Prepar3D Tips, Tricks and How To's

Hi Everyone, Well, after spending hours upon hours trying to isolate my FPS issue. I have found the problem and have found a way to correct the issue. 1. If your problem is due to the task bar, mine wouldn't autohide... As a result, as soon as P3D3 came anywhere near the task bar my frame rates would tank and drop about 90%. 2. The fix, Go to your Nvidia Control Panel, make sure you have surround setup. Next, go to Nvidia Control Panel "DISPLAY" located at the top of the Nvidia Control Panel screen, now drop down to surround displays and make sure Confine Taskbar To Single Display is "NOT" checked. That fixed my low FPS problem, I hope it helps those of you having th…

The Nvidia driver set always includes a number of elements by default. I'll use a current WHQL set (355.98) as an example: I've just disabled the HD audio driver in Device Manager and seemingly resolved a conflict with other drivers - not just sound. I am sure most simmers just settle for the default installation and accept what gets installed - if you don't the NVIDIA Control Panel will install them anyway ! BUT if you don't have HD Audio controlled by the GPU (you use a CPU mounted sound chip or a separate sound card) then HD Audio drivers can actually conflict with your sound card and other drivers and cause stutters, but its very difficult to remove t…

Hey Guys, :excl:*I do not accept any responsibility to any damage caused to software or hardware! BEWARE! This should not cause issues but you should always backup your gear before modifying. You have been warned* :excl: This was something that a close sim buddy had problems with so I decided to tell everyone about. This error is a CTD(Crash to Desktop) and will provide an error regarding ai_player.dll 1.Firstly you need to see if you have any addon sceneries or ai programs/addons running. These may be corrupted or not compatible. If you do then remove them for now and if you dont go to step 2. 2. Now try again. If the error goes then install scener…

I came across these two youtube videos by Brenden Quinn on settings for Prepar3d v2.5. I was relatively happy with my settings prior to watching these videos but after applying the changes I cannot believe the performance and visual increases. In most cases I increased the settings and had an INCREASE in performance. The videos are well presented and he has put a lot of time in experimenting with various settings. Made a vast improvement on my 737NGX flights No changes are made to the cfg but just the internal sliders/settings. First video here Settings start at about 3:30 mark (Edited by Jim Young) Second here: steve s

////////////////////////////////////// Guide to mipmapping textures for flight simulation By Toby Rayfield 27/06/2015 Updated 02/07/2015 - Flipping Section added for BMP to DDS conversion CONTENTS I. Texture Compression II. Texture Formats III. Tools you will need IV. Why would I want mipmaps anyway? V. How to check if a texture needs converting VI. How to add mipmaps using Imagetool VII. Resizing and converting textures using Photoshop VIII. Texture Dimensions and File Size IX. Saving a DDS in Photoshop X. Filesizes as an indicator of optimisation XI. Which textures can I convert? XII. Naming Conventions XIII. Saving a Bitmap as DDS in Imagetool XIV. Batch C…

This bug has come all the way through since FS9 days. The line DAWN_DUSK_SMOOTHING=1 in the P3D CFG causes slight stutters at dawn and dusk in P3D, all versions. Change the 1 to 0 and it will help smooth out that time of day out in the sim. The other little tip I discovered on Word Not Allowed's website is that removing the effects file fx_skidmark.fx from the effects directory removes that slight pause at touchdown. This occurred in FSX, but I have noticed it in P3D as well. It's subtle, but it makes a difference. Lee

I don't know if this has already been mention, I did a quick search and didn't see anything. If you want to fix the Vertical cloud issues and also retain VERY good cloud performance you can use the v2.2 Cloud.fx and Cloud2.fx files. 1. Backup the two Cloud.fx and Cloud2.fx files in ..\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v2\ShadersHLSL 2. Locate your v2.2 Cloud.fx and Cloud2.fx files (hopefully you have backups of prior versions) and copy them to ..\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v2\ShadersHLSL 3. Delete your shaders folder i.e. C:\Users\Rob\AppData\Local\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v2\Shaders 4. Fly If you don't have the v2.2 Cloud.fx and Cloud2.fx files handy, I've asked …

Copied over from the general forum (original post by Rob Ainscough)

I found that the Prepar3D installer "Setup.exe" does not allow user to designate an alternative to the default location. I used Control Panel to uninstall because the documentation said this will not remove the dependencies installed by Setup.exe, and they are not installed by Prepar3D.msi. However, everytime I ran Prepar3D.msi it would hang or freeze at "Updating Component Registration." This puzzle was clarified when I ran Setup.exe again and found it believed that the program was still installed so I used it to do an uninstall presuming that would fix the registry error that I believed to exist. Finally, running Prepar3D.msi again allowed me to install on my F: drive, …

I was experimenting with bloom values as P3D's HDR seemed "over bloomed" to me, especially at night where I couldn't read letters on lighted switches. So here is what you need to change: [YourP3DMainFolder]\ShadersHLSL\PostProcess 1. Backup the file HDR.HLSL 2. Edit the HDR.HLSL (notepad) 3. Edit these lines (starting at 10-13) Default lines static const float BloomThreshold = 03.25f; static const float BloomMagnitude = 03.75f; static const float BloomBlurSigma = 0.9; static const float TimeDelta = 0.2f; Edited lines: static const float BloomThreshold = 03.50f; static const float BloomMagnitude = 04.00f; static const float BloomBlurSigma = 1.4; st…

At certain times of the day (usually late day/dusk or early morning/dawn), if you have this set to 4096 it will drop your performance by as much as 60-70%. I recommend using a value of 2048 or less. If you would like to confirm this problem you can download the two saved flights and weather files (be sure to disable any weather engines you have running): http://www.robainscough.com/uploads/Prepar3D_v2_Files.zip The setting in questions is in your Prepar3D.cfg (located in i.e. C:\Users\Rob\AppData\Roaming\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v2): [GRAPHICS] GROUND_SHADOW_TEXTURE_SIZE=2048 Cheers, Rob. EDIT: Corrected path.

Hi folks, today i just discovered a solution for the annoying scenery bleed through while in VC. This is a nearly no go for precise helicopter landings on small heli pads like the ones found through out FTX PNW. I already posted it over @ LM forums. Here is the usual view when looking out the chopper the dominat white square below that moves around when panning around... ...to get this picture, no more scenery bleeding through.... ...the camera.cfg found here %APPDATA%\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v2 .. must be edit. Under the [CameraDefinition.002] (it defines the virtual cockpit view and it behaviour) the line ClipMode=Minimum must be added …

Sorry if this has been covered before (if so please point me to it) but I have found a way to increase the brightness with HDR enabled. In the shadersHLSL/PostProcess folder is a file named ' HDR.hlsl ' Make a backup of this file elsewhere, then load it into notepad or similar editor. At line 166 you will find ' //avgLuminance *= 0.85f; ' which is commented out by the two slashes. remove the two slashes ie: ' avgLuminance *= 0.85f; ' and save. If you want to experiment with this value, increasing it makes the image darker, decreasing makes it lighter. I haven't determined whether it messes with the overall HDR experience, but the programmer put …

Especially for TrackIR users, I figured out how to change the transaction time between the dark and light areas. That is, the getting used of the eyes of light/high contrast difference between the cockpit and the look outside of it. Backup in Prepar3d root file directory the ShaderHLSL folder where you can replace it later if something goes wrong. Find in ShaderHLSL the Postprocces folder, doubleclick on HDR.hlsl file. If you cant open dat file open with Notepad. (On that folder rightclick with your mouse- choose Properties - In General tap choose Change- search to a program named Notepad - Close with Ok -close the previous with Apply. At the top there are these…

Thought I would just report I have solved my previous issue of CTD's when accessing menus in P3D V2.2. As suggested in my post here: http://forum.avsim.net/topic/442650-1-possible-solution-to-ctd-when-accessing-menus/ I tried creating a new profile. This didn't solve the problem, it was also suggested I reinstall C++ Redistributable packages and Dot NET updates. Again these did not work. I reloaded by graphics card drivers and the problem appears to have gone away. Thanks Tom

For some strange reason I have recently being observing CTD's when I access some of the menus in P3D V2.2. I can access scenery library and go to airport menus, but trying to access others locks up the sim and then it disappears off screen. At first I had this issue and simply deactivating AMD crossfire fixed this. Recently however another issue has existed. Reviewing Event Viewer I notice that Kernelbase.dll is the faulting module. I googled possible fixes, one being to create a new Windows 7 user profile. A quick test of this was done by creating a new user profile (with admin rights). Logging in to this new user profile and loading up the sim, I was able t…

I purchased Orbx EU England a while ago and was disappointed to learn after upgrading to P3D V2.2 that it is currently not compatible with P3D V2.2. Nonetheless I decided to have a go at installing it. The first hurdle I faced with the installer was with the selection buttons relating to FSX and P3D. Selecting the P3D option gave me an error and as expected selecting the FSX button also returned an error. I suspected this was because the registry entries weren't found as I had neither P3D V1 or FSX. I used the FSXRegistry Utility tool from here http://www.tweakfs.com/store/free_tools.php to add an FSX entry in my registry, therefore tricking the installer in to thinki…

This file contains a wealth of information about Prepar3D and is updated for each release of P3D. I get a lot of questions where the answers can be found in this document (from "tuning" to Field of View to cameras to Shadow settings). I also see a lot of comments about how P3D can't do this or can't do that ... when in fact it can, you just need to read the documentation on how to do it. It may not have ALL the answers, but it's a great place to start ... you paid the $50, $60, $200, $2000 so you owe it to yourself to explore this document and get your moneys worth B) Cheers, Rob.

Hi there. I came across this problem with my ATI card where as during flight, the ground would have white gaps, rips in the terrain as you flew around. I managed to fix it by looking in my ATI control panel and then looking at the Tesselation Options. I saw that It had my Tesselation settings set to ATI Optimized and I changed that option to Application Managed. After this, the problem vanished. A user in the forums recently said he had the same problem so I told him about what I had done to fix it and to give it a try and he told me that it had helped fixed his problem too, so I thought I would share it with you here, as it might possibly help others in …

In the event you get a g3d.dll crash in Prepar3D V2.x, here is a good process to follow post crash (Prepar3D.exe is not running) and BEFORE you attempt to run P3D again: 1. Delete your shaders folder (.cso files could be left in a corrupted or partial written state). Your shaders folders can be found here C:\Users\[your username goes here]\AppData\Local\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v2\Shaders ... example: C:\Users\Rob\AppData\Local\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v2\Shaders 2. Check that any executable tied to Prepar3D is still NOT running (Process explorer can show you if this is still the case). Your EXE.XML (i.e. "C:\Users\Rob\AppData\Roaming\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D…

Hi all, I seem to have got my sytem's "stutters" under control and thought I'd share a little of what I learned. The problem: I was getting framerates of 50+ though quite erratic but then I'd pan the camera or pull a sharp manoeuvre and I'd get horrible, very brief fps stutters where the image would breifly freeze, jump then be fine until the next manoeuvre. What works for me: I had a look at his page: http://www.prepar3d.com/SDKv2/LearningCenter/getting_started/performance/general_performance_tuning.html - tweaked a little didnt really know what the effects were but got a better understanding of what these entries in the cfg did. Then I looked at this p…

Hi, After lots of research and testing I found something that might help others increase their performance in P3D V2.2. I started testing my setup with crossfire but the sim didn't gave me even 1 frame more. I was monitoring my cards with GPUz but all the load was always on my first graphic card. Then i discovered that my motherboard (z77-d3h) supports VirtuMVP so i thought to give it a try. I disabled the crossfire and i created a profile on the VirtuMVP for P3DV2. You might not believe it but now i get 10 more fps with swadows enabled. I use three monitors setup at portrait mode so my i average was around 15-20 with no swadows. Now I have around 30fps with shawd…

Last night I was fiddling with P3D and decided to add SquawkBox as an outside program, well I still have not figured out what I did wrong but some were along the process I wound up corrupting a file in P3D that threw a Warning up saying that it could not find the aircraft that I had saved to come up when I booted the program up and then after that it stated " Could not find Aircraft files-Reload Prggram". So after some quick cussing I brought up P3D installation files and did a "Repair," after 20 minutes I finally was able to start P3D only to be met with the same problem. AUGH!!! Then I remembered that I had installed and did a image of P3D, using Macrium Reflect tha…

I thought I'd post a friendly reminder, that anyone that has experienced what they feel are serious crashes and problems to go and post them also on the P3D forum. LM want to make their software as good as it gets. They can only do this if we all help them. As a developer myself, it's extremely frustrating to get a complaint saying ' it crashed" or such and such doesn't work. It was hard enough for me when I was sitting in the same office and could pick up the phone. Even then it was frustrating and many a time, the only thing to do was get up and wander over to the person and speak to them face to face. Tell them what you were doing and what settings you…

In another topic WR269 posted that on some PC's there seems to be a problem with Simconnect: the P3D installer simply doesn't install Simconnect at ALL for some odd reason. Because I couldn't get TrackIR to work, I tried his tip, which he quoted from the LM forum, and TrackIR instantly worked!!! So... if you have some odd problems, you might want to check if Simconnect did install or not! Here is the quote: "P3D DOES come with the FSX Simconnect libraries, for the precise reason to allow backward compatibility with FSX Simconnect clients, and they are supposed to be installed automatically. They are located in these folders \Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v2\redist\In…