MAIW and P3d V3

[Emile]

Hello,
Is it possible to indicated in a package if the scenery works with p3d V3?
Thanks in advance

[Firebird]

Hi Emile.
I am afraid that we build packages for FS9. That is our base work. Some maybe be made FSX friendly but none are made to be P3D friendly. This means that it is very probable that you will have issues. It maybe that if you follow Martin's guide to convert a package to FSX that you will get satisfactory results but this is not a given.
The biggest problem you will get is with scenery as FS9 does not allow for sloped airfields and the use of alpha graphics changed with FS9.

[pcremin]

Not to undermine all the excellent work that you guys produce, I know this is a very time consuming work, which you provide in your spare time, but I thought that the outcome of the survey gave a positive suggestion in favour of making packages more fsx compatible. If this is not the case, then what was the purpose of the survey?

[Firebird]

I think that you may have misunderstood my answer.
I was answering a specific question about scenery compatibility with P3D with existing packages.

Going forward we are going to try and make packages more FSX compatible but FSX compatible does not guarantee P3D compatibility.

Please understand that scenery is an area which requires a lot of extra work to make them version specific and this is one of the challenges for developers and testers.

[John Young]

Speaking as someone who usually makes both FS9 and FSX versions of custom scenery, to make a third version for P3D is a bridge too far for me personally. For a start it means all three sim versions need to be maintained in order to test the offering. I'll continue to work with the two versions that I think would satisfy the greatest number of users - that's probably FS9 and FSX at the moment. Most of the native FSX offerings will work reasonably well with P3D anyway. Bear in mind that detailed custom scenery can take a few thousand hours to make properly and there's a limit to the time anyone can spend on this, never mind the tedium of producing the same thing two or more times for different FS versions.

John

[Emile]

Hello,
I understand the difficulties.
Thanks for the answers.
Have a nice day

[astroavion]

I would like to see your great MAIW projects work well with P3D some day. Even if you have to take the time to re-do everything. I am thinking P3D will be the future. Lockheed Martin isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Thanks for everything so far, also. The only reason I have used FS9 so long has been for MAIW products, but my system Win 8 or 10 neither one will run FS9 anymore, so I am going to have to make the switch to P3D. I like it better than FSX or XPX.

[btaylo24]

Most packages can be converted to FSX/P3d with some effort.
Only problem encountered so far are scenery objects/placement and some alpha channels that need flipping.

I have started putting MAIW packages into P3d V3 and so far done...
((Remember to convert the traffic file!))

KOFF (Scenery is basically ok)
EGUN (With UK2000 scenery)
EGUL(With UK2000 scenery and JYAI AFCAD planes)
Linton On Ouse Tucano's (Props need alpha channel converting)
RAF Conningsby (With ACG Scenery and Owls Nest Canopy conversions)

Next
RAF Valley Hawks
RAF Marham and the Tornado bases.

[Ripcord]

I have been granted permission from John S to convert his libraries to P3D format. And I have done so, but ran into issues on 3 or 4 objects in the ABO library. I might need some assistance with getting those sorted. I will post details here in this thread in the next 24-48 hours.

Really we need to go ahead and create a P3D library repository and keep here, or somewhere, in a central location. Of course this is subject to the consent of the authors.

[Greg]

We're already working on a FSX version of all our generic libraries, including the ones from John Stinstrom and are almost ready to release them. Those should be compatible with P3D v2.5 and upwards.

Just a little more patience.

[astroavion]

I manually installed Nellis into P3Dv3 and there appeared to be a file in the scenery library that was not detected. The tarmac and the runways show up and all the aircraft, but there are no buildings. Missing scenery area 197, it says.

[david.harwood]

Hi,

Not sure if this is the right place but I'm thinking of moving over to P3D possibly and was looking for some advice from the MAIW guru's!

I currently run FSX, quite stable, on my laptop with the following specs (sorry if not the best formatting but never copied and pasted comp specs before);

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3210M CPU @ 2.50GHz
Manufacturer Intel
Speed 2.5 GHz
Number of Cores 2
Video Card 1 Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000
Manufacturer Intel
Chipset Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000
Dedicated Memory 2.0 GB
Total Memory 4.0 GB
Video Card 2 AMD Radeon HD 7600M Series
Manufacturer ATI
Chipset Radeon HD 7650M
Dedicated Memory 1024 MB
Total Memory 1024 MB
Memory 8.0 GB
Operating System Microsoft Windows 8.1 (build 9600), 64-bit
Service Pack 0
Size 64 Bit
Edition
Display Maximum Resolution 1920 x 1080
DVD hp CDDVDW TS-U633J
CD hp CDDVDW TS-U633J
Drive 1
Size 910.2 GB
Free 635.0 GB
Drive 2
Size 111.8 GB
Free 24.7 GB
Drive 3
Size 20.1 GB
Free 2.5 GB

I get some stuttering whilst flying in the UK at speed due to the 100% traffic and 50% GA traffic and virtually every scenery add-on you guys have produced as well as many others which I accept but flying in most other places, even with the VRS F/A-18E and JF GR-1, I'm getting a decent 20/30 fps.

Not too sure if my specs are up to it for P3D and even if the move is worth it. The upcoming RAF Lakenheath images shown in the forum are P3D and look amazing so not sure if the change is required.

Any help and advice would be appreciated.

[gsnde]

Hi David,

As you said yourself your specs are a bit on the low side. I cannot estimate if P3D will run smoothly on your machine. Compared to FSX it did run better on my machine, but that is more powerful than yours.

Especially P3Dv31 makes me very happy, because LM has solved the issue with FS9 model props (getting invisible in front of clouds and certain scenery objects).

You probably will hear stories like mine and the opposite view. In the end you will have to try. P3D itself is now really great, the only issue left is that the afterburner effect is displayed too tiny which I plan to tackle sooner or later with a patch tool for the effects.

[david.harwood]

If I were looking for a PC/Laptop to be solely dedicated to a flight sim such as FSX or P3D, can anyone give me an idea of what I should be asking for and the best advice on where to buy or get built.

Obviously PC World will not be my first choice as they were the ones that told me this laptop was perfect for FSX and all my add-ons!!!

[gsnde]

David, you will get the better value for your money with a computer, especially when it comes down to graphics power. A computer dedicated for FlightSim is the perfect option.

I am not at my computer at the moment, and the times when I had all computer specs memorized are long gone. I will look them up later for you. One thing which you should be clear about is if you want to buy a computer or build a computer (yourself or somebody you know well enough so that you are confident he knows what to do).

But a good main board processor combi with 16 gig memory, SSD and a decent graphic card will give you a dream machine.


From mobile hence short

[Greg]

The system requirements page from LM is a good start. I wouldn't go any lower than the recommended ones. It's more or less what I have except I have 16 GB RAM like Martin (maybe a bit overkill but RAM was cheap at the time. I would say 8 GB is a minimum these days.)

Without AI I get an excellent framerate with most settings maxed, so the specs from LM are quite good. But they weren't written with us nutheads in mind who inject a metric ton of AI and don't want to put the slider on anything below 100%... so don't get any illusions

[Firebird]

On specs for a PC I will offer this advice. Get a motherboard with the newest chipset that you can.
The reason I say this, after recently changing my motherboard, is that the latest processors are being produced with smaller and smaller die size. What this actually means is how small and thin the pathways on the chips are. The smaller ones are better for two reasons, one they need less power and two they run cooler. You may think that it is a degree or two but seriously my new system runs at 18 degs in idle rather than 28 degs previously.

Now apart from the system being quieter it also means that you have a lot more of a comfort zone for when your machine is being thrashed by your Flight Sim. What I have done for my system is have my FS over two SSDs, One for the Sim itself and one for the scenery. The loading stutters that you get seem to have been eliminated for me, FS9, at least so far.

The same is true of the graphics cards. My new nvidia has a smaller die size and runs a lot cooler than the previous one.

Finally, as mention before - memory is your friend especially on 64 bit machines.

[david.harwood]

Looks like I need to update the old dog of a laptop, install a fresh FSX and then think about P3D. Thank goodness I got a nice redundancy payout this month although the other half might not be too happy with a few hundred quid being spent on a flight sim appropriate PC!!!!!!

[Christopher Low]

Will the RNAS Culdrose package be updated to work in P3D v3, and also with the Horizon UK VFR Photographic Scenery?

[djnocturnal]

I'm fairly new to the scenery thing. I've followed the step by step process on how to convert packages to FSX/P3D and have successfully converted the Misawa files to FSX, loaded them into ADE and still end up missing some of the hangars. Seems most of the scenery is there. Is this just an issue with the files not showing due to issues within P3D or perhaps something I did? I spent more time than i'd like to admit learning this process lol. I also tried Barksdale AFB and had no luck with any of the scenery showing. Any thoughts?