9 minutes ago, UrgentSiesta said:

But do we know yet what the difference is between paid and free…?

Not until they release some photos or videos.

I ask again, is x- world just an autogen upgrade or a complete scenery upgrade like say the ORBX regions? Maybe I’m dense but I’m not sure from their web site. Exactly what does it do?

Put it this way; maybe; but there is competition from msfs out there when it come to buildings heights features.

Edited December 24, 2025Dec 24 by Marc22

17 hours ago, johncott said:

The automatic algorithm used to make the footprints data needs some work.  I have manually removed them from Canada and some parts of the Northern USA, but it is a lot of time-consuming work.

Yep, I remember needing to clean this up extensively when using the same MS building footprint data to make the TrueEarth US regions.

2 hours ago, Patco Lch said:

I ask again, is x- world just an autogen upgrade or a complete scenery upgrade like say the ORBX regions? Maybe I’m dense but I’m not sure from their web site. Exactly what does it do?

Likely the same thing, i.e. OSM + MS Building data. The effort and bandwidth costs involved to generate and host these files inevitably led to them wanting to charge for it. So this doesn't surprise me, it was going to happen eventually

2 hours ago, Patco Lch said:

I ask again, is x- world just an autogen upgrade or a complete scenery upgrade like say the ORBX regions? Maybe I’m dense but I’m not sure from their web site. Exactly what does it do?

Autogen and trees, it does not include ortho.  It places autogen in the correct place and at the correct height.

@tonywob and @MrBitstFlyer thanks for the reply. When I started using XPlane 12 recently I was so impressed with the performance and graphics I determined I wasn’t going to load it down with anything other than a sweet hanger of fine aircraft. Though the default global scenery is rather bland I will wait for LR to address that while I enjoy every other aspect of this unique platform.

SimHeaven is well worth the install for the added realism it gives to the sim.  If you are not going to use ortho it is very easy to install.

 

5 hours ago, Patco Lch said:

@tonywob and @MrBitstFlyer thanks for the reply. When I started using XPlane 12 recently I was so impressed with the performance and graphics I determined I wasn’t going to load it down with anything other than a sweet hanger of fine aircraft. Though the default global scenery is rather bland I will wait for LR to address that while I enjoy every other aspect of this unique platform.

Give the 12.4 Beta a try - it's an ASTOUNDING improvement in performance. Working well with an expanding set of my existing aircraft addons.

Depending on your personal preferences, the Orbx TrueEarth Great Britain series (the only one remastered for XP 12 so far), is an incredible upgrade to the sim. AND it's on sale for 40% off at the moment.

Edited December 24, 2025Dec 24 by UrgentSiesta

1 hour ago, UrgentSiesta said:

Give the 12.4 Beta a try - it's an ASTOUNDING improvement in performance. Working well with an expanding set of my existing aircraft addons.

Yes, I am using the beta. I think I will try ORBX TE GB though I don’t fly in Europe much.

Any news on this X-World Pro? Really looking forward to this improved version of the scenery.

18 minutes ago, alexcolka said:

Any news on this X-World Pro? Really looking forward to this improved version of the scenery.

My understanding is it is a couple of months away, they are testing the storefront right now.

On 12/23/2025 at 10:15 PM, UrgentSiesta said:

But do we know yet what the difference is between paid and free…?

"The performance upgrade is needed to handle the huge traffic if the next strongly improved version of X-WORLD will be published, this will be in 2 – 3 months. So there is enough time to test and improve performance of simHeaven servers."

Right now all we know is it will be strongly improved.

35 minutes ago, Mike_CFII_MEL said:

My understanding is it is a couple of months away, they are testing the storefront right now.

No problem, can wait that time, thanks for the heads up.

Is XWorld Pro different than SDF global ?

26 minutes ago, XMAN said:

Is XWorld Pro different than SDF global ?

SDF Global is regionalized autogen, meaning it just replaces Laminar default buildings with more appropriate ones for the region, the placement hasn't changed from default. 

X-World is using the real world building footprints and uses facades to place buildings on top of them, with additional extra landmarks, like churches, windmills, industrial structures like cooling towers, silo's, ... added to the mix.

We don't know yet what X-World pro exactly entails, but we can expect it to build on top of the existing Simheaven (X-World) tech.