P3D 4.5 Started and ends extremely slowly

[Caribe 7]

Hi Friends

i need Help. Time yesterday strate and end P3D 4.5 very slow. Breaks a lot of time. Maybe this has to do with the windows update KB890830??? I must say that I have installed many addons. I am looking for a solution without having to reinstall P3D. The effort would be very large. I have Avira free antivirus installed...but had no problems with it. Is it possible to determine what or what tool P3D swing to start so slowly?

Windows 7 SP2 Professional (I know it is no longer supported by microsoft but I stick with it).

Am very grateful for any help. Regards.

Julio Garcia

[Caribe 7]

Here's what I observe: Starting P3D 4.5 takes 15 min. If I choose a standard scenery it starts fast but if I choose an Orbx scenery it takes quite a long time. Is there a setting that can be changed to speed this up? Maybe uninstall the libraries and reinstall them?

[jorgensandersen 21]

I am maybe sticking my head out here, but it looks to me like the solution to your issue is - hardware.

For instance, if everything is installed on your C drive, then my suggestion would be to get (if possible) an extra drive and install P3D to there instead. A further "luxury" would be to have P3D itself on one drive and your add-ons on a different drive.. and, of course, all drives (including C) should be SSDs.

Then, of course, there is your CPU type, its clock rate and your RAMs speed that influences this...

Jorgen

[Ray Proudfoot 8,980]

@Caribe,

Windows 7 hasn't had real updates for a couple of years. KB890830 is a check for Malicious Software and runs each month. You can turn off updates without any adverse affects. It won't be responsible for the problem.

Regarding the slow load and close times we need more info. CPU / GPU, memory and if you're using HDDs or SSDs.

Try disabling several scenery layers at the top of the list. You don't say how many you have but lots will affect load times.

[Caribe 7]

Thank you very much for the information guys. Yes the issue with windows 7 is clear (no more support). Windows 7 also offers the possibility to optimise the speed of the programs. I have done that. My computer can no longer be called HighEnd. I have an I7 6700 of the first generation. Windows is installed on a M2. P3D is installed on another Samsung SSD with 2 TB. I have 16 GB memory. The Graphiccard is a MSI 1070 TI with 8 GB. I have installed Avira antivirus which has a tool to delete junk files and other unnecessary files. I've been looking for two days for different ways to improve. I have to say that I had all P3D settings set to maximum. I changed it to make compromises. I have a lot of addons installed, planes with more than 200 repaints. Here I go. It has improved somewhat.
Best regards to you guys.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,980]

Firstly, your hardware is okay but as you've found out you cannot have all sliders to max. I can't on my system in my signature.

Try disabling your anti-virus and see how that impacts performance. You could add "trusted folders" to it if you want to keep it active.

Copy your Prepar3d.cfg and delete the original. Let P3D build a new one. See what you think of performance then. If it's much better then move sliders one notch to the right but only a couple at a time. Make a note of performance at your busiest airport. If things are okay there they'll be okay at less busy ones.

It's all about balance between hardware and settings. We all have to compromise.

[jorgensandersen 21]

Also, go here and have a look: https://www.prepar3d.com/SDKv4/prepar3d/getting_help/advanced_configuration.html

And also here: https://simmershome.de/prepare3d-v5-einstellungen/ (this site is in German, but there is an English-language option)

To calculate AffinityMask, use this calculator: https://www.gfsg.co.uk/affinitymask.aspx?SubMenuItem=utilties

This should help some. If you have a hardware budget available in the future, then look into a graphics card with more than 8 GB on it.

Jorgen

[Ray Proudfoot 8,980]

I would urge @Caribeto install Windows 10/11. Very inadvisable to stay on an unsupported OS.

P3Dv6 is in closed beta at the moment and could be released in a few months. I’m guessing you’re running v4. But v5 and v6 will both require Windows 10 as a minimum.

v5 is a better performer but as Jorgen has suggested it needs a more powerful graphics card. Food for thought. 😁

[jorgensandersen 21]

My own v. 5.3 certainly could use a more powerful card than my present nVidia GTX 960! And I may soon have to replace it, it seems that a connector on it is developing problems.

P3D v. 6? Never heard of it...

But by all means update the OS. Windows 10 is very much like 7, Windows 11 introduces some unfortunate changes, and it is only Windows 10 with a different label anyway.

Jorgen

[Caribe 7]

Guys you are simply the best.

First I deleted as Ray wrote the file P3D.cfg. Avira deactivated it for an hour. I see a good improvement in speed. I am studying the information sent by Jorgen.

Ray one of the main reasons are the fabulous free offered planes for example Milton Shupe and many more that don't work well in P3D 5. I have almost all of them from Milviz. They work very well in P3D 4.5 I am happy with what I have. I will be 62 years old next week. Although I started with Flight Simulator in the early 80's I don't consider myself a professional user but my hobby gives me a lot of satisfaction.

The news of P3D 6 makes me very happy. Maybe that will be a reason to change the operating system. Thank you very much friends. I will write you soon to let you know if my P3D has improved after the changes recommended here.

 

[Ray Proudfoot 8,980]

2 minutes ago, Caribe said:

Ray one of the main reasons are the fabulous free offered planes for example Milton Shupe and many more that don't work well in P3D 5. I have almost all of them from Milviz. They work very well in P3D 4.5 I am happy with what I have

I can understand why you want to stay with v4. One plane I purchased was the Vertx DA62 which will only install if v4 is detected. I say detected rather than installed because installers can be fooled into thinking c4 is installed when in fact a couple of Registry entries will convince the installer.

The Vertx DA62 runs just fine in v5. I suspect a lot of your aircraft would do the same.

[pgde 571]

10 minutes ago, jorgensandersen said:

P3D v. 6? Never heard of it...

<Edited for space>

Jorgen

See 

Also, I posted the link on the LM P3D site (under Miscellaneous) and my post mysteriously disappeared. The existence of v6 beta is a fact. BTW, LM is changing the link since many know of it now.

[Caribe 7]

Ray I really miss the B52 and the 707 from CapatainSim in P3D 4.5.

[jorgensandersen 21]

21 minutes ago, pgde said:

See 

Also, I posted the link on the LM P3D site (under Miscellaneous) and my post mysteriously disappeared. The existence of v6 beta is a fact. BTW, LM is changing the link since many know of it now.

I saw your post there. And, forgive my French, but all we know is that for some reason, a closed forum was created on the L-M site in public view, and then it was changed away from public view or deleted.

That is all we know. We do not know if that forum is still there, we do not know if anyone uses it, we do not even know if it was created by mistake. All we know at this point is that L-M is not commenting.

So, regarding a possible v. 6, I am not going to bet anything until I see some more tangible evidence. And that would be if and when L-M releases it, and that again may be never. Remember back when it was rumored that Microsoft was going to release a 2010 version of FSX? And then they went and scrapped it.

Jorgen

[Ray Proudfoot 8,980]

38 minutes ago, Caribe said:

Ray I really miss the B52 and the 707 from CapatainSim in P3D 4.5.

Life moves on unfortunately. Fancy Concorde? That is coming to v5. 👍