Professional Plus developer - looking for starting point?

SDK supports Prepar3D’s philosophy of an open development architecture and encourages third parties to bring new innovations with improved add-ons and training content.
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Rob Ainscough
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Joined: Sat Jan 05, 2013 6:46 pm
Location: Oregon USA

Post by Rob Ainscough »

What exactly do you want to develop? Gauges? Full aircraft? Addons?



The SDK is all we have. There currently is not enough documentation in the SDK to seriously develop for Professional Plus, so you will probably spend the first few months researching and testing out how stuff works. Also the documentation is largely inconsistent, partly wrong and stuff is missing, so instead of trusting it you sometimes need to try stuff.



Also there is no real support available. The developers are sporadically answering questions in their spare time in the forum, but other than that you will have to find out everything for yourself pretty much. As almost all deep knowledge about programming for FSX/Prepar3d is considered a company secret you will not get too much help from other developers as well.



Other than that its a lot of fun if you actually succeed in creating something.



One good website is fsdeveloper.com



Have fun!
Rob Ainscough
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minime
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Joined: Mon Jun 10, 2013 4:33 pm

Post by minime »

What exactly do you want to develop? Gauges? Full aircraft? Addons?



The SDK is all we have. There currently is not enough documentation in the SDK to seriously develop for Professional Plus, so you will probably spend the first few months researching and testing out how stuff works. Also the documentation is largely inconsistent, partly wrong and stuff is missing, so instead of trusting it you sometimes need to try stuff.



Also there is no real support available. The developers are sporadically answering questions in their spare time in the forum, but other than that you will have to find out everything for yourself pretty much. As almost all deep knowledge about programming for FSX/Prepar3d is considered a company secret you will not get too much help from other developers as well.



Other than that its a lot of fun if you actually succeed in creating something.



One good website is fsdeveloper.com



Have fun!
Saul
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Joined: Mon Mar 04, 2013 1:02 pm
Location: Manchester, UK

Post by Saul »

Hi Rob,



I concur with Minime, the best recourse for learning is http://fsdeveloper.com/forum/index.php



Depending on what you will be developing, you may need to get 3DSMAX2012 or the 2014 version.

I do believe they are still available at http://www.autodesk.com/products/autode ... x/overview

They do a rental (Pay as you go) or buy scheme. There is a model converter from fsdeveloper but the is for none commercial use.



The FS developer site will help bring you upto speed in many aspects of developing for flight simulation.

You will probably have to settle on one aspect of development, for example, Scenery or aircraft/vehicles or weather ect. ect...



Regards,

Saul.
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Rob Ainscough
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Joined: Sat Jan 05, 2013 6:46 pm
Location: Oregon USA

Post by Rob Ainscough »

I've browsed fsdeveloper.com many times. There is some good info there, but also some info that doesn't make any sense at all.



I'm looking at AI traffic management and airport vehicle management. Also looking into an ATC product, but that's long term if things workout with P3D. Target audience is not likely to be "it's too expensive crowd" with the hope there is a better paying audience. Testing the waters.



Was hoping for a little more encouragement/support from LM (at least in terms of documentation and starting point). So I assume the idea that 3rd party content providers isn't a priority for LM? So take it, try it, discover how it really works, keep it a secret, run with it ... funny how not much changes in the software engineering world :)



Thanks for input.



Cheers, Rob.
Rob Ainscough
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WBard
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Post by WBard »

Hey Rob,



That's not entirely the case. It's no secret that LM acquired this beautiful source code a few years ago, and people have been actively developing for it MUCH longer than we've owned the license to the old source. That being said, it's part of the reason sites like FSDeveloper are such a great resource. They've been at this way longer than us. If of course you've read the SDK and simply don't have access to a bit of information or an interface, then we explore adding that interface or opening up a new API so you can get access to what you need to develop your addon or product.



Regarding pro plus, we have a sample in the iSimObject SDK that is a ground vehicle with weapons. It's a great starting point to get compiled and start exploring what is now possible with V2. You'll see it is a basic model, but has multiple contact points, gun and turret animations and logic, etc. It'd be a great starting point to get compiled, running, and tweaking as you begin to explore developing for Pro Plus and adding weapons, etc.
andrewgrey
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Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2015 8:14 pm

Re: Professional Plus developer - looking for starting point?

Post by andrewgrey »

Are the differences between Academic and Pro Plus mainly in the SDK area, of which I know next to nothing about? If I do not plan to create anything, will buying P3D Pro Plus be any more beneficial than if I just got the academic version? Is Pro Plus only for developers mainly, or can end users like me benefit more than if they just had academic? Such as, if someone created a combat scenario like in Falcon BMS, are Academic end users able to attempt the scenario, or will ProPlus be needed?

And I plan to be in the group that is willing to pay more for a better quality product.

Thanks,
Andrew
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