V3 Readiness and other stuff

[Dimon]

Folks,

Will the installers be V3-ready as of tomorrow? Can't wait to test VAS usage at CYVR.

Also, if you were part of beta-team, could you please comment on VAS savings over 2.5? Rob A. is claiming that those savings are close to 800MB-1GB and that's A LOT. We don't even need 64bit version in this case, I guess.

Thanks in advance

[Bruce Hamilton]

Yes, we still need a 64 bit version.  May be better on VAS, but still has a 4 gig limit.  I respect Rob A., but I'm skeptical of his 800mb-1gb assessment.

[Dimon]

We will be able to make our own conclusions by the end of this week. I will keep both v2 and v3 and make tests with totally identical environment (scenery, planes, ai)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[garrettprs]

Well, even if Rob's assessment is wrong by double, we'll still be in much, much better shape.

[streichholz]

Yes, we still need a 64 bit version.  May be better on VAS, but still has a 4 gig limit.  I respect Rob A., but I'm skeptical of his 800mb-1gb assessment.

Even if this isn't 100% true, this makes me happy:

"Improved memory management reducing overall VAS usage and spikes"

"Unused terrain detail textures no longer loaded"

This could mean that you can now do longhauls and still be able to land at your destination without running into OOM.

[virtuali]

Will the installers be V3-ready as of tomorrow?

The installers recognize V3 since several months by now...we only had to keep the Addon Manager .DLL updated for all the Beta builds, which we have been doing basically every weekend since July

Can't wait to test VAS usage at CYVR.

I made a quick test with KLAX:

P3D 2.5
http://update.fsdreamteam.com/images/fsdt_klax_P3D_2_5.jpg

P3D 3.0
http://update.fsdreamteam.com/images/fsdt_klax_P3D_3_0.jpg

And with FSX:SE as a comparison:

FSX:SE under DX9
http://update.fsdreamteam.com/images/fsdt_klax_FSX_SE_DX9.jpg

FSX:SE under DX10
http://update.fsdreamteam.com/images/fsdt_klax_FSX_SE_DX10.jpg

I tried to match P3D settings as close as possible. I loaded the default F-22, with no AI Traffic and no other 3rd party sceneries installed, but it's the same in both sims, so we are really interested in the differences under the same configuration.

And yes, there's some significant VAS optimization from P3D 2.5 to 3.0.

While FSX:SE (under DX10 only) is still A BIT better, I don't think it's a fair comparison, since the graphic quality in P3D is so much better, there are no proper shadows in FSX, weather is far less detailed, no cloud shadows, no HDR, Bloom is unusable because of the fps impact, etc.

[Dimon]

Yep, ~600Mb between v2.5 and 3.0. That's truly nice number to read

Quick question - did the folders' structure change much?

[Michael Moe]

That sounds really nice   , but can we have the license active in both 2.5 and 3.0 at the same time to test the differents our selves ?

Thanks

Michael Moe

[virtuali]

That sounds really nice   , but can we have the license active in both 2.5 and 3.0 at the same time to test the differents our selves ?

You can install P3D 2.5 and 3.0 without any issues, but they are separate licenses.

[jgoggi]

Umberto, in order to switch from FSX to P3D v3 I would just like to know if I will be able to use Rome X scenery some way. Will I have to rely on a yet-to-come migration tool? Or do I have any hope to be already able to use it? Or will you make an installer for v3? Or can I roughly move the scenery files from my FSX folder to the P3D folder?
Thank you.

[virtuali]

Umberto, in order to switch from FSX to P3D v3 I would just like to know if I will be able to use Rome X scenery some way

This is not supported for the time being. We might update the installer later on.

[jgoggi]

So you mean that for the moment there is no way of using Rome X in P3D?

[virtuali]

So you mean that for the moment there is no way of using Rome X in P3D?

There might be a way, but it's not supported by us or by the installer.

As I've said, we might update the installer later on, but it's a matter of priorities, and you just can't expect a scenery made 8 years ago for FSX only, by another company, should be used "immediately", on a sim released YESTERDAY.

[streichholz]

A very different question now.

Umberto, do you think Prepar3D v3 offers new ways for developer?

[virtuali]

Umberto, do you think Prepar3D v3 offers new ways for developer?

P3D V2 already added A LOT of new features to developers (in fact, the biggest changes were from V1 to V2), and P3D V3 basically adds things related to the Avatar mode, the Speedtree library and the ability to create Gauges and scenery objects using Scaleform/Flash.

The real issue is that, as long as we need to support FSX too, which thanks to the Steam version is now available again to buy, it's way cheaper and more accessible, it's a very tough decision to spend valuable resources to do something that will work only with P3D, let alone only in P3D V3.

If we wanted to do something that really leveraged *everything* non-backward compatible that P3D has to offer, it's WAY more complex than it ever was when moving from FS9 to FSX. Especially for things like utilities or anything with some kind of behavior, like GSX or XPOI.

I guess we might try adding something simple first, that wouldn't require redoing the whole thing for FSX too.