Hi,

 

I am working on a continous improvement of SIMstarter. Next generations of SIMstarter will have a lot of improvements and features. But it is very interesting for me what you are needing most? Or what you have missed at SIMstarter.

 

This topic should be used as a whish list for future development of next generations of SIMstarter

 

Posts are welcome in english or german.

 

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Hallo,

 

ich arbeite immer wieder an Verbesserungen für den SIMstarter. Nächste Generationen vom SIMstarter werden weitere Verbesserungen und neue Features haben. Allerdings ist es für mich besonders wichtig, Dein Feedback zu bekommen. Welche Features hast Du bisher vermisst und was würdest Du ändern?

 

Dieses Topic ist als Wunschliste gedacht.

 

Posts auf English und Deutsch.

Hi,

first thing I have to write, thanks for your awesome program.

Regarding the wishlist, my wish is to include editors for other configuration files (as the one for SimObjects):

 

Fonts (fonts.cfg) - Used to configure additional font directories.

Gauges (gauges.cfg) - Used to configure additional gauge directories.

Sound (sound.cfg) - Used to configure additional sound directories.

Texture (texture.cfg) - Used to configure additional texture directories.

Scenarios (scenarios.cfg) - Used to configure scenario directories in addition to the default Prepar3D v3 Files location.

 

etc. You can see them all in the Prepar3D v3 SDK documentation. I think some (if not all) were already present in v2 to.

 

When I did clean install of my P3D v3 recently, I installed most of the sceneries to fake P3Dv3 installation directory, then moved the dirs to second hard drive dedicated to sceneries and inserted the paths into respective files.

 

This way, I avoided to have most of the installers to install stuff into main P3D effects (and other) folders. Seems cleaner way for me, more organized and in most cases no need to reinstall sceneries if you need to reinstall the sim. I belive new sceneries will do it this way more often, to avoid main P3D folder completly.

 

It is also possible to move away some aircraft addons like this.

Hallo Cpt Pero,

another good thing with SimStarter would be to intergrate the "enable/disable controllers" button for those simmers using FSUIPC for the controller settings in FSX.

 

mfg

Wolfgang

 

Hi,

first thing I have to write, thanks for your awesome program.

Regarding the wishlist, my wish is to include editors for other configuration files (as the one for SimObjects):

 

Fonts (fonts.cfg) - Used to configure additional font directories.

Gauges (gauges.cfg) - Used to configure additional gauge directories.

Sound (sound.cfg) - Used to configure additional sound directories.

Texture (texture.cfg) - Used to configure additional texture directories.

Scenarios (scenarios.cfg) - Used to configure scenario directories in addition to the default Prepar3D v3 Files location.

 

[...]

 

Thank you for that feature request.

Would you need them just like as an editor or use them like a SimObjects ConfigSet meaning activate or deativate them for each individual profile.

Hallo Cpt Pero,

another good thing with SimStarter would be to intergrate the "enable/disable controllers" button for those simmers using FSUIPC for the controller settings in FSX.

 

mfg

Wolfgang

 

Hi Wolfgang,

 

thank you for that one. But I am not sure if I get it right. You already have the possibility to clear controlers within SIMstarter (clean up the joystick button assignments of the sim). What shall happen if "enable/disable"?

 

Wolfgang sound "german speaking". You are invited to answer in german. :o)

Hi Pero,

 

I have a suggestion. This ties into those above. I find it cumbersome to control the SimObjects, setting them by profile. New SimObjects are added to all profiles whether I want it or not. Perhaps you could set up all configs by allowing us to create our own scenarios the same as scenery manager, etc; and apply to our profiles as needed.

 

I also noticed that the SimObjects list is showing items I have deleted from my SimObjects file. In one instance, it wouldn't let me delete an entry that I had already deleted in the file, because it had SimObjects\Airplanes in the path (it wasn't in the SimObjects\Airplanes folder in the root of P3D). In another instance I couldn't deactivate a SimObjects entry because it had SimObjects\Airplanes in the path (once again not in the root folder). Perhaps you could add an entry in options to force us to specify the location of the SimObjects folder in the root of the sim. That way, maybe SimStarter could differentiate between the mandatory SimObjects folder, and user created, elsewhere. Sorry to bring this up in wish list, but it ties into the rest.  - FYI

 

For the exe and dll xml files, would it be possible to start with the full file contents and allow us to activate or deactivate? Looking at the xml managers, there are no entries in the list. They all have to be added.

 

I could see a scenario where all config files have a manager that populates the full file, and allows us to create scenarios that we can choose for each profile, as with the Scenery manager. When SimStarter opens, perhaps new and recently deleted entries can be highlighted in each scenario, allowing us to decide whether to activate or not.

 

It is easy for me to suggest all of this, given I don't have to do the work. However,  it would make it easier to comply with P3D v3. Having said all this, I admit it is my personal preference and may not appeal to others.

 

Thanks for all you do.

Thank you for that feature request.

Would you need them just like as an editor or use them like a SimObjects ConfigSet meaning activate or deactivate them for each individual profile.

 

Hi,

 

would be great if we could activate/deactivate the entries for each individual profile. Then I can activate/deactivate effects and other folders based on what sceneries I have active for respective profile.

 

Some additional folders like the ones for gauge/fonts probably wont being disabled/activated too often, but if you will add this, it would probably be best (and easier for you) to treat all the files the same way.

 

Also, as gfd posted, I noticed that SimStarter did not let me deactivate additional SimObjects folders that it has find... probably because they did contain "Airplanes" or similar string that is also present in default paths. It would be good to allow us to override this, even if you can break the simulator functionality by this. Or find some way to distinguish between required items and optional ones. 

 

Also thanks for your work, for your reply and wish you a merry Christmas. Have some rest for yourself during the holidays - I am sure you work hard and deserve it.

[...] I have a suggestion. This ties into those above. I find it cumbersome to control the SimObjects, setting them by profile. New SimObjects are added to all profiles whether I want it or not. Perhaps you could set up all configs by allowing us to create our own scenarios the same as scenery manager, etc; and apply to our profiles as needed.[...]

The whole handling of all "new" configuration files of PREPAR3D v3 will be change in future to make such things possible.

 

[...]For the exe and dll xml files, would it be possible to start with the full file contents and allow us to activate or deactivate? Looking at the xml managers, there are no entries in the list. They all have to be added.[...]"

But this is only the case if Addon do not use the right DLL/EXE.xml location. This might be confusing at the moment. SIMstarter reads the exsting files and just stores that deactived entries. Therefore if you do not see anything you might look at the wrong place. DLL/EXE.xml should be in "C:\ProgramData\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v3". Can you please verify that? If not, please open a new support thread.

 

[...] I could see a scenario where all config files have a manager that populates the full file, and allows us to create scenarios that we can choose for each profile, as with the Scenery manager. When SimStarter opens, perhaps new and recently deleted entries can be highlighted in each scenario, allowing us to decide whether to activate or not. [...]

 

It is easy for me to suggest all of this, given I don't have to do the work. However,  it would make it easier to comply with P3D v3. Having said all this, I admit it is my personal preference and may not appeal to others.

 

Thanks for all you do.

Thank you for your requests. That was exacly what I did ask for! Don't hesitate to add your wishes - it's X-mas...

[...] would be great if we could activate/deactivate the entries for each individual profile. Then I can activate/deactivate effects and other folders based on what sceneries I have active for respective profile.

 

Some additional folders like the ones for gauge/fonts probably wont being disabled/activated too often, but if you will add this, it would probably be best (and easier for you) to treat all the files the same way.[...]

Pretty good idea. Lets take it to the upcoming feature list :o)

Capt,

 

The functional exe and dll xml files are in %appdata%\<user>\Lockheed Martin\etc. Not in Program Data.

 

Cheers.

[...] The functional exe and dll xml files are in %appdata%\<user>\Lockheed Martin\etc. Not in Program Data. [...]

 

That not 100% true. There are several places where the files could be placed with a different loading prio:

http://www.prepar3d.com/SDKv3/LearningCenter/add-ons/add-on_configuration.html

 

SIMstarter handles files inside "ProgramData" für P3Dv3 so far.

This will change in future...

That not 100% true. There are several places where the files could be placed with a different loading prio:

http://www.prepar3d.com/SDKv3/LearningCenter/add-ons/add-on_configuration.html

 

SIMstarter handles files inside "ProgramData" für P3Dv3 so far.

This will change in future...

I stand corrected. I read elsewhere that entries are read from both files. So for the time being, should we ensure all entries are the same in both locations?

I stand corrected. I read elsewhere that entries are read from both files. So for the time being, should we ensure all entries are the same in both locations?

From a SIMstarter perspective that will be the best approach at the moment. Sorry...

Given the suggestion by LM to put some things outside of the root p3d folder there are many. like myself, who have created extra folders for add on aircraft. These folders are not scanned by Simstarter automatically for profiles, etc. The ability to select these extra folders for livery browsing, etc would be a big plus.

 

For example, on my system, in addition to the default Simobjects folder in the p3d root I have a folder located in F:\Addon Aircraft\Airplanes\Simobjects that contains additional aircraft.

 

I'm using version 2.7.4 and I don't see a way to do that.

 

I am not talking about Profiles - I'm talking about adding folders to the initial scan for liveries.

 

Thanx,

 

Vic

SimStarter is great :smile:

 

Unless I am missing it because I am new to the program it might already be there.

 

In the "StartManager" there is a drop down to select the priority of the Program selected from the list.

 

Is it possible to also have a way to specify the affinity of the Programs listed so that they can be kept off the

core with  the Sims main thread running on it?

SimStarter is great :smile:

 

Unless I am missing it because I am new to the program it might already be there.

 

In the "StartManager" there is a drop down to select the priority of the Program selected from the list.

 

Is it possible to also have a way to specify the affinity of the Programs listed so that they can be kept off the

core with  the Sims main thread running on it?

 

That will be included in future. Thank you!

My addition to the wishlist would be for a better Livery Manager.

 

I currently have an issue with AI when I hide aircraft using the livery manager.  If I hide all of the default FSX aircraft, then I get AI versions of these aircraft appearing as black (unpainted) aircraft.

 

I would like to see a fix for this where either the Livery Manage allows access to hidden liveries for AI or that any hidden aircraft cant be used as AI.