Rogen

Hey @Lotek, Just because the Windows Apps says it is filtering by C drive and showing the P3D installs doesn't mean P3D is actually installed on C drive. Likely the Windows Apps listing is failing to work properly due to the P3D installer (the msi installer files) not setting an "InstallLocation" registry key, thus the Apps filter option won't correctly filter. If you right click on your desktop P3D icon and select "Open File Location", you should find the explorer window opens at the actual path where P3D has been installed, and as long as that's Ok all is fine. The 35 GB on C drive will relate to the installer packages as Windows keeps a copy if the msi installer files on C for things like repairs and uninstalls. If you were to manually set each of the P3D "InstallLocation" registry keys to the path where P3D is actually installed you'll find the Apps filter by drive function will then work as you'd expect. For reference the root registry key is, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall Where the actual registry keys are recorded under a GUID number value, try searching the root key for Prepar3D v5 to find the packages. Cheers

Yeah, cannot win them all... I'll also add to this thread the P3D specific config settings I'm using. Cheers

Yes we understand you're an MSFS zealot... Cheers

Most definetly a great collection of freebees 🙂 I have struck the issue of AV blocking downloads, however there has always been an option to allow the download to continue anyway. Note: when items are downloaded from the internet Windows will typically mark them as "Blocked" as the internet zone is not considered to be safe. Windows and Defender (as well as other programs) do use the "Blocked" flag to determine how to handle the file. Once an item or archive is downloaded its properties should be checked and "UnBlocked" which is just a tickbox on the downloaded file's Properties -> General Tab. Also if an archive (i.e. zip file) is extracted prior to being unblocked, all the extracted files will have inherited the blocked status. https://www.isumsoft.com/windows-10/3-ways-to-unblock-app-or-file.html Cheers

Hi @mikeymike, As to the shader points. You find the Tomotoshade preset and the custom cloud shader in the two spoilers attached to this post. Note the cloud shader is quite GPU intensive meaning a great GPU is needed, e.g. it's fine with my 3080Ti, note both are P3D v4.5 only. And Reshade can be downloaded from https://reshade.me/ where the download you'll want for P3D will be the one with full addon support. Reshade supports DX12 so can be used with P3D v5+ as well as P3D v4.5. There is a wiki on reshade.me with good info too. The GPUTerrain.fx & PrecipParticle.fx shader changes are below, where I've quoted from the post you'd placed, which in turn was from a previous post of mine. Note the GPUTerrain.fx chage is only applied if that line exists which it will if the attached Tomatoshade preset is applied. If the preset is changed the line itself may change or not exist so check first and do not add the abs() wrap unless it is needed. Note I use the very good Notepad++ text editor to edit these files, it's free and a Google search will find. Tomatoshade preset. Cloud.fx shader And finally here are a few pics of the cloud shader in use where the cloud textures are Rex high resolution 32bit images. The rendering effect would be similar should alternate cloud textures be used.

Rails on ? Have a look at this vid, check the G meter on the RHS. Cheers

Hey @TG90, Installing P3D into the Windows "Program Files" path is likely the cause of your issue being as the "Program Files" path is a protected system path and typically requires Windows Administrator rights to write to. Running the app as admin should get around the problem. You can set the app's icon or shortcut to "RunAs" Administrator, thus whenever you run the app it will ask for Windows Administrator rights. You could also change the rights of the P3D folders, but that can be a troublesome experience due to Windows ownership applying. Ideally installing P3D outside of the "Program Files" is the way to go e.g. "C:\Sims\Flight\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v5\" as the folders will be created with suitable rights automatically, well... at least until MS further locks down their OS. Cheers

Hey @skip d, Yeah looks good, looks like you've had multiple version of P3D installed (as each version will add it's own registry keys). Ports are nothing to worry about. What about the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry keys ? Cheers

Hey @Pitter, I think @newtie's advice of locking externally at 30 and unlimited in sim would be your best option. Unlocked in the sim will provide the best option of achieving maximum frames while locking externally will keep the frame rate from consuming all your resources. The problem is P3D is a heavy consumer of both CPU and GPU, even with my sim locked at 30 fps (via vsync) I can still overload both CPU and GPU and run out of resources thus causing frames to drop. Also when moving through the 3D world some areas or views may require more or less resources to render thus will lower or increase frame rates. There are multiple tools available for managing the locking of frame rates externally, NVidia Control Panel has one, the NVidia Inspector is another and the Riva Tuner Statistics Server rounds them out. I've included a link showing the use of RTSS. Cheers

Is that file located in the root of the P3D install ? (i.e. [yourpath]\Prepar3D v5\CIGI.dll) Are the registry key paths correctly set for the path where P3D is installed ? There will be paths in HKLM and HKCU, e.g. Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v5 SetupPath REG_SZ [yourpath]\Prepar3D v5 Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v5 AppPath REG_SZ [yourpath]\Prepar3D v5 Cheers

I got this installed in the Documents, Add-ons folder and active in P3D v4, but the effect is not showing in an Orbx airport (KHAF) in Northern California. Do you know if the effects are available in sceneries other than in Orbx PNW and in non-Orbx airports? Waves are dependent on the scenery developer, if the dev has decided to add them to the coastline then they will be there. I don't have Orbx's Half Moon Bay package but in the default there are waves, mostly around the breakwaters. Cheers

What's your PC specs ?

I'll try to allocate some time over the weekend to review where these are at. As to the "rex texture direct and clouds", there are a lot of choices available, I used the Community release of "Flight Sim Jewels - Pacific" as a starting base, but there are plenty of others people have placed into the Community. Do a search in the Community Tab for "Flight Sim Jewels" and you should find it, it's a great starting config. Cheers

Yes I too really like the dawn and dusk options the package comes with. I still used the clouds when I had a less powerful machine, I was using the DXT 5 and lowest resolution options as these were the least resource hungry. Nowdays with the 3080Ti and 5800X it's full max resolution and 32 bit images. Cheers

Hey np 😁 it's all about the fun of it ! Cheers

Yeah probably, at least for my own backup purposes should I need to reinstall, however I'm on the time poor side atm and some 6 weeks behind where I intended to be due to life's unforseen circumstances, in anycase my machines and NAS boxes backup at regular intervals which means should I loose the main box I can just restore a backup and be up and running again in next to no time. I think I bought REX 4 Texture Direct back in FSX-SE days and the Soft Clouds Extended version was a cheap update at the time. At the time I was using the REX version of ActiveSky for Weather, which I ended up eventually dropping due to it's highly unorthidox GUI and replacing with Active Sky, (a breeze to understand and use compared to the REX option), all back in the FSX days anyway. Not at all as they are two completely different products. Orbx Global Base is the texture set replacing those defaults of FSX/P3D, whereas TomotoShade is a shader adjustment tool used to define colour & lighting for textures, TomotoShade updates the shader files located in the ShadersHLSL directory e.g. "~\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v[number]\ShadersHLSL". Fun Fact #1: Flight Sim World used Orbx Global Base as the default texture set, something P3D has never caught up with as P3D default still uses a slightly enhanced FSX default texture set. Reshade and RDShade are two different products, RDShade updates the shader files in the ShadersHLSL directory basically doing a similar job as TomotoShade, whereas Reshade has it's own shaders that can be appled to almost any game. I use it because it has some interesting functions and can be called and adjusted while P3D is running and your in the middle of flying. With Reshade you can do things like adjust colour, sharpness, contrast, brightness, debanding, faux ambient occlusion, extra AA and all can be done on the fly so you can see the effects directly applied while in flight. Here are a couple of pics where I've doen a before and after on the faux ambient occlusion, best to open each in a full screen and swap between them to view. https://prepar3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6325&t=145416 Fun Fact #2: Flight Sim World used built in ambient occlusion. P3D v6 has actual ambient occlusion, however the faux ambient occlusion of Reshade runs outside of the sim, uses almost no resources and is ideal for those P3D versions prior to v6. They do, but FreeMesh covers the world where as the Orbx Regions do not. In any case P3D will load and use the most detailed mesh available for the area. Cheers 🙂

Hi Folks, My presets are almost always in a state of flux being as I fly and maybe notice an item I'd like to change and therefore tweek a preset or setting. So anything you see in my various previous forum post spoliers would relate to the date of the forum post only. I'll give a bit of a dot point list of the items I use to achive the look-feel of the sim below. P3D v4.5 HF3. Tomatoshade with my own custom preset - no enhanced reflections. Custom cloud shader (for dynamicaly lit clouds). Custom mods to the GPUTerrain.fx (bugfix related to TomatoShade) & PrecipParticle.fx (look improvement). ReShade (used to tweek colour, sharpness, banding and add faux ambient occlusion). Freemesh (for the world). REX 4 Texture Direct with Soft Clouds. REX World Wide Airports. Orbx Global Base. Orbx Vector. Orbx Regions. Orbx HD Buildings. Orbx Terraflora V2 (this I found was missing textures which Orbx have since corrected). Global Orbx Wave Effects. Drzewiecki Design HDGrass A2A Accu-Feel. The Orbx air traffic packs. Alpha India Group (AIG) air traffic. AI Lights Reborn (the free version). AI Flow & AI Ground. Global AI Ship Traffic V2. Edit Voice Pack. Banking Camera (to bank the view in line with the aircraft bank angle). McCoy Effects (dirt and water fx). PrecipitFX Effects (aircraft wash and braking fx). Time Zone Fixer. HD moon. HD Milky way. AutoStarsX. Active Sky. Real Turbulance (Hooks into Active Sky). FFTF dynamic. Landing Rate Monitor. JoyToKey (for assigning key combos to joysticks that are not otherwise possible in P3D directly). There is more than the above, these being more related to specific usage and non-defaults. GPS 2020. EasyFMC. Reality XP GTN. XMLTools64. RealLight and True Glass. ShockWave lighting. Radar Contact. Roland's Radar. Rob Barendregt's Ground Handling. AI Companion. Little Nav Map. P3D Addon Organiser FSUIPC (registered). SODE. Then there are specific scenery addons and airports, mostly Orbx but there are a variety overall, I'm not going to list these are there are quite a few. There are also many ajustments possible within the p3d config file where I've targeted configuration to better use the available resources i.e. ramped up values to max in some cases affecting things like shadows, texture requests, tree alignments to curves, the count of trees and autogen, lighting maximums, memory usage and memory clearing, noting p3d in default is typically configured for relatively lowly powered hardware. Unfortuatelly LM's SDK cfg doco is quite sparse when it comes to information on values to use and how they are intended to function. Such is not uncommon in the software world as devs I've worked with in various software developments often don't know various settings themselves and need to delve into the code to discover the nitty gritty of the whats, whys and values for definintion. Painful and unfortunately not really an option with LM since they rarely answer questions on their forum where the info I've gathered has been from many different posts and forums etc. It's important to note the prepar3d.cfg is just an ini file, there is no magic to it and best practices when editing are to make a regular backup, comment out the default setting and add the changed setting along with a comment on when and why you changed the value. Of advantage is the multiple config profile option where several configs can be set for different flying conditions, e.g. I have one set to max everything, one for typicial use, one where vegetation shadows are off, one set to minimal for difficult areas and a couple of others, noting I adjust only in a text editor (notepad++) as otherwise p3d would reset many values I'd adjusted to defaults if changed from within P3D. Also it's important to note the hardware I'm using as realisticaly the hardware you've got will play an important part in what can be achieved. For example I never considered the use of Orbx's True Earth series until I'd updated my hardware to it's current. Essentually the machine I'm running atm is a machine I originally built in 2017 and have updated as higher performance components became available (and affordable). Motherboard is an Asus X370 Pro and still is and it's had many incremental BIOS updates to support newer functions and hardware. CPU was originally a Ryzen 1700X and is now a 5800X Ram is now 32 GB supporting a 3200 speed CPU has SMT disabled (hyperthreading) and is base clocked to 4.7 GHz Monitors are all Dell 30Hz capable 1080P where I use a DSR custom screen mode to achive 2560x1440 for the main screen which switches automatically when P3D is started or stopped. The 30 Hz screen mode is used to vsync which is why my vids are pretty smooth. The 30 Hz vsync also reduces overall hardware usage which in turn allows a greater ramping up of options. I do plan to build a completely new box in about a years time and will investigate newer monitor's/TV for the latested variable frame rate sync options given there are now three alternate variable types (NVIDIA, AMD, and VESA). VESA is looking like the best option atm. To sum up, I'm happy overall with what I've managed to achieve and being P3D v4.5 means I also have access to a large number of quality aircraft to install and fly. Really there is only one late release aircraft I have that doesn't run in v4.5, being the Piaggio P.180 Avanti by Milviz/Blackbird and that was free anyway. On that note I'm happy to followup on any questions regarding the items I use in P3D and their configuration. Cheers

Hi Folks, Whilst a little off the tracks of the thread title, I'm flattered people like my personal efforts 😁 First I'll note I've come from FSX originally (still have the original disks), then moved onto FSX-SE and given the long usage time period I've built up a lot of addons. So while I do have many addons purchased over the P3D period, there are also items I've been using since FSX days, mostly Orbx scenery related. I've answered individually but look to the thread opened by Matt Steel titled "Rogen's P3D v4" where I'll place a summary of the various bits and pieces I use. Hi Mike, Custom cloud shader, Tomatoshade and 3 x Dell 30hz capable monitors. Hi Matt, I do have a spreadsheet listing the addins in use that includes their installation details and quirks I've come across, I probably could expand upon it as a type of base. Really though I tend to be on the side of time poor when it comes to such things plus there are a number of guides already out in the world. We'll see how we go, would put it in hints and tips if it all came together. Hi Dave, yes there are lots more 🙂, that said Orbx Global Base, Vector and various Orbx regions are items I've had in place since the FSX days noting most of the lighting look is achieved via shader mods. Hi Mikeymike, spot on, I am using Rex texture direct with soft clouds enhanced. Hi Chris, Also spot on, I do have ORBx TrueEarth Great Britain South installed. Hi 787Flyer, Almost, the screen shot samples are using the clouds out of Rex texture direct with soft clouds enhanced, where the dynamic cloud lighting is produced by a custom cloud shader that @kiwi_biplane put me onto. Inititally when I trialled the shader, while the look was good, there were a few things I didn't like about it, plus such dynamic lighting effects are quite GPU intensive and my 1070ti GPU didn't like it so much as the shader is quite GPU intensive. I've since updated my GPU to a 3080Ti and at the moment I'm reviewing the shader values and making my own changes, most notably has been cloud shadow corrections which I'm now happy with, and where my next mod will be correction of some of the cloud colour shading. To sum up, the shader is a work in progress that I've been modifying to suit my personal taste. Cheers

You could probably trial the use of DSR as it would provide a higher resolution with a tunable degree of sharpness and is certainly good for the purposes of AA assistance, I mostly use 1.78x DL with my 1080P monitors, though I'm not sure who it would function with GSync (as I don't have GSync monitors). Cheers

Hi, Stutterfests are generally related to the maxing out of resources, e.g. maxing out CPU or GPU where usually it's the maxing out of GPU that results is large dropping of frame rates. Fortunatelly the current batch of hardware available can for the most part render such occurances pretty minimal. So whether you choose v4.5 or v5.4 or v6.x, having suitably powerful hardware combined with matched tuning can result in the sim output looking as good as it can be, as well as performing as well as can be. A great aspect of P3D is it's tunablity where a default install can be tuned to achieve maximum asthetic's and performance for the chosen hardware. Personally I run v4.5 because so far the later P3D versions don't fill enough of column B vs. the column A of v4.5. I've included a couple of pics from my tuned v4.5 Be nicer to have a P3D screen shots thread under the P3D main forum... (hint hint moderators, be good for XP as well). Cheers Over Southampton Commons heading to EGHJ Bembridge. Somewhere in Australia (there is a town on the other side of the ridge, don't remember the name though) Flatstick over Florida The AA in the below pic is 8x MSAA which does pretty good at smoothing out the powerlines.

Hi @Juliet Alpha I did like the 1070 Ti, it was emminently overclockable where 2Ghz OC could be reliably achieved. The 3080 Ti I have now is a great card, not at all overclockable though, the std. factory OC is as far as it will go... 🙁 Although with the 3080 Ti I can turn on most P3D settings to max (including those only adjustable within the p3d config file) an exception being vegetation shadows casting has to be disabled for some situations, probably a 4090 would be of enough power to run everything at max, noting my fps target is 30 via vsync. I might also look at a GSync monitor for my next build but atm my 3 x 30hz capable Dells do the job. Yes the v3 frame rate limiter was the one I was talking about, you should also see your frame rate limit reflected in the NVidia Control Panel. And I see you're forcing a vsync via the NV Profile Inspector, is that actually working for you ? as it never did for myself. I use the P3D internal vsync and triple buffering to achieve smoothness, but I'm not sure how that would work with a GSync based monitor. Also I see the 4 x sparse grid AA, I did trial such in my 1070Ti but found it was more than the GFX card could handle, I hope you're having better luck with those values. Cheers

Hi @PavlinS The vertical wave issues are related to the wave fx files not being compatable. However adjusting those wave affect fx files is an easy job as they are just text files. I first noticed the issue myself in Orbx scenery where I'd installed packages to P3D libraries rather than directly in the sim, where I found the issue occured due to the self contained nature of a Library as Orbx had not updated all their wave fx files to the newer required format. Previously with all effects contained in the sim effects folder updated files would overwrite older incompatible ones and you'd be none the wiser, however the separation into libraries creates standalone Effects folders for the package and thus the incompatible fx files tend to be used. To resolve you'll need to update all the wave fx files manually (they are just text files that need an edit) and/or install the Orbx shoreline waves package, I did both. And if you are using other packages for waves you'll also need to look at them as well. The Orbx link below has the details for the fixes required and how to perform them. https://forum.orbxdirect.com/topic/178208-vertical-waves/ Cheers

Hi @Luis Hernandez, I'm using the DL scaling option for 2560x1440 where the P3D internal screen resolution is set to 2560x1440. Additionally I also run a scripted P3D startup where part of the scripting includes starting P3D with a screen mode of 2560x1440 @ 30 hz. To start with the required screen resolution I use a tool named "Display Changer II" which is called via the scripted start of P3D. https://12noon.com/?page_id=641 Display Changer is made by 12noon where the latest release "Display Changer X" is a payware item, that said the older releases still are available to download from the below URL. https://12noon.com/files/ And there was a thread raised on AVSIM back in 2017, which incidently introduced myself to the utility. Using a scripted P3D start my monitor switches from 1920x1080 @ 60 hz, to 2560x1440 @ 30 hz, and when I close P3D the monitor automatically switches back to 1920x1080 @ 60 hz. I've also created a series of icons pre-configured to selected screen modes where I just click on the desired icon for the screen mode required. Note changing resolutions like this tends to play havoc with icon positioning on the desktop, however I also run a nifty tool known as Fences. Fences allows the creation of windows on the desktop into which you can drop your desktop icons and therefore keep them under control, it's a payware item but is cheap enough and is an item I recommend often. https://www.stardock.com/products/fences/ I also use their Start11 menu for Windows. Cheers

I don't have a GSync monitor myself, which makes it a bit hard to say what might be best for yourself but let's look at those settings of yours as a generic overview. Also with a GTX1070, while it's a great GFX card (I had one myself up until last year), it will limit what is achievable as P3D can be quite the GPU hog. I assume an actual GSync monitor will allow a vsync to occur at any refresh rate, at least down to 30 hz which appears to be case given the target of 60 FPS and half rate NVinspector config with frame rate of 30 FPS displayed in sim. The NVidia inspector does allow the setting of a maximum frame rate, so you might try setting 30 FPS in the NVinspector, then unlimited in P3D (as unlimited will provide the best P3D FPS output) and then use the P3D vsync and triple buffer options instead of the NVinspector half rate vsync options (I'm assuming you've a separate Prepar3D NVInspector profile configured rather than using the global profile). That way P3D will configure itself internaly for maximum FPS output yet be limitted by the vsync'd frame lock at 30 FPS. You could also trial an NVinspector frame lock @ 60 FPS where all going well the GSync vsync will then occur @ 60 FPS and be even smoother, the caveat being P3D needs to be able to maintain 60 FPS. Some form of GPU monitoring is a good idea as well, as when P3D consumes ~98+% of GPU the frame rate will drop and usually results in stutters, although the GSync monitor might help in this regard. I monitor my GPU to help determine which settings are viable for the chosen senario I'm currently flying. Also do you have this entry in your P3D config ? If not it's typically a good idea to place it. [TERRAIN] // P3D maintains a global terrain view for efficiency - if blurries start developing after a period of time or autogen stops loading trial setting to False. UseGlobalTerrainView=False Generally there is an amount of trial based testing to determine what will work best and I find it best to make a single settings change and restart P3D to trial the settings change plus I always fly the same senario when testing and I have a rainy day senario @ 11S which I know will max out the GPU (even my current 3080Ti) Hope the above helps and let us know how you get on. Cheers

Hi @jkeye Yes that's what the Orbx forum message was about, apparently the flight planner triggers P3D to index all of the vector files, but only once per P3D session. It seems LM changed the way the Flight Planner functions behind the scenes in v5+, hence my reported @ the LM forum statement. Personally I never use the P3D flight planner since I discovered Little Nav Map (LNM), additionally I use a Google map plugin for LNM for a satelite view full screen map. Where Little Nav Map is auto started via a scripted P3D startup and lives on monitor #1 (of three). Cheers