The team behind xVision, a utility to change the visual appearance of X-Plane, has released an update to version 2.00 which brings full compatibility with version 11.51 of X-Plane and the Vulkan API.
When Laminar Reasearch released the latest version of X-Plane to incorporate support for the newer Vulkan rendering option, they revamped the shaders and the way X-Plane creates the visual environment that the user experiences. The xVision utility enables the user to manipulate these shaders and alter the way X-Plane’s visual enhancements appear. Users of xVision 1.X would have noticed that when using the Vulkan API to render visuals, many of the shaders had little to no effect on X-Plane and their experience.
The team has updated xVision to now support shader tweaks for both Vulkan and OpenGL, the original rendering API, when using X-Plane version 11.51. Along with the support for the current shaders, users may now run xVision solutions with or without the FlyWithLua plugin which was required in previous versions.
A completely new function for xVision enables the user to tweak the X-Plane environment to display greater differences in seasonality which is a common request from X-Plane users. xVision can create snow effects on the ground by using colouring tweaks and filters accessed through the ‘seasonaliser’ options.
Version 2.00 does see some minor user interface changes as well as other bug fixes and an addition to the user manual to note the latest changes.
Users of version 1.X of xVision can purchase version 2.00 through the Simmarket store for a special upgrade price of €10.00 Ex.VAT users must be logged into the same account they purchased version 1.X to be eligable for the discounted price. For brand new customers xVision version 2.00 will cost €18.90 Ex.VAT.
Changelog
- xVision 2.00 now supports shader tweaks for both target backend of X-Plane 11: Vulkan and OpenGL.
- Now each solution may be used with or without FlyWithLua plugin. If plugin is not installed, Lua scripts in preset just ignored.
- Stock solutions have been redesigned.
- New solution “Winter” have been added to distribution pack.
- Custom tweaks are not possible now due to techical limitations.
- Tweaks “Sunlight adjustments” and “FXAA tuning” are excluded from shader tweaks.
- Tweak “Khaki correction” has been transformed to tweak “Vegetation shades”. Now it has old “Khaki” filter and a couple new parameters.
- A new tweak “Seasonaliser” in “TERRAIN” group. A cheap/fast imitation of the snow seasons by using special terrain coloring filters.
- Tweak “Fog & scattering (ATMOSPHERE)” have been redesigned. “Effect power” parameter now is applied taking into account the weather conditions.
- Expressions as a tweak parameters are deprecated due to technical limitations.
- “Day opacity coefficient” and “Night opacity coefficient” parameters in tweak “Raindrops rendering” now work only for Vulkan target backend.
- While restoring Lua scripts from backup you will get warning about clean-up existing scripts.
- When preset is applying the detailed information about existing Lua scripts deactivation is writing to Program log.
- Sim shaders cache now clean after restoring shaders from backup.
- You can copy program log to clipboard by using one button.
- Minor chandes in UI.
- Bug fixes in multithreading.
- New chapters on site: tweaks descriptions and User Manual for xVision version 2.00.
