Introduction 

A quick walk around the new User Interface and Install structure of Lockheed Martin's Prepar3D v4 

Please see here for more Details    http://www.prepar3d.com/news/2017/05/114192/

 

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Prepar3D v4 New Features

•  64-bit Application
• Unicode Compatible
• New User Interface Design
• Compiler and SDK updated to Visual Studio 2015
• Regions of updated Airport & Terrain Data
• New 3D Rain/Snow system
• Scripting capabilities (Scenery/Model/Material)
• Dynamic lighting support
• Added PDK functions to draw primitive objects
• Updated Documentation with new SDK and samples
• Support for loading managed dll add-ons
• Support for local SpeedTree wind effects

 

Prepar3D v4 system requirements  http://prepar3d.com/system-requirements/ 

Windows 10 is recommended, but Prepar3D v4 will also Install and run on Windows 7 and 8 also, It is recommended to run and Install the windows updates, specifically for windows 7 and 8 operating systems

 

Click the link below for a Tutorial to Download and Install Prepar3D v4

 

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Click on Images to view in full resolution 

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INDEX
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1) Images of the new User Interface design (UI)  Video Included 

2) Images of High definition Runways 

3) Prepar3D v4 Install Structure

4) New Maintenance feature  "Delete generated files" 

5) New Updating Client feature 

 

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1) Images

We now have a new default Install path 

The Default Install Path has been changed from "C:\Program Files (x86)" and is now "C:\Program Files".  

If you Install to the default location your folder extension path will read   C:\Program Files\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v4

 

 

 

Activation box 

 

 

 

Activation Successful

 

 

 

Launching Prepar3D v4,  We are back in Black  

 

 

 

Prepar3D Scenario Screen

A comparison between the v4 and v3 Scenario Screen.  v4 on the left and v3 on the right 

As you can from the red box we can now access the Options directly from the Scenario screen 

We will now click into the the new Options tab and i will start at the top and Included Images of each of the Option's.

All Options are at a default state  

 

 

 

Left:   Application

Right: Information 

 

 

 

Left:  Sound 

Right: Traffic 

 

 

 

Left:  Realism    We can now Ignore Avatar Crashes by Un-Ticking the check box 

Right: Display   Prepar3D v4 has now built in powerful anti aliasing abilities (AA)  8xSSAA Max.  Note High settings will Impact performance

Frame Rate by Default is now set to Unlimited  

 

 

 

Left:  World  We now have a new Autogen draw distance slider,  By Default this is set to medium, this Default setting is the equivalent of previous versions of Prepar3D.  Adjust the slider up to achieve greater draw distances,  This settings has little Impact on Performance 

Dynamic 3D Autogen Vegetation can to toggled off and on here    

Right:  Lightning  Dynamic Lightning can be toggled off and on using the check box  

 

 

 

Left:  Weather   Prepar3D v4 now has a New 3D Rain/Snow system

Right:  Key assignments   We can now locate our Event using the Search window 

 

 

 

Left:  Axis Assignments   We can now locate our Event using the Search window 

Right:  Calibration  

 

 

 

Other 

 

 

 

Left:  Select Vehicle   Additional Aircraft and Avatars have been added,  140 in total. As you can see from the Image the Lockheed Martin F-16 is Included also the Lockheed Electra included 

Right: Select Airport  has been given a nice Face lift  

 

 

 

Here is a simple video showing you all of the above,  Video is silent

 

 

 

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2) Images of High definition Runways 

BY Default, Runways are now in High definition, Below are some Screenshots comparing v3 and v4 

Prepar3D v3 

 

Prepar3D v4 

 

Prepar3D v3 

 

Prepar3D v4

 

 

A comparison between the v4 and v3 Access Tab's,  You will notice we now have a Navigation Tab with all your Navigation Options close to hand.  You will also notice the Tex is lighter in color and the drop down Menu is now transparent,  It looks really good 

 

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2) Prepar3D v4 Install Structure 

Download Size 

Currently Prepar3D v4 is a 12.1 GB Download.    Prepar3D v3 is a 9.95 GB download

Data files and Component Installers,  v4 on the left,  v3 on the right 

You will see from the v4 download folder on the left we now have 2 Cont.cab data files and 7 Scene.cab data files,  These extra data files make up the 2.1 GB download size between the 2 Versions.

 

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Default Install Path 

The Default Install Path has been changed from "C:\Program Files (x86)" and is now "C:\Program Files".  

If you Install to the default location your folder extension path will read C:\Program Files\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v4

The v4 Installer will Install 24.5  GB of data to the Install location 

 

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Note:  Prepar3D v4 now Installs Microsoft Visuals 2015.   Prepar3D v3 Installs Microsoft Visuals 2013  

Also, Currently Net Framework 4.6.2 is needed 

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Prerequisite and Repair v4 Installers

On an Operating System that is Up to Date,   These Installers will Copy to the below location,  These are used as back-up and Repair Installers.  You do Not need to touch these unless you have a specific reason to do so    

Location: Local Disk C ► ProgramData ► Package Cache

1) Microsft Visuals 2015 vcredist_x64.exe + x86.exe Version 14.0.23026.0      
2) Direct X Setup DXSETUP.EXE Product Version 4.9.0.0904   
3) Prepar3D Setup.exe Installer                                    
3) Install_Content.msi                                            
4) msxmI6_x86.msi  Version 6.10.1129.0                            
5) Install_Client.msi                                               
6) Install_Scenery.msi              

 

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Register editor 

The Setup key has been taken out of the WOW6432Node location and now resides below    

Setup: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Lockheed Martin \ Prepar3D v4 \ SetupPath - Client - Content - Scenery 

AppPath:  HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Lockheed Martin \ Prepar3D v4 \ AppPath
 

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Control Panel "Programs and features" 

Your 4 entries,  Prepar3D v4 Client,  Content, Scenery and the v4 Installer,  Just the same as v3 

 

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Core v4 Install folder

You will now have 18 Default Yellow folders,  Prepar3D v3 had 17 default folders

Your new folder is Scripts 

 I have also outlined the file "Delete Generated folders" as well, we will come back to this later 

 

 

 

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Generated folders

As per v3 the generated folder's for v4 will Install to the below locations,  I have Included Images embedded in the "Prepar3D v4"  links 

In ProgramData a new .cfg file "Scripts.cfg" 

In Roaming a new .xml file "CustomCameras.xml"   You can now set up Custom 3d panel view's and save them Global 

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Documents ►Prepar3D v4 files \ Prepar3D v4 Add-ons

Local Disk (C:) ►ProgramData ► Lockheed Martin ► Prepar3D v4

Local Disk (C:) ► Users ► You ► AppData ► Roaming ►Lockheed Martin ► Prepar3D v4

Local Disk (C:) ► Users ► You ► AppData ► Local ► Lockheed Martin ► Prepar3D v4

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To set up a Custom 3d panel view 

Open VC Panel window

Press Shift+5 to enter cinematographer mode,  Navigate around using your Controller,   Right Click > Custom Camera > Create New,  Enter a name for the view,  In bottom left corner of Manage Camera Views screen, change Save To from Scenario to Global,  Click Save

Now Custom Cameras will always show up in your Context Menu instead of saving only to your Scenario file  

To compare the 2 Images below,  v4 and v3,  You can see this Option on the bottom left 

 

 

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3) New Maintenance feature  "Delete generated files" 

Delete generated files is a file located in your core Prepar3D v4 folder,  By double left clicking on this file it will remove (delete) the generated content from the 3  Prepar3D v4 folders in the Roaming , Local and Programdata path.  This will bring Prepar3D v4 back to a default state,

Note: It will also temporarily disable your 3rd Party Software (Add On's) 

Below is a video showing this in action 

 

 

 

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4) New Updating Client feature

For future reference we can now update Prepar3D v4 to a more recent version with a Client update and Not need to deactivate the v4 License.  You will be prompted an Option to  "Deactivate the Prepar3D v4 license or Not"  during the Client Uninstall,  This will allow users to quickly update from version to version without needing to deactivate and activate there license again

Here is a quick video showing you this in action  

 

That is just a quick look at the Lockheed Martin's Prepar3D v4 

 

Whoop! amazing!

Elaine,

Many thanks for putting this together, you're an absolute star!

 

thanks for this nice information... was it hard to not speak about it until now ? :D

Amazing...thank you for your share. Very impressive.
I wonder if the location section in the new V4 still the same as V3? When we want to move airplane to another airport, we only can choose the gates on the list without knowing where the gate is in the airport. Wonder if they have a map there...that would be handy.

Hoang Le

Many Thanks Elaine !

Thanks Elaine!

Very nice Elaine.  For some strange reason LM's web site if very very very slow ;)

Cheers, Rob.

Thanks so much Elaine!    #feelingecstatic

Wow, very nice, thank you!

Nothing about native VR, unfortunately.

Would love to see some night-shot comparisons, anyway. 

3D rain/snow too, obviously 64bit will steal the show. Time to spec up a new computer with some more memory I think..

See, I told you guys that some of the stuff I make up turns out to be true!

Thanks for putting this together!

Thank you Elaine for posting this!

Thank you LM for producing PD3V4!

Greg