starting out with P3D v4-4

[thomas]

HI everyone
After almost 20 years of FS9 I have decided it's time to start the move to a more modern sim. Two days ago I installed P3D version 4.4 and I'm taking baby steps in installing sceneries and aircraft. Who would have thought that the most modern sim still does not feature FALE King Shaka International airport, almost 9 years after operations started here? Or that FAOR O.R. Tambo airport is still called FAJS Johannesburg International in the sim, some ten years after it was renamed?

I have also installed an A320 which I downloaded from Rikoooo.com and here comes my question (the first of many...):
How do I save the changes I've made to the (2D) panel.cfg? Saving is not permitted, even with administrator rights, for both add-on aircraft and native aircraft.

Also, what is "simconnect"?

On FS9 I had an add-on called F1view, which allowed me to change the view with the mouse and mouse wheel. Is there something similar for p3d?


regards
Thomas

[Tom/CalClassic]

AFAIK, most of the scenery is unchanged from FSX, as far as the airports themselves are concerned. Simconnect is a system that partially replaces FSUIPC, and expands on some capabilities.

Where did you install P3D? If in any Program Files folder, your OS is preventing you from saving things due to security concerns.

You might be able to:
1. Open the file.
2. Edit the file.
3. Save As to the Desktop
4. Copy and Paste into the original location, overwriting the original.

Hope this helps,

[ddawson]

One of the nice things about P3D is that you can configure it fairly easily to look for stuff (typically aircraft and/or scenery) in locations outside of the installation folder. Lockheed Martin are quite open in discouraging people to install add-ons in the main P3D folder.
The most commonly used method is creating an add-on.xml file which points the sim at the locations where you have add-on material.
You can also use command line parameters, as outlined here:
www.prepar3d.com/SDKv4/sdk/add-ons/add-on_configuration_files.html
I used the following two command lines to add search paths for aircraft and for gauges:
Prepar3D.exe "-Configure: Category=Gauges, Operation=Add, Path=M:\p3d_gauges"
Prepar3D.exe "-Configure: Category=SimObjects, Operation=Add, Path=M:\p3d_aircraft"

The folders M:\p3d_gauges and M:\p3d_aircraft are I created, so I have full file creation and modification rights to files located within them.

Doug

[thomas]

Thanks everyone

I did stumble across a way to esit those files: cut & paste the files to an arbitary location, make and save the changes and then cut & paste the modified file into it's original location. It's essentially a variation of Tom's suggestion.
But would it be better, at this early stage, to uninstall p3d from the default location and to reinstall it in a non-Program Files location?

regards
Thomas

[ddawson]

No need to move your P3D install. Mine is certainly in a non-default location, but I never put anything in it anyway.
Once I added the search path for aircraft, I had a location where I could make all the edits I wanted to add-on aircraft, without the hassle of requesting administrative privileges on each edit.

To answer one of your other original questions, SimConnect is a utility, first added with FSX, that allows external programs, as well as gauges and modules, to communicate with FS. It is similar to the original function of FSUIPC.
The FSX versions of SimConnect all work independently from each other. Add-ons compiled for a specific version of SimConnect will only work with that version. If you have installed FSX and its updates, then you will probably have all the 32 bit versions of SimConnect that you need. If you have not, the installers for them are in the "redist" folder of your P3D install. The one most commonly required is for FSX-SP2.
While 32 bit gauges and modules will not load into P3Dv4, an external 32 bit app can interface with P3Dv4 using the app's preferred version of SimConnect, if it is available.
P3Dv4 has its own, 64 bit, version of SimConnect which will be installed with the sim.

[thomas]

Thank you Doug
I also found this write-up which has made the introduction to xml a bit easier.
"Installing add-on aircraft outside P3Dv3/v4 root": www.nzfsim.org/index.php#generator

Regards

Thomas

[thomas]

I see the link doesn't quite point where I hoped it would so I have attached the pdf document to this message.

Needless to say, my first attempts to install an add-on aircraft (Douglas Super Dc-3/C-117) have come to nought. P3Dv4_Alternative_Install.pdf (141.59 KB)

I have written to the admin of www.nzfsim.org with the following question: Once you have created the xml file and the add-ons.cfg file, what do you do with them? I assume that the cfg file goes into the p3d v4 root directory (there wasn't one) and that the xml file stays with the aircraft files in the outside folder but it's just an assumption... which didn't pan out.

Dec 26, 2018 15:40:17 GMT -5 thomas said:

Thank you Doug
I also found this write-up which has made the introduction to xml a bit easier.
"Installing add-on aircraft outside P3Dv3/v4 root": www.nzfsim.org/index.php#generator

Regards

Thomas

[Tom/CalClassic]

According to the PDF you linked:

If it doesn't already exist, create the file add-ons.cfg (in UTF-8 format), in the following location:
C:\ProgramData\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v4\add-ons.cfg

The Aircreation Ultralight is used again as an example. Inside the folder "Aircreation_Ultralight", edit the
XML file "add-on.xml", eg:
“H:\Program Files\Lockheed Martin\Addon_Aircraft\Aircreation_Ultralight\add-on.xml”

So it appears you are correct about the location of the files.

[thomas]

Thanks for the confirmation Tom!

The plot thickens... P3D didn't just install files in c: Program Files/Lockheed Martin/Prepar3D V4, but also in C: ProgramData/Lockheed Martin/Prepar3D v4 and that's where I found the default, program-generated "add-ons.cfg" file. So I didn't read correctly, but substituting the new add-ons.cfg file in there hasn#t made any difference.

[thomas]

Okay so I installed a B747 which worked. I then deleted everything to do with this C-117 and reinstalled it from scratch and Hey Presto! I have a flying C-117!

[Tom/CalClassic]

Congrats.