Ray Proudfoot

This is a warning to anyone still running PFPX. Yesterday I cloned my SSD for a larger one on which PFPX is installed. The laptop booted up fine and all seemed well. Until I launched PFPX. I was presented with a registration screen to enter my product key. ☹️ WHAT??? I'd only swapped out the SSD for a larger one. No change to any other hardware. This seems total overkill. So I searched all my mail from FlightSimSoft and it included one with all the registrations. TopCat and annual subscriptions for their services, But crucially not the one for PFPX. This I guess is because I bought it from PC Aviator, not direct from FSS. Fortunately their website is still running and on finding my order I was able to retrieve my product key. But had PC Aviator not still been running I would have been stuffed! So if you change your SSD make sure you have your product key available.

@Captain Kevin, that’s far more work than me adding waypoints manually. Concorde wasn’t obliged to stick to jet routes outside SIDs and STARs as it flew in airspace no other aircraft would occupy. Thanks for the tips though.

We’ll agree to disagree then Mathijs. It’s not that important anyway.

It must cost money to run the servers and maintain the software. If no separate charge is made that suggests it’s subsidised.

It isn’t a case of avoiding particular airspace. Concorde could only go supersonic once clear of populated areas. So essentially, over the ocean. See if you can generate a flight plan from KBOS to KMCO that stays over the ocean as long as possible and gets no closer to land than 20nm abeam.

@srcooke, thanks for that Steve. So it’s subsidised by Navigraph. I saw it in use yesterday on a friend’s computer running MSFS20. It looks very slick and suitable for real world routes. But my flight from Tokyo to Heathrow last week via Alaska was hand created in PFPX as the GCR took me over Russian airspace now out of bounds. How would SimBrief planned it? And as for my fictitious Concorde routes such as Boston to Orlando I believe only PFPX will allow the user to create those manually. Once the plan is created I stop using PFPX as the fuel planning etc. is performed by the FSL coding in the sim.

@Mathijs Kok, who owns SimBrief? A single person or company? Given it’s free that raises questions about how the servers are financed.

Has anyone successfully reinstalled PFPX and TopCat using their saved installers? I’m thinking of the day my Dell laptop SSD might fail. Having said that I do make a backup of the actual disc so restoring that should be fine for me.

Out of curiosity I entered my email address and received an email with my product keys. I had them already but it shows the system still works. Well done Liam. 👍

I bought Ben Gurion last month. I guessed Aerosoft wouldn’t lower the price even though sales for P3D must be close to flatlining. Performance is good but given I have an i9-13900K, 32Gb RAM and a 4090 I’d expect nothing less. I’m more than satisfied with P3Dv5. When I look at the state of MSFS I have no desire to buy a sim with so many unresolved issues.

@Kalnon, no worries. Yes, love the aircraft but with the weather so glorious here in England I haven’t been in front of my PC for over a week. 😃

I’m interested in Ben Gurion Airport for P3Dv5. When searching for it there is a premium for the P3D and XP versions compared to the MSFS one. Why? Sales for P3D have plummeted and many other sellers have discounts for their P3D stock. But Aerosoft never does. How about matching the MSFS price? https://www.aerosoft.com/en/search?sSearch=Ben+gurion

@Kalnon, I bought it and the 300ER expansion pack the day after that post. If it’s still available then Aerosoft have got more sense than PMDG. Flew Manchester to Singapore last week. Great performance and no streaming problems! 😁

I've discovered on AvSim it is.

I'm considering Napoli for P3Dv5 but the compatibility list stops at v4. Is it okay with v5? https://secure.simmarket.com/aerosoft-napoli-x-fsx-p3d.phtml

Given PFPX was made available for home users I fail to understand your point. The software has performed flawlessly for years. Monday's glitch was just that, a glitch as Stephen suggested. Planning a flight this morning with AS running and all is well.

Hi Stephen. Validation is part of the process to complete the planning process. If you say there was a server issue yesterday that probably explains the problem. I’m out today it will try tomorrow. Thanks.

Later... Active Sky runs on my P3D computer and is currently turned off so no access to weather for PFPX. Running PFPX on my laptop I'm now able to complete the process. It looks like there was something in Wx that PFPX didn't like. I'll continue to test on Wednesday and report back.

This morning I downloaded and installed the latest Rad Restrictions file kindly provided by Sharky. But when planning a flight the process is hanging when Validate Flight is selected. I know Esc will stop the process but it doesn't release the flight. Has anyone else had this problem and is there a fix other than using the previous cycle?

Many thanks Joe. That's very much appreciated by me and many others I'm sure. @Mathijs Kok, one question. I bought this airport from PC Aviator, not Aerosoft but of course it's an Aerosoft product. I've tried to contact them several times but no reply. Any chance that when Joe provides the P3D update you could make it available to me please? I can provide a receipt.

Agreed but I had to do an internet search to find contact details for him. It would be helpful if those were included.

You replied before reading my next post. 😉

The developer is Jo Erlend Sund. He has developed Oslo too and was interviewed here. https://www.simflight.com/2024/06/19/interview-jo-erlend-sund/ He has his own website and can be contacted here… https://www.joerlendsund.com/contact I’ll be writing to him and suggest others unhappy about him not updating P3D EDDK do the same. Perhaps if enough of us do it he’ll help us out.

Ricardo at LatinVFR supplied updated fixes for Barcelona when 07/25 runways changed. The problem buying from Aerosoft is they don’t tell you who the developer is. Perhaps if they did we could ask him to update the files. Runway designation changes are very infrequent. Perhaps every 20 years. Once done they won’t need doing again.

Tom, there’s a difference between developing and making a minor change. Updating a few taxiway signs and the runway markings is not a big effort. Aerosoft made plenty of money selling it. You should “encourage” the developer to update it for P3D as many have remained loyal to that sim.