dolph98

@jfri There isn't one simple way to load the .FMS file that covers all aircraft. Depending on how your aircraft is configured, YouTube has all you need to know. The FMS loadinig depends on whether you are trying to program a default FMS or a purchased aircraft FMS, as they can differ greatly. For default 737, search for "X-Plane 12 - Default FMS Programming". Search up your purchased aircraft title if that's the case. For the G1000, search "X-Plane 12 - Complete G1000 Tutorial from PFD to MFD". For the Cessna and other GPS equipped planes, search for "How to use the Garmin GNS 430 530 GPS | GNS 430/530 Tutorial | IFR GPS". I hope this helps you.

Yes, Plan-G plans should work. I use SimBrief or Little Nav Map for mine. All .fms files go in the "X-plane 12\Output\FMS plans" folder. Your question about a straight line confused me, but no, you can add all the waypoints manually in most aircraft FMS, or in the GPS too.

I'll third that emotion. Direct is better whenever possible. Steam works but you will be forever tied to Steam for your updates. And everything else.

That's strange. So my installer has version 5.4.0r1 dated 6/25/2026.

XP12.4.3 is rolling out as released now with the beta at 12.4.4b3.

I want to buy the whole package but I do not have the drive space. Please tell me, if I bought the package would I be able to install just USA and EU and wait on the rest? IOW, is it modular like that?

According to some earlier in this thread, the answer is no impact noticed. It's the shimmering that is holding me off. It shimmers enough already.

ASHA script is for XP11. I'd be careful with that one.

I will tell you what I do: I open the file "settings.txt" located in the Resources folder. Find five lines that start with "SETTING_1 renopt_shadow_quality_" and at the end of each line, change the number to 4096. EXAMPLE: SETTING_1 renopt_shadow_quality_04 0 shadow/scenery_shadows 0 shadow/total_fade_ratio 0.999 shadow/csm_split_exterior 1 shadow/csm_split_interior 3 shadow/csm/far_limit_exterior 500 shadow/csm/far_limit_exterior 500 fbo/shadow_cam_size 4096 This helps in almost all situations. There are still some shark teeth in cockpits of some aircraft. Your FPS will dip considerably if you use 8192 so beware.

When I was a software engineer, we had to be very careful about announcing releases because our customer planned their flight testing based on our release date. If we slipped, it was a major thing and the contract payout was affected. We went on (unpaid) overtime to make things work out. It didn't happen often after we learned to seal our lips until things looked ready enough.

I have noticed that if I run the default lights.txt then open X-plane 12 in windowed mode instead of Full Screen mode, the city lights look exceptionally bright and much more realistic. IMHO. They don't look that nice in full screen mode. My vid card is a 5070.

I used LiveTraffic most of the time, but right now with v12.4.0b1 there is a bug that crashes to desktop at certain airports. CYYZ is one that I found, but there are some other airports that do the same and I won't test to find them all. LT works great if you fly the released XP12 version. This beta problem has been reported to LR by the LiveTraffic dev so no need to send in any further crash data. I am flying with Traffic Global until it is fixed as it does not CTD that I know of.

I have SFD Global and I use the Urban and Terrain textures when I'm not running XPME. I use SimHeaven and these two together with GF2 and it works good with some heavy-FPS aircraft. I don't use the whole package anymore, not since XP11 days. Just the terrain as it look a bit better than default. Just a bit though. I don't think I'd spend money on it but if it suits you, go for it.

I believe it is the shadow changes that fixed things mostly for me. I could not run shadows before, now? No problem. All scenery and plugins and I now have 30 FPS most places with 3 monitors! It is truly game-changing. EDIT: I also upped my shadows to 4096 in settings.txt to smooth out the cockpit shadowing. Couldn't do that before either.

BTW I've removed that worthless set of junk software the support site gives as a "driver" and things have been good since.