Plan-G and Prepar3D

[rogerover]

No, it'll just connect to whatever's on the other end of the Simconnect channel. It doesn't really care what it is, as long as it "talks the talk"

My PG3 FS connetion settings work fine with FSX but they don't with P3D :

General :
connect with SimConnect

Simconnect settings :
Network mode : IPV4
FSX computer : network name
Server Port/Pipe : 4506

what could be wrong ?

Would it be possible to add a new field in PG3 "Locations" dedicated to P3D, instead of changing the FSX paths everytime one is switching from FSX to P3D and vice versa ?

[tim arnot]

Have you set up SimConnect.xml for P3D?

Unless you have a vastly different set of addons for P3D compared to FSX, there really is no value to repeatedly swapping / rebuilding databases, since the base data is the same. Making a whole new data set for P3D would be a hell of a lot of work for very little actual benefit.

[rogerover]

[...] Have you set up SimConnect.xml for P3D?
Unless you have a vastly different set of addons for P3D compared to FSX, there really is no value to repeatedly swapping / rebuilding databases, since the base data is the same. Making a whole new data set for P3D would be a hell of a lot of work for very little actual benefit.

You are 100% right ! I just forgot to set-up Simconnect.xml for P3D... It's done now, and PG3 b50 works fine, at last, with P3D ! Thanks very much for your pertinent advice.

The reason I'm asking for a special P3D path field (if possible) in PG3 options/locations is to avoid the path changes required to switch from one sim to the other.

[tim arnot]

But Plan-G is sim-agnostic - it doesn't know or care what sim you have running. And the data sets for P3D and FSX are as near identical. Which is why your request really doesn't make sense.

[rogerover]

In other words, PLG3 can run with P3D or FSX or FS9 or XPL, without mentionning the corresponding paths pointing to the sim you wish to run.

I'm currently running P3D on my desktop, my aircraft is on the apron at LFPN and I can see it located at LFPN on the PLG3 map. PLG3 is running on my remote laptop (SimConnect connection). Both the paths mentionned in the PLG3 locations fields are the FSX paths.

The paths are just needed to build the data-set for each sim and, since there is no difference between FSX and P3D, no need to build a data-set that would be a carbon-copy of the FSX one.

The "dead" fsx.exe file to be created in the P3D main folder as said above really doesn't make sense.

I wish I would have read something similar to make things crystal-clear from the very beginning.

[tim arnot]

Yes, that's correct. Once the database is built, you don't ever need to go near the sim again. The 'dead' FSX.exe is only needed as a reference when building the database (it  just fools Plan-G into thinking it's building data for FSX). Once the data is built, there is no direct interaction with FS (even the FS Connection is indirect - like a phone call. So long as what's at the other end of the line says the right things, it could be anything, anywhere)

Realistically, there is a case for switching databases between FS9, FSX, and X-Plane, since the data changes significantly between them (FS9 is the oldest and smallest data set, X-Plane is the newest and most extensive, although it doesn't include airspace for some reason). P3D has the same base data as FSX, so it will only differ from an FSX build if you have different addons.

[freded]

Hi Tim,

I have been running Plan-G v.3 with P3D v.1.4 for several days now with no problems.

I open P3D, then Plan-G and my aircraft's position is immediately shown correctly.

What is really confusing me about the recent postings is that I do not, nor ever have had, a 'dead' copy of FSX.EXE in my P3G main folder, so cannot understand why this should be necessary at all!

I have to admit at this point that my main use for Plan-G is as a moving map and occasionally to show an already existing FSX flight plan. I have not yet built a new flight plan in Plan-G, so I may encounter difficulties with P3D when doing this.

Cheers,

Mark

[tim arnot]

It's only necessary if you want to build a database from P3D's data. And that's only necessary if you don't have FSX, or your P3D install is significantly different from your FSX install.

[Molew]

Referring to inquiries earlier in this regarding find the paths/locations variables, I made this image:

http://www.smsp.org/sandy/images/plan_g_locations.jpg

Feel free to use it if you like, Tim.

~~~

Question/feature request: Would it be possible to put a switch or selectable drop-down box in a future PGv3+ to change the current database in use from: FS9 <-> FSX <-> XP10/11 <-> P3Dv1 <-> P3Dv2 (if the user has all these sims installed and sets the paths to each) ? Or would creating and switching between the different databases be too much trouble? I ask only because I now have two of those installed (FSx and P3Dv2) and I know each sim will have different installed scenery, and (probably) different airports available to the user.

I mostly use PG for VFR flight plans to share among friends as we fly online together. It's quite nice to be able to crank out a reasonably detailed low-level flight plan (ie: 50 ft agl along rivers and valleys) in a very short amount of time. It is rather funny, but I mostly use the "Open Cycle" map option due to the detailed elevation markings (example: Plan-Gv3 screen-shot of Bonner's Ferry area) So, thank you for a very useful tool!

[rogerover]

PG3 (v3.0.7.71) works fine on my remote laptop with both FSX and P3D v1.4 via the following SimConnect.xml file :

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<SimBase.Document Type="SimConnect" version="1,0">
   <Descr>SimConnect</Descr>
   <Filename>SimConnect.xml</Filename>
   <Disabled>False</Disabled>
   <!-- Example Global (remote) IPv4 Server Configuration-->
   <SimConnect.Comm>
      <Disabled>False</Disabled>
      <Protocol>IPv4</Protocol>
      <Scope>global</Scope>
      <Address>PCname</Address>
      <MaxClients>64</MaxClients>
      <Port>4506</Port>
      <MaxRecvSize>4096</MaxRecvSize>
      <DisableNagle>False</DisableNagle>
   </SimConnect.Comm>
   <SimConnect.Comm>
      <Disabled>False</Disabled>
      <Protocol>Auto</Protocol>
      <Scope>local</Scope>
   </SimConnect.Comm>
</SimBase.Document>

Just tried PG3 and P3D v2 with the same SimConnect.xml file (copied and pasted from C:\Users\myname\AppData\Roaming\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D to C:\Users\myname\AppData\Roaming\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v2 ) with no success... when trying to connect, PG3 crashes to desktop every time.

I've just noticed that P3D v2 is running with SimConnect version 2.0.0.0 and P3D v1.4 is running with SimConnect version 1.0.0.0
Could that be the cause ?
Has anyone else tried to make PG3 working with P3D v2 ?

Thanks for reporting