prepar3d

[farrokh747]

http://www.prepar3d.com

Hello -

Has anyone any experience with this? What does it mean for cockpit building..?

fc

[Will]

Another world simulator that various airplane simulators can plug into?

[frumpy]

This seems like a slightly updated version of the FSX engine. Although I dont notice much difference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-2cGtlmCCU

[John Golin]

Microsoft licensed the FSX engine (the commercial version, ESP) to Lockheed - P3D is the FSX engine with some tweaks and customisation...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Flight_Simulator#Lockheed_Martin_Prepar3D

[Will]

So instead of "a new world simulator" it's actually the same old world simulator...  I wonder what's happening at Outerra these days.

[farrokh747]

so i guess FS lives on after all....

been reading the forums, looks like all fsuipc based addons will work with it -

and i guess it's one more option for PSX visuals addon as well...

[Garry Richards]

and i guess it's one more option for PSX visuals addon as well...

After a brief look at their site VisualPSX should be able to be adapted for it. But Prepar3d seems to be intended for the commercial training market so that "Visual3DPSX" (if it were to happen) would probably not be free.

Incidentally, PSX alpha57 includes high speed output for scenery generators so VisualPSX now enables PSX to fly in the FSX environment. The interface works very smoothly, but just as Hardy found in trying to reuse PS1 code for PSX I have had to make a lot of revisions to my VisualPS1 code. It made me realise just how many workarounds and hacks the PS1 developer community made over the years. In contrast PSX is a delight to work with so VisualPSX is becoming leaner and better by the day.

[Phil Bunch]

Microsoft licensed the FSX engine (the commercial version, ESP) to Lockheed - P3D is the FSX engine with some tweaks and customisation...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Flight_Simulator#Lockheed_Martin_Prepar3D

This Wikipedia article lists (near the end) Matt's sim as being in the Guiness Book of World Records as the world's most expensive home cockpit.

[stekeller]

I think it has the elements of MS's old ESP more than FSX. There are also licensing issues with Prepar3d and it seems that Lockheed Martin is contractually bound from staying away from the hobby flightsim market, but they have gotten around it with developer and now student licenses.

http://www.prepar3d.com/2012/03/23/prepar3d-1-3-licensing-and-pricing-update/

Because its future and legality is uncertain, developers are wary of supporting their products for Prepar3d and PMDG for one has specifically said they would not.

- Stekeller
KORD

[Peter Lang]

..  I wonder what's happening at Outerra these days.

Here is an interesting interview with one of the developers

http://www.simflight.com/2012/03/27/interview-outerra-the-highly-ambitious-graphics-engine/#more-30758

Peter

[farrokh747]

Because its future and legality is uncertain,

hi stekeller - do you mean that MS can pull the plug on LM at any time?

is contractually bound from staying away from the hobby flightsim market,

It looks like they're headed right there with the 50USD "Academic" licence -

anyway, i would think it would be really cool to have the LM logo on startup....

" my sim? .....  you know.......  Lockheed Martin...?      

[stekeller]

farrokh747:

What I meant about the uncertain legality is that MS clearly put limits on LM when they licensed the rights to their sim engine. That is why LM says Prepar3d is only for the professional market. Now as you say, LM is skirting with the hobby market with the student license, and the developer license right now can be bought by anyone for any reason. It is not clear if at some point LM will say - "send us what you have so far" as proof you really are developing.

Also, PMDG have said flat out they are not supporting their products for Prepar3d because their lawyers said the liability would be too great (say a plane crashes and the lawyers find out the airline was using PMDG and Prepar3d products for training at any stage).

That and the advent of MS Flight, makes the whole future of FSX and Prepar3d murky at best.

- Stekeller
KORD

[John Golin]

We don't need PMDG anyway - just prepar3d and an interface with PSX

[Will]

I'm surprised there aren't competing "world simulators" out there.  Is Outerra really the only outfit that's working on the idea of a generic world that they could license to game developers?  It seems so obvious.

[John Golin]

I'm surprised there aren't competing "world simulators" out there.  Is Outerra really the only outfit that's working on the idea of a generic world that they could license to game developers?  It seems so obvious.

Simple - each program / game / application has specific needs and this can't be met by a generic world engine.

First Person Shooter: persistent damage - very high detail, complex models with relevant physics.
Fantasy: the above, but a made up world (universe) not limited by traditional physics / PoV restrictions etc
Simulator: Water physics? Air Physics? Terrain detail? Airports? City street detail? Time of day? Weather?

Each program has it's own focus, and many aspects are contradictory.  The effort to try and produce a generic generator would be so tremendous no one could afford to invest the time and effort to create it, and no one could afford to use it.

Lockheed is trying to do this in a limited way with prepar3d... but it's like asking Hardy why he is writing PSX as standalone rather than as an MSFS addon... he can craft it to exactly what he wants / needs without restrictions of the third party engine.

Besides - if there was 'one' generator then everyone would hate that because it was the 'establishment'  and insist on other platforms...  

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

anyway, i would think it would be really cool to have the LM logo on startup....

" my sim? .....  you know.......  Lockheed Martin...?      

O, I can fix that for you, though our logo isn't as well-known as that of L/M and a bit richer in colour contrast  :mrgreen:



Jeroen

[farrokh747]

O, I can fix that for you,

Jeroen my screens have been waiting for this for some time... we're ready!  

Have bought the 50 USD version (10GB download)  -  will install it over the weekend...  

fc

[Pierre Theillere]

Hi Farrokh!

Just ended the download too: now the "only" thing I need is getting a PC (and Windows!) to run it. I'd need something powerful enough to run it around 50fps in 3072 x 768. If it's as CPU-hungry as FSX, I may have to save a bit...

[Phil Bunch]

Hi Farrokh!

Just ended the download too: now the "only" thing I need is getting a PC (and Windows!) to run it. I'd need something powerful enough to run it around 50fps in 3072 x 768. If it's as CPU-hungry as FSX, I may have to save a bit...

Better think about overclocking, multiple GPUs and water-cooling for everything!  

I went that route for my previous desktop/tower PC, and regretted it since water cooling alone made it very difficult to get local computer stores to repair it.  I soon gave up and just bought a new, simpler, air-cooled PC.  After a few years the "next generation" PC will outrun the previous generation's overclocked, water-cooled beast, anyway.

[John Golin]

You don't need that.

FSX runs really well on a Core i7.  It is processor intensive, but a good graphics card can offload the anti-aliasing and RAM will help general OS performance.