Converting to P3D questions

gray eagle

gray eagle

SOH-CM-2024
HI all,

I am in need of some help in the conversion process from FSX/A to P3d. Would I be able to migrate what I have installed in my FSX/A over to P3d or would I have to install every thing planes/sceneries et. al
over to P3D. Another thing is I noticed that there is this P3D V3 out and I was looking at the requirement needed for it.

http://www.prepar3d.com/system-requirements/


I am using Win 7 64 Bit with Inter7 Cpu.
Motherboard Name Gigabyte GA-P55-USB3
CPU Type QuadCore Intel Core i7 860, 2933 MHz (22 x 133)
Physical Memory
Total 8187 MB
Used 2717 M
Free 5478 MB


Drive Drive Type File System Total Size Used Space Free Space % Free Volume Serial
C: Local Disk NTFS 255999 MB 201705 MB 54294 MB 21 % 3E78-6561
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660
Memory Size 2048 MB

Anyway this is some of what my rig contains and I think it will support P3d. From what I have read on the P3D page, they only sell by download and not mail a DVD.
So, my question is what is the total base size of the download and do they d/l in segments and how long did it take to D/L. I suppose they support resume D/L ig
connection is interrupted.

Would appreciate any HU on the conversion process that I should know about.

I noticed that the V2 looked to be less demanding on hardware requirements then V3 but then they won't sell you V2 right and only the latest.
Which brings me to ask when they do version updates I'm sure there is a fee for that but say like going from V2 to V3 was that a seemless install and left what you had installed
in your V2 intact fot V3 use?

Thanks for you time. :untroubled:


Edit: Besides the price, what is the difference when using the Student version? Any appreciable difference?
 
Unless you plan to generate money with your simulator, then the Academic licence is what you are looking for.
There is no "upgrade" policy, so if you bought v2, you'll have to pay full price (60 dollars) to buy the v3.
However, you don't have to pay to get the updates for each version. So if you have v3, you will get for free the updates for 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 etc... but when v4.0 arrives, you'll have to pay if you want it, and that will probably be a full reinstall.
And of course, when the v4 becomes available, nothing will prevent you to keep using the v3, and your download links will keep available as well on the P3D webstore.

Concerning the migration of addons from FSX to P3D, well it will depend on the complexity of the addon.
For example, simple planes, which do not use complex gauges with DLL files everywhere etc... will be easy to move: simply copy paste of the plane folder, gauges files, effect files etc...
But for complex airplanes with complex gauges and systems, you will probably have to reinstall them, because they might need some P3D-specific installer. Best is to ask us if you have a doubt.

Same for the sceneries: for "simple" sceneries that are just a folder in your "addon scenery\" folder, you don't even need to copy them. You can simply tell to the P3D scenery library where the scenery is in your FSX directory. So like, add area -> navigate to the folder in the FSX addon scenery\, click add, and your done. No need to duplicate that folder, unless you plan to delete your FSX.
For complex sceneries however, a reinstall will probably be needed. I'm thinking especially to OrbX stuff, which modifies the landclass definitions of the sim, etc...

Finally, concerning your hardware, I'm pretty sure it's fine. I'm using a CPU which is just a little bit less old than yours: an i7 960. But I overclocked it to 3.6 GHz, instead of the original 3,2 GHz... And for the video card, I used to have a GTX480, which is older than your 660. You will not be able to activate some of the eye-candy though, so don't get too optimistic. ;)

Finally, the full download size is around 13 Gb if I remember correctly.
 
Daube said:
Unless you plan to generate money with your simulator, then the Academic licence is what you are looking for.
There is no "upgrade" policy, so if you bought v2, you'll have to pay full price (60 dollars) to buy the v3.
However, you don't have to pay to get the updates for each version. So if you have v3, you will get for free the updates for 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 etc... but when v4.0 arrives, you'll have to pay if you want it, and that will probably be a full reinstall.
And of course, when the v4 becomes available, nothing will prevent you to keep using the v3, and your download links will keep available as well on the P3D webstore.

Concerning the migration of addons from FSX to P3D, well it will depend on the complexity of the addon.
For example, simple planes, which do not use complex gauges with DLL files everywhere etc... will be easy to move: simply copy paste of the plane folder, gauges files, effect files etc...
But for complex airplanes with complex gauges and systems, you will probably have to reinstall them, because they might need some P3D-specific installer. Best is to ask us if you have a doubt.

Same for the sceneries: for "simple" sceneries that are just a folder in your "addon scenery\" folder, you don't even need to copy them. You can simply tell to the P3D scenery library where the scenery is in your FSX directory. So like, add area -> navigate to the folder in the FSX addon scenery\, click add, and your done. No need to duplicate that folder, unless you plan to delete your FSX.
For complex sceneries however, a reinstall will probably be needed. I'm thinking especially to OrbX stuff, which modifies the landclass definitions of the sim, etc...

Finally, concerning your hardware, I'm pretty sure it's fine. I'm using a CPU which is just a little bit less old than yours: an i7 960. But I overclocked it to 3.6 GHz, instead of the original 3,2 GHz... And for the video card, I used to have a GTX480, which is older than your 660. You will not be able to activate some of the eye-candy though, so don't get too optimistic. ;)

Finally, the full download size is around 13 Gb if I remember correctly.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. My son will be over to my place and look at my rig to see if it will support another internal HD and also check the Power Supply as well.
I have seen some P3D academic screens and that little logo in the upper right is not so bad especially for a lot less money...

So the way I understand it, I buy the V3 and then when when 3.1 is avail I'll either be notified be email or check the P3D page of the update and that will install over the V3 and that's it, right?

I just got the FSDream team Memphis KMEM scenery and it included both FSX and P3d installers. The P3d version works the avatars and the FSX version will not, otherwise the scenery is
outstanding. :encouragement: That one I'll have to install the P3d version. But, I would like to have the best of both worlds if possible. I know there are FS9 users here and that goes Waaaayyyy back. :biggrin-new:

Again thanks for the info. And if I have P3D questions, I know who to ask and where to go. :adoration:
 
I'm not completely sure if you get the 3.0 or directly the 3.4 if you buy from now...
Anyways, the way to update P3D is quite simple: from the Windows control panel, you go to that part where you can choose which programs to uninstall (something like "add/remove programs").
In there, you will see several lines concerning P3D. One of these lines is called "client".

You simply need to uninstall the client, download the newest one from the P3D website (the client installer is usually around 100-150 Megabytes), and trigger the installation of the new client. No need to update the scenery part, which is also the heaviest :p
 
Daube said:
For example, simple planes, which do not use complex gauges with DLL files everywhere etc... will be easy to move: simply copy paste of the plane folder, gauges files, effect files etc...
Click to expand...


One other feature I am quite fond of is that Prepar3D has an "add-ons" directory that is completely separate from the main install of P3D. You can copy/paste all an aircraft's installation files into its own directory, and keep the two completely separate. Once one gets over the fact that P3D is a current and actively supported development effort (it took me by surprise), it makes updates to the base simulator less painful and concerning.

It is worth noting that this method isn't completely polished, and (typically) works best with add-ons that only have one aircraft directory. For some reason, it does not work so smoothly when textures or gauges reference files in adjacent aircraft directories.

Ant's Winjeel installs this way by default, so you can use it as a template for other add-ons (and also have a great little trainer)
 
Daube said:
I'm not completely sure if you get the 3.0 or directly the 3.4 if you buy from now...
Anyways, the way to update P3D is quite simple: from the Windows control panel, you go to that part where you can choose which programs to uninstall (something like "add/remove programs").
In there, you will see several lines concerning P3D. One of these lines is called "client".

You simply need to uninstall the client, download the newest one from the P3D website (the client installer is usually around 100-150 Megabytes), and trigger the installation of the new client. No need to update the scenery part, which is also the heaviest :p
Click to expand...

So these updates or patches, are they downloaded to your HD were if needed, you could reinstall. In other words, if your P3d were mangled for some reason, you could just reinstall the latest
version that was downloaded. Is each upgrade a complete program? Like if you started with 3.4, you have that archived and then along comes 3.5 would you now have two full complete versions
of P3d. Kinda like my browser when it upgrades from V27.3 and a V27.4 comes out and I don't like the V27.4 and I revert to the older version - two different installers, does P3d work that way? Sometimes
I know the upgrades have issues and when that happens, I would want to install the last previous version that worked better.
 
gray eagle said:
So these updates or patches, are they downloaded to your HD were if needed, you could reinstall. In other words, if your P3d were mangled for some reason, you could just reinstall the latest
version that was downloaded. Is each upgrade a complete program? Like if you started with 3.4, you have that archived and then along comes 3.5 would you now have two full complete versions
of P3d. Kinda like my browser when it upgrades from V27.3 and a V27.4 comes out and I don't like the V27.4 and I revert to the older version - two different installers, does P3d work that way? Sometimes
I know the upgrades have issues and when that happens, I would want to install the last previous version that worked better.
Click to expand...

Yes, you download and you can store the files locally. So you can keep the install files for 3.3, and the install files for 3.4 etc...
For example, let's say you have installed P3D 3.2, and you have downloaded the file for the client 3.3 (usually the name is "install_client.msi"), and installed it and you're happy with that.
Then comes the 3.4 updates. You download it, you install it, but it doesn't work well. You can simply uninstall the 3.4 client and reinstall the 3.3 if the "install_client.msi" file is still there.
However, since you will download directly the 3.4 if you buy today, I don't think there will be any "previous versions" for you to download or keep.

And also, we don't expect any additional updates for the version 3 of P3D, since the version 4 shouldn't be too far away (hopefuly).
That why I would recommend you to wait a few months before you decide to buy P3D. Once the v4 appears and we finally get some consistent information about addons compatibility (v4 is expected to be 64 bits, but nothing is confirmed yet), you can decide if you want to buy that v4 or go with the v3 instead.
 
One very useful P3D feature is the ability to 'heal' the installation if it goes belly up.
I had a couple of (self inflicted) hassles and when I decided to do a new install the 'Client' section gave me the option of a repair instead of an uninstall, the repair worked very nicely!!
Do take Daube's advice, hang off until v.4 becomes available, I'm just hoping all my ORBX scenery will be compatible.
:encouragement:
 
P3d 64 Bit

64 bit for P3d would be nice but I wonder if my current addons will function in 64 bit?

Just wondering if this conversion will involve replacing existing add ons and possibly even upgrading PC's to take full advantage of 64 bit, which would not be an inexpensive upgrade for many people. I clearly remember when the move from FS9 to FSX happened, and many didn't make the move because they just didn't have the money to do it at the time. I notice that the other 64 bit sim requires at least 16 GB of ram and they say 32GBs is even better, and I don't think most people have a PC that can handle that much ram. ( I may be wrong about this).

The only comparison I can make is DTG and their new Train sim which will be 64 bit. They are already telling the 32 bit present users, that their current content will not be compatible and that they expect that many of these people will not switch to the newer version because of it. So what they have planned is to have two versions of their Train Sim, and to support both of them for the foreseeable future. I would imagine that LM will also consider taking that route.

In view of the above, Something for me to ponder to go for the V3.4 32 Bit or wait,
 
Your computer is already fully 64 bits compliant, else you wouldn't be able to use your Windows 7 64 ;)
Concerning the RAM, it's the same: not only the prices have dropped dramatically, but most motherboards can accept a big amount of RAM without problems.
The only limitation might come from your Windows: the home edition of Windows 7 64 is limited to a maximum of 24 Gb.

But anyways, I don't expect the changes in P3D 64 to be so deep, so even though the memory usage might (finally be allowed to) increase, I don't think it will go stellar....
And concerning the compatibility of addons, yes that IS the main question, and this is precisely why I recommend you to wait before buying any sim.
 
Daube said:
Your computer is already fully 64 bits compliant, else you wouldn't be able to use your Windows 7 64 ;)
Concerning the RAM, it's the same: not only the prices have dropped dramatically, but most motherboards can accept a big amount of RAM without problems.
The only limitation might come from your Windows: the home edition of Windows 7 64 is limited to a maximum of 24 Gb.

But anyways, I don't expect the changes in P3D 64 to be so deep, so even though the memory usage might (finally be allowed to) increase, I don't think it will go stellar....
And concerning the compatibility of addons, yes that IS the main question, and this is precisely why I recommend you to wait before buying any sim.
Click to expand...

The cost of the 64 bit upgrade of P3D won't be a real problem.
The real problem will be the cost of all the addons that will have to be updated. Another problem will be the question if and when those addons will be updated?
 
More info on 32 Bit P3d vs 64 Bit P3d

I searched on a P3D forum and wanted to share some opinions that I find interesting with regards to 64 bit P3d being backwards compat.


Scenery addons that consist only of scenery files should be unaffected by switching to 64-bit, provided that the addon installer is able to install the scenery files in the new version of the sim, or you are able to copy the scenery files manually. Scenery files are merely data files that contain scenery data (3D objects, textures, lighting effects data, sound data, etc). A 64-bit application should be able to read the same data files that its 32-bit version does. The only scenery addons that will be partly affected by a switch to 64-bit will be scenery addons that also include some sort of "computer program" (.DLL files or external .EXE file) that controls part of the scenery, like SODE controls jetways and Orbx ObjectFlow controls people animations and such. Those parts of the scenery will not move or will be missing until the scenery developer provides a 64-bit version of SODE/ObjectFlow or whatever component is handling the animated parts of the scenery.

Aircraft addons will to a large extent not work in 64-bit, because aircraft addons very often also includes .DLL files that handle instruments like the GPS/FMC/etc. While most scenery addons will work without their programmatic parts, only with some scenery parts becoming static or missing, aircraft addons are another matter. If the GPS and other gauges cannot be loaded into the sim because they are not 64-bit, it will most often not result in merely a blank GPS or some nonfunctioning dials, but instead the whole virtual cockpit will be displayed with large parts missing/transparent, and generally be in a totally useless state. Aircraft addon developers will have to provide 64-bit versions of their gauges and other programmatic parts of their aircraft.

Specific addons like Active Sky and EZDok will invariably require upgrading by the developer to work in 64-bit. How much development time the upgrade will require is probably very different depending on how and to what extent the addon interacts with the sim. Camera addons that just move the eyepoint around could maybe be quick to upgrade to 64-bit, while more complex addons will of course be more complex and time-consuming to upgrade by the developer.


Then I found this remark to above that is interesting:

That is the most accurate and best summary of the situation. There's a difference between files that just contain data, and files that contain actual instructions that the CPU must execute, such as .dll and .exe files. Data files such as .air files, .bgl files, .cfg files, .dds files etc. will work just fine on 64-bit. You can open text document, or a picture you made in Paint on a system with a 32-bit CPU, 64-bit CPU or even on your ARM powered smartphone, as long as you have a program that knows how to decode the file. The same is true for those "data only" files in P3D.

In theory, it's possible to "bridge" 32-bit plug-ins so they can communicate with a 64-bit host application. That would make it possible to use GPS plug-ins, OrbX "flow" plug-ins etc. without updating them to 64-bit. This is what the music production industry did with old 32-bit audio plug-ins during the transition to 64-bit, but this would require a lot of work and probably won't happen.

That said, we don't know what other changes LM will make to the file formats, and whether they will retain backwards compatibility at all. They could abandon the .bgl format completely, move away from the .air lookup tables etc. Even if they retain the old file formats, backwards compatibility is not guaranteed. We've already seen this with 32-bit P3D v2 and v3, which broke compatibility with some FSX addons.

Companies like OrbX took several years to make the transition from FSX to P3D. I would not expect the transition to P3D v4 to be any faster. If you're heavily invested in 32-bit P3D v3, you'll be running it alongside any "next-gen" sim for a long time, at least for the remainder of this decade.


Not my comments but interesting non the less when thinking about any backwarks compatibility from 64bit to 32 Bit P3d and the 32 bit payware addons that may not work in V4.

So I wonder if the latest SOH DC3 would work in a 64 bit P3D environment?

That is why, I would like to have both FSX and V(whatever ) of P3d that way, I could still use the payware addons I have and not go to waste.
 
I suspect that most of us will be using the V3 versions for some time and slowly migrate over to V4, as our favorite addons become available. I am looking forward to the 64 bit version. I just hope it lives up to our expectations.
 
The expression "According to JV" has lost quite a bit of value recently :D
The thing is: if Lockheed just make a straight-forward conversion of the P3D engine(s) to 64 bits, then there is some chance some data-only addons could work.
But if they also took the opportunity to change some pieces of logic to make some optimizations, then this might bring much more compatibility issues.
 
We really need to remember that Lockheed Martin state emphatically that all versions of P3D are NOT for 'entertainment', which we take with a grain of salt.
So if we have invested (I certainly have) heavily in scenery and aircraft that will not work in v.4 then that's our problem.
Until it all shakes out it would be wise to stick with what we have, especially as certain commercial developers haven't caught up with P3Dv2 or even with just plain old P3D.
:encouragement:
 
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