Prepar3D v6.0 Features and Enhancements
Release Notes
The next evolution of the Prepar3D simulation platform is here with Prepar3D v6. An all new custom atmospherics system brings next level realism with highly detailed volumetric
clouds, atmospheric scattering, and weather conditions. New rendering features including screen space ambient occlusion (SSAO) and temporal anti-aliasing (TAA) enhance fidelity bringing higher graphics
detail to objects and shadows. Environments react to weather conditions with precipitation accumulation including rain and snow on surfaces and objects which also support reflections.
An all new lighting model built from the ground up with realistic physical and camera properties bring an accurate representation of the world around you. The entire globe has been updated
with new data spanning across airports, cities, building placements, bridges, land classes, and more. Airport fidelity has been improved with the addition of detailed models updating lights,
taxiway signs, surfaces, and more. Updates and patches are automatically checked and installed within the application allowing for quick updates and eliminating the need to manually uninstall
components when updating.
Prepar3D v6 - Next Level Training. World class simulation. Be ahead of ready with Prepar3D v6.
To install Prepar3D v6.0 run Setup_Prepar3D.exe. To install future updates to Prepar3D v6 follow the instructions in the application if automatic update notifications are enabled. Additionally future patches will also be available in the downloads page. Update files can be ran without requiring Prepar3D v6 to be uninstalled beforehand. Simply run the Prepar3D_v6_VERSION_Patch.msp file to seamlessly update Prepar3D v6 to the latest version. Refer to the Prepar3D v6 Download and Installation Instructions for more information.
General Platform Updates
New Features
- Updated volumetric clouds and atmospherics system improving visuals, performance, and support for multiple weather stations.
- Updated physically based and HDR lighting system supporting greater dynamic range, bounce lighting, and improved lighting visuals.
- Overhauled update process including automatic update notifications and installation as well as update patch support. Updating Prepar3D v6 will no longer require any components to be uninstalled before updating.
- New graphics features including:
- Improved edge blending with temporal antialiasing (TAA).
- Improved shadow detail with screen space ambient occlusion (SSAO).
- Support for planar reflections on wet surfaces.
- Cameras now support physical properties including aperture, shutter speed, and ISO settings.
- Enhanced Flight Planner screen supporting the addition of SIDS and STARS to flight plans.
- Precipitation accumulation and evaporation is now supported.
- Custom weather themes can now be saved and loaded in the Weather Settings UI.
- Improved layout of cloud settings in Weather Settings UI.
- ISimObjects now support loadout changes made in the Payload UI.
- SimDirector camera can now rotate around selected objects.
- Replaced SpeedTree with custom solution supporting wind effects.
- Improved primitive drawing object visuals including material support. Added pyramid and cone objects.
- Updated SimDirector UI theme.
- Added DebriefAction to add debrief messages to scenarios.
- Added debrief and goals display to Flight Analysis screen. Scenario debrief information can also be saved to a file.
- Added precipitation pooling and ripple effects.
- Clouds support dynamic lighting including light from lightning strikes.
- Added custom tone mapping option to fine tune light and dark areas of scene.
- Added views menu option to manually position camera. Previously referred to as Cinematographer mode.
- New and updated default content including:
- Updated global airport data and airport backgrounds.
- Improved land class terrain texture detail.
- Added precipitation effects to airport surfaces, airport objects, autogen buildings, bridges, and fences.
- Buildings now support attached rooftop objects.
- Improved hangar texture layout.
- Updated parking space textures.
- Improved runway and taxiway textures and reflectance.
- Added geometry and lights to hangar models.
- Added hazard lights to corners of tall generic buildings.
- Walled roofs are now generated on tall generic buildings.
- Fixed visual issue with F-16 landing gear texture.
- Updated various airport vehicle models and textures.
- Updated default weather themes.
- Added light fixture models to airport lights.
- Added wingtip pylons to interior F-16 models.
- Improved landing and taxi lights for C-130 and F-16 models.
- Updated global buildings to PBR textures.
- Updated additional vehicles to PBR textures including Mooney Bravo, Maule, Piper Cub, CRJ 700, and various AI objects.
- Updated weapon and pylon models to PBR textures.
- Improved global building layout and density.
- Updated windsock models and animations.
- Updated land class textures.
- Updated global water data.
- Updated global park data.
- Updated global bridge data and bridge lighting.
- Updated global helipad data.
- Fixed various model issues in the Washington DC area.
- Updated star and galaxy visuals.
Fixes and Improvements
- Improved overall rendering system performance.
- Improved terrain rendering performance.
- Improved threading performance and CPU core usage.
- Improved network traffic handling and multiplayer performance.
- Improved terrain height resolution and lighting detail.
- Improved layout and usability for multiple user interface screens.
- Legacy models now more closely match lighting of PBR models.
- Updated core and shader compilers.
- Added support for shader model 6.
- Improved post process effects including IR, sensor modes, and signal noise.
- Improved airport lighting visuals and loading performance.
- Improved auto exposure lighting values.
- Improved fog visuals and lighting.
- Fixed crash that could occur when using the map UI.
- Windshield effects are now always enabled if supported on the vehicle.
- Fixed issue where changing precipitation type or rate would not trigger windshield effects to reload.
- Improved taxiway line resolution.
- Improved handling of ambient and directional lighting on materials.
- Fixed issues with airport incorrectly loading season changes in some cases.
- Cloud density and scatter can now be set per layer.
- Fixed issue preventing surface wind blend from working after saving and loading a scenario.
- Changing location will no longer trigger terrain reloading in some cases.
- Improved building elevation handling.
- Improved airport system handling of weather changes.
- Improved performance of panel only views.
- Texture streaming setting is now always enabled by default.
- Improved texture streaming performance and memory usage.
- Fixed bug where dead-end taxiways would have incorrect corner ratios.
- Fixed issue where route calculation could occur multiple times when loading flight plans or changing destination airports.
- Fixed issue causing white borders around tail number text in some cases.
- Fixed issue that could cause startup screen to lag when changing time in some cases.
- Improved roof variation with autogen buildings.
- ActivateWaypointAction can now reference player objects.
- Engine is no longer stopped when deactivating waypoint list actions.
- Improved hazard light implementation.
- Added RECORDABLE flag to effects created from SimConnect so they'll play in flight recordings.
- Improved message window position in VR.
- DialogActions can now have separate text displayed on screen vs. what is read to user.
- Added VR setting for auto-restore tracked origin.
- ATC panel now ignores numeric input if modifier keys are held down.
- SimDirector camera can now zoom further out.
- Improved terrain to apron transitions at sloped airports.
- Fixed visual issues that could occur when turning volumetric clouds on and off.
- SimProperty UIs now sort based on order defined in xml.
- Fixed various cases where certain buildings would be placed slightly above the ground.
- Discontinuities are now generated on manual sequence waypoints.
- Modified various panel placements in VR.
- Editable text fields in SimDirector now have borders.
- SimDirector visualization graph nodes can now be manually positioned.
- Fixed bug in SimDirector causing context menu to immediately close when right clicking logic nodes.
- Scenario changes are now preserved when restarting after crashing vehicle.
- Improved depth precision reducing z-fighting in distant objects.
- Improved bloom effect.
- Fixed bug causing track and position to not be updated in GPS gauge when initially loaded.
- Ground speed can now be viewed in info text.
- Fixed bug causing objects attached to aircraft carriers to cull too early.
- Clicking facility in map view will no longer pause simulation.
- All gated aircraft that have ground vehicles servicing them now have white safety and vehicle restriction/clearance lines.
- Fixed issue preventing material scripts from executing if scenario started paused.
- Fixed issue causing elevator directions to be reversed in TTA aircraft as well as other minor visual bugs.
Fixes and Improvements (Professional Plus Only)
- Improved DIS dead reckoning behavior.
- Fixed ground reaction and friction for countermeasure simulation.
- Updated Varjo SDK including setting to use previous version.
- Added support for up to 8 GPUs.
Prepar3D SDK
New Features
- Added custom event support and control mappings for PDK plugins.
- Added ColorWriteDisable RenderFlag for alpha only masks that can fade over time.
- Helipads now support SceneryObject elements for model placements at airports.
- Added EmissiveColor to SimProp PBR material.
- Adding premultiply final alpha support to camera system and PDK.
- PDK plugins can now create their own materials.
- PBR materials are now supported in 3ds Max preview views.
Fixes and Improvements
- Updated SDK to Visual Studio 2022.
- PBR metallic and smoothness variables can now be used concurrently.
- Updated emissive color alpha as day intensity controller.
- Emissive values are now used even if a texture is not provided.
- Added EVENTTYPE to custom PDK input events. This allows for keyboard, axis, and POV assignments.
- Custom PDK input events can load mappings from controls XML.
- Updated Custom PDK Objects sample to demonstrate how to register custom message events and control input events.
- Missed approach segments can now have their own color set in map gauges.
- Discontinuities can now be set in GPS gauges.
- Additional functionality added to VR Service.
- Custom packets can now be flagged guaranteed/not guaranteed in PDK.
- Texture axis flipping is now supported for RTT texture elements in xml.
- Renamed suneffect.cfg to sky.cfg and added various atmospherics configuration values.
- Fixed issue where Visual FX Tool would load cached effect data instead of actual file data and improved UI layout.
Prepar3D v6.0 Patch 1 (6.0.27)
- Fixed issue preventing C-130 variants from loading.
- Fixed issue causing distance remaining sign text to be off center.
- Additional airport surface updates.
- Added retry connection option to personal license disconnected pop up screen.
- Fixed crash seen at certain sloped airports.
- Fixed issue with volumetric cloud queries in multi-view cases.
- Fixed issue with metric weight conversions in Fuel/Payload screen.
- Improved atmospheric irradiance ambient lighting.
- Fixed issue preventing gun list from populating in SimDirector.
- Fixed issue with ambient bounce lighting on clouds.
- Increased TAA sharpness.
- Fixed issue with gun loadouts on F-35 B and C variants.
- Tuned defensive flare effect.
- Fixed issue with patch installation UI if application was updated but user chose not to install.
Prepar3D v6.0 Patch 2 (6.0.28)
- All fixes and updates from previous patches.
- Fixed issue preventing clouds from rendering when using weather SimConnect calls.
- Fixed issue causing cloud bottoms to be flat in some instances.
- Fixed issue preventing the menu bar from rendering on machines with 4 or less CPU cores.
- Fixed issue where manual adjustments to cruising altitude would be overwritten in some cases when using the flight planner.
- Texture and model fixes for the Maule, Mooney Bravo, Piper J-3 Cub, and various other air and ground vehicles including commercial airliners.
- Various airport background and elevation fixes.
- Information text is now white instead of red. Requires deleting Prepar3D.cfg file in %AppData% directory to take effect.
- Values in VolumetricClouds.cfg file are not used unless override is specified in file. Delete file in %ProgramData% directory to view override.
Prepar3D v6.0 Patch 3 (6.0.30)
- All fixes and updates from previous patches.
- Rendering system performance improvements.
- Slight reduction to cloud scatter to make bottom of clouds less dark.
- Fixed texture UV wrapping issues at sloped airports.
- Various model texture fixes including the Piper, Tornado, CRJ 700, Ohio Class Sub, commercial airliners, countermeasures, ground vehicles, water helipads, and shacks.
- Fixed various autogen textures that were too dark.
- Fixed various water elevation issues.
- Fixed issue preventing custom weather themes from saving correctly.
- Fixed issue where legacy FailureActions would not load correctly due to missing ObjectReferences.
- Various scenery updates including KLAX, PACV, DC, Rome, North America, Europe, and Oceania.
- Fixed various water issues including European and Alaskan lakes.
- Fixed various issues with building density and generalization.
- Improved collision detection performance.
- Improved bullet collision fidelity.
- Added Camera Control UI in Views menu to allow for easier camera manipulation and saving.
- Reduced default bloom values (requires deleting Prepar3D.cfg in %appdata% directory or running "Delete generated files" in the application directory).
- Fixed issue with flight plan file path being saved as absolute path in fxml files.
- The flight planner UI is now available in SimDirector.
- Fixed issue where add-on text to speech voices would not select properly with dialog actions.
- Added separate day/night intensity control to dynamic lighting PDK. Added scalar for dynamic lights using legacy light PDK versions to increase intensity during the day.
Prepar3D v6.0 Patch 4 (6.0.34)
- Fixed lighting color accuracy issues at dawn and dusk.
- Improved exposure and lighting conditions during day and night transitions.
- Updated default emissive alpha values for various content and scenery objects to improve lighting on emissive objects.
- Updated visual effects and airport effect lighting values to improve dawn/dusk transitions.
- Updates to runway lighting intensity steps.
- Added control over exposure and emissive interpolation tables in Prepar3D.cfg.
- Added environment variables for day/night interpolants.
- Fixed issues causing clouds and transparent objects to not blend correctly with fog.
- Fixed issue causing screen to flash white when changing views in some cases.
- Updated terrain land class smoothness values.
- Fixed issue causing jitter in views when using TAA in some cases.
- Additional airport fixes and airport surface improvements.
- Updated various scenery building textures.
- Flight plan can now be rendered in world using the Navigation Visuals screen.
- Flight planner is now available within SimDirector.
- Fixed crash that could occur in Camera Control screen when attempting to save camera with empty name.
- Fixed issues with airway waypoint generation in GPS system.
- Flight plan procedures now draw in the F-35 TSD.
- Added additional advanced scenario creation samples.
- Fixed issue where C:Vars would not parse correctly in some cases if an index was present.
- Fixed issue with galaxy positioning.
- Fixed issue where views could appear too dark when using single pass VR.
- Renamed Gamma slider to Mid Tone Control in custom tone mapping settings.
Prepar3D v6.0 Patch 5 (6.0.35)
- Additional updates to lighting time of day exposure values.
- Additional effect and lighting updates to third party included aircraft.
- Increased virtual cockpit dynamic light intensities.
- Increase flashlight daytime brightness.
- Updated PDK dynamic lights to use emissive interpolant.
- Fixed issue where Autogen Config Editor would throw exceptions when loading files.
- View is no longer reset when opening the Camera Control UI.
Prepar3D v6.0 Patch 6 (6.0.36)
- Camera Control menu option now correctly shows a checkbox indicating UI is opened or closed.
- Fixed issue where quitting SteamVR or powering off a VR headset could force Prepar3D to close.
- Tracked devices in mixed reality now update even if passthrough mode is set to Camera Only.
- Fixed crash seen in some scenarios with various fog settings.
- Fixed various reflection issues in some VR headsets and view group configurations.
- Fixed issue with legacy flight plans created using third party tools loading incorrect starting locations in some cases.
- Updated shipped VC redistributables to latest versions.
- The Camera Control UI now updates positioning sliders in real time when camera is moved in the main application window.
- Fixed crash that could occur when using render to texture views in UIPanelObjects.
- Changes to the auto-updater to correctly download and install future versions.