that are clear to me at this point, in case it helps.  I am assuming FSX and P3Dv2.2.x running under the same Windows operating system, whether on the same drive, or different drives.

 

1. If you have any add-on that has built-in dual-install capability, such as many if not all of ORBX's region scenery now, you should be able to install once to FSX, and once to P3D, and there will be no issues.  Each install (say, if it has an uninstall/repair option in Control Panel Uninstall) will have its own keys and folder path in the registry, and there will be no conflict, and everything should be hunky-dory (that's a Portuguese term).

 

2. If you have an add-on such as REX3 Direct or REX4 Texture Direct, in the former you can splurge for an option to start up either FSX or P3D.  If you do (it's $5, skip a cup of coffee, it's good for your blood pressure; In REX4 Texture Direct, no such splurge required) then, with REX3 (if you're using its weather engine, people seem to be preferring Active Sky Next currently, mwahaha wait until REX 4 equivalent is out, I bet.....), you simply choose which folder path either FSX or P3D is in Options, and then the Fly Now button starts up and runs the weather engine under that flight simulator.  A bit clunky but easy as pi (3.1415926538, that's the extent of my memory buffer, sorry).  For REX4 Texture Direct you can just point it to which sim you want it to Thematize.

 

3. IF you have an add-on that was originally for FSX only, here's where it might get fun.  A few branches to contemplate:

 

    a)  It is a primitive install, eco-friendly, low-fat, and only copies files into the right folders: in this case, you simply (making sure you are completely conversant as to which files are in which folders -- SimObjects, Gauges, Sounds, etc. -- make sure you completely understand the add-on's full install collection of stuff!) copy those folders over to P3D and everything is, probably, hunky-dory once again. CAVEAT: IF the add-on puts anything in dll.xml, or exe.xml (former more likely than the latter), one of two things will be possible.  Either you'll have to replicate that XML entry in the P3D equivalent of dll.xml (slipping my mind at the moment) -- use Notepad++ to make sure you're not changing the file's core encoded nature -- or, it simply might not work at all with P3D.  My impression is that anything that pops up funny windows within the running 3D engine -- such as Coolsky's DC-9, Milviz's or Razbam's or VRS's load manager for its military aircraft, etc -- will not work under P3Dv2.2 unless you have explicit info from the developer that it will.  Assume it won't, and be happy if it does.

 

    B) It is a less primitive FSX-only install, and gets excited and clever and writes Things to the registry.  This is where the Estonian Migration Tool might help, but I suspect that also means that your add-on is going to have to live EITHER in FSX OR P3D.  Because the original program has decided to create Things (keys, folder paths, strange squiggles and smiley faces, security key tokens, whatever) in the registry, and is expecting those Things to be pointing to FSX.  The EMT "fools" the Jabba-the-Hutt-like registry into thinking it is consuming FSX when it's consuming P3D instead (aka aliases the registry data to point to P3D and spoof P3D, perhaps with an fsx.exe executable in its folder), and hopefully Jabba Doesn't Get Angry.  But He Might.  Caveat Emptor.  The problem here is that if you ever have to uninstall/reinstall (say for an update/service pack/etc.) the problem is going to (possibly? this is an area I'm a little hazy on... or does EMT alias this, too?) be that if you have to go into Control Panel to initiate Uninstall, and the original install was to FSX, Windows is going to go wha-wha-wha as it looks for its wandering file sheep and not find what it is looking for, and then ERROR.

 

That's at least where I'm at with it, and thus due to my superstitious fear of Jabba the Hutt, mainly, I stick mainly with P3Dv2.2 plus add-ons that explicitly will install into both without stepping on registry toes, or add-ons I can simply copy-paste on over (those protected with any kind of passive/active security are also candidates to be wary of, as unless they're architected explicitly for both P3D and FSX install, ka-boom, perhaps to the add-on in both simulations).

 

Basic common sense.

I had both FSX and P3D on my single 500Gb SSD and they lived peacefully for a good 4 months or so.  I had lots of add ons on both.   I recently uninstalled FSX completely and all remains well.  I use the EMT. 

 

Cheers

So here's the things that are clear to me at this point, in case it helps. I am assuming FSX and P3Dv2.2.x running under the same Windows operating system, whether on the same drive, or different drives.

 

1. If you have any add-on that has built-in dual-install capability, such as many if not all of ORBX's region scenery now, you should be able to install once to FSX, and once to P3D, and there will be no issues. Each install (say, if it has an uninstall/repair option in Control Panel Uninstall) will have its own keys and folder path in the registry, and there will be no conflict, and everything should be hunky-dory (that's a Portuguese term).

 

2. If you have an add-on such as REX3 Direct or REX4 Texture Direct, in the former you can splurge for an option to start up either FSX or P3D. If you do (it's $5, skip a cup of coffee, it's good for your blood pressure; In REX4 Texture Direct, no such splurge required) then, with REX3 (if you're using its weather engine, people seem to be preferring Active Sky Next currently, mwahaha wait until REX 4 equivalent is out, I bet.....), you simply choose which folder path either FSX or P3D is in Options, and then the Fly Now button starts up and runs the weather engine under that flight simulator. A bit clunky but easy as pi (3.1415926538, that's the extent of my memory buffer, sorry). For REX4 Texture Direct you can just point it to which sim you want it to Thematize.

 

3. IF you have an add-on that was originally for FSX only, here's where it might get fun. A few branches to contemplate:

 

a) It is a primitive install, eco-friendly, low-fat, and only copies files into the right folders: in this case, you simply (making sure you are completely conversant as to which files are in which folders -- SimObjects, Gauges, Sounds, etc. -- make sure you completely understand the add-on's full install collection of stuff!) copy those folders over to P3D and everything is, probably, hunky-dory once again. CAVEAT: IF the add-on puts anything in dll.xml, or exe.xml (former more likely than the latter), one of two things will be possible. Either you'll have to replicate that XML entry in the P3D equivalent of dll.xml (slipping my mind at the moment) -- use Notepad++ to make sure you're not changing the file's core encoded nature -- or, it simply might not work at all with P3D. My impression is that anything that pops up funny windows within the running 3D engine -- such as Coolsky's DC-9, Milviz's or Razbam's or VRS's load manager for its military aircraft, etc -- will not work under P3Dv2.2 unless you have explicit info from the developer that it will. Assume it won't, and be happy if it does.

 

B) It is a less primitive FSX-only install, and gets excited and clever and writes Things to the registry. This is where the Estonian Migration Tool might help, but I suspect that also means that your add-on is going to have to live EITHER in FSX OR P3D. Because the original program has decided to create Things (keys, folder paths, strange squiggles and smiley faces, security key tokens, whatever) in the registry, and is expecting those Things to be pointing to FSX. The EMT "fools" the Jabba-the-Hutt-like registry into thinking it is consuming FSX when it's consuming P3D instead (aka aliases the registry data to point to P3D and spoof P3D, perhaps with an fsx.exe executable in its folder), and hopefully Jabba Doesn't Get Angry. But He Might. Caveat Emptor. The problem here is that if you ever have to uninstall/reinstall (say for an update/service pack/etc.) the problem is going to (possibly? this is an area I'm a little hazy on... or does EMT alias this, too?) be that if you have to go into Control Panel to initiate Uninstall, and the original install was to FSX, Windows is going to go wha-wha-wha as it looks for its wandering file sheep and not find what it is looking for, and then ERROR.

 

That's at least where I'm at with it, and thus due to my superstitious fear of Jabba the Hutt, mainly, I stick mainly with P3Dv2.2 plus add-ons that explicitly will install into both without stepping on registry toes, or add-ons I can simply copy-paste on over (those protected with any kind of passive/active security are also candidates to be wary of, as unless they're architected explicitly for both P3D and FSX install, ka-boom, perhaps to the add-on in both simulations).

 

Basic common sense.

Thank you a lot for the detailed answer/post :-)

 

But another question:

Can I use this Tool for Add-Ons that are only compatible with P3D v1 too ?