Prepar3D News ONLY (not discussion)

The Prepar3D v2 open beta is available:

http://www.prepar3d.com/betav2/

I like that, just DirectX 11 :D

Prepar3D v2.0 brings many exciting updates to the Prepar3D simulation platform

* A new DirectX 11 rendering engine

* SimDirector – a brand new, modern training scenario generation tool suite

* The introduction of a new Professional Plus version of Prepar3D for military training

* Updates to the digital rights management and licensing process

* User interface updates, as well as many other exciting updates to the core platform

*An updated SDK including many requested features and a new iSimObject API that allows developers full control over their SimObjects

Known issues resolved list

* Rendering and Performance Improvements

* The core rendering system in Prepar3D has been completely overhauled and updated from DirectX9 to DirectX 11. Prepar3D is now able to better take advantage of modern graphics hardware. This has two main benefits to the user, increased performance and control over what is displayed, as well as the ability to have modern rendering features added to the rendering engine.

* Performance Improvements

* Object Instancing

Instancing allows the rendering system to have graphics cards draw multiple copies of the same entity just once. This greatly improves autogen building and tree performance.

GPU Particle and Effect System

Effects are now simulated through the new GPU (graphics card) particle system

Training scenarios with much more effects rendered on the scene are now possible

Tessellated Terrain on the Graphics Card

The previous work being done to generate terrain mesh is now done on the graphics card.

Fully dynamic night and day light cycles

Terrain lighting is now able to be done dynamically on the card, whereas previous shadows and lighting had to be baked into the textures and reloaded when time changed

Terrain paging performance greatly improved

Trainees in fast flight scenarios will see their terrain paged in much quicker as it is being done on the graphics card

Multi-Threading Support

Visual scene and rendering optimizations are now be done on background threads

Shader compilation is now threaded out which greatly reduces stuttering effects that some users had with previous versions

Resources are now able to be shared between views

A single update can be shared across virtual cockpit views greatly increasing performance with multiple views open

Round world coordinate conversion now able to be done on the GPU

Visual Rendering Engine Improvements

Prepar3D Now Has an Updated Real-Time Shadow System

Fully dynamic variance cascaded shadow maps

Supporting an unlimited number of objects receiving and casting shadows inside shadow range

Full support for object self-occlusion, including virtual cockpit self-shadowing

Terrain able to receive and cast shadows in real-time

Soft shadows support through separable blur pass filters

Day and night cycle support within the shadow system

Weather support (lightning able to affect shadows) (currently in work, not in this beta)

Clouds able to cast shadows (currently in work, not in this beta)

A Modernized Lighting System

Through tone mapping, views are now able simulate the effect of your eyes adjusting to the brightness of a scene

Improved simulation of night visibility

Bloom lighting effects greatly improved

A Vibrant New 3D Living Water Surface

Dynamic 3D waves and water surface based on weather conditions and wind speed

Water lighting and shading improved for greater realism

SimObjects will extrapolate their position off the waves (currently in work, not in this beta)

Volumetric Fog and Cloud and Weather Improvements

The appearance of flying through fog and clouds has been greatly improved

Light is now simulated as it passes through visibility and cloud layers defined in the Prepar3D weather system

Specular Lighting Terrain Support Enabled

Land classes now have specular values that will affect how they reflect light (for example, snow and roads now reflect light differently, snow is shinier, etc.)

Improved control over anti-aliasing up to 8x MSAA and FXAA support

Global anisotropic filtering support up to 16x

A Modernized Full-Screen Mode

Fullscreen mode is now non-exclusive

The mode switch is much faster

Windows can span more than one monitor in full-screen mode

Plugins can create their own windows

Bringing up the kneeboard or ATC windows won’t cause delays in fullscreen mode as they used to

Prepar3D Professional Plus for Military Training

In addition to the academic and professional licenses of Prepar3D, a new Professional Plus license has been released to support military training. Professional Plus brings an extensible military weapons training capability, as well as Learning Management System interfaces.

A fully-configurable, dynamic weapons system has been added to Prepar3D to allow our military-focused customers the ability to perform weapons-based training using Prepar3D. Support for targeting, bombs, missiles, guns, and countermeasures are included, as are examples to show you how to implement features in your training.

Generic and Extensible Weapon System Functionality

Add weapons features to existing vehicles or build features into newly developed vehicles

Weapons can be generic or implemented through the new SimObject API

Targeting can be accomplished programmatically or through mouse-clicking

Attached objects dynamically influence the owner object until release

Dynamic scoring and object health system implemented

Including damage to objects in the area surrounding a point of weapon impact

Weapon Control system implemented

Includes aiming, safety enable/disable, and weapon select added

Supports Manual and Automatic Aiming/Targeting

Two new SimObject types have been implemented

Weapon SimObjects: Projectiles, Missiles, Bombs, etc.

Configurable Propulsion and Aerodynamics xml files to quickly develop and configure created weapons

Easily attachable to parent SimObjects through xml

Externally to a modeled pylon or right to the vehicle model

Internally to a modeled weapons bay

Countermeasure SimObjects

System implemented for measures or actions taken to counter or offset another one (i.e. chaff and flare)

Countermeasures affect weapon targeting

Guns

Manual and Automatic Turret aiming

Configurable Ballistics Tables for customization of ballistic characteristics

Configurable impact effects based on impacted object type

Included Weapons Gauge Sample

Example Gauge interface to weapons, guns and countermeasures

All Weapons controls integrated into gauge

Populate and display nearest targets

Show weapon configuration for specific SimObject (station and load out information)

Military AI Content added to Help Users More Rapidly Build Military Scenarios

Military AI Behaviors Added

Attacker

Combat Air Patrol

Combat Air Support

Pursue

Search and Track

Wingman Formation Flight

Learning Management System Tools

Implemented interface for launching flights

Created services for Flight/Lesson Status

Updates to the Digital Rights Management and Licensing process

The Prepar3D licensing and digital rights management (DRM) has been updated to allow users greater control over their licenses and to make the process easier for users to uninstall and reinstall or change their computer hardware.

New digital rights management (DRM/licensing) control:

Automatic license deactivation during uninstall. Allows users to uninstall Prepar3D and transfer the license to another computer without having to contact technical support

Increased hardware modification leniency allows users to modify their hardware without always triggering a need for reactivation

Licensing interface clarifications to better describe activation options

User Interface Updates

We have received a lot of feedback on the user interface of Prepar3D and have made many changes to improve the layout, the functionality, and the look and feel of how you configure Prepar3D.

A startup screen option has been introduced that allows trainees to pick initial conditions and graphical profile settings (currently in work, not in this beta)

The graphical user interface design has been refreshed for version 2.0

The default graphical setting profiles have been removed, and users now have the ability to configure and name their own custom graphical setting profiles

A new Quick Time menu option that lets the trainee dynamically change the time of day of their training

The select vehicle screen has been redesigned with a 3D preview, a new way to browse, and the ability to add favorites

The load and save flight screens have been redesigned to make it much easier to organize large collections of flights

Controls Settings Interface Update

Added a search capability to quickly find relevant controls

Added sorting for SimObject Events

Added sorting for Weapon Events

Additional General Updates to the Platform

Added the ability for customers to customize the menu and context menu items that trainees see and are able to access by allowing them to remove menu options via a config file or the command line

Added a new pause mode “Host Freeze” where only the position of the ownship is frozen

Added a new pause mode “Entities Freeze” where the position of all entities in the simulation are frozen

Consolidated the in-app Learning Center and the SDK Learning Center into a more friendly windows help format

Flight File (.flt) is replaced with an XML wrapped version (.FXML) to support great flexibility and customization

An error is now displayed to the user when their dll.xml is corrupt and cannot be loaded

Across the board updates to the windows and panels system

Users can now create and customize cameras at run time through a dedicated user interface

The Virtual Cockpit can now be made transparent

Cameras can now pan to defined points of interest

Per-view Render able Object Filtering has been added so users can filter out what should be and shouldn’t be drawn in specific views

Field of View settings for Cameras have been added and can be configured in the camera.cfg entries

Camera definition options in the camera.cfg have been streamlined

Custom post-process effects can now be added to windows and chained together via the Camera.cfg or at runtime

SimDirector: Mission Creation Tool Suite

A new set of tools was required for the rapid creation of training scenarios. SimDirector eclipses the legacy Object Placement Tool and adds drag-and-drop support and a new virtual instructor for more dynamic delivery of training feedback to trainees using Prepar3D.

General Information

A WYSIWG Modernized User Interface

Ribbon Interface for tool organization

Dock-able Framework to enable a user customizable workspace

Objects and actions and triggers are able to be dragged and dropped into the world

Dynamic Mission Validation Provides Feedback as Missions are Created

Areas of Interest support for quick navigation of the Prepar3D world

Object Transform Gizmos for translation, rotation, and scaling of Mission Objects

Snap to selected object button to enable quick object editing

Mission Object and Logic Property Editing

Attributes including description and location

Mission Object and Logic references are easily accessible and updated

Mission Object List Interface

Separate Lists for Library and Mission Objects

Expandable Tree view based on object type for quick navigation through lists

Text based filtering based on Object Title

Object placement using Drag-and-Drop (with drag gable previews)

Preview object in thumbnail so reviewing objects is accessible

Two Separate Views for editing the world

Map View

Mouse wheel zoom and pan for effortless world navigation

Icons for mission objects when zoomed out

Object view

3D view of placed Objects

Waypoint Editor Interface

Dynamically create multiple Waypoint Lists

Create waypoints by clicking on Map view or from user interface

Waypoint connectivity visualized for manageable list editing

Waypoints are draggable for effortless list creation

Move Waypoints from one list to another

Easily assign Waypoint lists to AI Objects

Two Separate Modes for Mission Creation

World Editor Mode: Object Placement and Interaction

Allows for free movement around the world detached from own ship

Preview Mode: Preview Mission and use the Virtual Instructor

Dynamically change simulation speed

Pause AI Objects during Mission Preview

Monitor simulation variables to support debugging missions

Mission Step Recorder

Configurable recording of flight and user inputs

Converts user inputs (discrete and continuous) to Mission Steps

Mission Environment Editing enabled from within SimDirector

Own ship

Location

Weather (User-defined or theme)

Time and Season

Software Development Kit (SDK) Enhancements for Developers

The Prepar3D software development kit (SDK) has been greatly enhanced for v2.0. A new iSimObject API has been created to allow developers full control over the SimObject implementations. Several enhancements have also been made to the modeling tools, the gauges and panels system, as well as requested additions from our developer network and forum users to the SimConnect interface.

General Updates

Streamlined the SDK content and examples to make it easier to find relevant information

External SimObjects can now participate in ATC

SimObject API Implementation

Create a simulation object (SimObject) complete with customized behaviors, input properties (also referred to as events or triggers), and state properties (also referred to as simvars or simply properties)

Custom events created for your simobject implementation can be configured for joystick, keyboard, and mouse use

Samples and Prototypes Included in the SDK

SimpleCar: Basic SimObject implementation

Car: Medium Complexity SimObject implementation

SimpleAirplane: Flight Dynamics Example

Professional Plus Specific Samples:

Countermeasure: Countermeasure Object implementation

Missile: Missile Object implementation

WheeledTank: SimObject with weapons

SimConnect interface enhancements

Added METAR readable parameters to SimConnect weather requests

Added -RA, RA, +RA, -SN, SN, +SN, TS, TSRA, +TSRA, -FZRA, FZRA, +FZRA to METAR output that will readable be between winds and clouds data

Added additional interfaces to read

Aircraft carrier properties

Scenery Complexity slider settings

Shadow settings

The actual eyeposition in LLA PBH

Joystick controller enable/disable functionality to SimConnect

Prepar3D version and license type information

SimConnect can interface with camera views and can now move, size, undock, dock, zoom, rotate, open, close, change and update the FOV.

Gauges and Panel SDK updates

XML gauges can now draw curved paths

LUA scripting can now be used for Gauges and Panels

Added the ability to create custom Render Textures and Post Processing for Windows and Cameras.

Plugins can define a texture and render into it using D3D11

Plugins can apply custom D3D11 Rendering to the output of a view

Custom post process can be defined via XML and XLSL without requiring a plugin

Added Render To Texture Gauge type and Removed DirectX 9 C gauges. (Replaced by Render To Texture Gauges)

Added Prepar3D Development Kit (PDK) interface for window and camera control.

Window Control: Open, Close, Resize, Move, etc.

Camera Control: Position, Orientation, Field of View, etc.

Modeling SDK Updates

Modeling tools updated to include 64-bit support

3D Studio Max 2012 and 2014 modeling tools support

XtoMDL tool updated to allow more than 65,000 polygons

RadarSignatures can now be used as an object filter for gauges

XML Gauge Maps: ObjectDetailLayerVehicles – 0×10=Vehicles with a Radar Signature

ITrafficInfo:Filter – TRAFFIC_FILTER_RADAR_SIGNATURE=128 (Takes precedence over all other filters)

Field of View (FOV) can now be defined in the Camera.cfg

Terrain Import Tutorial Added

Known Issues Resolved

The Prepar3D development team constantly monitors the support forums for improvements to the platform, as well as leveraged feedback from the Prepar3D developer network. The issues below were brought up by various developers or forum members.

The ATC and other windows now allow keyboard controls to be passed through to the simulation

Fixed a bug where terrain was reloaded when you changed graphical settings that did not need a terrain reload

Fixed a user-reported issue where the ATIS frequency and Tower Frequency were conflicting for AYPY

Multiple Issues with the Flight Planner Have Been Resolved:

The Flight Plan Default title now populates and saves correctly

Flight Plans saved from a legacy application without titles now show in the Prepar3D Flight Planner

Fixed an issue where many joysticks would have their throttle mapped to an incorrect axis by default

Fixed an issue where the SimConnect variable SIMCONNECT_GROUND_INFO_LATLON_FORMAT_METERS returned the lat value in radians instead of the correct value of meters

Fixed an issue where planes with multiple engines weren’t having their flight hours saved in the log book

Fixed an issue where the Scenery Library could crash if the scenery.cfg file had a “Required= entry

Fixed an issue where the Kneeboard and ATC window could render with an incorrect orientation if a monitor had its screen orientation rotated in Windows

The phrase “Free Flight” has been removed or clarified in all documentation

UISettings.xml has been moved to “AppData/Roaming/Lockheed Martin/Prepar3D v2/”

Fixed an issue where the ShowUserLabel flag in the Prepar3D.CFG file was not getting properly saved

Aprons and Taxiways will now respect the drawSurface flag to disable their rendering in the simulation if specified by a scenery developer

Fixed an issue where there was a 4x rotational limit enforced even when a user selected a runtime sim rate greater than 4x

Fixed an issue where the multiplayer port range would change back to 6112-6122 when changed to be outside of that range

Fixed an issue where you could be sent to the wrong StartPoint from the SelectAirport screen

Fixed an issue where IFROnly was not getting properly saved to the Prepar3D.cfg

Great News!!!!

http://www.prepar3d.com/news/2013/10/4507/

May i remind you that this is a news and not a discussion thread?

There is a new P3D 2.0 blog entry up for a mission editor they call SimDirector.

http://www.prepar3d.com/news/2013/10/4561/

Beta 4 released today. Final beta before production release.

Prepar3D will be released in November.

Avsim:

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/426105-prepar3d-v-20-will-come-out-in-november/

P3D:

http://www.prepar3d.com/forum-5/?mingleforumaction=viewtopic&t=3662

Volumetric Fog

...over Miami

Shadowing

"Prepar3D v2 will be available for purchase and digital download via the Prepar3D.com store on Monday Nov 25th"

http://www.prepar3d.com/news/2013/11/4648/

:thumbup:

Interview with P3D's Wesley Bard

http://airdailyx.blogspot.com/2013/11/airdailyx-interview-with-wesley-l-bard.html

Prepar3D 2.0 is out: http://www.prepar3d.com

And PMDG support is coming in Q1 2014: http://forum.avsim.net/topic/426978-pmdgs-p3d-development-status-fact-thread-updated-25nov13/

F-35 simulator

http://kotaku.com/a-hardcore-military-flight-sim-thatll-run-on-a-laptop-1524800569/+lukeplunkett

http://www.sbir.gov/sbirsearch/detail/415241

Looks like Lockheed will be providing GameSim with enough information to make it happen?

Rift support coming in v2.2

We have added a new sample to the SDK to show the power of the new PDK API by integrating Oculus Rift support through the new PDK. This example and code sample will be available in the v2.2 SDK and will allow those users with Oculus Rift Development Kits to use them with Prepar3D v2.

http://www.prepar3d.com/news/2014/03/4904/

Prepar3d 2.2 released

http://www.prepar3d.com/news/2014/04/4944/

They forgot to include oculus rift plugin. However I have compiled it and it is working. Visuals are very good however have problem with drifting. Instructions:

http://www.prepar3d.com/forum-5/?mingleforumaction=viewtopic&t=6335

Leon

P3D 2.3 Released with many new improvements.

http://www.prepar3d.com/news/2014/08/5408/

Megascenery 2.0 now supports P3d 1 & 2

From email today.

MegaSceneryEarth 2.0 Now Supports Lockheed Martin's Prepar3D Versions 1.X and 2.X

 

For our customers who use Prepar3D instead of Microsoft Flight Simulator X, we're pleased to inform you that MegaSceneryEarth is fully compatible with Prepar3D V1.XX and V2.XX releases.

Prepar3D is basically the same simulator engine as FSX and as result MegaSceneryEarth is fully supported.

 

We are in the process of updating our installers for all titles to give you the option to install into Prepar3D and/or FSX. It's a big task due to the massive size of the data set we are working with but we expect that to be completed by 1 December.

In the meantime the updaters found at the link below will let you enable your current FSX installation into Prepar3D without any more scenery files to your hard drive. All it does it add each particular scenery area you have installed into your Prepar3D scenery library. So you will only ever have one set of BGL scenery files and the scenery.cfg of each simulator has the directory pointers that know where to load the scenery from.

:cheer3nc::cheer3nc::cheer3nc:

Prepar3D v2.5 Development Update

 

Requested Features and Enhancements Implemented in Prepar3D v2.5

We are currently finishing development on the first update to Prepar3D v2 for 2015, Prepar3D v2.5. This version has several rendering and performance updates, a few general platform updates, and a pretty substantial update to SimDirector, Prepar3D’s intelligent tutor, virtual instructor, and scenario generation tool.

 

We wanted to thank our development community, and especially our Prepar3D.com forum moderators Rob and Saul, for your continuous feedback and effort to help make Prepar3D v2 the industry leader in flight simulation and virtual instruction.

 

We will be seeding a beta of v2.5 to our beta team this week, and once we are satisfied with v2.5 we will then release the update.

 

General Platform Updates

Fixed a crash that would occur if licensing check on startup failed

Fixed a bug where thumbnail images for missions and aircraft were not matching up properly

Renamed missions to reflect their content

Restructured path configuration files

Rendering and Performance Updates

Added post process for night vision that includes bloom

Added a light scalar to camera so that NVG cameras can have a brighter scene

Added a configuration option to the Prepar3D.cfg and Camera Definitions that allows cameras to share a single terrain view

Added an option to specify whether or not a panel should write alpha when rendering into a texture

Improved long range sensor capabilities by allowing plugins to set the scenery load origin for a camera independent of its location

Fixed a bug that would prevent the HideAircraft flag from hiding aircraft attached effects

Fixed a bug that would cause all extrusion effects to draw with a visible sawtooth pattern

Fixed a bug where the exclude VC panels sensor setting was not working as intended

Fixed issue that caused clouds to face vertically

Fixed out of memory issues with the Load Flight Screen

Fixed an issue that would prevent effects from visually displaying if the effect was at a low level of detail distance

Fixed issues with shaders failing to compile if material is created without setting a specular map

Fixed an issue that would cause some aircraft to load with the engines turned off

SimDirector Updates

Added an Undo feature in SimDirector. Undo allows a user to undo and redo most actions in their mission. A history window provides visual feedback of what actions have been done

Added a Measure Tool to SimDirector. This allows the user to measure distances in several different unit types.

Added a setting that allows the user choose whether or not they would like to load their mission in Prepar3D after closing SimDirector

Added the ability to preview actions from the visualization window in Preview Mode in SimDirector

Added an option for hiding icons and bounding boxes in SimDirector

Added catalog preview into the catalog and created object preview

Added ability to edit mission while in Preview Mode

Added a setting that allows the user to filter object references by group

Added the ability to copy values from the condition editor

Added better error handling and error reports for mission Mission Briefing files

Added a unit converter to several distance related properties

Added the ability to read friendly names for third party models

Added option to set whether SimDirector controls or Prepar3D controls have precedence when hovered over the Prepar3D window in Virtual Instructor, Flight Instructor, and Preview Mode

Fixed a bug where saving scenario alters camera orientation

Fixed bugs dealing with multiple item selects.

Fixed bug that effected saving properly observation profiles

Fixed a bug that would prevent the file name from updating and saving properly in different modes

Fixed a bug that would prevent pop-up windows from scrolling through all the options

Fixed a bug that would prevent the context menu in the logic editor from opening properly when using non-standard DPI settings

Fixed a bug that would remove referencing of an ownship if the ownship aircraft was changed

Fixed a bug that would prevent multiple external properties from updating in monitoring

Fixed a bug that would cause issues with loading missions located in Program Files

Fixed a bug that would prevent visual model from updating orientation changes reflected in the property grid

Fixed a bug that would prevent catalog friendly names from loading properly

Fixed a bug that would prevent single row text box to extend scrolling with the cursor

Fixed a bug that would cause backstage to hang when clicking the arrow

Fixed a bug that would prevent property observation profiles from saving

Fixed a bug that would prevent build object list from increasing the count

Fixed a bug that caused bulk lasso selection to not appear as one selection

Fixed a bug that would not progress the object list count

Fixed a bug that would prevent visibility from resetting when toggling the weather on/off

Fixed issues with broken timer validation check

Fixed an issue where object preview would not display mobile scenery

Fixed an issue where mission menu windows would close prematurely

Fixed issues with Virtual Instruction recording while in inner group visualization

Fixed SimDirector window sizing issues

Fixed an issue that prevented Mission Preview from re-enabling the user interface

Fixed issues with search boxes in SimDirector. All search boxes now search for any part of search phrase

Fixed issues with selecting actions inside of a Virtual Instructor session

Fixed issues with observer look-at and look-at-ground functionality

Fixed issues with monitoring in Virtual Instructor mode

Fixed issues that would cause the Preview window to stop working

Fixed issues that would cause a slow down when dragging objects around in SimDirector

Fixed an issue where the Preview Window would cause crash when resetting scenarios

Fixed issues with waypoints being placed too close to each other or other objects

Fixed issues with mouse cursor state not changing as expected

Fixed issues that would cause crashes if user sim was null

Enhanced translate, rotate, and scale gizmos

Enhanced speed of object selection from validation window

Enhanced speed of switching between viewer sim and vehicle

Enhanced drag and drop feature in SimDirector

Enhanced preview subset feature in Preview Mode

SDK and SimConnect Updates

Added ability to manipulate visual effects during runtime through the PDK interface

Added ability to retrieve attach point data via SimConnect

Updated documentation regarding supported pylons, objects, and their interactions

Added scenery load origin settings to camera definitions and PDK development

Fonte: http://www.prepar3d.com/news/2015/01/97696/

Sim Scenery Map

A great initiative by our russian friends:

collection scenery for FS2004/FSX/FSX SE/P3D (pay and/or free)

http://simscenerymap.com/

release 777 pmdg for P3D

http://www.precisionmanuals.com/pages/product/P3D/777LRF.html

crazy price!!

P3D 2.5 IS OUT!!

***REMINDER*** This is FULL INSTALL and many of your 3rd party aircraft/scenery may need to be updated.

http://www.pmdgsimulations.com/pages/product/P3D/ngx8900.html

PMDG 737 FOR PREPAR3D