Prepar3D v4.1 to be released next week...

[Boomer 1,619]

7 minutes ago, Wise87 said:

Would you mind sharing the link about the improved multicore support in 4.1. Thanks

Aint got no link,brother, I caught it second hand from the LM live feed.

[simbol 5,767]

1 minute ago, Boomer said:

Aint got no link,brother, I caught it second hand from the LM live feed.

Were was this Live feed?

[Sethos 4,266]

Would be great if they had done something about the excessive blurring when ortho-textures were used. They've done so much to improve the regular ole' texture loading, then it's just jarring sitting at a beautiful OrbX airport and looking at a mountain covered in ortho, made completely of smudge and blur. 

[Wise87 1,275]

18 minutes ago, Boomer said:

Aint got no link,brother, I caught it second hand from the LM live feed.

Ok. I was just wondering because this is the first many have heard of this. Most live feeds and streams have a link for users to watch later after initial broadcast. Thanks again, good to know there will be improved muticore support coming today. 

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, GSalden said:

 

So you must be flying with a vanille P3D only ....

 

Haha, not quite but well, yes, close indeed. I ONLY install what I actually use and currently that would be FTX Norway, HD Trees, AS, A2A Comanche, Ultimate Traffic Live, HDE2 clouds, Track-IR, Plan-G... well... I think that is about it for P3D. Everything else I will install whenever I need it. Which may be never. With the mentioned addons/programs I can entertain myself for months. I do own a LOAD of other addons but seldom use them. The coming reinstall will also help me to get rid of stuff like FTX GES and GEN which I found to be highly disappointing. 

Of course I can fully feel the pain others may have who own and actually use 350 addon airports, 125 planes, 10 tweaker utils, 35 photoreal sceneries, 7 texture replacers, 3 weather engines, 2 ATC addons, 3 AI programs and so on.

I think my love for a clean systems actually saves me a lot of money: I don't even WANT that many addons. The less the better. Saves money, quick reinstalls, prevents compatibily problems and errors due to addons not liking each other... it's a win-win!

[Ident 198]

Well being that I fly VR only now, I installed v4 to test it out and check a few addons as I awaited FlyInside to release their product for it. Looking at my pilot logbook for v4 I have a total of 1.8 hours in the sim. my addons I installed were the Orbx regions and vector stuff, 2 A2A planes, Real Air Duke, GTN, TongassX, FSUIPC, PilotEdge, ActiveSky, FSEconomy, GSX, FlightBeam KMSP and Taxi2Gate KSEA.

So a complete reinstall will not be a big deal as most of those addons installed outside of the sim. What I am most interested in finding out (other than their hype on native VR support) will be the changes the addon developers requested and got to make their work benefit the sim.
 

[OzWhitey 3,353]

44 minutes ago, Wise87 said:

Would you mind sharing the link about the improved multicore support in 4.1. Thanks

Although not very specific, this was mentioned on the Reddit AMA that the Prepar3d team did on September 26th. I thought their comment was interesting:

"Beau: Every release features more multicore threading to improve performance. Overall, Prepar3D is already threaded in some of the most important areas. Still, we continue to improve on this as we progress with optimizing the baseline. For example, in Prepar3D v4, the functions that draw maps for gauges were threaded out. So, while we continue to look for ways to improve, Prepar3D has already made some significant progress compared to previous releases."

I think we sometimes think of multicore support as being a future dream, but from the LM team's point of view it more a slow, iterative process that is well underway. I've been simming with a hex-core for the past three years, and the sim does tend to use the cores quite well (though, of course, I'd like the optimisations to keep coming!).

For those who haven't read the AMA (I did, but I spend far to much time on Reddit, admittedly not usually in the flightsim forum!) :)

"AMA" = "Ask me anything"

Answered by:

Adam Breed, Prepar3D Engineering Project Manager
Howell “Beau” Hollis, Prepar3D Rendering Lead and Architect
Robert McCarthy, Prepar3D Commercial Product Lead

4.1 release

Adam: We are proud to announce Prepar3D v4.1 will release on Oct. 10, 2017 at 3 p.m. EST

Beau: We believe the future of VR is bright, especially in the training and simulation space. We are excited to see where things go from here. One of our primary goals has always been providing the most immersive training experience possible. VR takes immersion to the next level. We’ve got some big updates to VR coming in 4.1, so stay tuned.

Adam: We definitely agree – 64-bit has been a game changer. As for future plans, we will be releasing a point release, v4.1, very shortly. As for the road map, we have a strong team focus on immersive technology and virtual reality. You will see the first steps to support that vision better with v4.1. A big positive, everything we do to make the VR experience better, will also make the general sim usage better. This includes performance improvements and visual improvements.

Beau: We have made improvements over the years and will continue to do so. Since every aircraft is unique and flight modeling specifics are often proprietary, our primary focus has been on extensibility via the Prepar3D SDK. Using the SDK, developers can create completely custom flight modeling from scratch. Check out the ISimObject samples in the SDK for more details.

Comment

I sim 100% in VR these days, couldn't be more excited by the team's stated focus on this emerging technology. The SDK comment was not 4.1 specific, but I've heard a couple of times that they're working on adding functionality here - great idea.

Interesting comment:

Robert: While Prepar3D was built off of the MSFS engine we have completely overhauled the engine from the ground up since we started development. From rewriting the rendering engine to support DirectX 11 to upgrading the platform to 64 bit and Unicode, the entire engine has been completely reworked and modernized.

I though this was a good insight. It's compatible with ESP/FSX, but the engine, after all these years, is actually very different (which fits with the multicore comment above).

Comments  (speculative)from the team relating to the future:

Adam: Hi JSilva32, Contoured/sloping runways have been the second most common request (right after 64-bit) since we started work on Prepar3D. It is something we know there is strong desire for and continue to look for ways to include it in future versions.

Beau: The dynamic lightning system in v4.0 is laying the groundwork for future development. Add-on developers are doing amazing things with it, and in future releases we will continue to refine the capability and work to improve dynamic lighting performance. 

Beau: DirectX 12 is on our minds for the long term, but we have nothing specific to announce at this time.

Robert: We recognize this is a much requested update for the platform. The globe and associated NAVAIDs are something we are focused on improving moving forward. We will have more specific information on this in the future. 

And on a final note...

That's 1000 posts!!! 

Yes, I know that half of you probably have ten times that in a bunch of different places, but I didn't think I'd ever reach the '1000 mark' on an internet forum. Woohoo! Drinks are on me for anyone who is in Port Hedland, or wants to fly in later tonight (you can crash in the caravan, no probs). I've enjoyed hanging out with y'all for the last ten years or so, with everything from 'Occupy Redmond' to extreme Carenado flight-testing along the way.

And finally, a special THANKYOU to the LM team - Marillyn Hewson, Beau, other Robert and Adam - for agreeing to release P3D 4.1 - with better VR - to mark the occasion. You guys rock!

[simbol 5,767]

Congratulations for your 1000 posts.

I just spotted something at LM forums: https://www.prepar3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6305&t=126817

Elaine changed her post saying the log will be posted by that day, not a couple of days before .

repar3D v4.1 will be released on October 10, 2017 at 3 p.m. EST. 

A final change log will be posted by that date. 

Thank you for your Interest in Prepar3D !

So we will not know the changes until it is out.

Regards,
Simbol

[Claudius_ 319]

In my account page on the p3d site the version 4 is not more available for download, just the older 3.4.

[JoeFackel 760]

 

[Claudius_ 319]

the original is better:

 

[Wise87 1,275]

Thanks Robert for the detailed post and congrats on your 1000 post. 

On a side note, I don't get the two video links and what hey have to do with the P3D4.1 release. 

[Cargostorm 151]

1 minute ago, Wise87 said:

On a side note, I don't get the two video links and what hey have to do with the P3D4.1 release. 

I guess the music makes the waiting more bearable. I have this music in the doctor's waiting room as well.

[JoeFackel 760]

10 minutes ago, Wise87 said:

On a side note, I don't get the two video links and what hey have to do with the P3D4.1 release. 

Lyrics "Madonna - Hung up"

Time goes by so slowly
Time goes by so slowly
Time goes by so slowly
Time goes by so slowly
Time goes by so slowly
Time goes by so slowly

...

[Wise87 1,275]

2 minutes ago, JoeFackel said:

Lyrics "Madonna - Hung up"

Time goes by so slowly
Time goes by so slowly
Time goes by so slowly
Time goes by so slowly
Time goes by so slowly
Time goes by so slowly

...

Gotcha, thanks, LOL Can't remember the last time I listen to one of her songs, but I was around when she first became famous. :P