P3D V4 advice

[barramundilure 152]

Hi Everyone I am a long time vanilla FSX user that never swung across to previous versions of P3D.  

I paid for and downloaded P3D V4 about a week after release.  However at this stage i have not installed it as i am waiting for many of my favourite programs and sceneries to become settled so i wont have to go through a series of installs and reinstalls.

I have been away for about three weeks but am aware that there was un update from LM for this program.  

My question is should i just download a whole new installer or should I install the original file then download the update?

Given it is yet to be installed, would a whole new installer be the best way to go?

If I install the original file, will the program recognise there is an update and ask me to update or do i need to go to the LM site and manually download the update?

Also should I install it in the default location or some other place.  I have access to all the FTX Global, OLC NA and EU plus a number of FSDT sceneries.  

Once P3D is installed are there any tips or traps in regard to setting all this up or is it as simple as following your nose?

Any advice for a totally novice P3D user would be appreciated.

Regards

Barra

[mdata 46]

Hi Barra,

In your situation (P3D not yet installed) I would go back to LM and download the latest set of installation files.
If you install the older version it will not ask you to download the latest update nor will it update itself.

Personally, I am installing P3D always on a separate drive (I prefer SSDs). I would never install it into "C:\Program Files" because of how Windows (depends as well a bit on your Windows version) secures the "Program Files" folder.

If the add ons you named are the only ones you would like to install for the moment then I would say you are ready to go. Just follow the advice of the respective installers.

One thing has changed however compared to FSX. It is the way how scenery is registered in P3Dv4. LM has introduced a new method using configuration files based on the XML file format. For the moment they coexist with the well known scenery.cfg file. The installers of OrbX add ons and FSDT add ons will use different methods to register with P3Dv4. FSDT uses this new method, OrbX uses the classic way via scenery.cfg. The caveat of the new method is that you cannot change the layer of FSDT scenery using the Scenery Library Editor anymore. But there is a nice freeware tool called "Lorby Prepar3D V4 Addon Organizer" that lets you do this: http://lorby-si.weebly.com/downloads.html

You can still enable and disable scenery added through the new method through a new menu item in P3Dv4 (Options -> Addons -> ...) if you do not want to use 3rd party tools; but I can really recommend Lorby's little program.

Other than that I would recommend to install v4 and try it out! IMHO it's absolutely wiorth it.

Cheers
Frank

[fluffyflops 1,843]

Drop the Partition.   Reformat,  update drivers.   Clean installation of P3Dv4.  

[barramundilure 152]

Thanks Frank for the advice, much appreciated. I am using windows 10 and will not install in the default programme files folder as suggested- should i just make it something like C:\P3DV4

i have a large 1TB SSD as my C drive with heaps of space available, do I really need a separate SSD for P3D?

Pete, what does drop the partition mean?

All drivers should be up to date and will download the updated P3D installer.

Thanks to you both once again.

[MatthewS 761]

3 minutes ago, barramundilure said:

Pete, what does drop the partition mean?

He probably meant delete and recreate the partition, which seems like overkill. 

I'd just reformat the partition, and reinstall.

[Rossco 23]

G'day Barra,

I gather you only have a single C: drive?

In which case you don't have it partitioned so you can install as you suggested, in C:\P3Dv4.

You certainly don't need a separate SSD for the Sim. I do have a 500Gb one for my v4 & a 250Gb one for v3 which I still need to test. I also have FSX on a WD Velociraptor which is about 500Gb.

[fluffyflops 1,843]

Reformat the hard disc and install Windows from scratch.   I bet you won't do it and I'll bet in 2 weeks there will be another "I've got stutters topic" 

[mdata 46]

Hi,

Quote

i have a large 1TB SSD as my C drive with heaps of space available, do I really need a separate SSD for P3D?

This is not mandatory, just to be clear. I like to have all my apps / programs / data on a different drive or partition than where Windows sits. It allows me to replace the drive (I always use a separate drive for Windows) in hours by just restoring my latest backup.
To be honest I do very seldom a reinstall of Windows - and I definitely did not so not each time a new version of P3D surfaced. My PC environment is always well-kept. If I would face performance issues with my current sim I always knew I was pushing the limits too far for my current hardware.

On a side note - and this is my personal opinion/experience - if your computer becomes slow, then one factor my be an overflowing user profile. I have seen that often on PCs where Windows has not been replaced/reinstalled for years. But in fact it was not the PC that became slow. It was the user's profile. A couple of weeks ago my daughter inherited the old laptop of my wife - the latter complaining it was sooo slow and and eventually she won, she got a new laptop. The old one is about to die anyway within a year or two, so it was sort of 'preventative maintenance' to replace it.
Now my daughter go the old one but I was too lazy to reformat and reinstall Windows; instead I created a new user profile for my daughter, and see what? The PC looked as fresh and speedy as on it's first day.
Of course, if a PC's OS drive reaches it's capacity it may become slow due to not being able to work properly with the swap file anymore. This would be the case for me to replace the drive and reinstall Windows, not earlier. Everything else can be cured by properly maintaining the Windows installation and the house keeping of installed applications.
Just my two cents ...

Best Regards
Frank

[jmig 100]

I agree with Frank, here. I think his advice on installing PD3 V4 is spot on. I also, like him, have never reinstalled Windows, just to install another version of PD3. With Windows, I follow the, "If it ain't broke..." rule. 

Since, you have a 1TB SSD, you might want to consider making a partition for PD3. The issue with installing directly to the "C" drive is Windows 10 permissions. Microsoft decided to better protect us from ourselves with Win 10. They make it harder to do some things by requiring Admin permission to do many things on the OS drive. This makes working with some add-ons more time consuming and difficult. The way to get around MS asking for permission to do anything is to install PD3 on a separate drive or, in your case, a separate partition, which is a virtual drive. 

I am not saying do this. I have never done it. I haven't needed to do so. There may be other issues in using a separate partition vs. separate drive of which I am not aware. Hopefully, if so, someone more knowledgeable with correct me.