X-Plane 12 Development Update – May 19, 2022
![](https://developer.x-plane.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/267858219_10158174229516283_1901376959439531799_n-800x600.jpeg)
Status Update
Our next milestone is the Early Access release of X-Plane 12. As we get closer to this public stage, we wanted to share a quick look into where we are in the development process, what’s being worked on currently, and what else needs to be completed before we release.
During Early Access:
- Everyone will be able to purchase X-Plane 12.
- X-Plane 12 will be available for purchase as a digital key for $59.99, just like always.
- During Early Access, X-Plane 12 digital keys will include access to X-Plane 11 as well.
- DVD copies of X-Plane 12 will be available later on, once X-Plane 12 is out of Early Access. These will be available from X-Plane.com in North America and by Aerosoft in Europe.
- Early Access will also be available on Steam.
Flight Model
- In Final Testing
- Austin is working on a blog post now to provide an overview of the changes that have been made for X-Plane 12.
World Features/Global Scenery
- Completed
- Rain/Snow shaders for airports and global scenery
- In Progress
- Complete data import/finish scenery tile generation.
- We import piles and piles of data and then use it to create our global scenery. Due to the sheer size of this data, the import process alone takes several days .
- Improve performance of 3D trees.
- Tune coastlines/beaches embedded new scenery tiles.
- Boat/Seaplane 3D wake drawing.
- Complete ortho photo compatibility.
- We know that users have all sorts of ortho photo packs that they are using currently in X-Plane 11. Our goal is to maintain compatibility as much as possible.
- Complete data import/finish scenery tile generation.
- To-Do
- Finish implementing geographically-aware water colors.
![](https://developer.x-plane.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Cessna_172SP_seaplane-2022-05-18-22.20.36.png)
![](https://developer.x-plane.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Cessna_172SP_seaplane-2022-05-18-22.28.07.png)
Airport Features
- Complete
- Fully animated jetways.
- Modular tower building kit for Gateway artists.
- New ground vehicles with updated driving logic.
- FMOD sounds for ground vehicles.
- Dozens of new static aircraft + new airline/airport based logic for livery selection.
- In Progress
- New (all electric ⚡️) passenger buses
![](https://developer.x-plane.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/N844X-2022-03-24-17.50.23-1600x861.png)
Fleet
- Completed
- SR22
- R22 (skids/mariner versions)
- Citation X
- RV-10
- PA-18
- In Progress
- A330
- While this aircraft is ready for an initial release, there are some additional features that we are still working on – specifically a custom Airbus FMS.
- F-14
- To-Do: Finish liveries and finalize autopilot behavior/cockpit details.
- A330
![](https://developer.x-plane.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Screen-Shot-2022-05-18-at-11.25.53-AM-7-1529x900.png)
![](https://developer.x-plane.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/unnamed-10-1-1600x802.png)
Weather Engine
- Largely complete – including fresh data sources for real weather, new logic, new rain/snow accumulation/windshield effects, new volumetric 3D clouds, etc.
- To-Do
- Fix a handful of bugs in the volumetric cloud system.
- Ensure weather continuity between networked simulators.
- Performance Tuning
- Third Party API
![](https://developer.x-plane.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Screen-Shot-2022-05-18-at-11.28.13-AM-1497x900.png)
![](https://developer.x-plane.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Screen-Shot-2022-05-19-at-10.20.53-AM-1600x900.png)
ATC
- Complete
- Updated UI
- VR/Mouse Free support
- VFR Operations (in testing)
- To-Do
- Final review
![](https://developer.x-plane.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Screen-Shot-2022-05-18-at-11.34.45-AM-1551x900.png)
Rendering
- Complete
- Improve anti-aliasing performance and results
- Re-implement projection warping
- In Progress
- Ambient occlusion final tuning.
- To-Do
- Improve global performance.
- Fix Screen Space Reflection (SSR) bugs.