Long time FSX- upgrade to Prepar3d

[fppilot 4,358]

37 minutes ago, MrSpeaker said:

My advice would be to wait a few weeks after version 4.5 is released.

Knew that.  Still I surely wish graphics card prices would equalize. I can easily afford the best, but I am more discerning than to spend so much to support one activity.  Flight simulation is my only "gaming" activity, and my primary PC is used more many other purposes.  I am considering a sim-only build, but then I must realize I am also nearing four years of age on my current multi-purpose system.

2 hours ago, Benjamin J said:

Hi Frank, my comment was not specifically directed at you,

Understand.  I believe I need to start a new topic to find out about 4.4 and above and user/ADE designed airports.

[Benjamin J 751]

5 minutes ago, fppilot said:

Understand.  I believe I need to start a new topic to find out about 4.4 and above and user/ADE designed airports.

Probably that would be the best thing to do, but I think it's hard to give a general rule. The issue being, as you hinted at yourself, that many freeware sceneries tend to involve libraries that were made 'back in the day' and are unlikely to be kept up properly. Thus they may have models going back all the way to FS2004. While I'm personally lenient with sceneries designed for P3Dv1-3, and I do use the occasional FSX scenery, anything older than that would be an outright no-no, and quite possibly wouldn't even work. Now, if you reference sceneries that use purely and only ADE's capabilities, than that is a scenery that can probably just be re-opened in ADE and recompiled for P3Dv4 without issue. But, as I said, if you're using third party libraries, you're starting to get into muddier waters.

[Mace 1,904]

3 hours ago, Benjamin J said:

Martinair flies into MGGT with their 747 pretty much every week, hence I knew I could 😉 The runway is long enough and there is a cargo stand that can handle a plane the size of a 747. If you go to airliners.net and search for "Martinair MGGT", you will find a bunch of photographs, too. The trouble is taxiing off the runway and to the cargo stand though... Everything is so small and tight that it's hard to imagine the length airport staff has to go through to keep aprons off the taxiways clear so the 747 doesn't clip its wings.

Then again, the LatinVFR scenery is some 9 years old at this point. I can imagine the airport has been renovated and expanded to better accommodate the 747 in the meantime.

I did some work to fix LatinVFR's MGGT up for P3Dv4, mainly to eliminate the duplicate taxiway signs, z-fighting issues, etc. and as a part of that, I did some research via satellite as to "what might fit" as to parking -- and I remember thinking 'surely only 767's or smaller' -- but I am wrong!   A little surprised, and thanks for the info.

And to eslader's point above, it's not the length of the runway that was the issue, it was the cozyness of the taxiways and objects.  For example, I'm going to have to revisit my mods and the real-world sat pics as it pertains to the localizer assembly...would be tight with a 747's span.

[CpnBill 2]

Morning-

 I didn't see your comment about waiting until 4.5 came out, I purchased it last night, is it safe to say that I can upgrade to 4.5 at no additional cost?

[CFIJose 5,485]

23 hours ago, CpnBill said:

Thanks to both of you!  That's what I'm looking for.....Weather/Scenery are important I think.  This helps me!

Don't forget PTA. It transforms the visuals of the sim.

[SunDevil56 183]

1 hour ago, CpnBill said:

Morning-

 I didn't see your comment about waiting until 4.5 came out, I purchased it last night, is it safe to say that I can upgrade to 4.5 at no additional cost?

I would say yes, but perhaps those that have owned more versions than I have could comment on this....

IMHO you made the right choice in getting v4.4 now, there's no time like the present to start familiarizing yourself with the new platform, and to benefiting from the vast trove of skills and knowledge that are available to you through this community, which I think you'll find to be extraordinarily helpful, and willing to share information, tips, suggestions, and "fixes" etc...

[CpnBill 2]

What I did like......

 

I installed, opened it up, and all of my old FSX keys worked, it was awesome.

[CpnBill 2]

When I say keys....I mean, keyboard shortcuts, just like it was FSX.

[Benjamin J 751]

2 hours ago, CpnBill said:

When I say keys....I mean, keyboard shortcuts, just like it was FSX.

Well, P3D is in more ways than one "FSX on steroids", so this shouldn't be particularly surprising. The entire engine is essentially the same engine, but greatly enhanced. You will find many things that are similar, but have been upgraded. I think you made the right decision to get 4.4 now, and yes 4.5 will be a free upgrade. That said, you may want to hold off installing each and every thing you own, given that 4.5 is rumored to incorporate some features that would make a full reinstall the best solution. The more you install, the more painful such installation will be...

[Bob Scott 7,718]

4 hours ago, CpnBill said:

Morning-

 I didn't see your comment about waiting until 4.5 came out, I purchased it last night, is it safe to say that I can upgrade to 4.5 at no additional cost?

Yes..."point" upgrades (e.g. 4.3 to 4.4) have always been without charge.  And there's a reasonably good mechanism to upgrade without having to rebuild Rome.  I generally wait a while (at least a month) after the upgrades come out so that the supporting software and add-ons can catch-up.  As mentioned, there has been a steady stream of updates...I personally wouldn't counsel waiting, as the update-after-next is already being worked even as a new one is released, and there's nothing of significance broken and waiting on a fix in this version.

Regards

[CpnBill 2]

Thanks guys....all great comments and all makes sense.  I look forward to Prepar3d and the enhancements it has!

[CpnBill 2]

I guess I will ask this.....since everyone has been helpful....What are the suggested add-ons I should look for right away?  If there are any links to forums that would be certainly fine, just didn't know if there were any runway light enhancements etc.  I am going to upgrade my Active Sky Evolution to thew new ActiveSky for sure.

[Mace 1,904]

4 hours ago, CpnBill said:

I guess I will ask this.....since everyone has been helpful....What are the suggested add-ons I should look for right away?  If there are any links to forums that would be certainly fine, just didn't know if there were any runway light enhancements etc.  I am going to upgrade my Active Sky Evolution to thew new ActiveSky for sure.

Since you said you like weather/visuals...ActiveSky, PTA, ASCA, EnvTex possibly.  Someone had mentioned PTA earlier.  It is a shader mod add-on, and in my opinion the shader mod progs are one of the big differentiators between FSX and P3D in terms of visuals.

You said you flew the PMDG 737 -- so, same in P3D.  It's a great add-on, although it does not have the latest and greatest features, like the raindrop effect on the windshield, and PBR materials.  If you want PMDG's latest and greatest, it would be their 747, which has these features right now.

Another add-on to consider would be something from A2A Simulations, like their Cessna 172 or 182, or Comanche or Bonanza V-tail.  I own their 182 and -- it is amazing.

You mentioned smaller airports.  You will not be impressed with the default airport scenery, especially at the smaller airports.  I know Orbx makes quite a few smaller fields.  I have found most freeware made for FSX to work in P3Dv4, although of course it is lagging behind P3D's graphical capabilities, and many also require modifications using ADE to work well.   If you want to really see what P3D's airports can look like, I'd suggest EDDK by Aerosoft/Jo Erlend Sund.  Or possibly KBOS by FlyTampa.

I'm not sure about runway light enhancements.  Maybe others can comment.  I think there are some night environment add-ons available, but I have no experience with them, except for Lorby's Flashlight :)