The Future of X-Plane 11 - Hartford FlightSimCon 2017

X-PLANE 11
AIRCRAFT
▸ New airliners with incredible detail
▸ Major updates to the ﬂeet
▸ Consistent high quality in all default aircraft
▸ High performance

YOU CAN’T TAKE AWAY THE POWER.
— Austin Meyer
X-PLANE 11 USER INTERFACE

X-PLANE 11
PHYSICALLY BASED RENDERING
▸ Lighting follows the laws of physics
▸ Realistic reﬂections and metals
▸ Materials just look “right” under all lighting
conditions
▸ Optically correct fog

X-PLANE 11
GLOBAL AIRPORTS
▸ Beautiful 3-d airports created by the X-Plane
community
▸ 4,447 3-d airports
▸ 3,092 registered gateway users
▸ 10,265 scenery packs uploaded
▸ 42 of the 50 busiest airports in the world

PHYSICS AND SYSTEMS
AUSTIN MEYER

X-PLANE 11
PHYSICS AND SYSTEMS
▸ New PT-6 model based on flying 844X
▸ Refined recipe engine model based on notes
from 842X
▸ Propeller and rotor model from POH for OH-58
▸ Jet engine N1 and N2 thrust curves based on
real jet engines and F-4 POH
▸ Updated pressurization modeling based on
real flight experience

X-PLANE 11 PHYSICS
VECTOR-BASED FLIGHT DYNAMICS
▸ Vector-based physics calculations - correct for
any direction of ﬂight
▸ Correct results even when air ﬂow is backward
or coming from the side
▸ Aircraft taxiing in a strong tailwind or tail
slide
▸ Helicopters hovering

X-PLANE 11 SYSTEMS
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
▸ Generators and alternators follow curves from
real alternator and generator charts
▸ Realistic amps/volts by RPM
▸ Battery charges (or doesn’t) based on ground
operation like real world

AIRPORTS AND SCENERY
ALEX UNRUH

SCENERY
NEW SCENERY GATEWAY
LEGO BRICKS

SCENERY
NEW SCENERY GATEWAY
LEGO BRICKS
VEHICLES

VIRTUAL REALITY
VR FEATURES
▸ Easy to setup/use (ONE checkbox). No joystick/yoke/pedals required!
▸ 180 / 360 degree, 6 degree of freedom movement to look ANYWHERE.
▸ Teleport (with hotspots)
▸ Full 3D Cockpit Manipulation (with haptic feedback)
▸ xPad Companion Tablet (Maps, Shortcuts, Planning? Logbook? Plates?!!)

VIRTUAL REALITY
VR & 3RD PARTY AIRCRAFT
▸ Minor OBJ modiﬁcations to add “magnets” if desired.
▸ Simple txt ﬁle to override default manipulator behavior.
▸ Requires use of standard X-Plane manipulators (no custom manipulators!)
▸ Guidance for Aircraft Authors is coming!

VIRTUAL REALITY
“IT’S TOO EXPENSIVE! WHO CARES?! GET BACK TO FEATURE <XYZ>” ~USERS
▸ Mobile, Desktop and VR are strongly intertwined!
▸ V11 GUI came from Mobile Development
▸ 3D Immersive sound
▸ PERFORMANCE! Pipeline cleanup & modernization are how we’re getting
there.
▸ Reﬂections, Physically Based Rendering / Lighting
▸ FULLY functional 3D aircraft

“YOU GET A BENEFIT!
HE GETS A BENEFIT!
SHE GETS A BENEFIT!
EVERYBODY GETS A
BENEFIT!!!!”
Oprah Winfrey-ish…

X-PLANE AVIONICS
X-PLANE 1000
▸ Based on G1000®
as found in Cessna 400 N428X
▸ Customizable for different aircraft types via Plane Maker
▸ Drop-in for 2d panels and 3d cockpits
▸ Standalone windows for home cockpit builders
▸ Fully vector, crisp on resize, blazingly fast (much smoother than real one)

X-PLANE AVIONICS
X1000 FEATURES
▸ extensive failure simulation (AHRS, ﬂuxgate, air data computer, GIA,
transponder, etc. failures)
▸ WAAS and non-WAAS GPS option
▸ GFC-700 autopilot integration
▸ KN63 DME and KR87 ADF remote radio integration
▸ GDL-69 “NEXRAD” and wind weather displays

Unusual Attitude declutter with splitting horizon

X1000
▸ Plane Maker engine/prop conﬁguration:
▸ Single and Twin
▸ Turboprop and Reciprocating engines
▸ Turbocharged and normally aspirated engines
▸ Constant speed and ﬁxed pitch propellers
▸ Limitations and max values as set in Plane Maker for
▸ engine parameters
▸ speed tape
▸ electrical systems (ammeter calibration, bus voltage)
▸ fuel capacity
CUSTOMIZATION

Example Conﬁgurations
C172, C182, C182 (systems), COL4, EVOT, BE58

X1000
NAVIGATION FEATURES
(the nerd slide)
▸ same as 430/530/X-Plane FMS
▸ SID/STAR/IAP
▸ SBAS approaches: WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS
▸ LNAV+V, L/VNAV, LP+V, LPV
▸ RNP-AR

Flight plan (narrow view) with SID and ILS app loaded

STATE OF THE PLATFORM
BEN SUPNIK

PERFORMANCE ROAD-MAP
THE GOAL: 60 FPS
▸ 60 fps Desktop
▸ 45 fps Stereo VR
▸ No Stutters!

MY CPU IS AT 25%, MY GPU IS BORED,
AND I’M STUCK AT 30 FPS. YOU STINK!
— Some Grumpy X-Plane User
STATE OF THE PLATFORM

PERFORMANCE ROADMAP
DRIVERS - OLD AND NEW
CURRENT GENERATION NEXT GENERATION

NEXT-GEN DRIVERS
NEXT GEN DRIVERS HAVE THREE SUPER POWERS

NEXT-GEN DRIVERS
▸ Low CPU Use - Faster FPS!

NEXT-GEN DRIVERS
▸ Multi-Core Friendly - No More Stuck at 25%

NEXT-GEN DRIVERS
▸ Multi-Core Friendly - No More Stuck at 25%
▸ No Surprise Pauses! No Stutters From The Driver

CURRENT DRIVERS
▸ X-Plane talks to the driver.
▸ The driver tells the GPU what to do.
▸ The driver manages RAM, book keeping.
▸ The driver uses up CPU time.
▸ CPU time limits our framerate.

NEXT-GEN DRIVERS
▸ X-Plane does most of the book-keeping.
▸ X-Plane talks to the driver.
▸ The driver is a thin layer on top of the GPU.
▸ CPU used mostly by X-Plane - we can make it
fast!

NEXT GEN DRIVERS
GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS

NEXT GEN DRIVERS
▸ Bad News: New Drivers Require Big Changes to the App.
▸ Could take another year to make those changes!

NEXT GEN DRIVERS
▸ Bad News: New Drivers Require Big Changes to the App.
▸ Could take another year to make those changes!
▸ Good News: every intermediate step toward Vulkan/Metal makes X-Plane
Better!
▸ Scenery Shadows No Longer Out of Reach!
▸ Faster FPS Now.

WHAT ABOUT ADD-ONS?
— Concerned Plugin Author
NEXT-GEN DRIVERS

NEXT-GEN DRIVERS
ADD-ON COMPATIBILITY

NEXT-GEN DRIVERS
▸ OpenGL supported for life of X-Plane 11 - 100% compatible.

NEXT-GEN DRIVERS
▸ Very similar to the transition to 64-bit!

NEXT-GEN DRIVERS
▸ Scenery, models and aircraft Just Work™.

NEXT-GEN DRIVERS
▸ Goal: many add-ons with custom plugin UI or panels work with Vulkan/Metal.

NEXT-GEN DRIVERS
▸ Add-ons that draw in 3-d will need modiﬁcation to work with Vulkan/Metal.

NEXT-GEN DRIVERS
▸ Add-ons that draw in 3-d will need modiﬁcation to work with Vulkan/Metal.
▸ Add-on developers should adopt new tech Real Soon™ for maximum
compatibility.

X-PLANE 11 SDKS
WORLDEDITOR
▸ Use by thousands of users to create
airports for X-Plane.
▸ Capable of building advanced custom
scenery too!
▸ Version 1.6 released Thursday.
▸ Fully supports X-Plane 11, including
ground trafﬁc operations.

X-PLANE 11 SDKS
FMOD SOUND
▸ Immersive, interactive, dynamic high
quality sound engine.
▸ Powerful, easy to use professional-class
editing tools for sound designers.
▸ Available Now.

X-PLANE 11 SDKS
BLENDER/3DS
▸ Blender Exporter 3.4 in Testing.
▸ Better Model Optimization for Higher
FPS.
▸ New 3DS Exporter Version Nearly
Complete.
▸ Open Source License for both!

X-PLANE 11 SDKS
NEW PLUGIN API
▸ Next Revision of Plugin API
▸ Support for New X-Plane 11 Features
▸ Pop-Out Windows
▸ Custom Maps
▸ 3-d Drawing Compatible with Metal/Vulkan
▸ Coming This Summer

WHEN DO I GET THIS STUFF?
— X-Plane User
X-PLANE 11

X-PLANE 11
PLANS FOR THE SUMMER*

X-PLANE 11
▸ X-Plane 11.02 (Beta now) - FPS!
▸ X-Plane 11.05 (Real Soon) - Airports!

X-PLANE 11
▸ X-Plane 11.10 (Summer)
▸ New Lego Bricks, Landmarks
▸ G1000
▸ New Systems & Physics
▸ More Speed!

X-PLANE 11
▸ G1000
▸ More Speed!
▸ X-Plane with VR (Fall)

X-PLANE 11
▸ G1000
▸ More Speed!
▸ X-Plane With Metal/Vulkan (The
Future™)

X-PLANE 11
▸ G1000
▸ More Speed!
▸ X-Plane With Metal/Vulkan (The
Future™)
* All release plans subject to change.

The Future of X-Plane 11 - Hartford FlightSimCon 2017

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