Today Announces the Release of the Third Update of Prepar3D v2

Updates to Prepar3D v2.3 are available in both a patch to an existing v2.2 installation, or as a new installer from your Purchased Downloads page. If you are a current Prepar3D v2 user, as with all v2 updates, there is no charge to upgrade. Please be sure to read the download and installation instructions so that you have a seamless upgrade and update process.

The Lockheed Martin Prepar3D team loves hearing about your experiences with Prepar3D at our forums. The forums also give us an opportunity to listen to your feedback as we continue Prepar3D development. We’ve partnered with our forum users and with several 3rd party solution developers to continue to bring added features, enhancements, optimizations as well as additional backwards compatibility, bug fixes, and additional stability to Prepar3D v2.

We hope you find Prepar3D v2.3 continues to bring you the most immersive learning, simulation and training platform available. We are excited to bring this patch and update to Prepar3D v2.3 to the community today, and have already begun development on several new and exciting features for Prepar3D v2.4. Keep an eye out on Prepar3D.com for new developer blogs in the future outlying the new features coming in v2.4.

A full transcript of what’s new in v2.3 is available for reference below:

Requested Features and Enhancements Implemented in Prepar3D v2.3



At a very high level, the Prepar3D v2.3 update brings many bug fixes, performance and stutter improvements, as well as several requested features and enhancements to both the core platform as well as the SimDirector mission creation and virtual instruction suite.

The Prepar3D v2.3 update highlights include:

Dozens of rendering and performance optimizations and updates

The inclusion of the v2.2 ‘hotfix’ that caused the Flight Planner to crash

Several new features in the multiplayer system

An update to the ‘ultra’ 3D water libraries that increase immersion and realism while improving performance

A new panel serialization feature that saves the state of your panels and gauges when you save a flight or mission, so that you can resume training in the same conditions that you left with

Three new tutorial missions that highlight the flexibility and power of SimDirector as a virtual instruction tool

Several new updates to SimDirector to further it’s position as the industry leading desktop virtual instruction suite

Reference the full listing of performance improvements, fixes, and requested enhancements broken out below.

Three new SimDirector Virtual Instruction Sample Missions Added

Learn how to properly start up and run through the pre-flight checklist of the Bonanza A36

Next test your abilities with a timed and graded exercise of the A36 startup procedures

Finally, learn how to taxi, takeoff and land with assistance from the Prepar3D SimDirector Virtual Instructor

General Platform Updates

Added a new panel (.PNL) file that is saved when a mission saves. This allows users to save their vehicle’s gauge and panel states and settings and is transferable between workstations

Fixed an issue with the value being written to the MUTE_ON_LOST_FOCUS variable in the Prepar3D configuration file

Rendering and Performance Updates

Updated 3D water and terrain and improved performance

Added new higher-resolution textures to the 3D water as well as sea foam

Optimized GPU particles for higher visual performance

Added more show/hide options to camera definitions

Fixed an issue where the Render to Texture (RTT) would disappear after closing and reopening 2D panels

Fixed an issue where specular maps for buildings could become corrupted

Fixed an issue where airport parking detail markings could float off the ground

Fixed a rendering issue related to the context menu causing 3D water not to render

Fixed an issue where ultra water was not updating in certain conditions on AMD video cards

Fixed an issue where anisotropic filter would not respect user configuration settings

Fixed an issue that caused boat wakes to be placed above the water surface

Fixed an issue where the TextureMaxLoad configuration variable was not being respected

Fixed an issue where some library object effects would not appear correctly

Fixed issues with camera views becoming motionless

Fixed cases where attached effects rendered incorrectly in virtual cockpit views

Fixed an issue where particle effects would occasionally render with the wrong texture

Fixed issues relating to scenery objects disappearing across a multiple monitor environment

Improved clouds near camera to make them look more volumetric

Added functionality to allow more than one window plugin for add-ons

Added bathymetry support to GPU (tesselated) terrain

Fixed an issue where water textures would pop when changing altitudes

Fixed Sea-Tac environment buildings that were covered with environment maps

Fixed several issues with trees rendering on multiple video cards

Fixed the BGL line list and point list from crashing AI aircraft.

Lighting and Shadows

Improved performance and speed with changing the shadow settings

Created consistent lights on aircraft

Enhanced performance related to cloud shadows

Fixed an issue where the lighting page would sometimes display incorrect data

Optimized lighting at airports that improved performance

Improved stability issues with HDR luminance

Fixed an issue where lighting on 3rd party aircraft carriers would not display

Fixed an issue where clouds and weather would not appear on first flight loads

Fixed an issue with shadows being cast on objects that were set to be invisible

Fixed an issue where the shadowing of the sun and moon was broken at dawn or dusk

Added visibility support for cloud reflections

Fixed an issue where landing lights could draw behind clouds

Fixed an issue where airports below sea level could have their clouds appear black

Fixed an issue with light scaling at high zoom levels

Made PreFS9 AI aircraft now cast shadows as model type

Radar

Fixed an issue where Air to Ground radar’s cursor would not correlate exactly with the radar

image

image Fixed radar issues relating to target range and zoom level precision

Fixed an issue where airport surfaces and runways would show up bright on the radar

User Interface and Controls

Fixed an issue where when resetting the flight, locked spot cameras could appear to be much closer to the user vehicle

Consolidated temporary files in the User AppData that is deleted on shutdown and startup

Fixed an issue where loading Prepar3D with a controller connected would reset saved views

Fixed an issue where joystick control and button assignments would not register properly

Fixed an issue where double-clicking an airport from the Select Airport screen would not work consistently

Fixed an issue where drop down menus did not always appear while spanning across multiple monitors

Fixed an issue where control setting changes would not be saved when changing modes, such as entering multiplayer

Fixed an issue where labels would pop when new objects were created

Fixed an issue where if Prepar3D was set to full-screen, the window would span across all available monitors upon restart

Fixed an issue where searching in the Select Vehicle screen would not display all available options

Multiplayer

Enhanced functionality of shared cockpit

Improved overall functionality and capability of the multiplayer UI

Added functionality to allow checkpoints during multiplayer missions. Users will

be able to select roles at a checkpoint and load in a synchronized state

be able to select roles at a checkpoint and load in a synchronized state Renamed Scoring Categories to Entity List since it now holds additional multiplayer player names and container titles

Fixed an issue with switching roles or vehicles in multiplayer sessions

Fixed an issue with multiplayer panel serialization

Fixed an issue where missions were not being cleared when selecting Free Flight mode

Removed duplicate data that displayed in the multiplayer UI

Fixed an issue where multiplayer incorrectly swapped SimObjects of different categories

Fixed an issue where default fake airport objects would cause a crash during multiplayer sessions

Professional Plus Weapons Capabilities

Fixed an issue where the time on rail property is not respected when a missile was guided

Fixed an issue where buildings and trees were unable to be targeted via mouse clicks

Improved performance issues with the first weapon hit

Fixed an issue where weapons hitting auto generated buildings do not trigger a hit effect

Fixed an issue where the positioning of weapons would be incorrect when the aircraft loaded

Fixed an issue where weapons would not fire when first loading a mission

Fixed an issue that would not allow weapons to fire immediately after reloading

Fixed simulation variable issues

Flight Recording and Playback

Fixed an issue where “Reset Weapons” did not work correctly in the flight recorder

Fixed an audio issue with engine sounds during playback

Improved speed and functionality of the load recording screen

Improved overall performance with playing back multiple AI objects

Improved flight segment recording and playback performance

Fixed an issue where the time preview window would not automatically close when starting a new recording

SimDirector

Updated general SimDirector UI with new options and appearance

Overall performance improvements when loading large missions

Several improvements and enhancements to object interaction in the mission visualization window

Added capability to tab through mission objects, flight file editor, catalog, and visualization

Added extra validation capability to improve mission creation experience

Added capability to save and load missions in all three SimDirector modes

Added a prompt that asks to save before exiting

Added the ability to create focal points on 2D panels

Improved zooming capability while using the Mission Visualization window

Fixed an issue where play animation actions would not work with Mobile Scenery objects

Fixed an issue where recording a new flight segment while in SimDirector would continue to record while you exit SimDirector

Enabled the settings menu during Flight Instructor Mode that allows you to enable and disable failures while recording flight segments

Allowed the start and end times for flight recordings to be automatically set when a (Flight Segment Recording) FSR is selected

Fixed an issue where AirplanePlaybackAI would not be resumed when saving during flight recording playback

Fixed an issue with renaming Virtual Instruction sessions

Fixed an issue where the conditional logic operator could change when switching modes

Fixed an issue where actions were being bidirectionally referenced and added a validation warning to help further clarify this issue

Added capability to reorder references in any object reference list

Fixed an issue with the main Prepar3D window resizing incorrectly when exiting SimDirector

Fixed an issue with the simulation rate slider not being in sync with the simulation

Fixed an issue where some invalid property data would save in your mission if changed in SimDirector

Improved Flight Recording graph capabilities and performance

Fixed an issue with setting the pitch, bank, and heading of objects

Added sorting to the comprehensive failures list in a FailureAction

Improved performance with loading a large amount of Flight Recordings and Flight Segments

Fixed an issue with centering after adding and removing mission objects

Added extra editing options for recording options in Virtual Instructor

Added abilities to enable and disable focal point and view change properties

Added a mission state status in the status bar

Updated the reset mission option to include drop down to select which kind of reset the user wants

Updated logical conditions to ensure correct windows are enabled and disabled at the correct points

Added a settings file to the SimDirector options file

Added specific settings to ensure Virtual Instructor options persist

Added the zoombox as default when entering Mission Visualization

Fixed errors in controls, mouse clicks, and scroll wheel

Fixed maximization issues upon startup

Fixed OnScreenText position offsetting error

Fixed an issue where creating a new scenario while in a mission does not reset the mission state

Fixed several mouse scroll and dragging issues

SDK and SimConnect Updates

Fixed flickering issues when changing weather through SimConnect, most noticeable when using 3rd party weather addons

Fixed an issue with the METAR string of temperature without altitude not setting correctly

Fixed an issue with the SimConnect_ChangeVehicleWithExternalSim that prevented legacy ExternalSim simulations from working

Resolved the Following Crashes that Could Occur

Fixed a crash when entering SimDirector when a Flight Segment is playing in Prepar3D

Fixed a crash that occurred in SimDirector when deleting objects with the same name

Fixed a crash in SimDirector that would occur when un-grouping a large number of objects

Fixed a crash in SimDirector with ViewChangeAction on exit

Fixed a crash that would happen when using a vehicle that implements HelicopterAIService

Learning Center Documentation Updates and Additions

Added extra documentation relating to Air Traffic Control

Updated and improved SimDirector tutorial documentation

Fixed attachments.cfg in the Learning Center

Wesley Bard

Software Manager, Prepar3D Development Team