Upgrading the P3D versions and Addons

[bakayoyo 6]

 

I think, it's not the right way just to copy the terrain.cfg into the new location. If an older add-on make changes to terrain.cfg, P3D will never see them. You have to set symbolic links for the moved files (terrain.cfg, airlines.cfg...).

 

That's one way to do it, you could also copy the terrain.cfg back to the root whenever you install something and then copy it back to the programdata once it's done installing.

 

Hey bakayoyo can you please list your addons?

I'm wondering which ones work and don't work with this method?

For example VoxATC won't install in 2.5 but I'm wondering if it will operate normally if already installed..

 

My addons?

 

a2a - accu-feel, a2a - C182 skylane bundle, a2a - Cessna 172 trainer

Aerosoft - Airbus Extended X, Aerosoft - Airport Enhancement Services, Aerosoft - Antartica X, Aerosoft - Ayers Rock, Aerosoft - Bronco X, Aerosoft - Deutschland X Nord, Aerosoft - Dutch Airports, Aerosoft - German Airports 2 2012, Aerosoft - German Airports 3 2012, Aerosoft - German Regional Airports, Aerosoft - Gibraltar X, Aerosoft - Keflavik X, Aerosoft - Los Angeles X, Aerosoft - Lukla X, Aerosoft - Madeira X, Aerosoft - Mega Aiport Frankfurt X, Aerosoft - Mega Airport Amsterdam FSX, Aerosoft - Mega Airport Brussels X, Aerosoft - Mega Airport Dusseldorf, Aerosoft - Mega Airport Helsinki X, Aerosoft - Mega Airport Munich, Aerosoft - Tahiti X, Aerosoft - Twin Otter X, Aerosoft - US Cities X - Las Vegas, Aerosoft - VFR Germany 2010, Aerosoft - VFR Germany Ost, Aerosoft - VFR London X, Aerosoft - Yekaterinburg X, 

Alabeo - Waco YMF-5

Ants Airplanes - Eaglet Light Sport Aircraft

Captain Sim - 707 Captain, Captain Sim - 767 Captain, Captain Sim - 777 Captain, Captain Sim - C130

Carenado - Cessna C337H Skymaster, Carenado - Cessna Grand Caravan

FeelThere - EJET v2, FeelThere - Embraer Regional Jets V2

Flight 1 - BN-2 Islander, Flight 1 - OpusFSX, Flight 1 - Ultimate Traffic 2

Flight Store - FSUIPC

FlyTampa - Hong Kong, FlyTampa - Montreal X

FRANCEVFR - Alsace, FRANCEVFR - Lille Lesquin LFQQ, FranceVFR - Midi-Pyrenees.vol2, FRANCEVFR - NORD PAS DE CALAIS FSX, FranceVFR - Paris

FS2Crew - PMDG 737 

FSCaptain

FSDT - GSX, FSDT - Honolulu Hawaii, FSDT - KLAX, FSDT - New York JFK

FSGenesis - NextMap

GSNext - Gifu Airbase

Just Flight - 747 200-300, Just Flight - Air Hauler, Just Flight - MD81-82, Just Flight - Traffic 360, Just Flight - Tristar, Just Flight - VFR Real Scenery

LatinVFR - KSAN San Diego

Lionheart - Epic Victory LT, Lionheart - Quest Kodiak

Majestic Software - Dash 8

MegaSceneryEarth - Switzerland

Milviz - 737B, Milviz - Beechcraft Baron 55, Milviz - F15E

OpenVFR - Germany

OrbX - Australia, OrbX - EGHI - Southampton, OrbX - EU England, OrbX - EU Scotland, OrbX - EU Wales, OrbX - FTX AU Traffic, OrbX - FTX Global, OrbX - FTX Global Vector, Orbx - FTX Jacksons, Orbx - FTX KRDD, OrbX - FTX NA Gold NCA, OrbX - FTX OpenLC EU, OrbX - North Island NZNI, OrbX - NZMF - Milford Sound, Orbx - Pacific North West, OrbX - Queenstown ,OrbX - Shoreham, OrbX - South Island NZSI, OrbX - YBAS - Alice Springs, OrbX - YBBN - Brisbane, OrbX - YBCS - Cairns, OrbX - YHBA - Hervey Bay, OrbX - YSCH - Coffs Harbour

Pacific Island Simulation - Marshall Islands, PacSim - Chubu international, PacSim - Jeju International, PacSim - Manila, PacSim - Nagasaki International ,PacSim - Xiamen Gaoqi International

PMDG - PMDG 737 NGX, PMDG - PMDG 777-200

QualityWings - The Ultimate 146 Collection, QualityWings - Ultimate 757 collection

RealAir - Lancair Legacy, Realair - Scout, RealAir - Turbine Duke

REX Studios - Real Environment Xtreme, REX Studios - REXessentials

ScanSim - Copenhagen Kastrup X

Scenerybox - 57 Moselle LD

Technobrain - Naha FSAC ROAH

Thai Creation - Namaste Nepal

UK2000 - Birmingham, UK2000 - Edinburgh, UK2000 - Gatwick, UK2000 - Heathrow, UK2000 - London City, UK2000 - Manchester

UK2000 - VFR Airfields vol.1

Virtavia - C-17 Globemaster, Virtavia - Sea King

Virtualcol - Embraer 170-175

VRInsight - M-Panel

 

I don't have VoxATC so can't say anything about that. 

 

For OrbX I disabled the ObjectFlow.dll in dll.xml

For Ultimate Traffic 2 I edited the simobjects.cfg

For FSUICP I installed the latest version 

For  FSDreamteam I installed the latest addonmanager

 

No major issues so far, I use older weather engines, REX Essential Plus Overdrive and OPUSFSX, they both insert weather, although it seems to be at a significant performance hit with lots of clouds around.

 

[pinsel 1]

 

 

That's one way to do it, you could also copy the terrain.cfg back to the root whenever you install something and then copy it back to the programdata once it's done installing.

 

Yes, of course you can copy it every time the terrain.cfg has changed. But with a symbolic link you make the change ONCE and then you need not care about in the future.

[bakayoyo 6]

Yes, of course you can copy it every time the terrain.cfg has changed. But with a symbolic link you make the change ONCE and then you need not care about in the future.

 

That's true, I just happen to have a personal dislike of symbolic links especially when they span volumes. In my experience only Orbx FTX products modify terrain.cfg and they will eventually release installers that can find the new location themselves. So for me I don't really see the need arising for installing a legacy product that uses terrain.cfg in 2.5.

[pinsel 1]

O.K., you have not to use such newfangled windows things (in unix world symlinks exists since ages and they are useful for many people).

It's only my suggestion.

[Taipan 30]

 

 

My addons?

 

 

I don't have VoxATC so can't say anything about that. 

 

For OrbX I disabled the ObjectFlow.dll in dll.xml

For Ultimate Traffic 2 I edited the simobjects.cfg

For FSUICP I installed the latest version 

For  FSDreamteam I installed the latest addonmanager

 

No major issues so far, I use older weather engines, REX Essential Plus Overdrive and OPUSFSX, they both insert weather, although it seems to be at a significant performance hit with lots of clouds around.

 

 

 

Holy s#$t man, I didn't expect you to list all the scenery!

 

I just meant utility addons and aircraft

 

But now that you've done that I'm very grateful, thankyou!

 

I reckon I'm going to use your method, there's just so many customisations I've done it's going to be too long to re-install. I generally hack most of my addons panels and even the titles of my liveries. Not to mention all the AI aircraft customisations etc.

 

Cheers

[bakayoyo 6]

Holy s#$t man, I didn't expect you to list all the scenery!

 

I just meant utility addons and aircraft

 

But now that you've done that I'm very grateful, thankyou!

 

I reckon I'm going to use your method, there's just so many customisations I've done it's going to be too long to re-install. I generally hack most of my addons panels and even the titles of my liveries. Not to mention all the AI aircraft customisations etc.

 

Cheers

 

don't worry I didn't actually type all that, I keep my installation files in a directory.

 

Yes, uninstalling all of that and then starting from scratch would be a nightmare for me too (this doesn't even list all the freeware I run). And not to mention the amount of tweaks (APX.bgl's, FTX Vector to resolve layer/elevation issues), aircraft merges etc. I've applied.

 

I've updated Step 7 a bit, to keep the updated 2.5 default aircraft from reverting to 2.4:

 

Step 7

Select all subdirectories in "Prepar3d v2.bak" except:

propdefs, redist, ShadersHLSL, uires (<-So NOT these)

move them into the new Prepar3d v2 directory.

DO overwrite existing files.

 

Note: I would also advice to copy the new 2.5 effects, fonts, gauges, 

simobjects and sound directories, and paste them over

the backup 2.4 directories before moving them to the 2.5 directory.

[eminyilmaz 17]

Just in case if anyone wants to know, this method didn't work. P3d doesn't even start. Fortunately, I took a full system backup with Acronis before trying this, I can go back to v2.4 in 30 minutes.

[bakayoyo 6]

Just in case if anyone wants to know, this method didn't work. P3d doesn't even start. Fortunately, I took a full system backup with Acronis before trying this, I can go back to v2.4 in 30 minutes.

 

It does work for some people. You couldn't start P3D at step 4? At that point you should have a clean untouched 2.5 install. 

[Christopher Low 5,352]

I have a clean untouched 2.4 install :smile:

[eminyilmaz 17]

No, it worked at step 4 which is a clean install of 2.5 as you said. It didn't work after I copy/pasted files from old install. I am not blaming you bakayoyo. Thanks for tips, it was worth trying. Sim installation is just too complex. Too many addons already. I was anticipating that it wouldn't be so easy. I had 140 gb of p3d installation (which might be still small compared to yours though).

 

I am going to stick with 2.4. I still don't understand why we should bothering reinstall even patching this godforsaken software. It's 2015 man. People have invented a stuff called auto-update decades ago. All in all, I hope Dovetail somehow can implement shadows into fsx;se. The moment they achieve that I am done with this p3d nonsense.

[vgbaron 3,597]

I am going to stick with 2.4. I still don't understand why we should bothering reinstall even patching this godforsaken software. It's 2015 man. People have invented a stuff called auto-update decades ago. All in all, I hope Dovetail somehow can implement shadows into fsx;se. The moment they achieve that I am done with this p3d nonsense.

You are most certainly entitled to your opinion but your rationale indicates you are clueless as to WHY 2.5 was released as a full reinstall. Fortunately there are MANY who are quite happy with this "godforsaken software". Enjoy FSX:SE.

 

However, you might want to read the P3D forums to better understand why 2.5 was released this way just for kicks.

 

Vic

[eminyilmaz 17]

I don't care why 2.5 released as a full reinstall. And honestly, I don't want to understand rationale behind it. Do you understand why every software you have is getting updated? I am an end-user not a programmer or technician. If you're reinstalling every other program you possess from scratch when update is needed, then I have nothing say to you. All I am saying is they should implement auto-update feature. This goes for Orbx too. 

[bakayoyo 6]

No, it worked at step 4 which is a clean install of 2.5 as you said. It didn't work after I copy/pasted files from old install. I am not blaming you bakayoyo. Thanks for tips, it was worth trying. Sim installation is just too complex. Too many addons already. I was anticipating that it wouldn't be so easy. I had 140 gb of p3d installation (which might be still small compared to yours though).

 

I am going to stick with 2.4. I still don't understand why we should bothering reinstall even patching this godforsaken software. It's 2015 man. People have invented a stuff called auto-update decades ago. All in all, I hope Dovetail somehow can implement shadows into fsx;se. The moment they achieve that I am done with this p3d nonsense.

 

Thank you for the response. I understand the frustration, I think pretty much everyone gets that from time to time managing flghtsim software. I'm not sure Dovetail is going to work wonders on FSX judging from the lack of substantial development on their train simulator. 

 

P3D failing to start is often related to problems in the dll.xml and exe.dll. Restoring the config in %APPDATA%\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v2 could have introduced those issues. At least that would be the first place I'd look to correct such problems.

 

There isn't really "a one size fits all" approach to migrating P3D installations to 2.5, it's always going to require some adaptation to each unique situation. But alternative options are of course starting from a clean install or sticking with 2.4. nothing wrong with that too.