answered Manual download in preparation for P3Dv4

[Jon Clarke]

Can I be safe in now assuming that all the downloads available in My Account are now up to date with all the versions and any subsequent corrections made recently or in the past? I want to download all the regions I own so I have a comprehensive package of usable FTX installs available to me when v4 comes out.

 I asked before about this topic and was told in general they were all inclusive of updates etc except maybe some that were most recent. I was not given a time period as to when the "recent" one's may be included in the files available for download. Any indication of the time period known?

Just a last minute thought here: Will v4 accept former FSS wrapper installations from saved backup files?

[KVSandleben]

You don't have to redownload anything at all that you have already installed in previous versions.

Simply copy your ORBX folder to the new sim, run FTX Central. Done.

 

The only thing that needs redownloading is FTXGlobal.

[Jon Clarke]

The copy of my Orbx folder contains lots of FTX addons that are reliant on Object & People flow, which are not yet ready for v4. I am therefore hesitant in using the method you mention in case (obviously an unknown element at this juncture) they affect the running of v4 initially, like Error notification etc.

I am well aware of the "copy" Orbx folder process but no one has yet stated if those addons that rely on the 2 Flow DLLS will have an impact on v4 initially. JV says that buildings in those addons would not appear, but that an update to the DLLs to make them 64 bit compatible was being worked on.

Maybe I can copy the Orbx folder with all the addons and as soon as the updated DLLS are issued then all omissions will be rectified but I don't have confirmation that this is the case.

 

[Larry_R]

Hi guys,

I’d like to suggest a bit of caution in simply copying the Orbx folder across to P3D v4. Here are some of the issues:

As JV has mentioned, until an ObjectFlow dll is available for v4 you will not see anything controlled by ObjectFlow. In some cases this may be minor, but in others it may be a large part of the scenery.

You will not see any Orbx effects

There are a fair number of Orbx files having to do with Orbx lights, Orbx trees, some Orbx library objects that are located in various folders outside of the Orbx folder. That functionality will be missing.

Version 4 has new autogen trees options and Orbx P3D v4 specific files are needed to make use of these.

You will not see any Orbx specific AI

You may miss some sounds

You may miss a large number of elevation adjustments

FTXC3 relies on the version number when checking for updates. If there are P3D v4 specific files and the version number of the scenery remains unchanged, FTXC3 will not know that your scenery might need updating for v4.

Copying these extraneous files back and forth between sims is very prone to error! At least in my hands it is.  The risk is in really messing up the sim and not having an easy way to reverse what you have done. File names are not a sure indication of which are Orbx files and which are not.

If you absolutely cannot wait, there is a safer way to do most of it that is easily reversible. Review the information in the Learning Center about how to have P3D point to folders outside of the sim root. You do this by making appropriate entries in the various .cfg files found in the C:\ProgramData\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v4\ folder. When these  pointers are not needed you can disable them or delete them.

Larry

[John Venema]

Do ***NOT*** copy your ORBX folder into P3Dv4!

 

If you do so you will be unsupported.

 

In the next 48 hours we will post a comprehensive announcement about the official way we will move your FSX and P3D products to P3Dv4. Until that time, please exercise a bit of patience and refrain from making suggestions which will not work or have you covered by Orbx support.