P3D v4 Cumulus X in P3D v4

[mrrcflying 8]

Super!!!  Thanks so much.  I will give that a try!  Can't wait to try it out!

[robmw 22]

On 6/8/2018 at 12:12 AM, glider1 said:

 

It would be great if someone wrote an addon.xml for CumulusX in P3Dv4 because it is just begging to be installed that way.

Just found this thread while installing CumulusX to use with Aerosoft sailplanes in P3D v4.5. Although it's a while ago I thought I'd add some info as I've done exactly what glider1 asked.

I created a 'Soaring' folder in the P3D Add-ons folder in My Documents (obviously it can be called whatever is desired). The CumulusX (and its cloud objects) can then be copied as below from their dummy install locations as explained in glider1's post:

CumulusX
SimObjects\Misc\CumulusXCloud

Then create an 'add-on.xml' (note hyphen in name) containing the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<SimBase.Document Type="AddOnXml" version="4,0" id="add-on">
  <AddOn.Name>Soaring utilities (CumulusX)</AddOn.Name>
  <AddOn.Description>Utilities to enhance soaring flights - CumulusX</AddOn.Description>
  <AddOn.Component>
    <Category>SimObjects</Category>
    <Path>SimObjects\Misc</Path>
  </AddOn.Component>
  <AddOn.Component>
    <Category>EXE</Category>
    <Path>CumulusX\CumulusX.exe</Path>
  </AddOn.Component>
</SimBase.Document>

To finish, add the location of the above add-on.xml to one of P3D's 'add-ons.cfg' files:

[Package.n]
Path=<users docs location>\Prepar3D v4 Add-ons\Soaring
Active=TRUE
Required=FALSE

The add-on.xml definition can easily be enhanced to include other soaring utilities. In my setup I also have WinchX and the Aerosoft variometer DLL for use in their sailplanes.

It all works well in P3D v4.5 but I don't have v5 so can't comment about that.

[glider1 90]

59 minutes ago, robmw said:

Just found this thread while installing CumulusX to use with Aerosoft sailplanes in P3D v4.5. Although it's a while ago I thought I'd add some info as I've done exactly what glider1 asked.

I created a 'Soaring' folder in the P3D Add-ons folder in My Documents (obviously it can be called whatever is desired). The CumulusX (and its cloud objects) can then be copied as below from their dummy install locations as explained in glider1's post:

Thanks Robmw glad you got it going. CumulusX as an addon works even better in v5 than v4 because the general performance of the sim is better. Thermalling in a tight turn produces less stuttering. It is important since I do the gliding in VR. CumulusX even works in Enhanced Atmospherics mode but it tends to hide the CumulusX clouds a lot which makes thermals harder to spot.

The only problem I haven't solved, wonder if you have, is that even though I have a registered version of CumulusX I can't find a way to get it to display "CumulusXDLL true" in the debug menu. I think the DLL used to be an asset that CuX used in DLL.xml to fix a bug that existed in Vista and Windows 7 but it isn't technically needed for us in later versions.

The best fun I'm having right now with it is to use Simlogger as an addon to replay recordings of real world flights that pilots have uploaded to OLC gliding website and then fly the same task over the same scenery with the playback running and compare results. Simlogger is still an amazing app.

Let me know if you need any information on anything to do with gliding in P3D. I still do a lot of gliding in it and will continue to until MS2020 produces a better thermal simulation than CumulusX.

Edited February 9, 2021 by glider1