Lockheed Martin hat die nächste Evolutionsstufe des Prepar3D eingeläutet: Version 6 ist jetzt online. Auf der FSExpo hatte Produktmanager Chris Metel in einem Trailer das erste Mal den neuen Sim präsentiert. Die Beta war für Entwickler schon länger verfügbar.
Lockheed Martin folgen damit ihrer Tradition, den eigenen Simulator im Zuge neuer Features um eine Versionsstufe anzuheben. Inwiefern die Add-on-Hersteller hier mitziehen werden, muss sich zeigen. PMDG und iFly hatten bereits angekündigt, die Arbeit an einer V6-Version erstmal hinten anzustellen.
Hier die neuen Features in der Übersicht.
General Platform Updates
New Features
- Updated volumetric clouds and atmospherics system improving visuals, performance, and support for multiple weather stations.
- Updated physically based and HDR lighting system supporting greater dynamic range, bounce lighting, and improved lighting visuals.
- Overhauled update process including automatic update notifications and installation as well as update patch support. Updating Prepar3D v6 will no longer require any components to be uninstalled before updating.
- New graphics features including:
- Improved edge blending with temporal antialiasing (TAA).
- Improved shadow detail with screen space ambient occlusion (SSAO).
- Support for planar reflections on wet surfaces.
- Cameras now support physical properties including aperture, shutter speed, and ISO settings.
- Enhanced Flight Planner screen supporting the addition of SIDS and STARS to flight plans.
- Precipitation accumulation and evaporation is now supported.
- Custom weather themes can now be saved and loaded in the Weather Settings UI.
- Improved layout of cloud settings in Weather Settings UI.
- ISimObjects now support loadout changes made in the Payload UI.
- SimDirector camera can now rotate around selected objects.
- Replaced SpeedTree with custom solution supporting wind effects.
- Improved primitive drawing object visuals including material support. Added pyramid and cone objects.
- Updated SimDirector UI theme.
- Added DebriefAction to add debrief messages to scenarios.
- Added debrief and goals display to Flight Analysis screen. Scenario debrief information can also be saved to a file.
- Added precipitation pooling and ripple effects.
- Clouds support dynamic lighting including light from lightning strikes.
- Added custom tone mapping option to fine tune light and dark areas of scene.
- Added views menu option to manually position camera. Previously referred to as Cinematographer mode.
- New and updated default content including:
- Updated global airport data and airport backgrounds.
- Improved land class terrain texture detail.
- Added precipitation effects to airport surfaces, airport objects, autogen buildings, bridges, and fences.
- Buildings now support attached rooftop objects.
- Improved hangar texture layout.
- Updated parking space textures.
- Improved runway and taxiway textures and reflectance.
- Added geometry and lights to hangar models.
- Added hazard lights to corners of tall generic buildings.
- Walled roofs are now generated on tall generic buildings.
- Fixed visual issue with F-16 landing gear texture.
- Updated various airport vehicle models and textures.
- Updated default weather themes.
- Added light fixture models to airport lights.
- Added wingtip pylons to interior F-16 models.
- Improved landing and taxi lights for C-130 and F-16 models.
- Updated global buildings to PBR textures.
- Updated additional vehicles to PBR textures including Mooney Bravo, Maule, Piper Cub, CRJ 700, and various AI objects.
- Updated weapon and pylon models to PBR textures.
- Improved global building layout and density.
- Updated windsock models and animations.
- Updated land class textures.
- Updated global water data.
- Updated global park data.
- Updated global bridge data and bridge lighting.
- Updated global helipad data.
- Fixed various model issues in the Washington DC area.
- Updated star and galaxy visuals.
Fixes and Improvements
- Improved overall rendering system performance.
- Improved terrain rendering performance.
- Improved threading performance and CPU core usage.
- Improved network traffic handling and multiplayer performance.
- Improved terrain height resolution and lighting detail.
- Improved layout and usability for multiple user interface screens.
- Legacy models now more closely match lighting of PBR models.
- Updated core and shader compilers.
- Added support for shader model 6.
- Improved post process effects including IR, sensor modes, and signal noise.
- Improved airport lighting visuals and loading performance.
- Improved auto exposure lighting values.
- Improved fog visuals and lighting.
- Fixed crash that could occur when using the map UI.
- Windshield effects are now always enabled if supported on the vehicle.
- Fixed issue where changing precipitation type or rate would not trigger windshield effects to reload.
- Improved taxiway line resolution.
- Improved handling of ambient and directional lighting on materials.
- Fixed issues with airport incorrectly loading season changes in some cases.
- Cloud density and scatter can now be set per layer.
- Fixed issue preventing surface wind blend from working after saving and loading a scenario.
- Changing location will no longer trigger terrain reloading in some cases.
- Improved building elevation handling.
- Improved airport system handling of weather changes.
- Improved performance of panel only views.
- Texture streaming setting is now always enabled by default.
- Improved texture streaming performance and memory usage.
- Fixed bug where dead-end taxiways would have incorrect corner ratios.
- Fixed issue where route calculation could occur multiple times when loading flight plans or changing destination airports.
- Fixed issue causing white borders around tail number text in some cases.
- Fixed issue that could cause startup screen to lag when changing time in some cases.
- Improved roof variation with autogen buildings.
- ActivateWaypointAction can now reference player objects.
- Engine is no longer stopped when deactivating waypoint list actions.
- Improved hazard light implementation.
- Added RECORDABLE flag to effects created from SimConnect so they’ll play in flight recordings.
- Improved message window position in VR.
- DialogActions can now have separate text displayed on screen vs. what is read to user.
- Added VR setting for auto-restore tracked origin.
- ATC panel now ignores numeric input if modifier keys are held down.
- SimDirector camera can now zoom further out.
- Improved terrain to apron transitions at sloped airports.
- Fixed visual issues that could occur when turning volumetric clouds on and off.
- SimProperty UIs now sort based on order defined in xml.
- Fixed various cases where certain buildings would be placed slightly above the ground.
- Discontinuities are now generated on manual sequence waypoints.
- Modified various panel placements in VR.
- Editable text fields in SimDirector now have borders.
- SimDirector visualization graph nodes can now be manually positioned.
- Fixed bug in SimDirector causing context menu to immediately close when right clicking logic nodes.
- Scenario changes are now preserved when restarting after crashing vehicle.
- Improved depth precision reducing z-fighting in distant objects.
- Improved bloom effect.
- Fixed bug causing track and position to not be updated in GPS gauge when initially loaded.
- Ground speed can now be viewed in info text.
- Fixed bug causing objects attached to aircraft carriers to cull too early.
- Clicking facility in map view will no longer pause simulation.
- All gated aircraft that have ground vehicles servicing them now have white safety and vehicle restriction/clearance lines.
- Fixed issue preventing material scripts from executing if scenario started paused.
- Fixed issue causing elevator directions to be reversed in TTA aircraft as well as other minor visual bugs.
Fixes and Improvements (Professional Plus Only)
- Improved DIS dead reckoning behavior.
- Fixed ground reaction and friction for countermeasure simulation.
- Updated Varjo SDK including setting to use previous version.
- Added support for up to 8 GPUs.
Prepar3D SDK
New Features
- Added custom event support and control mappings for PDK plugins.
- Added ColorWriteDisable RenderFlag for alpha only masks that can fade over time.
- Helipads now support SceneryObject elements for model placements at airports.
- Added EmissiveColor to SimProp PBR material.
- Adding premultiply final alpha support to camera system and PDK.
- PDK plugins can now create their own materials.
- PBR materials are now supported in 3ds Max preview views.
Fixes and Improvements
- Updated SDK to Visual Studio 2022.
- PBR metallic and smoothness variables can now be used concurrently.
- Updated emissive color alpha as day intensity controller.
- Emissive values are now used even if a texture is not provided.
- Added EVENTTYPE to custom PDK input events. This allows for keyboard, axis, and POV assignments.
- Custom PDK input events can load mappings from controls XML.
- Updated Custom PDK Objects sample to demonstrate how to register custom message events and control input events.
- Missed approach segments can now have their own color set in map gauges.
- Discontinuities can now be set in GPS gauges.
- Additional functionality added to VR Service.
- Custom packets can now be flagged guaranteed/not guaranteed in PDK.
- Texture axis flipping is now supported for RTT texture elements in xml.
- Renamed suneffect.cfg to sky.cfg and added various atmospherics configuration values.
- Fixed issue where Visual FX Tool would load cached effect data instead of actual file data and improved UI layout.
Professional-level simulation for real-world flight training.
— Lockheed Martin (@LockheedMartin) July 3, 2023
Prepar3D version 6 is on sale now. Get your copy today. 👇
Erster Eindruck: ich fühle mich visuell in die FSX-Zeiten zurückversetzt. Noch kann ich nicht nachvollziehen, warum man sich von TrueSky gelöst hat. Puuuuuh…
Naja das ist der blanke P3D.
Sah beim V4 Anfangs auch etwas nackt aus.
Die Addons sollten weitestgehend funktionieren.
Es ist hier kein neues Produkt, eher eine Evolution.
Soviel Eye Candy wie für den MSFS gibts natürlich nicht.
Die Personal Edition werde ich mir anschauen, zumal sie das Wasserzeichen jetzt entfernt haben. Für 59$ Kann man das tun.
Ich finde, ihr habt das, was es dazu zu sagen gibt, in Eurem letzten Podcast schon ganz treffend zusammengefasst 😀
Ein Kunde hat das Wort für mich geprägt und als Vater lehne ich es ab, aber hier ist es treffend: Totgeburt
Wer brauch sowas noch ?
Following the recent release of Lockheed Martin’s Prepar3D v6, a few of our customers have asked whether we plan to support our existing Prepar3D v5 products in the new simulator. All of our resources are currently focused on developing Accu-Sim 2.0 for Microsoft Flight Simulator, and we are not currently planning to update any of our existing products for Prepar3D v6.
However, our existing Prepar3D customers who upgrade to v6 are free to move older v5 product into v6 as they wish. Just be aware that Accu-Sim works through Prepar3D’s SimConnect interface and there is no guarantee things will work well or even at all in v6.
We know some will find this disappointing, but we simply don’t have the manpower at present to adapt our existing library for Prepar3D v6. Our future is the newest iteration of Accu-Sim, and Microsoft Flight Simulator is currently our focus for entertainment products. However, Prepar3D remains key to our commercial and military training applications and both simulators represent the very best at what they are designed to do.
Thanks,
Passt gerad zum Kommentar von Julius. Hier das aktuelle Statement von //42 zu Chaseplane und P3D v6 (von ihrer Facebook Seite):
Soll heißen: keine weiteren Entwicklungen und Updates mehr für P3D, auch nicht für die aktuellen Versionen und auch nicht für P3D v6. Es gibt keine Pläne für Entwicklungen für P3D v6 und v5; die Entwicklungen für diese Plattformen wurden erstmal ausgesetzt.
Danke für großartige neun Jahre ! Zitat Ende.
Also, der nächste Entwickler der vom P3D Zug abgesprungen ist, wie’s aussieht.
„Overhauled update process including automatic update notifications and installation“ – die „Zwangsupdates“ des MSFS‘ lassen grüßen. Wahrscheinlich auch deshalb die permanente IV.
Kai das ist falsch. Den Update Haken kann man rausnehmen. und dann gibt es auch keines.
Okay, wenn das so geht…
Nur rein aus Interesse, hat den hier irgendwer schon gekauft?
Hm…..
Ich muss sagen, dass ich hin- und hergerissen bin.
Zum einen ist die spielerische Neugier in mir die sagt: „Los kauf ihn und probiere alle AddOns aus“ und mich beschäftigt die Frage ob sich das Flugverhalten etwas verändert hat und nun mehr in Richtung XPL oder MSFS geht.
Und zu Anderen muss ich leider feststellen, dass rein optisch und vom Umfang nichts dabei ist was mich dazu bringen könnte Geld in die Hand zu nehmen.
Der wirklich einzige Punkt wäre für mich tatsächlich die Performance gerade bei VR Brillen und wie Wetter und AntiAliasing laufen.
Xplane 12 ist da ja leider (zumindest in meinem Fall) unbrauchbar und selbst MSFS hat so seine liebe Not wenn man nicht stolzer Besitzer einer 3090 oder 4080+ ist im Bereich VR.
Vielleicht gibt es ja schon Feedback von Käufern ob so Dinge gehen wie ORBX Global und ActiveSky und natürlich die FSL Busse und die QW 787.
LG PC
FSL Busse definitiv nicht, PMDG nur mit Tricks siehe bei Simmershome, ORBX momentan auch nicht, viele Defs bringen in absehbarer Zeit keine Updates, da die meisten auf MSFS fixiert sind.
Wer auf YouTube P3D v6 Inhalt sehen möchte, hier die Seite von Adam J Pestridge der schon einiges an Videos seit Veröffentlichung gebracht hat:
https://www.youtube.com/@AdamJPestridge/videos
Was ich bisher (für mich) raus gefunden habe: die atmosphärische Lichtdarstellung hat Lockheed Martin wirklich deutlich verbessert, auch die Schatten. Von weiter oben sieht der Sim trotz altbekannter Texturen richtig gut aus; 8K soll er mittlerweile auch unterstützen.
Ob das für eine zukunftssichere Plattform ausreicht bleibt dennoch fraglich 🤔.
Ergänzung: wenn Lockheed Martin das vor 5-6 Jahren gebracht hätte, dann hätten sie mit diesem Sim jeden anderen Simulator auf dem Markt in den „Boden gestampft. Aber alleine wenn man bedenkt wie unglaublich lange die gebraucht haben um auf 64bit umzustellen 🤔….
Wie die Simulanten in ihrem letzten Podcast richtig fest gestellt haben, dann hat P3D mit Sicherheit indirekt einen großen Beitrag dafür geleistet das Sim-Genre am Leben zu erhalten, bis zum Erscheinen des MSFS2020.
Aber P3D ist auch ein Beispiel für eine ganze Reihe an vertaner Chancen, über Jahre hinweg. Ganz ähnlich zum Aerofly – ein noch krasseres Beispiel für einen langen Weg vertaner Entwicklungschancen und falscher Entscheidungen.