10.20 Beta 6 is out – this build fixes the missing paths in the library that were causing the dreaded “Could not load fac/forest/beach” error. This build also puts in some important changes to 64-bit plugis, so below I will try to point out what matters to select audiences:

Users:

If you don’t make an add-on but you are still testing 10.20, there is still a kind of testing that we need (but you may not like it): is anything broken in the 32-bit edition of 10.20 that worked in 10.11?

This kind of bug (it worked in the old version but is broken now) is called a regression bug in the tech lingo, because the sim has “regressed” – it has gone backward.  This is the most important kind of bug for us to find for three reasons:

  1. No one wants to go backward.
  2. It’s easier for us to find the bugs in new features than random bugs in features we didn’t think we had changed.
  3. If you report a regression bug against two versions of the sim (it worked in 10.11, broken in 10.20) we have tools to see only the code changes from 10.11 to 10.20, which makes finding the bug much quicker.

So: please try the 32-bit 10.20 and if it fails at something that 10.11 did, please let us know ASAP!

Aircraft Developers

This build fixes the prop disc and airspeed indicator, and finally provides more datarefs for the anti-ice system; I suggest rechecking your airplane with these systems.  At this point I think I only have two airplane issues floating around on my radar:

  • The new light billboards and spill can be tricky to use, particularly when lights crash through the fuselage of an airplane.
  • The manifold pressure indication is FUBAR on helicopters.

Both of these bugs were present in 10.11.

In fact, we have no regression bugs on file in the airplane system between 10.11 and 10.20 32-bit.  So if you know of something broken with your airplane that is newly broken in 10.20 32-bit, please report it ASAP.  (You do not need to re-report bugs that were already present in 10.11 like the manifold pressure.)

Plugin Authors

This build integrates a fix for LuaJIT on 64-bit Macs; see the release notes and plugin SDK for how to use it.

This build also strips out the symbols of libpng, libcurl, and libfreetype2 on Mac and Linux.  These symbols never should have been visible in X-Plane, but they have been for years.

  • If your 32-bit plugin used to work on X-Plane 10.11 but stops working on 10.20 32-bit beta 6, please file a bug and we will figure out what to do.
  • If your 64-bit plugin use to work on 10.20 beta 5 but stops working on beta 6, your makefile or X-Code settings have a bug; post to the x-plane-dev mailing list to get help.

There may be future changes to 64-bit like this one; this is why I recommend not releasing while we are in beta!  Our goal is to ‘get 64 bit right’ now during beta while we can try and test.

Scenery

There are no open regression bugs from 10.11 against scenery; facade textures were borked and are now fixed, and the library should be restored.  So if your scenery pack worked in 10.11 and fails in 10.20, please report this ASAP!

I do have one open bug (present in all of the v10 run) that line markings are losing line segments; I hope to get that fixed by the end of beta.

(We also have a report that certain incorrect ATC/apt.dat files will hard-crash the sim – I think Chris will probably be able to get some better validation in place before beta ends.)

About Ben Supnik

Ben is a software engineer who works on X-Plane; he spends most of his days drinking coffee and swearing at the computer -- sometimes at the same time.

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