Prepar3D®
WebBlog continued...
8. September 2012
A week ago I continued with the integration of P3D. The reason for the long break was because of serious frame rate problems I run into with the version 1.3 of P3D. Definitely caused by my setup with 3 undocked windows for a 135 degree FOV but also by some architectural issues of P3D. With the release 1.4 of P3D and positive statements in some discussion threads regarding improved performance I decided to continue with the integration of P3D.
9. September 2012
Integreation continuous and is progressing well.
The following have been done:
- Performance tweaking
- Installation of some addon airports and FS Global Ultimate – Europe/Africa
- Installation of IVAO pilot client
- Installation of a weather engine
- Installation of the PM B737-800 flight model
Performance Tweaking
After the installation of P3D V1.4 I started the optimization of the Prepar3D.CFG.
For this I recommend the following online application:
http://www.venetubo.com/fsx.html
The application does a really good job and the result is a good base for further tweaking. For the next improvment steps it is necessary to
delve much deeper into the subject. A very good explanation and guides can be found here:
Kosta's Flight Simulation World
The guide is for the FSX but also applies to P3D very well. The greatest improvement regarding fps I got with the following setting:
[MAIN]
FIBER_FRAME_TIME_FRACTION=0.2
[BUFFERPOOLS]
Poolsize=0
However, depending the the complexity of the scenery I get visual clutter on the display. Some more balancing will be necessary.
Finally I increased the clock frequency of the hosting PC to 4.2 GHz. This is a very moderate overclocking for a i7-2600k processor and did not require any additional tweaking. However, in order to prevent damage of the processor or other components the cooling has to be sufficient and temperature should be monitored.
Another measure could be a slight overclocking of the GTX570 video card.
10. September 2012
IvAp Installation for online flying with IVAO
Today I installed the FSX IvAp pilot client application and the IvAp network interface. The installation of the IvAp network interface went very well and after a restart 'Start IvAp' was added to the 'Add-ons' menu of P3D.
The 'ivap_fsx_bootstrap.dll' was correctly added to the
dll.xml
and
the IVAO_MTL
referenced as a new
SimObjectPaths
in the
prepar3d.cfg. Everything worked without any additional intervention. Of course to make it working, the installation path needs to be tweaked, because the IvAp installer expects a FSX installation. For this purpose I used a freeware tool called FSXtoP3D:
FSXtoP3D
Whenever you use this tool make sure that this is in compliance with the EULA of the software you are going to install. AVSIM has published a 'work in progress' overview regarding license issues for third party products:
Use of FSX Commercial Products in Prepar3D
In case you were not sucessfull with the IvAp installation the following guide might help you:
P3D Flying in IVAO network
Well, back to to topic. The installation of the IvAp client on a remote PC was also simple and easy. But then I had to learn about Simconnect, because without the correct configuration no comminication will happen between the involved partners. On the server side (FS PC) the SimConnect.xml file needs some configuration regarding the IP address of the server and the used communication port.
On the client side the SimConnect.cfg contains the necessary information also needs some adaptation.
For more information see:
SimConnect SDK Reference
Also make sure to run the SimConnect.msi installer on the remote client machine which installs the WinSxS library, found in the \lib folder of the FSX installation CD. The Prepar3D SDK does not includes the SimConnect.msi anymore. But is needed by legacy SimConnect client appliacations, like IvAp.
10. September 2012
Installation of a weather engine
For the time being I will use FSrealWX Lite as weather engine.
It decodes METAR and upper wind data ( additional weather information such as types of clouds are in preparation) and sends it to the flight simulator.
It offers both FSUIPC interface and Simconnect interface. Perfect for P3D. The tool is freeware and offers a german and english support forum.
FSrealWX Lite
11. September 2012
Installation of the PM 737-800 flight model
Some weeks ago Project Magenta lauched their B737-800 flight model for the FSX. The installation did not pose any problem and with the next start of P3D it appeared in the aircraft selection menu. A first test of the flight model showed during take-off that some performance tweaking will be necessary. The B737-800 took-off like a rocket with almost 5.000 ft /min. First step was to increase the drag of the aircraft, using FlusiFix-2006:
FlusiFix2006
With increasing the drag from default 1.0 to 1.2 the behavior of the aircraft during take-off became much better, but stll needs some fine adjustment.
*Prepar3D is a registered trademark of the Lockheed Martin Corporation