Prepar3d v4

[Greg]

This topic merges the off-topic posts on Prepar3D v4 that were moved from other threads.

Please continue discussing the exciting release of P3D v4 here.

Now there seems to be a large amount of success of people converting FS9 models to FSX in the Alpha India forum and if one of them has the time to talk me through the conversion process then it is possible that an FSX version could be done that will work in P3D.

If the rumour of FS9 models not working in P3D v4 becomes truth (I guess we'll see in the coming days), then converting all military models will be inevitable or we may as well close our shop.

I'm wondering if Gavin has any other plans for military models now that they've done the HTAI C-130 and JAI P-3.

[rocket_26_]

Now there seems to be a large amount of success of people converting FS9 models to FSX in the Alpha India forum and if one of them has the time to talk me through the conversion process then it is possible that an FSX version could be done that will work in P3D.

If the rumour of FS9 models not working in P3D v4 becomes truth (I guess we'll see in the coming days), then converting all military models will be inevitable or we may as well close our shop.

I'm wondering if Gavin has any other plans for military models now that they've done the HTAI C-130 and JAI P-3.

I will be getting P3D V4 this week and will be interested to see what works and what doesn't. From what I've read scenery works fine although FS9 coded scenery didn't work in V2 onwards but could be converted easily enough.

[rocket_26_]

Just to confirm all AI and scenery works fine in V4. Even Fs9 AI models. V4 performs much better though.

[Firebird]

Ian,
So can you confirm that in v4 you had no problem with neither the RC-135 nor the A400M?

[rocket_26_]

Ian,
So can you confirm that in v4 you had no problem with neither the RC-135 nor the A400M?

Forget what I said before. The FS9 coded AI models do show up but things like landing gear are missing so it seems they wont work and it crashed the sim.

FSX coded models like Johns work fine. One thing I did notice is that AI has virtually no performance hit in V4. Lakenheath FPS didn't move when I turned the AI on and off despite having near 50 Eagles there.

[gsnde]

Sad fact is that in P3Dv4 Military AI means John Young AI (minus the few aircraft that he did not produce for FSX like the ShinMaywa and the Osprey) plus the converted P-3/C-130/C-141 and the Nimrod.

Everything else is invisible or only partly visible and will crash the sim. What was a nice thing until now has suddenly become a necessity: we better learn how to convert aircraft into FSX/P3D format.

[Firebird]

Thanks Ian for clarifying that.

Martin, I am willing to trial converting models to FSX standard using MCX what I need is some expertise on how to do it. If you know anybody that has achieved this successfully and you can point them in my direction then I will gladly learn. What is obvious is that there is a lot more than just loading the model and savings as.

[gsnde]

I sent you a message, Steve

[Firebird]

Ta.

[Greg]

If you know anybody that has achieved this successfully and you can point them in my direction then I will gladly learn.

Gavin Cole is in the team that does all the conversion on the AIG forums and an active member here. His username is "gavinc".

[Firebird]

Ta for the heads up Greg.

[hschuit]

I converted all my favorite FS9 AI military aircraft to native FSX format, e.g. FMAI Mirage 2K's, Transall and Tornados, NBAI F-4's and Mirage F1, RWAI A-10, MGAI KC-135, JMAI B-52, JBAI A-7.
I never published them so I did not ask the original authors for permission. I also did not convert every FS9 LOD, usually my converts have max 3 LOD's (e.g. 100 - 25 - 5) which imho is enough because the highest LOD performs so much better in FSX/P3D. I use MCX and Blender. If I can help just let me know.

[Greg]

That's interesting, Henk. We have been given custody of many of these models so I think we can arrange some permissions internally. In any case, it looks like we'll need to set up some sort of team but Martin and Steve may already be up to something.

I just had a first short flight in v4 now that ORBX and UTX have their installers ready and my effing God... it runs like a train and that dynamic lighting is absolutely lovely! I haven't tested any AI yet but from everything I read, LM has done some major tweaking and the impact of AI on FPS is greatly reduced.

It is my strong believe that this is the sim we've all been waiting for and the way forward for the AI community. The gap with FS9 and even FSX is now so big that not migrating makes absolutely no sense any more. Yes, it's going to take a while until all aircraft models and scenery work perfectly but that can be overcome if we all join forces like in the good old days before the great schism.

[John Young]

Can anyone say please if afterburner effects are displaying at the correct size?

Also, but just a feint hope really - do the AI Nav lights come on at departure as in FSX or at 15 minutes before, as in FS9? The latter enables a timer to be used for xml parts which is so useful.

John

[gsnde]

I will let you know later, John

[hschuit]

John, in P3Dv4 the burner disks get too big as viewing distance increases or when zooming out. The flame X/Y scale is cut in half.
The sleeping state looks OK, Nav lights are not coming on before pre-taxi. I watched an F-15C 5 minutes before ETD: All lights are off, ground eqt visible, canopy open, crew invisible. At push back this does not change, the plane only moves backwards. Then at pre-taxi, the nav lights come on, ground eqt disappears, canopy closes, crew appears. Like Greg said, performance of ACG Lakenheath + JYAI F-15's is phenominal compared to FSX, even with my low end GTX970 4MB VRAM videocard.

Cheers, Henk Schuitemaker.

[John Young]

Thanks Henk. Shame about the AB at a distance, but it's enough for me to buy a copy.

You probably know this, but to cure the pushback in FSX and presumably in P3DV4, you just need to add an additional node on the AFCAD parking link and drag it back to the centre of the spot without going behind it.

John

[Reggie]

I guess I'm about to take the plunge. My birthday is next week and the "boss" gave me the go-ahead and a PO number for purchase. Glad I waited for 64 bit version. I was wondering if my FSX AFCADs will work in P3Dv4? Is AFX or ADE compatible with P3D to write new AFCADs?

Thanks for any assistance,

Reggie

[gsnde]

ADE does not support P3D directly, and Jon is unsure if he will add support in the foreseeable future.
FSX airports work perfectly fine, as do FSX libraries.

[Foxbat]

May I sum it up a little?

Even John's excellent FSX Harriers and F-15's have an "overdone" afterburner and nav lights already in P3D3. Correction: Most AI have that problem, regardless of developer. Some people say the sim is to blame. I don't know yet. But I hope for effects or textures that are reduced. I have a feeling we may not have to edit the effect, but the effect texture, by putting in a 50% reduced black layer. I've done this with sucess for AI night lighting (L texture).

Regarding ADE, I have always followed the SDK and never taken a shortcut. So my Airports of Norway package works like a charm in P3D4. I don't even dare to look at the v4 SDK for now, but use the v3 one for ADE.