Prepar3D v5.3 released

[ark4diusz 324]

https://www.prepar3d.com/news/announcements/2021/12/120925/

 

Prepar3D Client

New Features

• Added motion blur option.
• Added option to adjust font size.
• Road traffic can now be applied to all roads.
• Added support for clear coat PBR textures.
• Precipitation now supports dynamic lighting.
• Program threads including the main and rendering thread can now be specified to run on a different logical processor.
• Added webkit inspector support for HTML5 panels.

Fixes and Improvements

• Improved rendering and program performance.
• Improved cloud appearance when intersecting terrain.
• Improved application load times and load times with add-on scenery content.
• Improved fog appearance.
• Fog layers now account for earth curvature.
• Fixed issue preventing bathymetry from rendering correctly when Enhanced Atmospherics is disabled.
• Fixed issue where COM TRANSMIT state would not be serialized for remote multiplayer objects.
• Added “Enable Independent Radio Control” multiplayer option allowing pilot and copilot to communicate on separate frequencies.
• Fixed issue where radios would not correctly update when switching vehicles with the avatar.
• Fixed issue where externally set radio frequencies would not be clear and not displayed correctly in multiplayer chat window.
• Fixed issues when changing multiplayer roles in structured scenarios.
• Improved multiplayer voice latency and improved voice transmission performance.
• Multiplayer voice playback buffers can now be configured.
• Improved road traffic performance.
• Updated Enhanced Atmospheric celestial object rendering.
• Material scripting units are no longer required to match the property’s documented units.
• LLA and wind/direction information are now displayed on separate lines in the information text overlay. Slew information text is now defaulted to LLA.
• Improved road traffic handling of overpasses and lane count changes.
• Fixed issue where moving the host on the map while in multiplayer would change the time of day.
• Adjusted Enhanced Atmospherics storm radius and lightning frequency.
• Fixed issue where information text would still open in position below menu bar when menu bar was hidden.
• Fixed issue where multiplayer menu options would not always update when entering a multiplayer session.
• Improved depth handling of volumetric clouds.
• Fixed issue with model-based portals preventing them from drawing in sync with user aircraft position updates.
• Fixed issue causing number of taxiway signs to be limited.
• Runway demarcation lines are now yellow.
• Improved weather rendering performance.
• Improved platform hit detection and loading performance.
• Fixed issue where mobile scenery objects could float over platforms.
• Fixed issue causing errors in mixture control when loading scenarios in some cases.
• Updated procedure transitions to connect last arrival waypoint to initial approach waypoint in GPS when applicable.
• Added support for visual runway extension approaches.
• Panel system now supports the setting of string variables for SimObjects.
• Fixed multiplayer issue where views would reset when changing positions on the map.
• Reduced waypoint hit distance for approaches on final.
• Fixed issue where particles would not display on multiple video cards.
• Fixed various issues with the Weather UI preventing specific weather station setting from applying correctly.
• Fixed crash that could occur when having the map open while changing locations.
• GPS broadcasting state is now shown in Information text.
• Fixed issue preventing arrivals and departures from drawing in the GPS when selected.
• Fixed issue preventing GPS operations from syncing correctly in shared cockpit.
• Fixed issue where lightning could spawn above the cloud layer in some cases.
• Fixed crash that could occur when assigning an attached world object to a waypoint list in SimDirector.
• Updated sun size and brightness.
• Virtual Cockpit translucency effect now support PBR aircraft.
• Fixed cases where saving a new flight plan would not cause it to activate.
• Improved waypoint hit behavior for points on final.
• Fixed issues preventing all panels from being accessible in SimDirector through panel window actions.
• The Visual FX Tool and Traffic Toolbox are now available through the Tools->Development menu.
• Fixed issue preventing VR help text setting from respecting user settings.
• Improved SimDirector catalog load times when add-on content is installed. Removed load friendly name setting, this is now always enabled.
• Added VR settings to disable floating VR UI panels.
• Improved vsync handling.
• Vehicle state is now preserved by default when joining multiplayer.
• Added developer menu option to clear the container configuration cache.
• Improved lens flare visibility.
• Added current time to information text.
• Road lights now turn on during dawn/dusk instead of only at night.
• PBR combiner glass material can now be used as a HUD stencil.
• Fixed cases where the crash dialog would stay open after scenario reset.
• Fixed issue preventing GPS approach loaded state from syncing in shared cockpit.
• Improved middle mouse drag camera movement behavior.
• Fixed issue preventing vehicle custom cameras from showing in the menu on initial load.
• Fixed issue causing objects to be thrown offscreen when using the translation gizmo in SimDirector near window bounds.
• Fixed issue where right clicking would sometimes snap cursor to a different position.
• Fixed issue where taxiway intersections would render the wrong surface type in some cases.
• Fixed issue where sun and moon reflections would be misaligned in some cases.
• Fixed issue where weather visibility would be invalid in observer views with Enhanced Atmospherics disabled.
• Fixed issue where graphics settings menu option would be disabled after a recording playback finished.
• Fixed issue causing distorted sounds when loading scenarios in some cases.
• Fixed crash that could occur in map view when changing locations or airports with map open.
• Fixed issue preventing generic buildings from correctly positioning on the ground in some cases.
• Added depth support to orthographic views.
• Added Simvars and gps support for querying approach procedure Final Approach Fix and Missed Approach Point waypoint index, as well as queries to get LLAs of approach waypoints.
• Added cfg option that will regenerate display list at startup.
• Fixed issue preventing missed approach segments from rendering as dashed lines in flight plan map.

Fixes and Improvements (Professional Plus Only)

• DIS voice playback buffers can now be configured.
• Fixed issue where DIS entities could not use TriggerProperty.
• Fixed issue where velocities would not be set on DIS entities when dead reckoning was disabled.
• Fixed issue where DIS entity angular velocity would clamp while moving.

Prepar3D Content

Fixes and Improvements

• Updated additional content to PBR textures including:

   

  • Generic and auto generated buildings
  • Airport hangars and parking spaces
  • Animals and landmarks
  • Ground, water, and airport vehicles
  • Mission objects
  • City textures
• Contrail and vapor effects are now correctly shaded at night.
• Updated runway and taxiway marking textures.
• Scrolling text now displays in the HTML5 information text overlay.
• Information text now displays in VR when using HTML5.
• Updated lightning effects.
• Updated milky way texture.
• Updated panel instance names in missionpanels.cfg.
• Added default weapon loadouts to the F-35 and F-22.
• Texture improvements to the CUASE.

Prepar3D Scenery

Fixes and Improvements

• Updated additional content to PBR textures including:

   

  • Generic and auto generated buildings
  • Airport hangars and parking spaces
  • Animals and landmarks
  • Ground, water, and airport vehicles
  • Mission objects
  • City textures
• Updated milky way texture.
• Fixed water issues near Unalakleet, AK.
• Various airport updates including EGGD, KAFF, KIND, LNFB, NZMF, and UUEE.
• Fixed typos in dialog text in the Introduction to Mountain Flying scenario.

Prepar3D SDK

New Features

• Improvements to sloped airport creation including exportable shape files from 3dsMax files allowing for terrain modification, projection polygons for sloped aprons, and improved taxiway and apron intersections.
• Added support for clear coat PBR materials.
• Adding alpha to coverage support for PDK quad draws.
• Updated Annotator tool to allow for PBR material support for autogen placement files. This requires corresponding object textures to be PBR.
• Added HUD stencil rendering support via PDK.
• 3ds Max 2022 is now supported.
• Added additive render mode to 3ds Max and material scripts.
• Added multiplayer custom packet support to the PDK and sample.

Fixes and Improvements

• Fixed texture paths and filenames in Oil Rig sample.
• Thickness of rope visual effect can now be adjusted.
• Flight plan approaches, arrivals, and departures can now be unloaded.
• Font and font size can now be set for GPS map gauges.
• Added camera frustum getter to PDK.

[thepilot 577]

Wow. That was unexpected. A bit like an early Christmas present?

Since P3D 5.2 HF1 is still running very well for me, I'll wait until everything is confirmed compatible, though.

[ark4diusz 324]

It seems LM made some improvement within the EA and performance in general

[G-YMML1 582]

Would be interesting to know whether dusk-dawn with EA on got any better

[planechaser 46]

Lets hope the shiny ground issue when the sun is at certain angles has been improved ( PBR terrain)

[Greggy_D 936]

The waiting game begins for third-party products to be updated.

[FrankSalo 272]

The complete zip for 5.3 is 30GB compared to the 23GB for the previous 5.x releases. This will be interesting. 

Edited December 1, 2021 by FrankSalo

[Afterburner 374]

5 minutes ago, G-YMML1 said:

Would be interesting to know whether dusk-dawn with EA on got any better

Judging by the screenshot posted on the official P3D website, I don't know...

This doesn't look bad, but I hope that the colors change from day to day and don't always look this golden. The cloud resolution on this photo is unsatisfactory, though (but maybe it's due to a lower resolution cloud setting).

[Ikarus280 93]

Any performance improvements (especially with the dynamic lighting), would be very welcome : )

[F737MAX 5,604]

And just like that, we have a new point version!
 

22 minutes ago, ark4diusz said:

Program threads including the main and rendering thread can now be specified to run on a different logical processor

This one could be very useful.
My Ryzen CPU has Core 07 as the fastest on the chip, if I can move it from Core 0 this might make a noticeable difference without needing an upgrade.

 

27 minutes ago, ark4diusz said:

• Improved cloud appearance when intersecting terrain.
• Improved fog appearance.
• Fog layers now account for earth curvature.
• Adjusted Enhanced Atmospherics storm radius and lightning frequency.
• Improved depth handling of volumetric clouds.
• Improved weather rendering performance.

• Improved road traffic performance.
• Improved application load times and load times with add-on scenery content.
• Updated Enhanced Atmospheric celestial object rendering.
• Improved road traffic handling of overpasses and lane count changes.

 

Fingers crossed that weather depiction is more realistic.
The rest of the highlighted improvements I've quoted are nice-to-haves.

Turns out it wasn't a bad guess, less than 36 hours out from my comment here
https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/611091-atmospheric-sky-enhancer/?do=findComment&comment=4675247

[Johnny19 344]

Just now, F737NG said:

Turns out it wasn't a bad guess, less than 36 hours out from my comment here
https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/611091-atmospheric-sky-enhancer/?do=findComment&comment=4675247

I'm positive you had inside info 🙂

[ark4diusz 324]

1 minute ago, Johnny19 said:

I'm positive you had inside info 🙂

Yeah, nice catch 🙂

[F737MAX 5,604]

As per the Prepar3D website:

Quote

Please be aware that unlike previous version updates both content and scenery are required to be updated with version 5.3.
Completely uninstalling the previous verions[sic] and running the full installer is recommended.

[JLuis 409]

Nice update! I think that I will install prepar3d again...

[michaelth 76]

ActiveSky Open Beta 8005 for P3D v5.3 already available:

Downloads | HiFi Simulation Technologies (hifisimtech.com)

Michael