Prepar3D v5.2 Features and Enhancements
Release Notes
The second update to Prepar3D v5 is now available!
Prepar3D v5.2 brings a large number of features and improvements to the Prepar3D platform. Continual improvements have been made to the Enhanced Atmospherics system offering better visuals while reducing memory usage. Improved atmospheric lighting and shadows, better volumetric cloud generation and enhanced precipitation effects to further improve realism and training fidelity. Additional enhancements made to the DirectX 12 rendering system continue to improve performance and stability to enable support of even greater detail and scale in training scenarios. Light up the night sky with the addition of road lights and improved airport lighting. Developers have access to more tools including built-in support for viewing models and resetting various system states during program execution. Additionally multiple improvements have been made to DIS and CIGI making large scale training scenarios easier to configure, more robust and performant, and offering greater interoperability across various other systems.
The following list of updates has been categorized based on the installer required. The Client installer is required for Prepar3D v5.2, however the Content, Scenery, and SDK installers are optional. You must first have Prepar3D v5 installed to utilize the Client only installer.
To install the Prepar3D v5.2 Client, you must first uninstall the previous Prepar3D v5.0/v5.1 Client through Programs and Features in Windows Control Panel. Do not deactivate your license when prompted. If you selected to deactivate your license during uninstallation of your current Client, your will be prompted to reactivate Prepar3D. Please view the Prepar3D v5 Download and Installation Instructions for more information.
Prepar3D Client
General Platform Updates
New Features
- Added road lights setting to generate lights along roads.
- Enhanced Atmospherics can now be used with legacy (non-volumetric) clouds.
- Various graphics settings can now be changed while sim is running.
- Particles can now be dynamically lit.
- Added developer menu allowing for shader and texture reloads and viewing models.
- Added terrain awareness post process effect.
- Added orthogonal view support to camera system. Can be set in camera configuration and PDK.
- Added default weather radar view and SDK sample.
- Updated multiplayer communication to support UHF frequencies.
- Added view angle support for facing particles.
- Added support for the VRgineers XTAL VR headset.
- Added support for the Varjo XR-3 VR headset.
- Added CallbackMethod option to RecordAndPlayback.xml allowing for plugins to listen to individual property changes during playback.
Fixes and Improvements
- Improved rendering system performance and stability.
- Improved handling of VRAM over-allocation.
- Various particle system performance optimizations.
- Improved Enhanced Atmospherics performance and reduced memory usage.
- Updated Enhanced Atmospherics lighting.
- Improved Enhanced Atmospherics dawn/dusk appearance.
- Improved Enhanced Atmospherics precipitation and lightning effects.
- Fixed hole that would appear around user vehicle in clouds with Enhanced Atmospherics.
- Improved cloud grid generation with Enhanced Atmospherics.
- Improved cloud shadow appearance with Enhanced Atmospherics.
- Fixed ghosting around user vehicle with Enhanced Atmospherics.
- Fixed crash in VR that could sometimes occur when bringing up tool tip text.
- Fixed crash that could sometimes occur when opening the eye tracking window.
- Added DeviceDataFormats.xml file to configure X-Grip DirectInput data.
- Fixed issue where vehicle stress was not respecting crash settings in the UI.
- Optimized resource usage including VRAM usage in VR single pass mode.
- Added HTML5 versions of the Menu Bar, Context Menu, and Information Text (InfoGen).
- Converted VR menu to HTML5.
- Message Text is now visible in VR. Information Text is visible in VR if HTML5 version is used.
- Fixed issue where exposure values could become out of sync in VR.
- Fixed jitter that could be seen in ISimObjects in multiplayer in some cases.
- Updated ISimObject AI logic.
- Added health to the Indago rotor system to prevent vehicle from flying when health points reach zero.
- Added option to save current scenario when closing the application or when a driver hang occurs.
- Fixed various memory leaks.
- Fixed issue in SimDirector where flight segments would render incorrect start/end times when first loading a scenario.
- Fixed issue where SimProp recordings would not correctly initialize motion variables when loading from a bookmark.
- Optimized SimProp recording saving.
- Added ReadableFrequency SimProp setting for recordings.
- Uninstalling the application no longer generates configuration files used for default settings.
- Fixed issue with dynamic lights displaying incorrectly in the right eye in VR in some cases.
- Fixed issue where the scenario startup screen would sometimes show the wrong location after loading a scenario.
- Fixed additional z-ordering issues with objects in Enhanced Atmospherics.
- Fixed issue where changing seasons in the startup screen would not account for daylight savings time changes.
- Fixed issue where simulation fidelity could be limited to lower bounds when overriding SimGroup simulation rates.
- Fixed issue where mixing PBR and non-PBR material scripts in models could cause visual issues in some cases.
- Fixed issue where right clicking to bring up the context menu would sometimes cause the camera to rotate.
- Scenario entities now initialize with correct airspeed if spawned in the air.
- Fixed issue where ground speed was returned instead of airspeed for AI entities.
- Units can now be set for airspeed and altitude in SimDirector.
- Optimized GetCameraLookAtLLA function.
- Improved bloom lighting effect.
- Added "Base Scenario Only" save option to save current conditions without modifying underlying scenario.
- Added min/max top down altitude values to camera definitions.
- Vehicle label draw distances are now configurable.
- Fixed ray trace calculation used for terrain and entity hit testing.
- Effects are now included in the client installer.
- Updated VR menu.
- Updated sky brightness based on time of day.
- Fixed issue where certain add-on scenery error messages would not be displayed on startup.
- Added ADF MAGVAR simvar.
- HookEventProcess now works with ISimObject implementations.
- Updated OpenVR version.
- Added directory and category support to the SimDirector white list file.
- Unnamed catalog objects are now ignored by SimDirector by default. This can be changed in SimDirector settings.
- Fixed issue where closing panels in VR would cause them to stay open in the main view.
- Fixed issue where ISimObjects would not load in the location specified by their role in multiplayer scenarios.
- Mouse rotation cursor now appears over correct undocked view and is confined within window bounds while in use.
- Resetting multiplayer scenarios now returns to the lobby keeping all players connected to the session.
- Fixed issue with panel windows sorting incorrectly with transparent objects in VR.
- Updated airport lighting to be more visible at night and during low visibility conditions.
- Improved dynamic lighting performance in VC and single pass VR.
- Fixed issue where closing an undocked view containing docked panels would prevent these panels from being reopened.
- Fixed bug preventing FS9 and BGL models from drawing correctly at some angles in Single Pass VR.
- Fixed issue that caused texture mismatches between eyes in VR for non-ultra water and ground detail textures.
- Improved performance of multiplayer and DIS voice playback.
- Fixed issue where recording would not prompt when overwriting an existing file.
- Volumetric fog is now always enabled with Enhanced Atmospherics.
- Record and playback properties can now specify range of indices for recording.
- Fixed issue preventing TriggerProperty events from being played back correctly from recordings in some cases.
- Panel texture sizes can now be non-square and non-power of two.
- IP address used for GPS data transmission is now saved between sessions.
- Fixed issue where center of gravity was shown in the wrong location in the Fuel and Payload UI.
- Fixed issue with flight recorder that could cause invalid interpolation of various data types.
- Fixed issue that prevented airline name changes for AI over SimConnect from being propagated.
- Updated default multiplayer COM frequency.
- Fixed issue causing multiplayer server to rebroadcast ISimObject positions to owner.
- Added option to only save base scenario excluding scenario-specific object/trigger states.
- Fixed issue that could prevent aircraft from crossing taxiway bridges in some cases.
- Fixed issue where Windows would detect microphone usage at startup.
- Fixed issue where voice sound device settings would not be updated while in a multiplayer session.
- Multiplayer now toggles landing gear up when spawning in the air.
- Progressive taxiway lines now account for sloped airport elevation changes.
- Fixed propeller sound on turboprops with CCW rotating propellers.
- Improved GPS logic for calculating when to transition to the next waypoint.
- Fixed issue where certain helipad surfaces would not pull to ground at sloped airports.
- Fixed invalid LLA exception that could occur at the poles.
- Fixed issue preventing SubscribeToFacilities call from returning all pertinent airports/facility data.
Fixes and Improvements (Professional Plus Only)
- User objects can now be controlled over DIS.
- Custom loadouts can now be applied to player objects in SimDirector.
- Fixed issue where reading DIS markings would sometimes be invalid.
- Fixed issue where DIS force was not being assigned to objects attached to the user or avatar.
- Added ChangeUserObject option to DIS host settings.
- Fixed DIS stability issues with certain variable sized packet PDUs.
- Fixed endianness swap logic for DIS audio data.
- DIS host ownship can now be enabled/disabled without disconnecting.
- User object can now be driven through CIGI.
- Fixed bounds check for supported weather layers in CIGI.
- Added ResetScenario and disable weather CIGI options.
- Added CIGI passive mode.
- Removed "UserIsOwnship" and "HideOwnshipModel" CIGI options. This is now based off of user object and camera settings automatically.
- Fixed issue where velocity would not be sent by host in some cases.
- Fixed issue where IG would not set velocity unless dead reckoning was enabled.
- Fixed various issues with CIGI dead reckoning.
- Updated CIGI view camera definitions.
- CIGI host now freezes entities when entering the UI.
- Added CIGI option to disable view control on IG.
- Updated CIGI documentation.
- CIGI camera definitions can now be defined per View Type instead of internal vs. external.
- CIGI host now rebroadcasts view control packets when an IG connects.
- CIGI host can now send to more than one IP address and port.
- Fixed issue where DIS entities would not heartbeat frozen state when first paused.
- Fixed issue where DIS would continue to try to create entities that had previously failed.
- Fixed issue where rapidly toggling DIS connection via key event would cause connection issues.
- Updated default DIS heartbeat values.
- Added new key events for DIS entity Start/Resume and Stop/Freeze.
- DIS Start/Resume and Stop/Freeze PDUs now support real-world start/stop times.
- Converted Mixed Reality (MR) portal help text to HTML5.
- Portal rendering is now disabled outside of VR views.
- The Start/Resume PDU now changes the simulation time of day.
- Fixed default DIS Site/Application/Entity values.
- Fixed logic error when checking DIS BroadcastNavAids setting.
- Fixed several rendering issues with MR cameras.
- Added DIS Create Entity, Remove Entity, and Set Data PDUs.
- Added floating point validation for received packet values over DIS.
- Improved DIS AI waypoint logic.
- Fixed bug where certain DIS Signal PDU parameters were being as the wrong data type.
- Various improvements to DIS radios including broadcast format selection, improved audio quality, and better packet handling.
- Improved error messages when DIS fails to connect.
- Default DIS intercom priority is now zero.
- Fixed issue where invalid data could be returned from the GetScreenCoord PDK function is point was behind the camera.
- Fixed issue where effect shading did not match lighting conditions.
- Pursue, Combat Air Patrol, and Close Air Support AI behaviors can now target player objects.
- DIS intercom and radio state is now displayed in Infogen.
- Fixed issue preventing weapon positions from being properly serialized in multiplayer in some cases.
- Fixed crash that could occur in multiplayer if weapon jettison and reset commands were sent at high frequencies.
- Fixed issue where countermeasure trigger and reset could process in the same frame.
- Added sim configuration entry to control max time of flight for weapons.
- Fixed issue where DIS would not broadcast PDUs for visibility or activation SimObject state changes.
- Fixed freeze logic for local DIS entities.
Prepar3D Content
Fixes and Improvements
- Fixed typos in F-16 descriptions.
- Updated textures for sand, dirt, and grass runways.
- Updated textures for various terminal buildings.
- Updated F-14 and flatbed vehicles to no longer appear to hover when on ground.
Prepar3D Scenery
Fixes and Improvements
- Updates to KRND, KLOU, KSDF, KEDW, and VETZ.
- Fixed several scenery and water issues in the northern arctic region, Senegal, Guatemala, Kauai, and Alaska.
- Fixed issue with jetways not moving in some cases.
- Fixed issues with SIDs displays of certain VORs.
- Correct Tacan X/Y frequencies.
Prepar3D SDK
New Features
- Effect system now supports visible angle lighting and dynamic lighting.
- Added weather radar PDK sample.
Fixes and Improvements
- Updated OpenGLTexture sample.
- Added ChangeUserObject PDK function.
- Added OpenUIPanel function to PDK allowing HTML and Scaleform panels to be opened by name.
- Added additional time conversion functions to DIS service.
- Added ortho extent get/set functions to PDK for orthogonal views.
- Updated VisualFX tool with new lighting and emitter properties.
- Add quad draw to CustomPDKObjects SDK sample.
- Added support for SetHealth on registered subsystems on ISimObject implementations.
- Added new flags to PDK for preview window and SimOperator staging objects.
Prepar3D v5.2 Hotfix 1
Client Fixes and Improvements
- Added configuration option to use HTML5 Menu and Information Text, defaulted to off.
- Fixed issue preventing views from rendering on Intel graphics cards in some cases.
- Fixed performance issue with multiple views when using vsync.
- Updated default cloud visuals. Requires removal of the VolumetricClouds.cfg file located in the "%appdata%\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v5" directory after updating.
- Improved performance of autogen building and scenery objects.
- Fixed crash on AMD cards with particle shadows enabled.
- Fixed issues with HTML5 Menus and Information Text causing black screens and stutters when opening.
- Fixed issue where changing Volumetric Cloud settings would not update graphics profile name in settings.
- Screen is now blacked out when crashing.
- Fixed issue with multi-UV PBR materials not working properly in some cases.
- Prevent Developer Menu from being dragged offscreen when docked.
- The alt key now opens and closes the VR menu similar to the standard menu bar.
- Fixed crash that could occur when moving views across displays on different graphics cards.
- Fixed issue where menu bar could remain hidden after loading scenarios in some cases.
- Fixed issue where Weather UI was not correctly showing negative values for visibility layers.
- Performance and stability improvements for Oculus VR headsets.
- Fixed issue where weather changes made through the UI would interpolate instead of instantly applying in some cases.
Scenery Fixes and Improvements
- Fixed missing PPL_Construction1_LM texture.
SDK Fixes and Improvements
- Added PDK function to IMultiplayerService to set transmit and receive frequencies for voice transmission.