Prepar3d 2.5 is out

Tom, you're missing out a lot of cool lighting effects by leaving HDR out. The brightness can be adjusted. Check this thread at avsim:

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/451123-brighter-hdr-tweak/

I am still on 2.4 though and I do not know how this will adapt in 2.5.

One of the cool features is that HDR adapts brightness of what you see simulating the human eye. Have it on and try looking inside the cockpit for a few seconds and then lift your head to look out. For a few brief moments all will be bright and then adapt.

Check the first minutes of this very draft video I made to show off P3D to some friends:

 
Tom, are those clouds stock?? Could you also post a picture over stock scenery please? Has that changed a lot?

I have v2.4 installed, have 2.5 standing by, but I'm a bit put off by the fact that FTX doesn't work yet. ORBX sceneries are a must for me.

Cheers,

Johan
 
Dumonceau said:
Tom, are those clouds stock?? Could you also post a picture over stock scenery please? Has that changed a lot?

I have v2.4 installed, have 2.5 standing by, but I'm a bit put off by the fact that FTX doesn't work yet. ORBX sceneries are a must for me.

Cheers,

Johan
Click to expand...


Johan, those are the stock clouds. I have added FSUIPC, some aircraft and personal scenery but that is all. Oh yes I got Just Flight Traffic360 working perfectly. Everything else is stock. So far this is a real winner.
 
Dimus said:
Tom, you're missing out a lot of cool lighting effects by leaving HDR out. The brightness can be adjusted. Check this thread at avsim:

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/451123-brighter-hdr-tweak/

I am still on 2.4 though and I do not know how this will adapt in 2.5.

One of the cool features is that HDR adapts brightness of what you see simulating the human eye. Have it on and try looking inside the cockpit for a few seconds and then lift your head to look out. For a few brief moments all will be bright and then adapt.

Check the first minutes of this very draft video I made to show off P3D to some friends:
Click to expand...

Dimus, thank you so much for the link and advice on the HDR. I removed the slashes on the avg entry and what a difference. I am lowering the value slightly to see what that does. For me it is a great improvement with HDR checked. Much appreciated.

One more picture with HDR check and the flight over Midway.

 
One more picture with a slight adjustment in the avgLuninance to 0.72 That should do it for me. This changes everything regarding the lighting. Again very much appreciated Dimus.

 
Thanks for the info Tom and everyone else. That HDR tweak might want me to put it back on :)


Best regards
Dag
 
Dag, I suspect you and I shared the same feeling. With HDR checked and everything being so dark I just seemed to gravitate back to FSX. Now the lighting is as good or even better in P3D. What is even better is P3D version 2.5 has eliminated some small problems I experienced in FSX. Now with Orbx coming back on board very soon it is like an entirely different sim platform.
 
stovall said:
Johan, those are the stock clouds. I have added FSUIPC, some aircraft and personal scenery but that is all. Oh yes I got Just Flight Traffic360 working perfectly. Everything else is stock. So far this is a real winner.
Click to expand...

Ok, you won me over. I just made an image of my rig, but will now proceed to a crispy clean fresh install of P3D (and windows! Ran into a few problems lately which will be alleviated by a new install)

Cheers Tom!!

Johan
 
No problem Tom. It was Ron at the P3D forum that first suggested that. I tried it but happened to prefer the default darker lighting. I may experiment more after I install 2.5.
 
stovall said:
Dag, I suspect you and I shared the same feeling. With HDR checked and everything being so dark I just seemed to gravitate back to FSX. Now the lighting is as good or even better in P3D. What is even better is P3D version 2.5 has eliminated some small problems I experienced in FSX. Now with Orbx coming back on board very soon it is like an entirely different sim platform.
Click to expand...

Quite right Tom ;-)


Best regards
Dag
 
FSX will soon be uninstalled from my rig! Another SSD drive will be available! V2.5 first flight just for the basic set-up of files was a mind blower! :jump:
 
I thought 2.4 was actually a step backward from FSX as far as water and cloud rendering went. If it's better I'll gladly spend more time in it.
 
4 days of 2.5 and I am quite happy with it so far & fingers crossed. It runs smooth and no crashes thus far. I was nervous as v2.4 was an exercise in frustration for me with its persistent unexplained crashes.

Not yet at the stage where I have full confidence to ditch FSX (Jeez, I I'm still loathe to delete FS9 for heavens sake :untroubled:) I'm wondering if yon Belgian chap will update his SimLauncher interface. I like that but it doesn't recognise P3D at this stage.

Only one or two add-ons Rob Richardson's DH-125 (wonderful a/c), Malby's BAC1-11 (I cannot imagine being without that) and Ant's Tiger Moth (low & slow a/c of choice)
FTX/ORBX I will await their update before venturing there.

Slàinte mhor!
 
Snurdley said:
I thought 2.4 was actually a step backward from FSX as far as water and cloud rendering went. If it's better I'll gladly spend more time in it.
Click to expand...
No offense, and this is strictly my opinion, but P3D hasn't taken a backward step since it hit Version 2.0. Certainly 2.4 was the best to that point with beautiful effects with cloud shadowing and water effects beat anything FSX ever thought of having. I've moved on to V2.5 and have yet to see anything overly impressive about it really, but P3D has advanced so far beyond FSX as to almost make it obsolete.
 
falcon409 said:
No offense, and this is strictly my opinion, but P3D hasn't taken a backward step since it hit Version 2.0. Certainly 2.4 was the best to that point with beautiful effects with cloud shadowing and water effects beat anything FSX ever thought of having. I've moved on to V2.5 and have yet to see anything overly impressive about it really, but P3D has advanced so far beyond FSX as to almost make it obsolete.
Click to expand...

I've been tweaking things for years and right now I'm getting some fantastic effects in FSX. I started P3D with 2.4 and noticed immediately that I wasn't able to duplicate the water or atmospheric effects. I use REX clouds and for some reason they just don't look as good. Unfortunately ENB won't run in DX11 so have been using SweetFX, which helps a lot, but in my view isn't quite as good with bloom. It does help with the over saturation though, and I introduced a bit of red in the RGB adjustment to kill some of the cyan color cast. Water was (is?) a black, inky mess, but REX4 may help with that. I also don't see any animation. FSX has it right out of the box, and it's beautiful. I guess being an artist makes me a bit more anal with the visuals. I really don't care about systems, it's seeing a sim that looks as real as I can possibly get it.
 
Snurdley said:
I've been tweaking things for years and right now I'm getting some fantastic effects in FSX. I started P3D with 2.4 and noticed immediately that I wasn't able to duplicate the water or atmospheric effects. I use REX clouds and for some reason they just don't look as good. Unfortunately ENB won't run in DX11 so have been using SweetFX, which helps a lot, but in my view isn't quite as good with bloom. It does help with the over saturation though, and I introduced a bit of red in the RGB adjustment to kill some of the cyan color cast. Water was (is?) a black, inky mess, but REX4 may help with that. I also don't see any animation. FSX has it right out of the box, and it's beautiful. I guess being an artist makes me a bit more anal with the visuals. I really don't care about systems, it's seeing a sim that looks as real as I can possibly get it.
Click to expand...
Sounds like you should stay with FSX then.
 
For the guys on the fence, I'll give you my humble suggestion.

Jump in to P3D, now that it is smoothing out and turning into a real top flight sim. The learning curve is substantial compared to FSX, so it's beneficial to learn your way around the various settings and setups. It takes a while to really find the sweet spot.

Once your tactical add-ons come online you will be checked out and ready to take full advantage of the sim.

I'm personally waiting to install 2.5 until EFB, ASN and IS update, but I did update the SDK.

I recently stepped up and purchased 3D Studio Max 2015 (ouch) and was having some issues with the 2.4 SDK in 3DS. Today I installed the new 2.5 SDK and ran some test models through XtoMDL...successfully. Looks like everything is up to speed for P3D2.5/3DStudio Max 2015. Makes my life a lot easier.

IMHO: P3Dv2.4 and beyond are amazing. What can be done with light and shadow were never even imagined in FSX. The possibilities of achieving near perfect realism are not only a possibility, but an inevitability. The tools are finally available for developers who really seek to push the envelope.

Thanks to the LM Dev team for a job well done. Looking forward to what's coming down the pike.
 
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