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

[Piotr007 166]

44 minutes ago, Ben311 said:

I think Justsim just modified their installers to work with V4. I have EDDH and at daytime it is working fine, but at night I have horrible ground flickering and dynamic lights in the pmdg 744 kills my fps. 

Here you go. Scam Simulations Software (SSS). We should be aware. With aircraft this problem is not such a large issue, but when it comes scenery it is an entirely other thing.

P.S.

I also have some issues with dynamic lighting on Ulitimate Traffic Live GA. But taking into consideration this product is still under development for official compatibility, this is not a large issue (for me).

[Matt Hayward 1]

21 hours ago, Piotr007 said:

I can confirm Simmarket is selling botched products. I just bought ELLX of Justsim, they state V4 compatibility. Yes, the installer installs in V4! But, the textures of the terrain are blurry as hell! This indicates false advertisment! Do not fall for it guys! I am lucky I just bought this one for now. Wait for all developers to work with P3D V4 SDK!

 

 

Surely that's not simmarket's fault but rather the developers telling simmarket it is p3d v4 compatible and simmarket just stating what they've been told? Not saying it's not okay but just shifting who's at fault for the statement

[romangeber 23]

23 hours ago, Piotr007 said:

I can confirm Simmarket is selling botched products.

Simmarket isn't the one to blame. It's the developer.

Besides, I think that the first thing you should do is talk to Simmarket rather than accusing them of wrongdoing in this otherwise useful thread. I think "public shaming" should be the last option after you tried tech support and vendor support.

cu
Roman

[Piotr007 166]

2 minutes ago, romangeber said:

Simmarket isn't the one to blame. It's the developer.

Besides, I think that the first thing you should do is talk to Simmarket rather than accusing them of wrongdoing in this otherwise useful thread. I think "public shaming" should be the last option after you tried tech support and vendor support.

cu
Roman

I just mentioned they sell it, not developed it. Justsim developed the addon but did not make it really V4 compatible. Only installers are changed.

[harrry 322]

Well it sounds like some nightmares for stores and developers.  Australian Consumer Law gives rights to a product fit for purpose and matching all claims.

we have had the head of PMDG state that unless compiled for p3d4 using tools it is not.

Entitlement is for a full refund and any costs.

I just got caught the same way with Xplane but ate it because it was only a few dollars.

Stores must be more careful of their claims.  I for one am sick of a stack of unusable products not meeting their claims.  It is both stores and (developers that are to blame.  I know some places say it does not apply to them but  if the money comes from Australia it has mostly passed the sniff test.

Microsoft used to certify products as suitible for windows.  Is it time for LM to do the same?

[AndrewBoeing 2]

I really can't understand how can you ask other third party scenery developers to have a scenery 100% p3dv4 compiled when P3dv4 is not even 100% p3dv4 compiled.

It baffles me. Look what Martin at flytampa recently stated:

 

Quote

I will say this... Some of the statements being made in other threads are exaggerating the issues and creating a level of fearmongering that I do not think is warranted.

If Lockheed needed V4 to remain so "pure" and untouched by non-V4-SDK files, they could have just dropped backwards compatibility. Instead they went through some extra trouble to ensure compatibility, which is no minor achievement considering the 32->64bit switch. A stock v4 install itself contains many BGLs and other content that was not recompiled by Lockheed, so a V4 base installation isn't all that "pure" to begin with.

As far as airport Addons go, there are certain parts or types of BGLs where you will see a benefit from removing or switching them to a newer V4 tech, but this isn't true for every single file of every addon in existence. So it is a matter of devs needing to look at their files individually and figure out how to selectively alter them. With the bulk of files of a given airport, which contain 3D models of terminals etc, there is no automatic performance or other benefit by just recompiling them with the V4 SDK. Of course we are conducting tests with our airports and of course I understand that Aircraft are different since its usually a single massive MDL that gets compiled.

So the answer is not as simple as a guarantee to recompile every single file of every airport no matter how old and it will all be amazing.

Right now, I would not install every non-essential obscure Addon without making regular backups of the whole P3Dv4 folder as well as user & program data/ folders just in case. Its unrealistic to wait for every old Addon to be "V4-purified" in the sense that is being talked about in other threads. Devs are more likely going to invest their time focusing on new Addons that will be for V4 only, instead of messing around with their 10 year old stuff for too long. The average 10 year old Addon, even if "V4-purified" and (guessing) 10% faster , would still look and feel like the same 10 year old Addon.

 

So lets stop this and come to our senses.

[ahsmatt7 1,199]

50 minutes ago, AndrewBoeing said:

I really can't understand how can you ask other third party scenery developers to have a scenery 100% p3dv4 compiled when P3dv4 is not even 100% p3dv4 compiled.

It baffles me. Look what Martin at flytampa recently stated:

 

 

So lets stop this and come to our senses.

Read the last paragraph. He's saying something very similar to what's been said here.

[Guest AKA938]

My take on this is to proceed with caution.  It is true that V4 isn't 100% complied, some add ons work, some don't, some are iffy.  I suggest a back up before each install.  Start small and work up...use restore points.  We are in new territory and it will take time to sort it all out.

Henry

[scandinavian13 5,192]

9 minutes ago, AKA938 said:

use restore points

These are notorious for causing all kinds of issues with the various sims out there. I would definitely advise against it.

[1st fltsimguy 466]

1 hour ago, AndrewBoeing said:

I really can't understand how can you ask other third party scenery developers to have a scenery 100% p3dv4 compiled when P3dv4 is not even 100% p3dv4 compiled.

It baffles me. Look what Martin at flytampa recently stated:

 

 

So lets stop this and come to our senses.

 

21 minutes ago, AKA938 said:

My take on this is to proceed with caution.  It is true that V4 isn't 100% complied, some add ons work, some don't, some are iffy.  I suggest a back up before each install.  Start small and work up...use restore points.  We are in new territory and it will take time to sort it all out.

Henry

 

This is exactly my take on this. PMDG seems to have some issues with some scenery or planes and we appreciate the advice.

I'm not worried. It's all good advice. The new sim is "different" and of course should be respected.

I suspect based on what I'm reading problems are real for certain products.

Lockheed Martin folks have provided that some products are backward compatible.

There are lots of posts and discussion on how to addon stuff using the new system. however, the sim also has the old scenery library method tried and true.

Orbx uses its own folders and scenery library method just like before at this time for regions, landclass, global....and they work! Its just their modules for "flow" elements need to be reprogrammed as I understand it.

The several sceneries that I have added all work.

That being said, I see the new dynamic lighting is a big issue if one wants to use it as this requires old sceneries to be compiled with the new sdk.

Since I'm not using this lighting (yet) it isn't an issue for me.

 

My advice is simple. of course do stuff at one's own risk, back stuff up, make restore points, and only do one addon at a time so one can reverse engineer if something goes wrong.

The old Don Govestine Vancouver island airports work fine installed the old method. As well Tongass Fjords, Vancouver and Victoria Plus..just saying.

I also have the RealAir planes working great [which is amazing] (except the known issue of the sound gauge needs to be reprogrammed to 64bit compatibility). Flaps and landing gear sounds are separate and work fine it's just the in cockpit clicks stuff that's not working yet...and someone's working on this.

I see there appears to be some of the PMDG stuff and more complicated tube liners that are a problem and appears some European airports from a couple of vendors also  have problems.

MY good advice is....keep up....read...take ones time...which is what I'm doing.

AND...I have my complete P3D V3 totally working fine so no issue to keep enjoying a fully loaded sim. Although I will say this...it's not as good as V4 for smoothness, crisp textures and autogen going out for miles.

I did managed to give my V4 a stutter and autogen not keeping up loading by flying over Seattle at 600knts in my Milviz F-86 Sabre but no issue at 350knts.

 

Bryan

 

PS...MY ADVICE ALSO IS AFTER DOING THE BASE INSTALL....COPY THE ENTIRE NEW CLEAN INSTALL TO A SEPARATE DRIVE OR LOCATION SO THAT ONE HAS ALL THE ORIGINAL FILES AVAILABLE SHOULD ONE NEED ORIGINAL FILES, THEN ONE DOES NOT NECESSARILY HAVE TO REINSTALL THE SIM TO FIX IT. THIS INCLUDES THE C DRIVE LOCATIONS FOR AUTOGEN, SCENERY, TERRAIN CONFIGS, SHADERS ETC.

 

[1st fltsimguy 466]

2 hours ago, scandinavian13 said:

These are notorious for causing all kinds of issues with the various sims out there. I would definitely advise against it.

OK good point. I actually haven't ever used the restore point to rectify a sim issue directly. Its more been flightsim utilities, driver roll backs stuff like that. Sim integrity, I fix myself.

[FreightDawg 10]

Great thread 

[Manny 1,293]

Some people are really asking for it.. By adding/using FS9 sceneries like this Vauchez's KPDX Portland to P3Dv4. 

 

[hesynergy 67]

On 6/14/2017 at 10:17 PM, Greggy_D said:

Rude.

But accurate ....

 

hereYaGo

I apologize to/for him for your/his questions/response...done here....can't we...can't we...all just get along?", I seem to recall asked by one terribly slightened years ago.

chas

[downscc 1,327]

I made a discovery after chasing a problem for two days that revealed a quick test for P3Dv4 compiled scenery.  I discovered that GSX will not work if the airport scenery file is compiled with the P3Dv4 SDK (specifically the bglcomp), it does not recognize the changes LM made to runways, taxi paths and aprons.  The symptom is that when you try to get GSX services at any parking spot you get an error message that you are at an isolated parking spot.  It believes you parking spot is not connected to the apron or taxi links.  Thanks to Scruffyduck support and their ADEv1.75 beta which is out now and is a true P3Dv4 compliant airport scenery designer.

In other words, if GSX is working at your lovely add-on airport, chances are the scenery wasn't compiled with SDKv4 ... or at least the AFCAD file.