What is the most effective way of restoring the original shaders for Prepar3dv4.2? 

Kind regards, 

I assume you mean the HLSL shader folder. If you have somehow corrupted or deleted it you have three options 

• Restore from a backup
• Do a repair install of the P3D client
• Do a reinstall of the P3D client.

There are no other options

Vic

if you have pta or tomatoshade, it has the option to reset the backup it has made for you (as vic said)

And everything else.. indeed, a repair install is really easy, as it doesn't require you to uninstall the client first...

8 hours ago, vgbaron said:

I assume you mean the HLSL shader folder. If you have somehow corrupted or deleted it you have three options 

• Restore from a backup
• Do a repair install of the P3D client
• Do a reinstall of the P3D client.

There are no other options

Vic

If I reinstall the P3d client, will I have to reinstall my add-ons? Thank you. 

 

5 hours ago, Victoroos said:

if you have pta or tomatoshade, it has the option to reset the backup it has made for you (as vic said)

And everything else.. indeed, a repair install is really easy, as it doesn't require you to uninstall the client first...

I have Envtex and Envshade installed, but would like to use PTA to do some of my own tweakings. When I attempt to revert back to my original shaders visa Envdir, it comes up with an error not allowing me to do so. 

3 hours ago, ssair1 said:

If I reinstall the P3d client, will I have to reinstall my add-ons? Thank you. 

 

You should not have to reinstall addons after a repair or client install. There might be one or two but the majority are fine.

I suggest, after doing the reinstall or repair, the very FIRST thing to do is make a copy of the HLSL folder and keep it as a backup.

AFTER you do that, rerun PTA and/or ENVDIR and make a new backup just to keep those programs happy

Vic

3 hours ago, vgbaron said:

You should not have to reinstall addons after a repair or client install. There might be one or two but the majority are fine.

I suggest, after doing the reinstall or repair, the very FIRST thing to do is make a copy of the HLSL folder and keep it as a backup.

AFTER you do that, rerun PTA and/or ENVDIR and make a new backup just to keep those programs happy

Vic

2

Thanks a lot your help so far: much appreciated. What's the difference between the shaders folder located in "C:\Users\SS1\AppData\Local\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v4\Shaders" and the HLSL folder located in my root P3D folder "F:\Prepar3D v4\ShadersHLSL?"

The set in the user's folder is created when you run the program. Various settings can change parameters and affect the visuals. It is recommended after every graphics driver change, to delete that user shaders folder and let P3D rebuild a new set. Also might be a good idea after installing new aircraft etc. Basically, it can do no harm to delete and rebuild the user shaders.

The HLSL folder are core files for P3D and contain the code which, among other things, affects how the user shaders are rebuilt. This folder should not be deleted or modified unless 1) you have made a backup of the folder and 2) you know what you are doing.

Programs like Envdir and PTA modify the HLSL shaders in order to affect various visuals in P3D like brightness, contrast, cloud settings etc. This is why the make a backup of the original HLSL folder.

That's a simplistic explanation but it's basically what happens.

Vic