[14JUN17] How not to mess up a perfectly good Prepar3D v4 installation...

[Frank_Kunath 0]

That´s right RSR, and now...its Time for the NGX, T7-300ER, 748i in P3D V4

[Christopher Low 5,381]

Well, this makes my decision to stick with P3D v3.3.5 seem like a good one. I have too many important scenery addons to consider dumping them all and starting again.from scratch. I may consider upgrading to P3D v4 at a later date, but v3.3.5 is good enough for my requirements at the moment.

[JRBarrett 3,120]

1 hour ago, Dave CBFS said:

It probably doesn't help that most of the default aircraft are compiled with the FSX SDK. Only 3 or 4 are actually P3d native. 

Just out of curiousity, how can one tell which SDK was used to compile an aircraft? 

[Dave CBFS 55]

Open the mdl with notepad++ or similar. Near the beginning you'll see MDLXMDLH if it's been compiled with the FSX SDK or PV20MDLH if it's P3d native. 

[akremjab 2]

14 hours ago, Harvgordon said:

Hi Alex,

Update to latest driver: 386.53, no fps loss even with dynamic lights enabled.

Works for me, and the performance is boosted as well.

 Correct me if I'm wrong, the latest Nvidia driver is 382.53, is there another new driver update after 382.53?

[JRBarrett 3,120]

54 minutes ago, Dave CBFS said:

Open the mdl with notepad++ or similar. Near the beginning you'll see MDLXMDLH if it's been compiled with the FSX SDK or PV20MDLH if it's P3d native. 

Good to know! Thanks

[scandinavian13 5,192]

For clarity, I think it's worth noting the following, since I see so many people alluding to this point:

'Works' does not necessarily mean "will work well." I can use my shoe as a hammer in a pinch, but it isn't the best tool for the job. Similarly, an old manual saw will cut through wood, but if I want to do a whole bunch of work, a contracting saw (electric) will do the job a whole lot faster.

Point being:
Just because you can get it into P3Dv4 doesn't mean you should, and it doesn't mean it won't grind your performance down to a halt. Many people are reporting performance issues with dynamic lighting. There is a strong correlation between these issues and being at add-on airports not compiled for P3Dv4. Keep this in mind. You're certainly welcome to install non-optimized things into v4, but do keep in mind that the performance hit you take from doing so may be severe, and is not caused by us.

In other words: it's your choice, but keep in mind that your choices have consequences.

[KAWAUS 3]

Funny this is said because FlyTampa products used a patch and making users just edit the patches! wonder if this is correctly done or is it just an easy way fix to get products out right away!

[ComSimPilot 623]

I think there are two separate issues here:

1) If the add-on is being compiled using P3D v4 SDK

2) If the add-on is installed outside the P3D v4 directory using the add-ons.xml method.

Personally, I haven't seen an explanation about why doing the second, has any difference in performance. Suddenly people want to move all their add-ons outside the sim directory, thinking magically they will more optimized. That's probably not the case. P3D doesn't care if the files of an add-on are installed inside the P3D directory or in the "My Music" folder. Only benefit is you will re-install your add-ons faster if you need to uninstall P3D.

About the SDK, what we customers can do is just ask all developers if they ported the P3D v3 versions or recompiled using only P3D v4 SDK. I suppose sales for the ones who did will be higher, especially as Robert made us more aware of the importance of using the native P3D v4 SDK.

[Chuck Dreier 76]

8 hours ago, A320wolf said:

Well... I fully agree with Mr.Randazzo.

He wrote nothing new or special, for me it's normal, and I don't understand people who want to use old add-ons, even if LM deprecates this thing! I know many of us have spent lots of money in sceneries, planes and so on, but if you decide to jump into the new world of P3D is mandatory to use only v4 "certified" add-ons. In my humble opinion during this period all of us can see who serious and professional developers are and who aren't...  

Regards, Max

 

The question is, are there any "certified" add-ons.  Who would do the certification?  It would be nice - perhaps LM itself.  I'm using ImagineSim KATL and have serious doubts as to whether they followed the correct procedure to make it v4 ready.

[anden145 2,285]

1 hour ago, Daedalus said:

Personally, I haven't seen an explanation about why doing the second, has any difference in performance. Suddenly people want to move all their add-ons outside the sim directory, thinking magically they will more optimized. That's probably not the case. P3D doesn't care if the files of an add-on are installed inside the P3D directory or in the "My Music" folder. Only benefit is you will re-install your add-ons faster if you need to uninstall P3D.

It's actually a pretty clever... All your addons are referenced from XML files, which reside in the Documents folder. From there, they could be located anywhere. 

But is has nothing to do with performance gain... 

[ComSimPilot 623]

7 minutes ago, Anders Bermann said:

Moving the addons outside the Prepar3D folder has nothing to do with performance. I don't know where you got that conclusion?! It is - however - as smart move, considering an update or uninstalling/re-installing Prepar3D would remain untouched. Besides, they would automatically be added, when you install Prepar3D again. 
If you examined the way it's done, it's actually a pretty clever... All your addons are referenced from XML files, which reside in the Documents folder. From there, they could be located anywhere. 

I agree. I never thought that it has anything to do with performance. I just separated the two, because I've seen so many posts in various forums of people asking the wrong question. They keep asking developers if their add-ons install outside P3D, like its so important. It isn't. If you are little careful will probably never need to do a full P3D reinstall. I agree its a great tool, but not the only thing to ask a developer for v4 compatibility.

[Piotr007 167]

Ok I installed DD EPWA for P3D V4 with new installer from Aerosoft customer site. There is some serious issue with textures and traffic using this scenery. It seems indeed developers are confirming too quickly they support V4. I am worried about this.

[Captain Kevin 586]

9 hours ago, A320wolf said:

He wrote nothing new or special, for me it's normal, and I don't understand people who want to use old add-ons, even if LM deprecates this thing! I know many of us have spent lots of money in sceneries, planes and so on, but if you decide to jump into the new world of P3D is mandatory to use only v4 "certified" add-ons.

So basically, fly with mostly default scenery?

[Ron Attwood 3,494]

3 minutes ago, Captain Kevin said:

So basically, fly with mostly default scenery?

Eeeek!