Clean Break strategy for P3D v6-v7

[BostonJeremy77 558]

Hey, y'all everybody (Lost reference, just kill me!)... Now that v6 has VERY limited backwards compatibility with old 3rd party stuff, perhaps v7 is the way to go with a whole new engine. I am ALMOST happy with v6. Outside is pretty. With today's patch 4, gauges on default AC are visible at all times of the day. Cockpit is still pitch black, but I have a feeling they will work on that next. So, not knowing how that suits their core base of Pro and Military, perhaps this is the clean break we all needed anyway. I am not doing anything old - no Orbx with no PBR, no scenery. Default is looking better than before. Would love some opinions. I am not ready to give up on P3D as I have all 3 main sims installed. 

[d.tsakiris 425]

13 minutes ago, BostonJeremy77 said:

Now that v6 has VERY limited backwards compatibility with old 3rd party stuff

Is that so? My impression is that most of it works, it's just the official dev support that's missing

[BostonJeremy77 558]

1 hour ago, d.tsakiris said:

Is that so? My impression is that most of it works, it's just the official dev support that's missing

Yes, considering registry tweaks and lighting issues. No official support with limited functionality equals no compatibility. I am not a masochist. 😉 

[d.tsakiris 425]

As most stuff works as is, I would say that backward-compatibility had a high priority for LM. So, I don't see a break. For the most part, the problems seem to be limited to the installation of the add-on. That's the responsibility of the add-on developer.

[BostonJeremy77 558]

5 minutes ago, d.tsakiris said:

As most stuff works as is, I would say that backward-compatibility had a high priority for LM. So, I don't see a break. For the most part, the problems seem to be limited to the installation of the add-on. That's the responsibility of the add-on developer.

Dimitrios... It should be easy enough to update installers for v6. Yet PMDG has reported that they tested their stuff and found it unsatisfactory for v6. That's enough for me, though widely reported that it "works"... If the content author doesn't support it, it's dead to me. I am not gonna edit CFG files and rig anything - I am just not a tweaker. Either you support it or you don't. I know Orbx said today they are updating Cental to recognize v6. That's not good enough. v6 is all PBR etc... If ORBX doesn't update their assets to utilize the new P3D tech? I don't want it. Even Vector for v5 was a compromise. You either get behind v6 or you don't. 

[Sparkrite 194]

2 hours ago, d.tsakiris said:

Is that so? My impression is that most of it works, it's just the official dev support that's missing

Couldn't agree more, ABSOLUTELY most of it works!

I would say about 95% of my addons from V5 perform flawlessly in V6 with very little effort.

Just because the devs do not provide an official V6 installer does not make that product incompatible, as some would infer.

[d.tsakiris 425]

33 minutes ago, BostonJeremy77 said:

It should be easy enough to update installers for v6

I agree, that should be easy. But as a serious developer, I would want to test my product beforehand, and it seems developers - at the moment - have other priorities.

35 minutes ago, BostonJeremy77 said:

That's not good enough. v6 is all PBR etc.

Confirmed compatibilty is good enough for me. Using new features would of course be nice.

[BerndB 349]

1 hour ago, BostonJeremy77 said:

Dimitrios... It should be easy enough to update installers for v6. Yet PMDG has reported that they tested their stuff and found it unsatisfactory for v6. That's enough for me, though widely reported that it "works"... If the content author doesn't support it, it's dead to me. I am not gonna edit CFG files and rig anything - I am just not a tweaker. Either you support it or you don't. I know Orbx said today they are updating Cental to recognize v6. That's not good enough. v6 is all PBR etc... If ORBX doesn't update their assets to utilize the new P3D tech? I don't want it. Even Vector for v5 was a compromise. You either get behind v6 or you don't. 

Well, Jeremy, all of the things you mentioned are more or less caused by add-on devs who don´t want to provide updates or patches. That was the case even with former P3d versions. There are many sceneries i. ex. which where developed in FSX times which are still work thru P3D from V2 to V6, but never got "refurbisched" by their devs. That´s nothing i would blame LM for.

All i can say is, that all absolute all of my add-ons i have in use since V4 are now running flawless in V6 without any regestry hacks or tricks or what ever.

[Christopher Low 5,565]

Are all these addons working in P3Dv6 without registry hacks, and without needing v5 to be installed on your PC?

[BerndB 349]

1 minute ago, Christopher Low said:

Are all these addons working in P3Dv6 without registry hacks, and without needing v5 to be installed on your PC?

Right! I´ve just removed V5 from my setup completely, because i don´t see any reason to keep it anymore. The structure and architecture of V6 is 95 % the same as in V5, where the 5 % is caused by the new (and nice) athmospheric model. And tools like Lorbys add-on organiser provide anything you need in case an add-on needs a little bit of "help".

4 hours ago, BostonJeremy77 said:

Now that v6 has VERY limited backwards compatibility with old 3rd party stuff

That is absolute not right! If an existing add-on doesn´t use the capabilties of P3D like PBR and so on, it´s a leak of upwards developing by the add-on devs. But this was the case even in V4 when "jurasic" add-ons haven´t got upgrades by their devs. But even very well handcrafted sceneries from FSX or V3 times are still glanced in V5 and they do in V6. 

[jcomm 6,209]

@BerndB, does that include the fslabs airbuses ? 

[BerndB 349]

1 hour ago, jcomm said:

@BerndB, does that include the fslabs airbuses ? 

I don´t have a need for them, as i have a Homecockpit and use P3D for the outside world only. Though i can´t say anything about aicraft add ons. I have to add, that i diciplined myself since V4.5 to put all add-ons in a seperate folder outside P3D, even OrbX, and i consequently use the xml method. It showed up that this makes it much more easier for the switchover from one to another version.

Edited September 15, 2023 by BerndB

[Christopher Low 5,565]

The XML method never worked properly for me with scenery addons in P3Dv4, so I have all of my scenery installed the old fashioned way.

[jcomm 6,209]

I have to learn about that "XML" method.

Just became aware of it recently. I did a v5 install and opted for the library method with Orbx, but I really don't know what that XML method means...

[newtie 542]

9 hours ago, BostonJeremy77 said:

Hey, y'all everybody (Lost reference, just kill me!)... Now that v6 has VERY limited backwards compatibility with old 3rd party stuff, perhaps v7 is the way to go with a whole new engine. I am ALMOST happy with v6. Outside is pretty. With today's patch 4, gauges on default AC are visible at all times of the day. Cockpit is still pitch black, but I have a feeling they will work on that next. So, not knowing how that suits their core base of Pro and Military, perhaps this is the clean break we all needed anyway. I am not doing anything old - no Orbx with no PBR, no scenery. Default is looking better than before. Would love some opinions. I am not ready to give up on P3D as I have all 3 main sims installed. 

P3D's future lies in its potential. Latent potential. I've been doing this a long time and am far from an expert. However, I do know how to observe. Everything, observed in a certain way, including P3D, looks like a sine wave. Up and down across the midline always moving. There will be a movement back to P3D after the other sim waxes and wanes.

Now, the nature and strength of that movement comes from a crystal ball that I'm not in possession of. What I do know is that this will happen at some point so I'll leave V6 installed, install the patches and wait. The total cost is some HD space.

Edited September 15, 2023 by newtie
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