FSElite’s Live Coverage of Flight Sim Expo 2026 continues with X-Plane 12 by Laminar Research.
Ben Supnik and Marco Auer took to the stage to present updates on X-Plane 12’s development progress and highlights, including the Gateway Asset Update, the Weather Update, the C-Check Update, and the VR Update. The VR Update is expected to release out of beta in the next 2 weeks.
The next update, X-Plane 12.4.4, is referred to as the SDK Update. Laminar Research classifies it as a minor update that includes minor improvements to the weather radar, a new CPDLC system, new SDK tools, more scenery assets, and Farnborough Airport.
The next major update is dubbed the Flight Model Update. It includes rotor blade tracking, enhanced ground physics, improved skid interactions, enhanced wake turbulence, helicopter procedures, enhanced swirling prop stream, new manifold pressure simulation, improved hydraulics, improved turbine temperatures, and JFK International Airport scenery.
Ben then went on to talk about the upcoming panel graphics update by covering the limitations of the existing OpenGL architecture. The new update will bring Vulkan-powered avionics that offer lower computing overhead in-game, along with a whole host of new developer tools that enable higher-quality panels. The new panel tools are expected to be available as part of the SDK Update.
X-Plane 12’s New Scenery Tile Engine
After a brief disclaimer from Marketing re-iterating that any pictures shown are a work-in-progress, Ben showcased the highlight of the presentation, a new scenery tile engine.
The new system brings huge quality-of-life improvements to scenery mesh quality and editing while also retaining backward compatibility with existing DSF files. For developers, it makes making detailed scenery adjustments much easier.
The result for the end user is better loading times, more detailed scenery, and better lighting.
Ben stated that the team aims to ship the new scenery tile engine sometime before the end of 2026.
For more information, click here to view the X-Plane website.
