December 19, 2025Dec 19 The first beta of Laminar's "C-Check" update for XP 12 (12.4.0-b1) is available now. Release notes below -- and holy cow what a list! https://www.x-plane.com/kb/x-plane-12-4-0-release-notes/ Public Beta 12.4.0-B1 (Including alpha changelog) New Features Multi-threaded scenery processing: X-Plane now uses multiple CPU cores to prepare scenery for rendering, resulting in substantial performance improvements on certain setups, especially in dense scenery areas Native Tobii Eye Tracker 5 support: Full integration with Tobii head & eye tracking hardware (Windows only) ACARS support via third MCDU: When flying on VATSIM or using the ATC system, you can now request weather, ATIS, and pre-departure clearance through the third MCDU New custom airport: LEBB – Bilbao Airport Updated aircrafts: Airbus A330-300 and Cirrus SR22 Updated avionics: X430/530 and X1000 Aircraft Airbus A330-300 Performance Improvements Refactored all XLua scripts for significant performance gains Updated to brand new XLua binaries Electrical System – Complete Overhaul Cold & Dark Configuration All-new electrical system architecture with proper bus modeling: AC buses: AC1, AC2, AC ESS, AC ESS SHED, AC ESS GRND, AC LAND RCVRY, AC SRVC 1, AC SRVC 2 DC buses: DC BAT1 HOT, DC BAT 2 HOT, DC APU HOT, DC BAT, DC APU BAT, DC1, DC2, DC ESS, DC LAND RCVRY, DC SHED LND RCVY, DC SRVC Electrical Contactor Manager Unit now manages bus bar contactors with accurate status reflection on ECAM AC/DC pages Static Inverter converts battery power to AC Emergency Generator and RAT (Ram Air Turbine): Emergency generator runs off hydraulic pressure from green system RAT drives the green hydraulic system Full emergency electrical configuration logic with bus shedding Transformer Rectifier Units convert AC to DC Battery 1 now properly powers the aircraft All annunciators refactored to use their appropriate electrical buses, limiting visibility based on power states Custom systems now add realistic electrical draw: IFE (Inflight Entertainment) system draws power FADEC draws power only when on with engines OFF Yellow standby electrical hydraulic pump has unique power requirements (can be powered by GPU connection alone without cockpit activation) Fixed numerous electrical issues including generator cutouts, bleed systems, and galley power All overhead panel switches now set appropriately for authentic cold and dark startup Extensive collaboration with real-world A330 pilots to ensure correct switch positions Auto modes for generators and other systems allow switches to remain in ON position (activate automatically when conditions are met) Proper screen configurations for different power states: Upper ECAM and captain PFD available on batteries only Other displays require appropriate AC/DC bus power All screens have appropriate startup times ADIRS (Air Data Inertial Reference System) Realistic alignment process following real-world A330 behavior Proper alignment time simulation after power-up ADIRS fully integrated with electrical system and displays Proper indications on ECAM and navigation displays during alignment sequence Flight directors and autopilot appropriately restricted until alignment complete Flight Director momentarily turns on when AC power is applied, prior to ADIRS alignment, with associated FD flag on PFD EGPWS ‘fault’ lights turn on after AC power from cold and dark, remaining on until alignment finished Three independent Air Data Reference (ADR) and Inertial Reference (IR) units properly managed Speed tape shows proper values once alignment complete MCDU / FMGC Improvements Added ALTN mode to INIT A/B, FUEL PRED, and F-PLN pages FIX INFO page improvements: Now accepts runway designators (e.g., KCLT18L or EDDF18) Color corrections and improved line visibility Fix name labels added DEPARTURE page title remains white until runway is selected Added LL XING/INCR/NO functionality for lateral navigation Enhanced FMGC with better flight plan handling Improved interaction between FMGC and autopilot system Third CDU now functional for AOC (Airline Operational Communications) operations ACARS support via third MCDU: Request weather, ATIS, and pre-departure clearance Works with VATSIM, PilotEdge, and default ATC system New keys and sounds for MCDU added (XPD-17049) Included an option to change the callsign in the ATSU menu (XPD-17582) Flight Director Improvements Flight Director behavior now properly integrated with ADIRS alignment Improved flight director commands and autopilot integration Display Units All cockpit displays feature realistic startup times when powered Display configurations respond intelligently to power states ECAM pages swap appropriately with different display states ECP (ECAM Control Panel) buttons updated to work in single ECAM screen configuration: Press and hold to view system pages Essential for monitoring APU during batteries-only cold and dark startup Primary Flight Display (PFD) improvements: Better overall display quality Correct altitude displays Proper TCAS flag displays TAT/SAT indicators now functional in cockpit Navigation Display (ND) improvements: Better map contrast Approach name displayed when within 100 track miles of destination ND brightness now applied correctly (XPD-17433) Improved overall display quality Upper ECAM improvements Lower ECAM synoptic pages updated for accuracy Normal map effect on glass displays removed (XPD-16026) Hydraulic Systems Complete hydraulic system modeling Proper interaction with electrical system Yellow standby electrical hydraulic pump properly simulated RAT integration with green hydraulic system Bleed Air System Updated bleed air system modeling Proper integration with electrical system Fixed bleed system issues TCAS System Updated TCAS system Proper flag displays on PFD/ND Pressurization System Improved pressurization system modeling Better integration with aircraft systems Flight Model Improvements Fixed autopilot turn anticipation for smoother navigation Multiple autopilot and flight control improvements VLS (lowest selectable speed) now correctly increases in two steps following flap and slat retraction after takeoff Auto brakes can now be disengaged by applying 5% more brake pressure than current autobrake setting Fixed glideslope dropouts that caused autoland failures on some runways Fixed issue where aircraft could deploy reverse thrust before weight-on-wheels (XPD-17344) Changes ailerons to NOT function as speed brakes with ground spoilers (XPD-17012) – uncommon feature on most A330s Updated door systems and operations & manipulators FADEC (Full Authority Digital Engine Control) FADEC improvements and refinements Proper power draw behavior (only when on with engines OFF) Integrated Standby Instruments Improvements to standby instrument systems Better integration with overall aircraft systems ACARS System ACARS displays have 10-second startup time on power up Requires AC power to operate Brightness adjustment capability Full integration with third MCDU for airline operations Cabin Systems Lighting updated to work with new electrical system Inflight entertainment system has realistic startup time IFE requires AC power to operate ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter) Now fully functional Realistic FMOD sounds and event timings Oxygen System Updated oxygen demand to supply appropriate amount of O2 Properly works with menu to don masks Sound Improvements Enhanced sound system throughout aircraft Realistic FMOD sounds for various systems ELT sound implementation Art and Visual Improvements Removed normal map from displays for better appearance Updated beacon spill to not illuminate entire aircraft Updated custom particle system flap vortices for improved realism Updated Lua to drive new particle system illumination for wing condensation (tied to wing inspection lights) Updated custom particle system engine inlet fog to react to wing inspection lights Added subtle animation to nose wheel tires during steering Minor color correction to annunciators – pushes amber more towards amber and less towards yellow Reworked cockpit lighting for improved realism Updated window shades Improved beacon lights FWS (Flight Warning System) Improved FWS performance Eliminated spurious warnings Boeing 737-800 Added new Aerolinease Argentinas livery Updated particles Improved Cold&Dark state Cirrus SR22 Fixed GCU error when using popout mode (XPD-17450) Added current climb gradient (CCG) data Flight path vector now correctly displays geometric climb path accounting for wind Autopilot heading arm on takeoff: press HDG after TO/GA, and heading mode automatically engages when climbing through 400 AGL Added trend vector with 1-minute path prediction Wind vector is now displayed on MFD New profile view (MAP → PROFILE on MFD) Improved approach selection: correctly distinguishes between VOR and VOR-DME approaches at airports with both Fixed flight plan behavior when removing hold-in-lieu procedures Cessna Citation X Added hold-at-present-position function Avionics X1000 Fixed Synthetic Vision airfield drawing errors (XPD-17363) Fixed an error displayed the aircraft icon on the map screen when using a zoom level between 25nm and 50nm range (XPD-17442) Fixed a crash when using the X1000 while drawing the runway stripes and numbers (XPD-17316) Fixed an issue where the terrain wasn’t displayed correctly in Synthetic Vision (XPD-17454) Copilot PFD now supports secondary sensor inputs (copilot pitot, AHRS, etc.) Fixed issue with incomplete SVT tile loading MFD topographical map now displays obstacles, yellow for less than 1000ft vertical clearance, red for less than 100ft ENGINE/LEAN/SYSTEM softkeys now show LEAN page on the Cessna 172 and RV-10 ASSIST softkey on Engine page displays hottest/last peaked EGT with relative temperature Improved the shape of the range ring on the map and take wind into account Added state/province borders to the base map New Nearest User Waypoint page for finding user-defined waypoints New Trip Planning page showing: ETA/ETE to destination Sunset/sunrise times at destination Fuel efficiency and estimated fuel remaining at destination Density altitude and total air temperature New Utility page displaying: Time in air and time since power-up Distance flown (odometer) Ground speed record Enhanced System Setup options: Temperature units (°C/°F) Time display (local/UTC) Fuel units (gallons/pounds) Transition altitude alerts (configurable on/off and altitude) Arrival alerts (configurable on/off and distance) Airspace warnings with altitude buffer and individual class warnings Customizable MFD data field assignments COM channel spacing (25 kHz vs 8.33 kHz) – affects tuning knob behavior X430 / X530 New traffic page with 2, 6, and 12 nm range options New terrain awareness page showing yellow/red terrain warning in 120° or 360 view New NEXRAD weather page with 120° or 360° composite view New Frequencies page to automatically display the departure airport frequencies during the first half of the flight and the destination frequencies later on, or the nearest airport if no flight plan is active New Position page on the X430 to display ground track, ground speed, MSL altitude, time, and bearing/distance to the nearest airport New Satellites page shows GPS status including WAAS capability (3D DIFF NAV vs 3D NAV) On the X530 the Position and Satellites pages are combined, as the X530 has a bigger screen Navigation Display (ND) Fixed waypoint display issues when weather radar is enabled (XPD-17462) ATC & Radio Updated voice packs to AIRAC 2511 Implemented wind corrections for all “Fly heading” instructions Added auto-checkin option to ease unattended flights Improved altitude callouts for flight-following with STAR procedures ATC text dialogs now include spoken equivalents Fixed crash related to departure change requests (XPD-17077) Improved transmitter ranges for ATIS and tower radios to match real-world performance New option to check in automatically while being on-route and set altimeter/transponder. This will not automate the check-in to your final destination, or non-coordinated handoffs. Various ATC improvements User Interface & Controls Added a new background image Added “View Rotate left/right” and “View Rotate up/down” axis controls New “Take Screenshot” button in screenshot tool Option to disable camera lock (double right-click) Settings screen improvements, particularly for Tobii integration Warning message displayed when running X-Plane on macOS via Rosetta Logbook now records user-selected tail number Added a new option to select the Control Profile on the aircraft selection screen Improved coloring for the piechart in the Plugin Manager Added new commands to control pitch & roll via the keyboard (XPD-17299) The “Hard flaps detents” setting will now be saved correctly (XPD-17529) Fixed some translation issues as some texts didn’t get translated (XPD-17456) Graphics & Performance Performance improvements for AMD X3D CPUs Cockpit displays are excluded from FXAA processing for improved readability Fixed an issue where the EFIS camera was unusual dark when using it as a mirror (XPD-16879) GPU selection support for Zink driver (multi-GPU systems) Numerous stability improvements, especially for users with orthophoto scenery Improved condensation particles and added a new dataref to control the amount of light leak from exterior lights to light up particles Fixed an issue where normals won’t work in dcls files (XPD-16696) Fixed the propeller not being shadowed by the clouds in interior views VR Added VR-specific graphics settings in addition to the default settings Aviation and general flashlights now work properly in VR Improved SteamVR controller detection Improved performance when using SteamVR Reduced excessive logging during controller detection (XPD-17190) Various quality-of-life improvements Added new commands to toggle the visibility of the VR xPad AI Aircraft AI aircraft now spawn with full fuel tanks Improved taxiing of AI aircraft Improved ground handling behavior and runway allocations Scenery & Airport Library New airport library objects: taxi cars, VHF antennas, 3d sidewalks, segmented circles, signal squares, road speed bumps, building material props for construction sites, and animated tower cranes Added two static gliders with multiple liveries New vegetation species and camping objects (tents, etc.) New fences and hedges New low-poly cars for roads (South American region) Added RV (Recreational Vehicle) models New custom airport LEBB – Bilbao Airport Fixed an issue where static aircraft vanish after touchdown (XPD-17514) Improved logging for missing scenery (XPD-17519) Updated all Global Airports to the latest version SDK Synthetic Vision now accessible to aircraft developers via texture access or as standalone device for custom avionics development Fixed an error where users might get the message “The sim destroyed an instance during the dag!” when using add-ons (XPD-17441) Improved documentation of XPLM_MSG_DATAREFS_ADDED (XPD-17317) Fixed return value of XPLMGetVirtualKeyDescription (XPD-17397)
December 19, 2025Dec 19 Now looking fwd for the flight dynamics updates !!! This was quite a big update !!! Flying gliders since 1980 Flightsimming since 1992 AMD Ryzen 5600x, 32GB RAM, GPU Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti 8 GB, 1 TB and 500 GB nvme2 SSD drives, HP 27" 60Hz LED monitor @ 1920x1080, T16000, Hotas from old X52 Pro, Saitek Combat Rudder Pro (2010 model)
December 19, 2025Dec 19 Well what a nice surprise. Christmas has come a little early today even if its beta. 😁
December 19, 2025Dec 19 Moderator I've seen a substantial increase in FPS from the scenery changes in this, especially on large scenery areas.
December 19, 2025Dec 19 Author I only had time before I had to leave for work to fire up the sim and quickly jump into a cockpit to look around (I wanted to try out the native Tobii support). So far, it seemed to be working well but I didn't have time to play around to see if X-Camera was still working. Quick PSA for Tobii users: if you want to use the native support, you have to remove the old Tobii plugin from your Resources/plugins folder. Separately, I was thrilled to see that they've added separate graphics settings for VR now. Time to start tweaking!
December 19, 2025Dec 19 Now this is a lovely Christmas present from the team. Look forward to trying this out over the weekend. My youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/c/Dkentflyer
December 19, 2025Dec 19 List is impressive, still to do on my wishlist: - flatten airports ground to get rid of various problems - Star Wars rain during night time - outside lights bleeding trough cockpit - winter time ground friction problem - customized installation process Artur
December 19, 2025Dec 19 42 minutes ago, Beardyman said: List is impressive, still to do on my wishlist: - flatten airports ground to get rid of various problems - Star Wars rain during night time - outside lights bleeding trough cockpit - winter time ground friction problem - customized installation process My thoughts: - this is possible in a way already, either flatten airport completely or even hack the elevation nodes, but not for public use, only for internal LR use - check out BGHH, VQPR or VNLK which I fixed. - It is somewhat a realistic effect, I have seen it many times when flying real airliners - the cockpit walls do block outside lights - the ground friction is realistic, even a bit too good - the lowest friction you will ever get corresponds to braking action "medium" in the real world. I agree that real runways get swept, though. - ?
December 19, 2025Dec 19 1 hour ago, Beardyman said: Star Wars rain during night time Is this a thing? I have seen some YouTube videos from real world pilots that show 'Star Wars' rain. CPU Ryzen 7800X 3D RAM 32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz GPU GEFORCE RTX 4090 Monitor AOC AGON AG352UCG UltraWide G-Sync @ 3440x1440 Internal Storage 1TB NVMe PCIe SSD External Storage Three 4Tb HDs
December 19, 2025Dec 19 55 minutes ago, MrBitstFlyer said: Is this a thing? I have seen some YouTube videos from real world pilots that show 'Star Wars' rain. Hmm... have you actually seen Xplane effect i am talking about ? During night with lights off i see white flashy rain, showing on and off - is it realistic? Edited December 19, 2025Dec 19 by Beardyman Artur
December 19, 2025Dec 19 1 hour ago, Litjan said: My thoughts: - this is possible in a way already, either flatten airport completely or even hack the elevation nodes, but not for public use, only for internal LR use - check out BGHH, VQPR or VNLK which I fixed. - It is somewhat a realistic effect, I have seen it many times when flying real airliners - the cockpit walls do block outside lights - the ground friction is realistic, even a bit too good - the lowest friction you will ever get corresponds to braking action "medium" in the real world. I agree that real runways get swept, though. - ? Last time at CYYT with winter and windy conditions i was unable to drive on taxi ways, was dancing and spinning somewhere between the trees - plane was uncontrollable even at lowest speed Cockpit do not block light - i see pushback vehicle yellow beacons inside my cockpit Edited December 19, 2025Dec 19 by Beardyman Artur
December 19, 2025Dec 19 16 minutes ago, Beardyman said: Hmm... have you actually seen Xplane effect i am talking about ? Erm, yes. CPU Ryzen 7800X 3D RAM 32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz GPU GEFORCE RTX 4090 Monitor AOC AGON AG352UCG UltraWide G-Sync @ 3440x1440 Internal Storage 1TB NVMe PCIe SSD External Storage Three 4Tb HDs
December 19, 2025Dec 19 10 minutes ago, MrBitstFlyer said: Erm, yes. Ok, then rain is not on your list 👍🙂 Artur
December 19, 2025Dec 19 1 hour ago, Beardyman said: Hmm... have you actually seen Xplane effect i am talking about ? During night with lights off i see white flashy rain, showing on and off - is it realistic? It is if you have the strobe or anti-collision lights on.
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