P3D V2 installation

[Firebird]

OK would you mind zip up the installed SDK and sending it to me please.
I assume here that you need to have P3D installed to install the SDK, which is why I ask for the zip of the installed version.

[Dave YVR ATC]

Really wish we had the Traffic Explorer function in P3D like we had for FSX.

The Traffic Explorer works in P3d very well. You just need the current SDK installed to gain access to it.

[gsnde]

The Blackbird issue has nothing to do with the model itself. The root cause is somewhere within the fx file. Replacing it with any other afterburner effect file brings back the visual. That is very good news. I will try to figure it out a bit more.

[Ripcord]

Really wish we had the Traffic Explorer function in P3D like we had for FSX.

The Traffic Explorer works in P3d very well. You just need the current SDK installed to gain access to it.

I tried and tried to get it to work, and then one day, it appeared. Not sure what it was that changed but I am obvious quite pleased.

[gsnde]

The loading behavior of the Traffic Explorer is controlled via your DLL.XML file which resides in the AppData\Roaming\Lockheed Martin folder (where the prepar3d.cfg files is).

[Firebird]

The Blackbird issue has nothing to do with the model itself. The root cause is somewhere within the fx file. Replacing it with any other afterburner effect file brings back the visual. That is very good news. I will try to figure it out a bit more.

It might be that there is an FSX graphic conflict. Try checking to see if the ones supplied with the Blackbird are the same textures that you have installed. Just to rule that out.

[gsnde]

They are, Steve. Also the graphics format of the used bit maps is identical to the ones that are working.

[Firebird]

OK. Then as you say it seems that I would need the effects doc to work it out, but the SDK you supplied did not have one. If somebody could point to a P3D effects doc online I can check the differences.

[gsnde]

I am pretty sure that it is the "Blend Mode" parameter in the "ParticleAttributes" sections where with version P3D 2.3 something went wrong and still is. I will post it at the P3D forum to see if they can analyze it.

[gsnde]

No good news. First of all - although this issue is more obvious with the SR-71 it affects all other effects as well. Here the explanation from the P3D team:

Quote from Beau on October 24, 2014, 09:50
We did reduce the scale because we had a report that wake and particle sizes were larger than those in v1 and FSX. We looked into the math in the v2 GPU particles and the scales were in fact too large. One thing to note is that effect and light scaling in FSX and v1 varies depending on the size and aspect ratio of your view. This is part of why the scales got off in the first place because the primary developer of the GPU particle system had his monitors rotated vertically when he was hand editing the scalars to match the old system. The oversized particles were also a performance issue when near the camera because there were 4x the pixels to shade and raster. We're sorry for anyone that hand tuned effect scales in content for 2.0-2.3. Now particles and extrusions scale relative to fixed scalar regardless of the aspect ratio, so it should be easier to ensure that effects look the same for all users. The current scalars were picked to line up with v1 and FSX in the most general use case. Since the scale is variable in the old system, we chose the aspect ratio of a standard 1080p monitor.

I have asked for a process description / tool / script / formula to allow for an easier conversion of the FS9/FSX effects to the new P3D standard. Let's see.

[gsnde]

This seems to be a complicated and lengthy issue, but it has been picked up by the LM developers. I have re-installed FSX again for comparison screen shots.