XPLMGraphics API

A few notes on coordinate systems:

X-Plane uses three kinds of coordinates. Global coordinates are specified as latitude, longitude and elevation. This coordinate system never changes but is not very precise.

OpenGL (or ‘local’) coordinates are cartesian and move with the aircraft. They offer more precision and are used for 3-d OpenGL drawing. The X axis is aligned east-west with positive X meaning east. The Y axis is aligned straight up and down at the point 0,0,0 (but since the Earth is round it is not truly straight up and down at other points). The Z axis is aligned north-south at 0, 0, 0 with positive Z pointing south (but since the Earth is round it isn’t exactly north-south as you move east or west of 0, 0, 0). One unit is one meter and the point 0,0,0 is on the surface of the Earth at sea level for some latitude and longitude picked by the sim such that the user’s aircraft is reasonably nearby.

2-d Panel coordinates are 2d, with the X axis horizontal and the Y axis vertical. The point 0,0 is the bottom left and 1024,768 is the upper right of the screen. This is true no matter what resolution the user’s monitor is in; when running in higher resolution, graphics will be scaled.

Use X-Plane’s routines to convert between global and local coordinates. Do not attempt to do this conversion yourself; the precise ‘roundness’ of X-Plane’s physics model may not match your own, and (to make things weirder) the user can potentially customize the physics of the current planet.

X-PLANE GRAPHICS

These routines allow you to use OpenGL with X-Plane.

XPLMTextureID

XPLM Texture IDs name well-known textures in the sim for you to use. This allows you to recycle textures from X-Plane, saving VRAM.

Warning: do not use these enums. The only remaining use they have is to access the legacy compatibility v10 UI texture; if you need this, get it via the Widgets library.

NameValueDescription
xplm_Tex_GeneralInterface"0" The bitmap that contains window outlines, button outlines, fonts, etc.
xplm_Tex_AircraftPaint"1" The exterior paint for the user's aircraft (daytime).
xplm_Tex_AircraftLiteMap"2" The exterior light map for the user's aircraft.

XPLMSetGraphicsState

XPLM_API void       XPLMSetGraphicsState(
                         int                  inEnableFog,
                         int                  inNumberTexUnits,
                         int                  inEnableLighting,
                         int                  inEnableAlphaTesting,
                         int                  inEnableAlphaBlending,
                         int                  inEnableDepthTesting,
                         int                  inEnableDepthWriting);

XPLMSetGraphicsState changes OpenGL’s fixed function pipeline state. You are not responsible for restoring any state that is accessed via XPLMSetGraphicsState, but you are responsible for not accessing this state directly.

  • inEnableFog - enables or disables fog, equivalent to: glEnable(GL_FOG);
  • inNumberTexUnits - enables or disables a number of multitexturing units. If the number is 0, 2d texturing is disabled entirely, as in glDisable(GL_TEXTURE_2D); Otherwise, 2d texturing is enabled, and a number of multitexturing units are enabled sequentially, starting with unit 0, e.g. glActiveTextureARB(GL_TEXTURE0_ARB); glEnable (GL_TEXTURE_2D);
  • inEnableLighting - enables or disables OpenGL lighting, e.g. glEnable(GL_LIGHTING); glEnable(GL_LIGHT0);
  • inEnableAlphaTesting - enables or disables the alpha test per pixel, e.g. glEnable(GL_ALPHA_TEST);
  • inEnableAlphaBlending - enables or disables alpha blending per pixel, e.g. glEnable(GL_BLEND);
  • inEnableDepthTesting - enables per pixel depth testing, as in glEnable(GL_DEPTH_TEST);
  • inEnableDepthWriting - enables writing back of depth information to the depth buffer, as in glDepthMask(GL_TRUE);

The purpose of this function is to change OpenGL state while keeping X-Plane aware of the state changes; this keeps X-Plane from getting surprised by OGL state changes, and prevents X-Plane and plug-ins from having to set all state before all draws; XPLMSetGraphicsState internally skips calls to change state that is already properly enabled.

X-Plane does not have a ‘default’ OGL state for plug-ins with respect to the above state vector; plug-ins should totally set OGL state using this API before drawing. Use XPLMSetGraphicsState instead of any of the above OpenGL calls.

WARNING: Any routine that performs drawing (e.g. XPLMDrawString or widget code) may change X-Plane’s state. Always set state before drawing after unknown code has executed.

Deprecation Warnings: X-Plane’s lighting and fog environment is significantly more complex than the fixed function pipeline can express; do not assume that lighting and fog state is a good approximation for 3-d drawing. Prefer to use XPLMInstancing to draw objects. All calls to XPLMSetGraphicsState should have no fog or lighting.

XPLMBindTexture2d

XPLM_API void       XPLMBindTexture2d(
                         int                  inTextureNum,
                         int                  inTextureUnit);

XPLMBindTexture2d changes what texture is bound to the 2d texturing target. This routine caches the current 2d texture across all texturing units in the sim and plug-ins, preventing extraneous binding. For example, consider several plug-ins running in series; if they all use the ‘general interface’ bitmap to do UI, calling this function will skip the rebinding of the general interface texture on all but the first plug-in, which can provide better frame rates on some graphics cards.

inTextureID is the ID of the texture object to bind; inTextureUnit is a zero-based texture unit (e.g. 0 for the first one), up to a maximum of 4 units. (This number may increase in future versions of X-Plane.)

Use this routine instead of glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, ….);

XPLMGenerateTextureNumbers

XPLM_API void       XPLMGenerateTextureNumbers(
                         int *                outTextureIDs,
                         int                  inCount);

Use this routine instead of glGenTextures to generate new texture object IDs. This routine historically ensured that plugins don’t use texure IDs that X-Plane is reserving for its own use.

XPLMGetTexture

XPLM_API int        XPLMGetTexture(
                         XPLMTextureID        inTexture);

XPLMGetTexture returns the OpenGL texture ID of an X-Plane texture based on a generic identifying code. For example, you can get the texture for X-Plane’s UI bitmaps.

XPLMWorldToLocal

XPLM_API void       XPLMWorldToLocal(
                         double               inLatitude,
                         double               inLongitude,
                         double               inAltitude,
                         double *             outX,
                         double *             outY,
                         double *             outZ);

This routine translates coordinates from latitude, longitude, and altitude to local scene coordinates. Latitude and longitude are in decimal degrees, and altitude is in meters MSL (mean sea level). The XYZ coordinates are in meters in the local OpenGL coordinate system.

XPLMLocalToWorld

XPLM_API void       XPLMLocalToWorld(
                         double               inX,
                         double               inY,
                         double               inZ,
                         double *             outLatitude,
                         double *             outLongitude,
                         double *             outAltitude);

This routine translates a local coordinate triplet back into latitude, longitude, and altitude. Latitude and longitude are in decimal degrees, and altitude is in meters MSL (mean sea level). The XYZ coordinates are in meters in the local OpenGL coordinate system.

NOTE: world coordinates are less precise than local coordinates; you should try to avoid round tripping from local to world and back.

XPLMDrawTranslucentDarkBox

XPLM_API void       XPLMDrawTranslucentDarkBox(
                         int                  inLeft,
                         int                  inTop,
                         int                  inRight,
                         int                  inBottom);

This routine draws a translucent dark box, partially obscuring parts of the screen but making text easy to read. This is the same graphics primitive used by X-Plane to show text files.

X-PLANE TEXT

XPLMFontID

X-Plane features some fixed-character fonts. Each font may have its own metrics.

WARNING: Some of these fonts are no longer supported or may have changed geometries. For maximum copmatibility, see the comments below.

Note: X-Plane 7 supports proportional-spaced fonts. Since no measuring routine is available yet, the SDK will normally draw using a fixed-width font. You can use a dataref to enable proportional font drawing on XP7 if you want to.

NameValueDescription
xplmFont_Basic"0" Mono-spaced font for user interface. Available in all versions of the SDK.
xplmFont_Menus"1" Deprecated, do not use.
xplmFont_Metal "2" Deprecated, do not use.
xplmFont_Led"3" Deprecated, do not use.
xplmFont_LedWide"4" Deprecated, do not use.
xplmFont_PanelHUD"5" Deprecated, do not use.
xplmFont_PanelEFIS"6" Deprecated, do not use.
xplmFont_PanelGPS"7" Deprecated, do not use.
xplmFont_RadiosGA"8" Deprecated, do not use.
xplmFont_RadiosBC"9" Deprecated, do not use.
xplmFont_RadiosHM"10" Deprecated, do not use.
xplmFont_RadiosGANarrow"11" Deprecated, do not use.
xplmFont_RadiosBCNarrow"12" Deprecated, do not use.
xplmFont_RadiosHMNarrow"13" Deprecated, do not use.
xplmFont_Timer "14" Deprecated, do not use.
xplmFont_FullRound"15" Deprecated, do not use.
xplmFont_SmallRound"16" Deprecated, do not use.
xplmFont_Menus_Localized "17" Deprecated, do not use.
xplmFont_Proportional"18" Proportional UI font.

XPLMDrawString

XPLM_API void       XPLMDrawString(
                         float *              inColorRGB,
                         int                  inXOffset,
                         int                  inYOffset,
                         char *               inChar,
                         int *                inWordWrapWidth,    /* Can be NULL */
                         XPLMFontID           inFontID);

This routine draws a NULL terminated string in a given font. Pass in the lower left pixel that the character is to be drawn onto. Also pass the character and font ID. This function returns the x offset plus the width of all drawn characters. The color to draw in is specified as a pointer to an array of three floating point colors, representing RGB intensities from 0.0 to 1.0.

XPLMDrawNumber

XPLM_API void       XPLMDrawNumber(
                         float *              inColorRGB,
                         int                  inXOffset,
                         int                  inYOffset,
                         double               inValue,
                         int                  inDigits,
                         int                  inDecimals,
                         int                  inShowSign,
                         XPLMFontID           inFontID);

This routine draws a number similar to the digit editing fields in PlaneMaker and data output display in X-Plane. Pass in a color, a position, a floating point value, and formatting info. Specify how many integer and how many decimal digits to show and whether to show a sign, as well as a character set. This routine returns the xOffset plus width of the string drawn.

XPLMGetFontDimensions

XPLM_API void       XPLMGetFontDimensions(
                         XPLMFontID           inFontID,
                         int *                outCharWidth,    /* Can be NULL */
                         int *                outCharHeight,    /* Can be NULL */
                         int *                outDigitsOnly);    /* Can be NULL */

This routine returns the width and height of a character in a given font. It also tells you if the font only supports numeric digits. Pass NULL if you don’t need a given field. Note that for a proportional font the width will be an arbitrary, hopefully average width.

XPLMMeasureString

XPLM_API float      XPLMMeasureString(
                         XPLMFontID           inFontID,
                         const char *         inChar,
                         int                  inNumChars);

This routine returns the width in pixels of a string using a given font. The string is passed as a pointer plus length (and does not need to be null terminated); this is used to allow for measuring substrings. The return value is floating point; it is possible that future font drawing may allow for fractional pixels.