Hello
Discontinuation of FS9, FSX and P3D navigational updates. Site closure
Due to personal reasons and a low donation input over the last couple of years, possibly related to the transition of many simmers to MSFS, I can’t keep updating FS9, FSX and P3D navigational data on a worldwide basis.
This long-standing work requires a lot of time to provide accurate data as well as a little money…
Therefore, navdata updates for these simulators will be discontinued in 2025. Last provided update cycle will be 2024-13.
I might also be unable to update other parts of the site and provide additional data.
In this worst case scenario, site will be closed in the coming months.
Regardless, I would like to thank everyone for their confidence and support. Please continue to enjoy what has driven me for so long.
So it seems like we not be able to update our simulator data anymore ,any idea ,can Navigraph give any solution so we can also keep up to date and simulator too
Thank you
Hi…,
You have posted this as a Wishlist item, and without voting?
What exactly is being discontinued?
What are you seeking from Navigraph ?
Cheers
Ian
Hello, till naw I was updating p3d navdata from www.aero.sors.fr , but this service will be closed at 2025 , so we can’t update anymore simulator data
So maybe Navigraph can provide this option to
The potential return on investment is questionable given the popularity of MSFS 2020/2024.
We shall measure user demand from the votes above.
Cheers
Ian
I would strongly support this request as it’s always a hassle to fly with all third party addons refreshed by Navigraph but Prepar3d running old navaids and AFCADs.
I update rarely but recently did an update to 2501 accompanied by updating Prepar3d 4.5 HF3 with the aero.sors.fr package.
Hervé Sors now reduced his work to every two month releases, so my Prepar3d is on 2412 but I can live with. But if Hervé will end his work, I won’t update Navigraph any longer to avoid discrepancies.
In my opinion, if Hervé is able to offer a non-commercial solution, it shouldn’t be too hard for Navigraph to offer the same service for a paid product.
Although I do +1 this, and I do agree with Ian that there’s a question of return on investment with this given P3D is dwindling, where are you getting this info from?
I emailed Hervé to clarify and he’s confirmed the updates will continue be supplied with each AIRAC cycle as normal. I’ve downloaded each AIRAC cycle update, for P3D, directly from Hervé. This isn’t to say that Hervé won’t end his work in the future as that is possible and right now he’s the only person doing it, so this is a real risk.
For informational purposes, it will exclusively pertain to P3Dv5. Updates to FSX and earlier P3D versions will occur no more frequently that once every three or four cycles.
Hervé
Thank you for clarification, that’s what I meant - as a P3D V4 user.
From Navigraph Downloads: FMS Data Manager
The Navigraph FMS Data Manager can find and update more than 160 different addon data formats
I bet, we find supported addons with fewer installation counts as P3D 
That is a very fair point. Although I believe Navigraph are generally more biased towards MSFS 2020/2024 compared to other flight sims.
I think, through all these years of development and versions of Prepar3D, LM missed to integrate an easy interface to update the sim’s navdata, that’s imho a big and annoying problem.
So I have tools and aircraft that has to be controlled by actual navigraph navdata, in opposite - and without Hervé’s sim-internal tools - tools and aircraft that don’t know anything about actual navdata (while working with old and differenct in-sim data).
Recently, I bought MSFS 2020 (spring discount), but the transformation is heavy and expensive: not only the many addons and aircraft I own in P3Dm, but the whole handling of the simulator, the difference in (my) user experience and the meanwhile perfect settings in (my) P3D. So P3D V4 will be my main sim for the next months although I know that development for this release has been stopped long ago.
Yes this is true. I’m looking into this locally (I am a software engineer and I am naturally curious, although I’m new to the P3D/FSX format) and what I’ve gathered so far is that P3D uses the binary/BGL format which is essentially XML files converted to binary. MSFS does also use the BGL format but the XML schema will be different. If Navigraph already has a BGL deserializer then there shouldn’t be that much effort in handling the P3D schema.
These need to be parsed back into XML, XML files would then be pulled into memory, compared against the Navigraph database and a merge performed. What I don’t yet know is
- what significance the numbers in the P3D/Scenery folders (I assume the folders are for priority of loading scenery) and the APX, ATX + NVX files means
- for any navaids or waypoints which may not exist in any P3D file, what the process is for adding these. It’s easier when it’s a new waypoint that’s linked to an existing waypoint. Not so much if it’s a new airway or path.
There are some implementations for BGL to XML converters but I’ve noticed that many hobbyist developers never open source their software. It’s typically closed source, shared via archives rather than GitHub and so that’s means anybody doing this work must write the code themselves rather than being able to reuse a library.
First, afaik the numbers in the P3D scenery folders reflect LM’s internal organization scheme, addon scenery uses other folder/file names, so no meaning there imho.
But things are a bit more complicated:
- objects in a BGL may disappear (e.g. NDB removed, airport closed)
- Existing objects have to be modified (magnetic variance, runway descriptors)
- Processing may change by a SIM update, it happened in P3D V4 and lead to trouble in FSAeroData navaid replacement (they delivered a separate, high order “navaid BGL” ),
result: airport altitude misbehaviour
It’s possible to override or replace P3D internal navaids/airports, FSAeroData did it (but ceased), Hervé does.
But P3D is not designed for, so it’s some kind of “unsupported way”, means: no standard API. At any time, processing may be invalidated by some servicepack update (it happened ago: the altitude misbehaviour for FSAeroData BGLs after LM changed the processing order of scenery entries).
What would have helped: a standard P3D API that could be easily used by a third party to update at least the default airports/navaids of the sim.
API doesn’t necessarily mean a program API, it could be based on some well documented structure or even a senseful separation method of airport/navaid BGLs.
And - important - is supported by the software vendor (LM) regarding servicepacks and even release upgrades.
They do have this part covered at least - https://www.prepar3d.com/SDKv5/sdk/world/scenery/scenery_overview.html
That’s a fair consideration for Navigraph but, arguably, I wouldn’t be expecting updates for P3D V2, 3, 4 or 5 any time soon so I’d say this as less of a concern for Hervè or anybody else doing this. I personally wouldn’t be expecting any further updates on V6 either for that matter. P3D is a dying platform but my view is that this request is a good one since it allows previous/current owners to continue flying with newer AIRAC cycles.
Hahaha, I agree (asking myself: am I a dinosaur ).
But my P3D V4.5 works like a charm…with many plugins, tools, addons over the years.
Regarding this situation, I decided to reduce navigraph updates for P3D only after (rarely) buying new addons that come with a default - way old - navigraph database and wait with this until Hervé releases his next cycle.
Unfortunately Navigraph doesn’t provide some kind of an archive, so an older AIRAC couldn’t be injected. That would simplify things as I don’t need the newest AIRAC.