Requested Features and Enhancements Implemented in Prepar3D v2.1
 
After receiving great feedback from our user community, we have implemented new application enhancements and made a large number of fixes to improve the stability and usability of Prepar3D v2.
Rendering, Performance, Backwards Compatibility, Weather and Clouds
Rendering Features Added
 
    DirectX® 10 fallback hardware support for DisplayLink and other monitors
    Dynamic shadows now can be enabled to render when you do not have tessellation (GPU Terrain) enabled
    Further optimizations and enhancements to prevent microstutters that were reported
    Further optimizations to the autogen and terrain paging system
 
Rendering/Performance Issues Resolved
 
    Lessened the specular shine on terrain to help alleviate anti-aliasing on runways, roads and terrain
    Fixed an issue where the HDR lighting feature could get into bad rendered states with extreme darkness
    Lightened star and other reflections at night
    Fixed an issue where Effect EffectParams didn’t turn off lights or effects
    Fixed an issue where airport light beacons cast shadows
    Fixed an issue where cloud and fog visibility was rendered at about half of what was set
    Fixed an issue where terrain lighting and shadows could be in wrong direction
    Fixed an issue where windsocks did not visibly change at all, always pointed North
    Fixed a rendering issue where a white square was visible around the moon
    Fixed an issue where boat wakes were not being rendered on certain AMD graphics cards
    Fixed an issue where clouds could be seen through the horizon through thick fog
    Fixed an issue where a black screen could occur with HDR Lighting feature enabled
    Fixed an issue where a black screen could occur going in and out of fullscreen
    Fixed a rendering issue where progressive taxi arrows were not rendering
    Fixed a rendering issue where emissive objects were fogging inappropriately leaving artifacts on the sun and moon
    Fixed an issue where the new dynamic shadows did not respect tiled textures
    Fixed a large performance loss when main Prepar3D window did not have primary focus
    Fixed a large performance loss when moving panel(s) to a second monitor
    Resolved a few memory fragmentation issues
 
Additional Backwards Compatibility Features Implemented
 
    Resolved a rendering issue where white boxes could be seen around Orbx FTX Global lights during the daytime
    Resolved an issue where the Orbx FTX Global lights were not rendering along roads
    Resolved an issue where Orbx FTX Global lights cast shadows
    Resolved several legacy night apron/taxiway/runway approach lighting issues
    Resolved an issue where custom photosceneries weren’t blending well with shorelines
    Resolved an issue where light cone effects were rotating incorrectly about the z-axis
    Resolved an issue where shadows and batches were rendering off on zero altitude batches
 
Weather and Cloud Issues Resolved
 
    Fixed an issue where weather and cloud coverage issues with 7/8 in the UI not applying
    Fixed an issue where cumulus type clouds received NO cloud bottoms from the cumulus01 bitmap
    Fixed an issue where stratus and other clouds render at incorrect heights than what was set via the UI or SimConnect
    Fixed an issue where only one texture from each cloud group was being used
    Fixed an issue where during any WeatherSetObservation from SimConnect there was a “zero” altitude wind layer inserted at 75°C
    Fixed an issue where in the basic weather UI, setting wind speed to none did not clear wind speed
    Fixed an issue where rain and snow effects did not render across entire widescreen or multiple views
    Fixed an issue where rain and snow effects did not render when moving locations within the same airport
    Fixed an issue where temperature changes worked differently when set the same from SimConnect vs the in-simulation UI for non-GLOB observations
 
Controls
Additional Default Controller Profiles Added:
 
    Saitek X52
    Saitek X52 Pro
    Saitek Rudder Pedals
    Saitek Cessna Rudder Pedals
    Saitek Combat Rudder Pedals
    Saitek Pro Flight TPM System
    Saitek Pro Flight Cessna Yoke
    Saitek Pro Flight Cessna Trim Wheel
    Saitek Pro Flight Yoke
    ThrustMaster T.160000M
    ThrustMaster T.Flight Stick X
    ThrustMaster T.Flight Hotas X
    ThrustMaster Joystick – HOTAS Warthog
    ThrustMaster Throttle – HOTAS Warthog
    Redbird JAY Rudder Pedals
    Wireless Controller (Playstation 4 Controller)
 
Controls Issues Resolved
 
    Fixed an issue where joysticks could disconnect mid-flight on Windows 8
    Fixed an issue where flights started with full throttle regardless of the vehicle’s throttle position
    Fixed an issue where SimDirector control settings were not importing/exporting from the user interface
    Fixed an issue where joysticks remapped for iSimObjects but the keyboard did not
    Fixed an issue where imported control setting profiles got merged with existing settings instead of overwriting them
 
SimConnect and Software Development Kit (SDK)
Added Features
 
    Added additional getters for new methods to the camera system
 
Bugs Resolved
 
    Fixed an issue that prevented the included ExternalSim sample from working
    Fixed an issue where the included Cabdir tool in the SDK was not working
 
Documentation Updates
 
    The PDK Rendering documentation was overhauled and several examples were added
    The SimDirector documentation was overhauled and several examples were added
    Fixed an issue where ISimObjectAttachments.h was left out of the SDK
    Made several clarifications to the weather documentation that was causing confusion
    The Weapons documentation was clarified and updated and the weapons and targetting gauge was included as an SDK sample
 
SimConnect Issues Resolved
 
    Fixed an issue where SimConnect value “ELECTRICAL MASTER BATTERY” cannot be written
    Fixed an issue where SimConnect FlightLoad was not working with .fxml files
 
Professional Plus Bugs Resolved and Documentation Added
 
    Resolved a crash when setting Health Points with an Int datatype
    Fixed an issue where SimConnect exceptions where thrown when removing an AI Weapon entity
    Fixed several rendering issues where attached weapons could render behind aircraft
    The weapons documentation was clarified and updated
    Include weapons and target gauge as an SDK sample
 
Updates to Included Air Vehicles
IRIS F-22
 
    Internal stores added to the visual model. (AIM-9X, AIM-120C, GBU-31 and GBU-39)
    Left and Right AIM-9 bays coded to be independent of each other. Now work on Exit 3 and 4
    Right Afterburner flame effect now independent of the left afterburner
    Elevator effectiveness reduced for more stable pitch authority
    Roll effectiveness reduced for more stable roll authority
    Increased airspeed overstress value to more realistic values
    Various internal code changes made to on-board systems
    Updated various audio elements
 
Dino Cattaneo F-35A
 
    More responsive auto-pilot
    New effects
    New, more-detailed pilot
    New textures
    Addition of a 2-D panel
 
Additional Features, Crashes and Issues Resolved
Installer Optimizations
 
    Resolved an issue where the installer would report that it could not write value to complete to key
 
Added Features
 
    Reverse order of sorting on favorite and date/time on load flight screen
    Scenario startup screen enhancements
 
Resolved Crashes Within Prepar3D
 
    Resolved the reported ‘Pure Virtual Function Call’ crash with AI traffic enabled
    Fixed several issues where the scenery library could be causing crashes
    Fixed several instances where the flight planner was causing hard crashes
    Fixed a crash caused by sending incorrect object names through SimConnect
    Fixed a crash caused by running Prepar3D.exe with the -cfgdir command line option
    Fixed a crash where addon aircraft with incorrect LUA code could cause a crash in select vehicle screen
    Fixed a crash where virtual cockpit mip/mapping could cause crashes with vehicles that cannot re-initialize their gauges
 
Miscellaneous Issues Resolved
 
    Fixed an issue where instruments could disappear when using multiple monitors
    Resolved an issue where boat pitch could be rendered incorrectly
    Resolved an issue where planes could bounce on runways
    Resolved a memory leak with aircraft sounds not being freed if no sound devices are present
    Resolved an issue where the Scenery Library allowed for duplicate folder entries
    Resolved an issue where the Scenery Library had un-removable required=false scenery.cfg entries
    Resolved UI rendering spacing and visibility issues in the fuel and payload UI screen
    Resolved UI rendering spacing and visibility issues in the Facility UI screen
    Resolved an issue where some graphic settings were not getting written out to profiles
    Resolved an issue where sound settings and deviced selected did not save out to profiles
    Resolved an issue where users could not hear DME (morse) ident sounds
    Resolved and issue where weapon cameras would not go to static when the weapon detonates on impact
    Resolved several texture.cfg spacing issues in included aircraft
    Resolved an issue where clickspots in Virtual Cockpits weren’t working
    Resolved an issue where under bathymetry dynamic water a user could switch from sub to aircraft and could end up in an infinite crash loop
    Fixed a growing memory leak entering and exiting UI screens