Behold... A new flight sim!

[Lionheart]

We have all heard about PrePar 3D.

Well, they have now gone public and... reduced their prices. They are going into schools and universities. They now feature purchasable tools for working with and importing scenery and planes. The website is fantastic!

Have a look;

http://www.prepar3d.com/

[TuFun]

We have all heard about PrePar 3D.

Well, they have now gone public and... reduced their prices. They are going into schools and universities. They now feature purchasable tools for working with and importing scenery and planes. The website is fantastic!

Have a look;

http://www.prepar3d.com/

Now its affordable and I like this statement: "Prepar3D furthers the development of Microsoft® ESP™ while maintaining compatibility with Microsoft Flight Simulator X, allowing many thousands of add-ons to be used within Prepar3D."

[Lionheart]

Now its affordable and I like this statement: "Prepar3D furthers the development of Microsoft® ESP™ while maintaining compatibility with Microsoft Flight Simulator X, allowing many thousands of add-ons to be used within Prepar3D."


Yep! Me too. :applause:

[mike_cyul]

Any idea how different this is than FSX? I couldn't really get a clear idea from their website. My impression of ESP was that it was essentially just FSX repackaged for higher-end commercial users, with slightly upgraded possibilities for changing certain parameters.

Mike

[Roger]

I'm hoping that LM will fill in the gaps left by MS.

[Meshman]

...allowing many thousands of add-ons to be used within Prepar3D."

This really needs to be considered by anyone thinking of purchasing P3D. Most add-ons will work, but some will not. Some require additional licensing from the payware developer, some do not. Some payware, it has been suggested, is being setup not to work in P3D. Some payware shops have publicly stated that their products are not licensed for use in P3D and will not be licensed in the future.

P3D is a nice alternative to the five+ year old FSX and I hope that improvements will allow this aspect of the genre to continue.

[Panther_99FS]

Now its affordable and I like this statement: "Prepar3D furthers the development of Microsoft® ESP™ while maintaining compatibility with Microsoft Flight Simulator X, allowing many thousands of add-ons to be used within Prepar3D."

Wow!
I totally forgot about Microsoft ESP....

[rpjkw]

Sounds interesting. FSX is out of the question until my new rig is finished. I'll stay with FS9, but I might try FSX a little. I'm getting too old to tackle learning curves.:isadizzy:



Bob

[rhumbaflappy]

The academic license is for K-12 students and their teachers. If you are home-schooling you better not be having fun, as entertainment is not an allowed use ( I'm not kidding ). Don't be having fun while flying, driving or diving under the sea in P3d.

:icon29:

Dick

[stiz]

Any idea how different this is than FSX? I couldn't really get a clear idea from their website. My impression of ESP was that it was essentially just FSX repackaged for higher-end commercial users, with slightly upgraded possibilities for changing certain parameters.

Mike

at the moment, the average user wont gain much (if anything) by useing P3D instead of FSX, of course that might change in the future but as rhumbaflappy said, you cant use it legally for entertainment (which everyone seems to have forgotten :monkies:)

[luckydog]

Downloading the pro version now.......

will get back to youse guys.

LD

[mrogers]

I've been following it's progress over time with great interest, and now it seems that this would be the next sim to follow after FSX. It's similiar to FSX, but probably is a new sim from the ground up and is open ended and has lots of possiblities. It's not FSX repackaged, as another poster above has assumed. The best thing about it is that it has backwards compatability with FSX aircraft and scenery, so that must be a good thing and a positive step foward for the future of flight simming.

And as for it being not allowed for entertainment, it must be for serious simmers only!

[wombat666]

Just an observation [I've had the Pro version for some time BTW], as a matter curiosity I downloaded the Connie 'repaints'.
The enclosed 'read me' is for the FS9 version of Manfred and Co's Connie.
:173go1:

[stiz]

aint the connie the AH/JF one? same as the p38?

[wombat666]

aint the connie the AH/JF one? same as the p38?

Stitz, this will indicate not so, unless they don't understand what a 'Repaint' means.
I haven't delved too deep into the sim just yet, too much pCARS and rF2 time.
:kilroy:


"Three military Lockheed L-749 / C-121A Constellations

These texture sets represent 48-612, an early all-silver snub-nosed C-121A with "MATS ATLANTIC" titles ca 1994, 48-614, a polished silver and white VC-121A ca. 1955, and 48-609, a "photoreal" texture alternative for an aircraft already present in the 749 base pack.


INSTALLATION


(1) Please make sure you have a working installation of our Lockheed L-749 base pack (folders Lockheed_L749_0 and Lockheed_L749_1 in your FS9 aircraft directory). If not present, download and install the base pack first.

(2) Extract the zip to a temporary folder or open it in Windows Explorer.


(3) Copy the three texture folders to your "Flight Simulator 9\Aircraft\Lockheed_L749_0 folder.

(4) Using a text editor such as Notepad, open the aircraft.cfg contained in Lockheed_L749_0 and paste the [fltsim] sections appended below under the last [fltsim] entry. Make sure the new [fltsim] entries are in proper numerical order.


[fltsim.4] // adjust numbering if necessary
title=C-121A MATS 48-612 1948
sim=749
model=mats
panel=
sound=
texture=612
kb_checklists=L749_check
kb_reference=
ui_manufacturer=Lockheed
ui_type=L-749 Constellation
ui_variation=C-121A MATS 48-612 1948
atc_heavy=0
atc_id=8612
atc_id_enable=1
atc_airline=USAF
atc_flight_number=2604
description=C/n 2604, Air Force serial 48-612, entered service with MATS Atlantic 18 Jan 1949. Flew Westover-Frankfurt shuttle flights in support of Berlin Airlift. Later fitted with radar nose and modified to VC-121A. Withdrawn from service 1967. Painted in KLM colors 2004 and restored to flying condition by the Constellation Group Holland.
prop_anim_ratio=0.99
atc_id_color=0x00000000
atc_id_font=Verdana,-11,1,600,0


[fltsim.5] // adjust numbering if necessary
title=C-121A 48-609 1998 Photoreal
sim=749
model=usaf
panel=
sound=
texture=609PR
kb_checklists=L749_check
kb_reference=
ui_manufacturer=Lockheed
ui_type=L-749 Constellation
ui_variation=C-121A USAF 48-609 1998 Photoreal
atc_heavy=0
atc_id=8609
atc_id_enable=1
atc_airline=USAF
atc_flight_number=2601
description=48-609 entered service with MATS Atlantic Division 31 Dec 1948. Modified to VC-121A configuration 1951, serial 80609, 1254 Air Transport Group, later 89 MAW. Withdrawn from military service Mar 1968. Used as budworm sprayer aircraft with Conifair Aviation until 1980. Acquired by Avra Valley Constellation Group, repainted in MATS colors, and flying airshow circuits until 2005 (serial N494TW).
prop_anim_ratio=0.99
atc_id_color=0x00000000
atc_id_font=Verdana,-11,1,600,0


[fltsim.6] // adjust numbering if necessary
title=VC-121A USAF 48-614 1955
sim=749
model=usaf
panel=
sound=
texture=614
kb_checklists=L749_check
kb_reference=
ui_manufacturer=Lockheed
ui_type=L-749 Constellation
ui_variation=C-121A USAF 48-614 1955
atc_heavy=0
atc_id=80614
atc_id_enable=1
atc_airline=USAF
atc_flight_number=2606
description=C/n 2606, Air Force serial 48-614, delivered to MATS Atlantic Feb 1949. Converted to VC-121A, serving as personal aircraft to General Eisenhower until 1952. Withdrawn from service Jan 1967. Currently exhibited at Pima County Air and Space Museum, Tucson.
prop_anim_ratio=0.99
atc_id_color=0x00000000
atc_id_font=Verdana,-11,1,600,0


In the aircraft selection menu, the three new Constellations will show up under Lockheed > L-749 Constellation.

6 December 2009

Manfred [dot] Jahn [at] uni-koeln [dot] de"

[luckydog]

Well, got the "Pro" version downloaded and installed last nite.............
not much different from FSX 'cept way fewer available planes ( you get: several Connies, a BUNCH of P-38's, a Mooney, a Maule, some basic Beechcraft and a J-3 !!??!! Wowee Zowie !!!).

Been tweakin' and flying, tweakin and flying all day long...... getting a solid 24fps with sliders at 50% and I've got a good pooter.(8 gig RAM, 1 gig graphics)

Scenery's not bad but smaller airports are a joke ( tan rectangles you can see from miles away ).

What planes there are..... look, fly and sound good.

Unless I'm missing something............this is a scam for $200.

LD

[Roger]

Well, got the "Pro" version downloaded and installed last nite.............
not much different from FSX 'cept way fewer available planes ( you get: several Connies, a BUNCH of P-38's, a Mooney, a Maule, some basic Beechcraft and a J-3 !!??!! Wowee Zowie !!!).

Been tweakin' and flying, tweakin and flying all day long...... getting a solid 24fps with sliders at 50% and I've got a good pooter.(8 gig RAM, 1 gig graphics)

Scenery's not bad but smaller airports are a joke ( tan rectangles you can see from miles away ).

What planes there are..... look, fly and sound good.

Unless I'm missing something............this is a scam for $200.

LD

I think the answer is Prepar3D will continue to be updated by LM whereas FsX/Acc is history as far as MS are concerned.

[mike_cyul]

I think the answer is Prepar3D will continue to be updated by LM whereas FsX/Acc is history as far as MS are concerned.

And I imagine that timeline will be determined by how cost effective and resource-hungry that process is. Let's hope LM finds it to be very worthwhile.

Mike

PS Are there direct shadows on the aircraft? The screenshots I've seen (which aren't many; sorry) look more like FS2004.

[ZEUS67]

I think the answer is Prepar3D will continue to be updated by LM whereas FsX/Acc is history as far as MS are concerned.


And I imagine that timeline will be determined by how cost effective and resource-hungry that process is. Let's hope LM finds it to be very worthwhile.

Mike

PS Are there direct shadows on the aircraft? The screenshots I've seen (which aren't many; sorry) look more like FS2004.

The difference is how each company sees their product. MS considers FSX a game. As a game, it makes no sense to keep a developing team waiting on the wings to fix minor bugs when the product is out for sale. LM considers Prepar3D a tool. Part of a package that is used to build flight simulation cabins for training and teaching. As a tool, they have a vested interest to iron out all bugs, no matter how minor. At the same time, they have a vested interest in improving the current tool to make use of the latest technologies that can lower the cost of building a flight simulation cabin.

[limjack]

This is very good news for us all. My fsx has never looked better with all the add ons and looking forward to what LM can add to it or fix.

Jim

[stiz]

PS Are there direct shadows on the aircraft? The screenshots I've seen (which aren't many; sorry) look more like FS2004.

the shadow system is the same as it is in FSX

[Dangerousdave26]

Unless I'm missing something............this is a scam for $200.

LD

Keep in mind it is not intended for the recreational simmer. The target audience is


Training meets reality with Lockheed Martin’s Prepar3D® simulation software. Private pilots, commercial organizations, militaries and academia rely on Prepar3D for immersive, experiential learning.

its expected that as a Corporate entity you will set up some kind of specific training program. This will probably include the corporate entity or academy modify the sim to fit their needs.

We also need to take into account there is on going development that makes the product more valuable as many of the FSX issues have been resolved in Prepar3D.

The downside is some of the FSX addons do not work with Prepar3D. Some of those problems may be because the addon like FSRecorder is looking for FSUIPC/SimConnect on FSX and not FSUIPC/SimConnect on Prepared. As Prepar3D gains popularity this problem should be able to resolve since the core of Prepar3D is FSX/ESP.

As far as differences one of the major differences with FSX and Prepar3D is the fact that the sea or oceans can be explored the same as flying threw the air. Who wants a personal submarine? :icon_lol: that would be cool once.

This is the future of Flight Simulations all other versions of Flight Simulator are marching on to obscurity.

I think the price of $200 is rather reasonable given that most of us end up spending $1000 on this hobby easy.

[Lionheart]

Well, got the "Pro" version downloaded and installed last nite.............
not much different from FSX 'cept way fewer available planes ( you get: several Connies, a BUNCH of P-38's, a Mooney, a Maule, some basic Beechcraft and a J-3 !!??!! Wowee Zowie !!!).

Been tweakin' and flying, tweakin and flying all day long...... getting a solid 24fps with sliders at 50% and I've got a good pooter.(8 gig RAM, 1 gig graphics)

Scenery's not bad but smaller airports are a joke ( tan rectangles you can see from miles away ).

What planes there are..... look, fly and sound good.

Unless I'm missing something............this is a scam for $200.

LD

Im sorry LD that its not working good for you.

I did notice that the planes from FSX are in P3D, but no panel folders. So installing those will get your FSX birds showing in P3D.


For me, it runs like glass in P3D. FSX is horrible and gets me freaking out each time I fly in it, (jerking, hopping, studdering, blinking clouds, pink runways, creeping / modulating terrain (moves in patches). In P3D, none of this happens. I get a good 20 FPS and I have a couple of sliders maxed. Most are half though. Thats really good for me.

To me, I was freaking that it was running so nice! I had AI traffic on (auto set by installer) and cars on the highways, some air traffic and lots of boats and it wasnt blinking or studdering at all. Its like an entirely new sim to me. Thats for me though. I do not have a super nice gaming computer (yet) so for this to be running so smoothly is like a miracle.


I have to laugh... I was so in awe of this running so smooth yesterday (got it running yesterday) that I would keep opening it up just to check it out, make sure it was still there, make sure it wasnt a dream. I changed out my default to the Maule at Montgomery Field.


But again, sorry its not a step up for you as it is for me.



Bill

[ZEUS67]

Just a tip for those using Prepar3D, unselect bathymetry. Bathymetry renders the ocean floors for submersible use, but if all you are going to use is aircraft or surface vehicles, it makes no sense and your FPS count will improve.

[Lionheart]

LuckyDog,

What happens when you turn off AA?

With me, AA critically brings down P3D and FSX. I wonder if its a GC issue? I love a crisp screen, and without AA, I have jittery edges on objects. I love AA, but I just cant run it in FSX or P3D.

If you are having the same issue I am, I'll bet if you turn off AA, you might get 75 to 100 FPS in P3D.