For newcomers: How to become one with XP 11 | X-plane 11 guide

In this X-plane 11 guide you will find my improvement-selection and more infos to spare you some research-time.

Not only for newcomers

Welcome to the X-Plane world!

Below this intro you will find my improvement-selection so far to spare you some research-time and way more infos to enjoy this sim. Be patient with yourself. You will need time and more installments to use all the content you want to have. Just start your first installation and read the read me files. :)

X-plane is CPU heavy! Do not install all of this content. Use only what you like and what you want to have and even that could be too much. Check it out and have fun.

DA62 @LIDB - XP11.25b1 | Default clouds

- W2XP Sceneries: Bye bye autogen scenery!
http://simheaven.com

Do not forget the world-models and there you will find a short FAQ to learn about the "scenery_packs.ini" (located in the ‘custom scenery’ folder). In short here the priority:

1. Own and custom airports
   
2. Original airports / Global Airports
   
3. Regional sceneries (Norway Pro, …)
   
4. Additional w2xp sceneries (VFR-Landmarks, ...)
   
5. W2xp sceneries (w2xp_Europe, …)
   
6. Add-ons, libraries (w2xp_world-models, Europe Library, SeaTraffic, …)
   
7. Overlay photo sceneries
   
8. Photo sceneries (Ortho4XP,…)
   
9. Mesh files

Understanding Scenery Order[www.avsim.com]

More w2xp stuff:
http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/files/category/170-world2xplane-scenery/
https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/files/file/40408-amazing-3d-overlays-hd-by-country-w2xp/

Option: integrate SFD Global's buildings and forests[forums.x-plane.org]

Or create your own files | tutorial:
https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/files/file/33450-world2xplane-application/
OSM extract site: http://extract.bbbike.org

- UHD/HD Mesh Scenery
+ Tree Lines and Farms
http://www.alpilotx.net/

http://mirror-eu.aerosoft.com/hd_mesh/index.php#dateiname
http://mirror-eu.aerosoft.com/uhd_mesh/index.php#dateiname

Know-how: where forests do come from in X-Plane? The answer[forums.x-plane.org].

Background infos in german[www.simflight.de].

- Enriched Autogen
https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/topic/116181-enriched-autogen-by-luftbilderhd/

- No installation "limits" and use your content 1x for XP10 & XP11.
You can simply put your content in any folders on different disk partitions. Just add your stuff in a folder, select all, right mouse click, create shortcut and a shortcut will be made for each one individually. Then cut and paste the shortcuts to the default X-Plane/Custom Scenery folder and fix your scenery_packs.ini after starting XP. Thats it.

- Clouds: Unhappy with the default clouds?

Unique Clouds Variety Pack[forums.x-plane.org] or X11-Clouds X.X.X[forums.x-plane.org] or "TheULTIMATE" MOD[forums.x-plane.org] or Puffy Clouds[forums.x-plane.org] or FSEnhancer[forums.x-plane.org] or Soft Cloud Art[forums.x-plane.org] or Environment+[forums.x-plane.org] or Enhanced Cloudscapes Beta[forums.x-plane.org] and Lua Environment booster[forums.x-plane.org]

FlyWithLua[forums.x-plane.org]

- Disable the bad water effects to improve your frame or Another Water Fix[forums.x-plane.org]

- You do not like the default weather? Try the NOAA plugin[forums.x-plane.org]

- 3jFPS-control: If you have fps issues, try this out.
http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/files/file/31097-3jfps-control-keep-good-fps-by-automatic-adaption-of-view-distance-cloud-quality/

- Adding missing airports
There are different sources where you can catch payware or free airports. Even here on steam you will find airports for cash. Scroll down and check the links in this guide under "Some online shops" and "Free stuff". Do not forget to edit the scenery_pack.ini after the installation. ;-)

- White Night Lights
http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/files/file/34912-xp-white-lights/

- HDR Lighting Upgrade
http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/files/file/36139-hdr-lighting-upgrade/

- Reshade
http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/files/file/36509-reshade-version-304-xp11/

- May useful for low "riders": Using Decals to Add Detail To Scenery[developer.x-plane.com]

- Enhanced Runways HD
http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/files/file/16270-enhanced-runways-hd-by-flyjsim/ or
Airport Environment HD
http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/files/file/35172-airport-environment-hd/

- Pilot View
http://www.xpluginsdk.org/pilot_view.htm
Nice simple plug-in for help with your trackIR or one alternative: X-Camera[forums.x-plane.org] | Wingman View for X-Camera[forums.x-plane.org]

- AI traffic
Traffic Global: the newest payware product on the XP-market, still in development and looks promising. Unfortunetly with not much till no activity in smaller airports.

X-life & WorldTraffic: those are in my eyes 2 limited and unpractical expensive paywares, because of the limited airports and in WT you have to create everything by yourself - seems more a Traffic-Editor.

X-Life ready Airport list:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1wHdOnHyVX5IORUOPYtAA_7MfME4

In XP11 you can select under "Flight Configuration" (-> "AI Aircraft") up to 19 planes and they will be around you no matters where you are. Beware: fps-killer.

Plus with Flyby Planes[forums.x-plane.org] you can add animated flying aircraft in seconds to any airport! More infos below under "Self-made scenery: Adding & Removing ".

Fps friendly and an enrichment for your XP-world: LiveTraffic[forums.x-plane.org]

- Libraries
Master List of Libraries[forums.x-plane.org]

- Apps

Plan-G
http://www.tasoftware.co.uk/
FAQ[www.tasoftware.co.uk]

SimBrief
http://www.simbrief.com

SkyVector
http://skyvector.com/

xFlightplanner
http://www.xflightplanner.net/

Little Navmap
http://albar965.github.io/



@XP oldies: feel free to share with us more useful hints to enjoy this SIM. I will edit them here.

@Devs: please improve the performance and the content!

Thanx to all creators, designer, modders & coders! Wish you all happy "coding"!

&

Happy flying @ll! :-)

Performance & Atmosphere

Performance & atmosphere, these are the main-problems not only in XP11.

Here in XP11 my XP-rig has frames between 7-80 depending on the scenario ;) and I am using mainly real world conditions with real world time. XP11 feels way more polished and stutterless compared to XP10. Finally I can enjoy flying acrobatic and with high-speed over ground, watching the "pretty" world plus "fooling" around with the aeroplane-tech are all together possible with decent frame rates. One plus more are shorter loading times in XP11. For the most fun also for my eyes I am using right now xEnviro clouds, only alpilotx UHD´s, W2XP Sceneries, diverse sceneries & upscaling is enabled in NV Inspector. Why I am using no HD-mesh? Its a compromise: Bit less is more "boost" for my system, because "Wondertools" are not working on my OS in XP11. Win10 user have experienced fps boosts with Win10 gamemode and other tweaks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=n2pcl2pj5gc
Some tweaks for Nvidia cards: Turn Off "Threaded Optimization" and Check your Windows "Power Management"[forums.x-plane.org]

https://www.x-plane.com/kb/frame-rate-issues-windows-10/

XP Knowledge Base:
https://www.x-plane.com/kb/

Windows 10 Service Configurations:
http://www.blackviper.com/service-configurations/black-vipers-windows-10-service-configurations/

Rendering options for XP11[forums.x-plane.org]

Just to complete the posibilities to trim XP: More fine "tuning" is possible with DataRefs[www.xsquawkbox.net] and scripts or manual over the DataRefEditor[www.xsquawkbox.net].

Check the next chapter below for Datarefs and Mission less CPU load.


Who still runs the operating system old school @MBR, I have moved over to UEFI with some improvements:

Who does not know which bios mode is running: Press "Win+r" and type "msinfo32".

New loading times:
1:09 min (1:20 old @MBR) SSD - default scenery
2:29 min (2:35) SSD - same scenery customized
3:12 min (4:23 MBR&GPT) SSD&HDD (both now @GPT) - heavy mixed custom scenery

0:36 min SSD@GPT - light default scenery Kent, ICAO KGGF (Used aircraft: RWD Spitfire)

How to convert a MBR disk to GPT and avoid a fresh OS installation:
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-convert-mbr-disk-gpt-move-bios-uefi-windows-10

The conversion seems only possible with one partition. I had to delete one partion for the operation.

In case you have problems:
"Open Disk Management and try to shrink C drive about 2GB and leave it unallocated, if failed then that means your C drive is fragmented. Defrag the disk and shrink again. Once done, try MBR2GPT." ( https://www.tenforums.com/drivers-hardware/109535-need-help-mbr2gpt.html )


My XP options for an interesting "pretty" world @nvidia 770 gtx 4gb / 1080 TI, intel i5 4670k @4.7ghz (all screenies here are taken with 4.0ghz), SSD and 24gb ram. My max RAM usage was till now 19,5gb in New York with a lot of add-ons plus maximum world objectives selected, Paris around 16gb and less over the countryside.

If you are out of RAM, you will get an error from XP and your OS. I had this experience with my 8gb RAM back than in XP10. ;-)

Check this overview for more background: XP11 GPU FPS Test & Comparison[forums.x-plane.org]

Tearing adé: Vsync is now on with the same frames like when its off :) Thx engine!

Disabling my real-time virus protection gives me here 2 frames more.

Screen resolution: Lower your GPU usage through lowering your resolution. Experiment with your resolution for better achievements.

Win10 tweaks in short:

- Gamemode on[www.windowscentral.com] + DVR off | Gamemode is only selectable in X-plane windows mode.
- Superfetch off[www.makeuseof.com]
- System restore off[www.tenforums.com] | XP user experiences[forums.x-plane.org]
- Threaded optimization off[forums.x-plane.org]

Turn Threaded optimization on with an older CPU and compare your values. Maybe you are lucky and you will gain some more frames.

- Power Management max performance GPU[nvidia.custhelp.com]
- Real time virus protection off or try your AV gaming mode or pull the plug
- Max power performance
Win10 Pro FW:
- Hardware acceleration @ high performance

KJFK in the night made me looking again through my tweaking with 20fps over NY with Extended Night Lighting and there is one thing I have to add to this list. I have never before experienced it to work, but there is always a first time: Windows mode with Borderless-Gaming[github.com]. Bit smoother with no drops under 26 in my test run.


Hint: Flashlight and other lighteffects are only working with HDR enabled.

Hint2: Lowering the setting "Number of World Objects" gives more frames and reduces the CPU load.

Hint3: Low fps after starting a new scenery/aircraft. In this case I have sometimes to reload the aircraft for higher fps - some bug or engine problem.

Hint4: Fps-destroyer, a bad optimized airport. Disable the airport and try again without it.

Hint 5: You might change the hungry default clouds to save some frames.

Hint6: Increase/Decrease the field of view for higher frames.

Hint 7: Use your own created custom scenery sets with xOrganizer[forums.x-plane.org] to minimize your load and to increase your fps.

Comfort hint for single screen user: I am using AutoHotkey to use the WINdows key on my mouse (F3 key is mapped on my mouse: F3::LWIN).

Problems, crash to desktop,....? Analyse the Log.txt in the main folder or delete later in case there are no errors in the log.txt all the files in the entire preferences folder and start over from ground zero: \X-Plane 11\Output\preferences.

Final hint: reduce clouds manually to improve your frames.



My settings @60hz:
Nvidia 1080 TI 11gb
After testings I can write: no problems with max AA and a 1080 TI, enough power. The GPU hits only sometimes with X-planes HDR+SSAO and max AA the redzone.

Nvidia 770 gtx 4gb
My night-settings with 770:


The right balance out of your settings, your hardware, your installed custom sceneries, aircrafts & plugins is the key for your smoothness & happiness with a working XP-version. Know the limits and crank up your hardware so far you can and want. My i5 runs now after my last research @ 4.7 ghz and gives me bit more joy + smoothness. Find your balance & enjoy! ;-)


PS: An alternative:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=278&v=M5ygXe9fWR4

Who knows more "tweaks"?

- Shadow Fix[forums.x-plane.org]

DataRefs and Mission less hardware load

Use lua[forums.x-plane.org] with those scripts or change the values manual over the DataRefEditor[www.xsquawkbox.net].

DataRefs[www.xsquawkbox.net]

An example: Using DataRefEditor type " reno" in "Show Art Controls" - Manual refs are only active for one session. Use scripts for more comfort when you are happy with your values.



Pick out what you need:

--Draw Aurora Borealis. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_aurora", 0)

XP11.53: X-Plane 11\Output\preferences\X-Plane.prf "renopt_aurora 0"

--Draw aircraft carriers and frigates. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_boats", 0)

--Draw birds and deer in nice weather. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_deer_birds", 0)

--Draw fires and baloons. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_fire_ball", 1)

--Road traffic density. 0 (off) to 5 (very dense)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_cars_05", 0)

--Road Density. 0 (None) to 3 (Extreme)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_vecs_03", 1)

--Distance at which road traffic is visible. Default is 20000 meters. Recommend 7500.
set("sim/private/controls/cars/lod_min", 2400.00)

--Distance at which static plans are visible. Default is 9260 meters. Recommend 3000.
set("sim/private/controls/park/static_plane_build_dis", 2370.00)

--Runways follow terrain contours. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/sloped_runways", 0)

--Atmospheric scattering. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_scattering", 1)

--Draw volumetric fog. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_volume_fog01", 1)

--Default 1 - 0 gives more frames. minus: bad gfx + unwelcome artefacts
set("sim/private/controls/caps/use_multilayer_fog", 0)

--set the fog density
set("sim/private/controls/fog/fog_be_gone", 0.5)

--Draw per pixel lighting. 0 (off) or 1 (on). Change both of the settings below to be the same.
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_per_pix_liting", 1)

--3D Object Density. 0 (None) to 6 (Extreme)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_objs_06", 2)

--Runway and taxiway line smoothness and 3D runway/taxiway lighting. 0 (Low) to 3 (Extreme)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_detail_apt_03", 1)

--Forest density. 0 (Low) to 5 (Extreme)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_for_05", 1)

--Forest inner ring density. 0 (0%) to 1 (100%)
set("sim/private/controls/forest/inn_ring_density", 1.00)

--Forest mid ring density. 0 (0%) to 1 (100%)
set("sim/private/controls/forest/mid_ring_density", 0.25)

--Forest outer ring density. 0 (0%) to 1 (100%)
set("sim/private/controls/forest/out_ring_density", 1.00)

--Fade start rate. 0.75 (low setting) to 0.6 (high setting)
set("sim/private/controls/terrain/fade_start_rat", 0.41)

--Tile LOD bias. 0.72 (low setting) to 1.0 (high setting)
set("sim/private/controls/ag/tile_lod_bias", 0.72)

--Composite far distance bias. 0.72 (low setting) to 1.0 (high setting)
set("sim/private/controls/terrain/composite_far_dist_bias", 0.72)

--Compress textures to save VRAM. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/comp_texes", 1)

--Use bump map textures. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/use_bump_maps", 0.00)

--Use detail (aka gritty) textures or decals. 0 (off) or 1 (on)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/use_detail_textures", 0)

--Static plane density. 1 (low) to 6 (high). Note this does not affect static planes manually placed by scenery designer, just the ones that automatically appear and start areas.
set("sim/private/controls/park/static_plane_density", 1)

--Cascading Shadow Maps Exterior Quality (Higher numbers reduce jagged edges of shadows). Known valid values are 1 or 2 for XP11. XP10 used values of 0-5.
set("sim/private/controls/shadow/csm_split_exterior", 0)

--Shadow fade distance. XP11 uses values ranging from 500 to 1500. XP10 used values ranging from 500 to 6000.
set("sim/private/controls/shadow/csm/far_limit", 0.00)

--Shadow texture size. Lower quality has jagged edges. 2048 (low quality), 4096 (medium quality), 8192 (high quality)
set("sim/private/controls/fbo/shadow_cam_size", 2048.00)

--The following values adjust the maximum distance ground scenery is visible. Default is 100000. Larger values seem to have no affect, but you might try lower values if you have a low end system.
set("sim/private/controls/skyc/max_dsf_vis_ever", 100000)

Manual adjustment for the scenery draw distance, a little script - add desired keys in your settings.:

require("graphics")

DataRef("Max_dsf_vis_akt", "sim/private/controls/skyc/max_dsf_vis_ever", "writable")

create_command("FlyWithLua/Max_dsf/DSF_up", "DSF up", "Max_dsf_vis_akt = Max_dsf_vis_akt +5000", "", "")

create_command("FlyWithLua/Max_dsf/DSF_down", "DSF down", "Max_dsf_vis_akt = Max_dsf_vis_akt -5000", "", "")


--The following values adjust fading of ground textures in the distance. Default is 0.90 in XP10 (0.75 in XP 11). Higher values have no effect. But you might try lower values (0.10 for example) if you want the ground scenery to fade to brown more gradually in the distance.
set("sim/private/controls/skyc/dsf_fade_ratio", 0.75)

-- Draw waves
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_fft_water", 0)

-- The following enables reflective water. Default is 1.00 (on)
set( "sim/private/controls/caps/use_reflective_water", 1.00)

--Water reflection detail. 0 (None) to 5 (Complete)
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_reflect_water05", 0)

-- Cockpit near Proxy
set("sim/private/controls/shadow/cockpit_near_proxy", 1)

-- Cockpit near adjust
set("sim/private/controls/shadow/cockpit_near_adjust", 1.00, true)

-- Controls how much cloud puffs are depicted (lower numbers produce more cloud puffs).
set("sim/private/controls/clouds/overdraw_control", 0.1)

-- Increase clouds radius
set("sim/private/controls/clouds/plot_radius", 2.2)

-- Draw distance (replace X.XX with a number). Turn up to 3 or 4 or higher for a closer cutoff point, or 0.5 or lower to turn your PC into an oven that you could cook your dinner in.
set("sim/private/controls/reno/LOD_bias_rat", X.XX)

--Ambient Occlusion. 0 (off) or 1 (on) | On= GPU heavy
set("sim/private/controls/ssao/enable", 0)

--HDR. 0 (off) or 1 (on) | On= GPU heavy
set("sim/private/controls/reno/draw_HDR", 1)


Who knows more datarefs too lower the CPU load?

Thanks for the input so far pilots!

- Shadow Fix II[forums.x-plane.org]

Tip: Manage your content with xOrganizer[forums.x-plane.org] to minimize your load and to increase your fps.

Finding your hardware balance

Activate your Frame Rate Data Output and monitor your CPU and GPU timing. The numbers show you the rendering times. The timers are variable and a higher time reveals you the "struggling" hardware. To reach frames above 30 frames per second (fps) the timers should stay under 0.0330. Lower timer values bring you the best performance. The right balance out of your settings, your hardware, your installed custom sceneries, aircrafts, even clouds & plugins is the key for your smooth flying & happiness with a working X-plane version. The hardware balance is achieved when CPU and GPU timer have simiiar values.



An example: CPU timer 0.0195 and the GPU timer 0.0240.

It takes 0.0240 sec to your GPU to render a frame, so it can produce (1/0.0240) 41.6 fps. The CPU is faster and takes 0.0195 sec to render a frame, so it can produce (1/0.0195) 51.3 fps. The difference means that your CPU is waiting for your GPU during execution, making you loose about 10 frames per second. By experimenting with your settings (you can move some up or down slowly and test), your system will be somewhat balanced once both speeds are closer to each other and therefore maximize the possible framerate. (Example explained by KarL).

Slide-show pilots. Mostly we choose beauty - eye candy - over balance and smoothness.


CPU Intensive Tasks:
Physics
Sound
Animations
Particles
Decals
Polygons
Dynamic Lighting/Shadows
Reflections
Plug-ins

GPU intensive Tasks:
Textures
AA & AF
HDR & Bloom/SSAO
Resolution

In other words: Understanding X-Plane 11 Performance[www.avsim.com]

Here three tweak tools: FlyAgi Tweak Utility[forums.x-plane.org], Auto_LOD[www.x-plane.at] and VMI-twick VR[forums.x-plane.org]

DO228 @EDHK - XP11.25b1 | UWXP clouds


Here are some words out of the XP-manual:

"Displaying the Frame Rate
...
Refer to the following to determine the significance of this number.

1. 19 fps is terrible and barely adequate to run the simulator.

2. 25 to 35 fps is the ideal range. Higher frame rates indicate the computer isn’t rendering with as much detail as it could.

3. 50 fps is very high and indicates that the system could probably draw more buildings, clouds, and other objects."


https://www.x-plane.com/manuals/desktop/#configuringandtuningyourx-planeinstallation

System monitoring through XP-timers and MSI Afterburner:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgfKVQUd5pg

My settings 2022

Updated: May 2022

11.55 Vulkan
i54570k @4.6, 1080ti, SSD (4.5tb), 24gb ram
xE 1.16



EDDH

Keys & Shortcuts & Deadzone

Deadzone:

X-Plane 11/Output/preferences/X-Plane Joystick Settings.prf

_joy_null<X> 0.010000

Open the file in a proper text editor.

Find out which axis you want to change.

Replace <X> with your axis number 0..499 (ie. _joy_null3 0.010000)

Adjust value to your liking.

Save.

Keys & Shortcuts

GPS: How long I was looking for the right key? ;)
The Cessna has it: "G430Nav1 toggle popup".

"Servos toggle": Autopilot

"Speedbrakes retract one" for planes with more technique (They act, when you hit the ground).

"Shift+G": Ground Handling Pushback Sevice

"Toggle replay mode on/off"

Time Up "L" Down "K" (Fast +SHIFT)

Camera control: Period . and comma , moves the camera forward and backward. Hold shift for fast moving. "C" free mode.

Quick views for the cockpit can be stored by pressing Ctrl + Num.

For more infos check the manual[www.x-plane.com].



Source FLY AWAY[flyawaysimulation.com]

FAQ Videos

Thank you dear makers :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFn-zztS5ho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WKdR-XgiRA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mljKJnZeALM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqLfiqULqUw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4B3aqULnuA

- XPlane Official Youtube Channel with a lot of guides

Warning Windows user

After a new operating system installation - in this case win 10, my XP partition is gone!


Over 300gb XP files and XP devs files lost!


Recovery tools manage only these file formats:

PC Inspector File Recovery:
ARJ, AVI, BMP, CDR, DOC, DXF, DBF, XLS, EXE, GIF, HLP, HTML, HTM, JPG, LZH, MID, MOV, MP3, PDF, PNG, RTF, TAR, TIF, WAV, ZIP

Recuva:
JPG, PNG, RAW, GIF, JPG, BMP, MP3, WMA, OGG, WAV, AAC, M4A, DOC, XLS, PPT, ODT, ODS, PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, AVI, MOV, MPG, MP4, FLV, WMV, ZIP, 7Z, RAR, BZIP2, GZIP, TAR, WIM, XZ
BMP, JPG, PNG, GIF, TIF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, DOC, XLS, PPT, VSD, ODT, ODP, ODS, ODG, ODF, MP3, MP2, MP1, AIF, WMA, OGG, WAV, AAC, M4A, MOV, MPG, MP4, 3GP, FLV, WMV, AVI, RAR, ZIP, CAB, PDF, RTF, VXD, URL.


After lots of BSOD (blue screens) and clock_watchdog_timeout messages from one day to the next day (bad Mircrosoft update?!) I had to reinstall my operating system.


I am planning now for a system storage with no extra x-plane partition on the same disk. All x-plane files will lie on extra storages.

In case of a new installation use only the system storage.

Payware

Aircraft

Pig in a poke: Check always some videos and the forums before you purchase.

Some worthy planes:

- A319 | Toliss & MOD[forums.x-plane.org]

- Cessna 172 default with Simcoders Reality Expansion Pack

- Cessna 172 SP | Airfoillabs

- Diamond DA-62 | Aerobask

- DDEN Bombardier Challenger 300

- Embraer 110 - Bandeirantes

- FlyJ's 732

- FlyJ's 727

- PA-28R Arrow III | Just Flight

- Pipistrel Panthera v3

- Rotate MD80

- Skunkcrafts Mustang P-51 XP11 HD

- SSG 747-8

- STMA Husky A1-C

- vFlyteAir Cherokee 140 Modern

- vFlyteAir DHC-3 Turbo Otter


Helicopter:

- Bell 407 by Dreamfoil

- Bell 412 by XTrident

- Eurocopter AS350 B3 Plus by Dreamfoil

- Robinson R22 Beta II by Dreamfoil

- Schweizer 300CBi by Dreamfoil

Beware! Some contents may not be patched yet for the use in XP11.

Problem solutions:
Do you encounter any problems with your new aircraft after the installation? This may help you:
Do not forget to reload your new content first. Still problems? Disable your plugins, reinstall the aircraft and good luck & success! No success? Delete your joystick prefs or better delete all the files in the entire preferences folder and start over from ground zero: \X-Plane 11\Output\preferences 

Sceneries

- An overpriced Ferrari ;-) DOLOMITI 3D with orthos [www.fsc.it] | without orthos[store.x-plane.org] | blog[scenarialpinifsx.blogspot.com]
- Bush Flying sceneries[propstrikestudio.com]

Plugins and more

- Active Sky XP

- Enhanced Skyscapes (Volumetric clouds) | mod[forums.x-plane.org]

- ForeFlight

- FS-FlightControl

- FS Global Real Weather

- Garmin Pilot

- MOUSEVIATOR - LOGBOOK EDITOR

- Navigraph

- PFPX +TOPCAT

- Real Weather Connector

- Reality XP (GTN 750 Touch)

- SFD Global

- SkyDemon

- SkyMaxx Pro

- Traffic Global

- Ultra Weather XP

- xEnviro

- XPRealistic Pro

- XP Scenery[www.xpscenery.net]]

- Chase View Deluxe Plugin[store.x-plane.org]

Some online shops

- Aerosoft - Online Shop[www.aerosoft.com]

- FlightsimCom store[store.flightsim.com]

- FSPS store[www.fspsstore.com]

- inibuilds|com[store.inibuilds.com]

- Just Flight[www.justflight.com]

- Orbx[orbxdirect.com]

- Simmarket[simmarket.com]

- Threshold store[store.thresholdx.net]

- X-aviation[www.x-aviation.com]

- X-plane-org store[store.x-plane.org]

Embraer 170 @EDHK without HDR

"Multiplayer" & ATC

http://www.fscloud.net
https://www.vatsim.net
http://www.xsquawkbox.net/xsb/about
http://www.pilotedge.net/ ( http://myflightroute.com )
http://xpilot.clowd.io
https://www.ivao.aero/softdev/ivap.asp
http://pilot2atc.com
http://www.fseconomy.net
http://124thatc.matacchieri.eu
https://sky4crew.com/ | smartcopilot
http://fsairlines.net
http://www.ftw-sim.de
https://www.liveatc.net
https://pmem.uk/joinfs/
https://sayintentions.ai

AutoATC[forums.x-plane.org]

Free stuff

- Airport Information X-Plane[apxp.info]

- Airport overview[x-plane.cleverest.eu]

- The X-Plane Scenery Gateway[gateway.x-plane.com]

- Baz’s X-Plane Library[www.bnasroberts.net]
Free aircraft and sceneries (Pacific Islands, Indo, Australia & USA)

- X-planeORG[forums.x-plane.org]
Free aircraft, airports, sceneries and more.

- XPFR | Freeware production site[xpfr.org]
Some aircraft, France sceneries, Paris and many airports worldwide.

- Aero Sim Gaming [www.aerosimgaming.com]

- Fly Away Simulation[flyawaysimulation.com]

- X-plane @ github[github.com]


Sceneries

- Angkor Archeological Park[forums.x-plane.org]

- Alps and more[askystory.com]

- Asia sceneries[cloudsurf.asia]

- Extra Landmark Package[forums.x-plane.org]

- Beirut [forums.x-plane.org]

- A Bhutan Scenery | Himalayas[forums.x-plane.org]

- Canada4XPlane | Airports[forums.x-plane.org]

- Prefab scenery for 25000 airports[forums.x-plane.org]

- HD skid marks[forums.x-plane.org]

- Orbx freeware | orbxdirectDOTcom/freeware] |<-- link removed by steam-filter

- The Heron’s Nest[iblueyonder.com]

- French scenery objects and more[vecscen.com]

- Antarctica4XPlane[maps2xplane.wordpress.com]

- Simmershome[simmershome.de] (german)

- Fun circle airport[forums.x-plane.org]

- Manila[forums.x-plane.org]

- SeaTraffic[forums.x-plane.org] or MarineTraffic[forums.x-plane.org]

- Seaways 4XP[forums.x-plane.org]

- Seasons[forums.x-plane.org]
Winter[forums.x-plane.org]
SAM Extension | Seasons Library[forums.x-plane.org]

- X-Plane Scenery Overview Map[www.google.com]

- KRABI4XPLANE PROJECT[forums.x-plane.org]

- Norway airports[xsimreviews.org]

- St. Vincent and The Grenadines[forums.x-plane.org]

- USA/Alaska airports
rdesignxDOTweeblyDOTcom/ |<-- link removed by steam-filter

- DD Miami City XP|payware free now

- Hawaii[hawaii-photoreal.com]

- Marquesas Islands[forums.x-plane.org]

- Some South America Sceneries[www.google.com]

- "Soviet" sceneries[www.avsimrus.com]

- Svenska scenarier[www.rbdesign.se]

- Scandinavian Heliports Pack[www.flightsimsweden.se]

- Vancouver City [forums.x-plane.org]

- X-flight|Su[en.x-flight.su] not only russian sceneries

- ZeroDollarPayware[forum.inibuilds.com]

Countries

- Australia[forums.x-plane.org]

- Austria[www.x-plane.at]

- Brazil The Complete Project[forums.x-plane.org]
Brasil[forums.x-plane.org]

- Czech Republic[xpl.cz]

- Hungary[forums.x-plane.org]

- Italy[www.x-italy.it] (over 240gb needed)
Bit dated in some areas and needs a lot of time to install complete.
Sicily UHD[forums.x-plane.org]

- Spain & Portugal[www.spainuhd.es] (over 300gb)

- New Zealand[www.google.com]
Lyndiman’s New Zealand Ortho Photography Set[mildlyalert.wordpress.com]

- AUS/USA Orthophotos[forums.x-plane.org]

- Vorthos[verticalsims.com] | Ireland, Jamaica, USA

- Zonephoto X[zonephoto.org]
Sadly dated with not the best quality in some areas. I am using some capitals & the islands only.
Download problems? You need to enable Java in your control panel and add the page in the exclusions list.

Free stuff | Part 2

Planes

- Flight Models[www.aerosimgaming.com]

- Aero Boero AB-115[forums.x-plane.org]

- ASK21E Experimental [forums.x-plane.org]

- Boeing B-17G[forums.x-plane.org]

- Boeing B738-800[forums.x-plane.org]
Soundpack 1[forums.x-plane.org]
Soundpack 2[forums.x-plane.org]

- Boeing 787-9[forums.x-plane.org]

- Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina[forums.x-plane.org] | Mod1[forums.x-plane.org] | Mod2[forums.x-plane.org]

- DHC-6 Twin Otter[forums.x-plane.org]

- Eclipse 550[forums.x-plane.org]

- Embraer E-190 LR[forums.x-plane.org]

- Eurofighter Typhoon[www.dmax3d.com]

- Fokker Dr.I[forums.x-plane.org]

- Fokker F27-600[forums.x-plane.org]

- Gulfstream G-IV SP[forums.x-plane.org]

- L-410 UVP-E / Turbolet[x-plane.hu]

- Lisa Akoya[forums.x-plane.org]

- Republic SeaBee RC3 [forums.x-plane.org]

- Robin DR401[forums.x-plane.org]

- Ryan Navion 205[forums.x-plane.org]

- Sparky744[github.com]

- Hold My Beer SR22[holdmybeer.at]

- Stampe SV-4C[xpfr.org]

- Stratosphere Studios 777-300ER[github.com]

- Yakovlev Yak-18T[forums.x-plane.org]

- Yakolev Yak 55M[forums.x-plane.org]

- x737[www.eadt.eu]

- X-bureau Airbus A318[github.com]

- Zivko Edge 540 Classic[forums.x-plane.org]

- Zlin Z-142[forums.x-plane.org]

Helicopter

- Aérospatiale AS 332 Super Puma[forums.x-plane.org]

- Bell 429[forums.x-plane.org]

- EC 135[www.rotorsim.de]

- Hughes 500D[forums.x-plane.org]

- Mil Mi-2[forums.x-plane.org]

- OH-58D Kiowa Warrior[forums.x-plane.org]

- XFER Design H145[forums.x-plane.org]

- Hems mission generator[github.com]

Helo sceneries

- German hospitals & heliports A[rotorsim.de]

- German hospitals & heliports B[forums.x-plane.org]

Beware! Some contents may not be patched yet for the use in XP11.

FMod

Do you like good sounds? I do. :D

April 2020: "The vFlyteAir Cherokee 140 Modern has maybe the best FMOD sounds imo.
vFlyteAir-DHC3, Skunkcrafts-P51, some Aerobasks birds and some FJS have pretty FMOD.

Only OK FMod sounds have Carenado and JustFlight birds. C´mon, you can do better devs. ;)"

Listen before buying. ;) JustFlight[www.justflight.com] has some demos out.

Mod Soundpacks:

- XP sound effects[x-plane-sounds.blogspot.com]

- "ORG" sounds[forums.x-plane.org]

Scenery Designer

- Designer MisterX6[forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer antwob[forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer Belga12345 [forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer Renair2[forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer royaloak[forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer Cami De Bellis[forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer Ekre[forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer gpb500 [forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer tdg[forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer grrr05[forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer Daikan[forums.x-plane.org] | Helipads CH

- Designer Günther Kremp[forums.x-plane.org] | VFR , mirror 2[simheaven.com]

- Designer Cestomano[forums.x-plane.org] | Canary Islands

- Designer relicroy[forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer slai[forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer KAZ Nakata[forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer Freddy De Pues NAPS[forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer bosun[forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer chris noe [forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer Rigolan [forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer Alfonzo60[forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer EC-LPZ[forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer X-Codr[forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer paulmort [forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer 5171[forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer ruifo[forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer Virus City[forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer DazaXIII[forums.x-plane.org] | NZ

- Designer StevePHL[forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer pborovszky[forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer rcavinash123[forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer Grumpler[forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer LPNils[forums.x-plane.org] | NL, BC

- Designer Scottish Wings[forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer David Erard[forums.x-plane.org] | Helos

- ShaunAT[forums.x-plane.org] | VFR

- bjanman[forums.x-plane.org] | VFR

- Wookie1[forums.x-plane.org] | airstrips

- barf[forums.x-plane.org] | NZ

- Designer L1910S[forums.x-plane.org] | Helos

- Designer towhee[forums.x-plane.org]

- Designer Verticalsim[forums.x-plane.org] | USA

- Designer diego[forums.x-plane.org]

- Aeródromos XP Spain[forums.x-plane.org] | Blog[aerodromosxplane.blogspot.com]

MD-80 over New Jersey

Popular stuff

Free:

Plugins | Try to use less plugins, less stutter, less problems & more happy flying.

- For advanced user: Rendering options plugin for X-Plane 11[forums.x-plane.org]

- Fix: No Orange Cockpit with Shadows[forums.x-plane.org]

- XP 11 Advanced Settings[forums.x-plane.org]

- Differential brakes[forums.x-plane.org]

- External Moving Map[forums.x-plane.org]

- HeadShake camera[forums.x-plane.org]

- Landing Speed Plugin[forums.x-plane.org]

- Less Haze[forums.x-plane.org] or X-Visibility - Dynamic Haze Control[forums.x-plane.org]

- HD Forests[forums.x-plane.org] or FlyAgi Vegetation[forums.x-plane.org]

- PassengersFX[forums.x-plane.org]

- PushBack: BetterPushbackC[github.com] | [XPGS] Ground Services[x-plane.joanpc.com] | SimplePushback[forums.x-plane.org]

- Runway Awareness and Advisory System[forums.x-plane.org]

- Terrain radar + Vertical Situation Display[forums.x-plane.org]

- Xchecklist[forums.x-plane.org]

- X-Refuel[forums.x-plane.org]

- Airport Navigator[forums.x-plane.org]

- FMC | SimpleFMC[forums.x-plane.org]

- Photoscenery Autogen for XP11[forums.x-plane.org]

- eBag | PDF and image viewer embedded in the X-Plane window [forums.x-plane.org]

- Real Terra Haze[forums.x-plane.org]

-> Water color for RTH Plugin @http://rdesignx.weeblyDOTcom/mods.html

- Xavion | Navigation - App Store[xavion.com]

- X-FMC[www.x-fmc.com]

- XHSI - glass cockpit for X-Plane 10 & 11[sourceforge.net]

- xOrganizer[forums.x-plane.org]

- X-RAAS: Runway Awareness and Advisory System[forums.x-plane.org]

- Bad sight at day? Runway lights at day time and more:
ARCAL - Aircraft radio control of aerodrome lighting[forums.x-plane.org] or Switch Airport Lights[forums.x-plane.org]

Popular stuff | Part 2

- AutoGate plugin[forums.x-plane.org] | sound mod[forums.x-plane.org] & SAM[forums.x-plane.org]

- AviTab: VR-compatible tablet with PDF viewer[forums.x-plane.org]

- My XP Night lighting[forums.x-plane.org] | Night Lighting[forums.x-plane.org] | Extended Night Lighting[forums.x-plane.org] | NIGHT ENVIRONMENT MOD[forums.x-plane.org]

- European Road Lights[www.x-plane.at]

- Formation Flying[forums.x-plane.org] or XWing[www.xpluginsdk.org]
Jitter problems are not fixed yet!

- CSL2XSB[forums.x-plane.org] for LiveTraffic[forums.x-plane.org] | RealTraffic (cash)[www.inside.net]

- Less Smoke / improved Contrails [forums.x-plane.org]

- Random Flight Database[forums.x-plane.org]

- O4XP Seasons[flyagi.de]

- ABC-plugin (A Better Circle)[forums.x-plane.org] | Camera plugin

My must have plugins

Updated: May 2021

• ASXP[hifisimtech.com] |In use: Historical weather minus one realtime day for less to no weather "bug" transitions.
  
  
• Autogate[forums.x-plane.org] |Vulkan fix[forums.x-plane.org] |Needed for some sceneries, fix not in use here.
  
  
• FlywithLua[forums.x-plane.org]
  ASHA[forums.x-plane.org] |Shadow improvements
  Lowshadows[forums.x-plane.org] |Cockpit lighting improvements |+skycolors mod, code reduced for only one line to avoid troubles with ASHA:
  set( "sim/private/controls/shadow/cockpit_near_proxy", 1.5)
  Switch_Airport_Lights_1.0[drive.google.com] |Troubles finding the airport over day time? ;)
  
  
• LiveTraffic[forums.x-plane.org] |See what is happening right now around you. No fps hits.
  
  
• MarineTrafficX[forums.x-plane.org] or Seatraffic[forums.x-plane.org] |I am using now for less hustle MarineTraffic, but Seatraffic routes are bugfree what I have seen in the past.
  
  
• SAM[forums.x-plane.org] |Needed for some sceneries.
  
  

  + Two XP enhancements:

  
  
• NIGHT ENVIRONMENT MOD[forums.x-plane.org]
  
  
• Extended Night Lighting[forums.x-plane.org]

Ortho4XP

Ortho4XP[forums.x-plane.org] | Support for OrthoXP [forums.x-plane.org] | VideoBlog
Ortho4XP Guide[forums.mudspike.com] | ADVANCED Tutorial
OSM -Java-OpenStreetMap-Editor[josm.openstreetmap.de]
AutoOrtho[forums.x-plane.org]

V1.30 tut:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDkoH0n4St0
Custom Mesh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8VGSxrJ1Gk

Low Altitude fix:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lYu4bpvEcc

Elevation Data
Digital Terrain Models of Europe[data.opendataportal.at] | Sonny
Elevation calculator[www.mapdevelopers.com]
DIGITAL ELEVATION DATA[www.viewfinderpanoramas.org]
Terrain Data[github.com]
USGS[viewer.nationalmap.gov] | USGS2[gdex.cr.usgs.gov] | USGS3[earthexplorer.usgs.gov]

Country master source list[forums.x-plane.org] | List II[forum.thresholdx.net]
Xroads[forums.x-plane.org], Transparent road and autogen textures for photoscenery[forums.x-plane.org]
Simtiles | a program that creates Night and Winter textures[simultools.com]
I did a test tile only ZL19 in ca 5hrs with arround 76gb. A compromise are ZL15/16 tiles or custom tiles with ZL15/16 in combination with ZL17/18 in interesting areas. Here a short overview[simheaven.com].
WED-O-Maker (Wedbing) - Place your airport to your scenery[forums.x-plane.org]
Zoom levels[wiki.openstreetmap.org]

Winter Decals[forums.x-plane.org]

Enhancing Coastlines[forums.x-plane.org]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IByVfg97EY&feature=emb_title
Corrupt DDS files? First: Check the file sizes. DDS files have all the same size of 10.923 KB. Second: Blue areas? There is a program called XnViewMP with which you can quickly scan through your files after the tool has created thumbnails of DDS files.

Check the source for your tile in your browser before you are starting the tile generation :

satellites|pro[satellites.pro]

BI = bing.com
GO / GO2 = google.com | Fix against blueness[forums.x-plane.org] | Mask_width: X - depending on the source, I had awesome experiences in some regions with Mask_width: 1500 Ratio:1 | Use masks for inland enabled
Here = https://wego.here.com
ARC[www.arcgis.com] = arcgisonline.com | Sea: Mask_width: 25 Ratio:1 | Use masks for inland enabled
USA_1 = nationalmap.gov
USA_2 = arcgisonline.com
FR = geoportail.fr
FR_sat = geosud.fr (ZL17)
FR_sat2 = geosud.fr (ZL17)
FR_satP = geosud.fr (ZL18)
TOP_25 = geosud.fr (ZL 16)
DE = geodatenzentrum.de
SP = ign.es
IT = minabiente.it
SE2 = lantmateriet.se
Hitta / SE = eniro.no
PL = geoportal.gov.pl
BE_Wa = geoservices.wallonie.be
NE = gdsc.nlr.nl
NE2 = geodata1.nationaalgeoregister.nl
SLO = gis.arso.gov.si
CRO = geoportal.dgu.hr
OST = wien.gov.at
CH = map.geo.admin.ch
AU_1 = gov.au
NZ = govt.nz
JP = go.jp
FO = kortal.fo
F44 = http://vuduciel.loire-atlantique.fr/#11/47.3435/-1.6788
GE = ge.ch/sitg

No overlays in use here with my orthos for Europe.

Better in my opinion: X-EUROPE http://simheaven.com/x-europe-released/

Tweaks:
Road and Autogen Textures for Photoscenery[forums.x-plane.org]
Reduce texture size

- Mesh Updater[forums.x-plane.org]

My Ortho-config for Britsh Columbia/Alaska tiles:

- Curv_tol "3.0" for less triangles to keep the scenery load fast.
- My masks_width varies depending on the source (for some Orthos I have even used masks_width "1500").
- Low-level flyer may like use_decal_on_terrain "True"! Check it out.


Here a master Masks hint from Ortho4xp creator himself, Oscar Pilote:

"Masks need an existing mesh to be built, not the raw OSM data. For large mask width, the parts close to a tile boundary will suffer if they can't use the neighbor mesh, but if it is existing they will use it and you won't have such issue. So when you plan some serious mask work do the meshes of neighbor tiles before the masks.
I have not used it for long but what I would usually do is
- build the meshes of all tiles at the lowest possible resolution (large curv_tol), it has zero influence of masks quality
(only the Step 1 config may influence masks, although they need Step 2, but they will ne much easier to build with low res mesh).
- do all the masks
- re run Step 2 at final curv_tol."

X-Plane 12

New websites addicted to XP12 only:

X-planeTO[x-plane.to] |Mods & Add-Ons

Self-made scenery: Adding, removing, ...

To create more life and new details to your XP-World you will need the OverlayEditor[forums.x-plane.org].

Some scenery "add-ons" to add:

- Flyby Planes[forums.x-plane.org], add animated flying aircraft in seconds to any airport or location!

- Sea Life[forums.x-plane.org], add sea life to the ocean.

- Waves Library[forums.x-plane.org] | Mod[forums.x-plane.org]

- Water color[forums.x-plane.org].

- Just for fun[forums.x-plane.org]

- Runway approach lights and markings[forums.x-plane.org]

and more "add-ons"[forums.x-plane.org] to use.

You have trees and buildings on your runway or you need to remove some other scenery objects from your scenery? No problem with the Overlay Editor. A simple FAQ is included with the editor.

X-Reloaded[forums.x-plane.org] - Reload plugins, aircraft or scenery from one plugin without restarting X-Plane.

One thing more to know is the orginal XP WorldEditor[developer.x-plane.com]: this editor you will need to create new fictive airports, seaports & heliports. WED Guides[forums.x-plane.org].
WED Video Tutorials.

More tools for scenery building:
- Geotiff for WED with Ortho4XP
- WED-O-Maker[forums.x-plane.org]
- SAS Planet[forums.x-plane.org]
- Elevation calculator[www.mapdevelopers.com]
- Map elevation[www.calcmaps.com]

How to fix too bumpy and useless airports - flatten the runway

Easy fix till we get an update for an airport with the right elevation - an example:

Open apt.dat in X-Plane 11\Custom Scenery\Kai Tak with Lead-in Lights\Earth nav data and add "1302 flatten 1" (without quotes).

1000 Generated by WorldEditor

1 15 1 0 VHXX Kai Tak
100 54.86 1 1 0.00 1 3 1 13 22.32174408 114.19647686 0 0 3 0 1 0 31 22.30403667 114.21632295 210 0 3 1 1 2
102 H15 22.31494218 114.20952545 224.00 25.00 25.00 2 0 0 0.00 0
102 H16 22.31540508 114.20899670 224.00 25.00 25.00 2 0 0 0.00 0

1302 flatten 1

110 1 0.00 134.0000 New Taxiway 7

Can not wait for an update? Do the slopes by yourself: ADVANCED Tutorial

3D objects: building and optimising

Tools:

Sketchup[help.sketchup.com]

Sketchup2Xplane[marginal.org.uk]

ModelConverterX[www.scenerydesign.org]

AC3d[http//AC3d+http] + Plugin[developer.x-plane.com] or Blender[developer.x-plane.com]

FSX SDK

FS2XPlane[forums.x-plane.org]

Tutorials:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvozvbNY64w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU89xSuVbu8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i-ZexLyLDw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A2IqDBhHtk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgIeBg_CeQI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9oNuLZ_SU4


Scenery Tutorials and Examples[marginal.org.uk]
WED Tutorials - how to make airports for X-Plane
X-Plane SDK | X-Plane SDK Documentation[developer.x-plane.com]

Lights:

Examples: LIGHT_NAMED obs_red_night, LIGHT_NAMED ship_mast_obs, LIGHT_NAMED apt_beacon_white_glow

List of Named Lights[developer.x-plane.com]
\resources\bitmaps\world\lites\lights.txt

Lights for Boats and Ships

ship_nav_left ship_nav_right ship_mast_obs ship_mast_grn ship_nav_tail ship_mast_powered carrier_datum carrier_waveoff carrier_meatball1 carrier_meatball2 carrier_meatball3 carrier_meatball4 carrier_meatball5 carrier_mast_strobe carrier_deck_blue_s carrier_deck_blue_w carrier_deck_blue_n carrier_deck_blue_e carrier_pitch_lights carrier_foul_line_red carrier_foul_line_white carrier_center_white carrier_edge_white carrier_thresh_white frigate_SGSI_lo frigate_SGSI_on frigate_SGSI_hi frigate_deck_green oilrig_deck_blue

Lights for Towns

town_light_60 town_light_90 town_light_150 town_light_180 town_light_220 town_light_280 town_light_330 town_light_350 town_light_omni town_tiny_light_60 town_tiny_light_90 town_tiny_light_150 town_tiny_light_180 town_tiny_light_220 town_tiny_light_280 town_tiny_light_330 town_tiny_light_350 town_tiny_light_omni

Lights for Obstacles

obs_strobe_day obs_strobe_night obs_red_day obs_red_night hospital_helipad_blue


Customizing Spill Lights – Two Ways[developer.x-plane.com]

Custom Lights[developer.x-plane.com]

Calculation Light-Spill[www.x-plane.at] | X-Plane Custom Light Calculator[forums.x-plane.org]

OBJ8 (.obj) File Format Specification[developer.x-plane.com]

"LIGHT_SPILL_CUSTOM <x> <y> <z> <r> <g> <b> <a> <s> <dx> <dy> <dz> <semi> <dref>

This creates a spill light with completely customized parameters. The parameters are:

- x,y,z – the location of the light in 3-d space. The light’s position and orientation do change with animation.
- r,g,b,a – the color and brightness of the light. Alpha acts to dim the light.
- s – the size of the light in meters. The size is the distance in meters at which the light is completely attenuated.
- dx, dy, dz – the direction the light points – a vector of length 1 in local coordinates. This points from the light to its target. For omnidirectional lights, you can leave these as 0,0,0.
- semi – the width of the light. For an omnidirectional light, pass 1.0. For directional cones, semi is the cosine of half the spread of the light – so a light with a 90 degree total cone width has a semi-width of 45 degrees, so the semi parameter is cos(45 degrees), or about 0.7.
- dref – the name of the dataref to use to modulate the light or “none” if none. The dataref should be a float array dataref that optionally modifies the 9 floats (except for XYZ) that are passed in."

OBJ with All Named Lights[forums.x-plane.org]

Self-made scenery Part 2

Tower viewpoint

Unhappy with the tower view (Shift+5)? A fast way to fix the tower height without using WED in case the viewpoint is added by the scenery designer. Open the airport apt.dat in your editor (\Custom Scenery\Airport\Earth nav data) and find the line "14". For the height you have to edit the second to last value. In this example it is 100.00:

14 35.047215 -106.608162 100.00 1 Tower viewpoint

100 Height (in feet) above ground level of viewpoint.

Reload the scenery and check the result.

Source[developer.x-plane.com]

EKCH, xE 1.16

You can help

Edit and add OSM data to evolve the scenery for XP in your browser:
OpenStreetMap[www.openstreetmap.org]

Or in the JOSM editor[josm.openstreetmap.de].

Laminar will use your new data for XP autogen, Simheaven or others for theirs packages and you can use them also for your own W2XP scenery for example.

For a building: Add tag building (commercial, office, apartments) and buildling:level.
Right now W2XP is too ancient to read more tags and will flatten such buildings with tags like these: building:part, roof:shape, roof:color.

Map features[wiki.openstreetmap.org].

Simple 3D buildings[wiki.openstreetmap.org].

OSM-Data in 3D[demo.f4map.com]

Extract sources:
Minutely updated: https://protomaps.com/extracts
Weekly updated: https://extract.bbbike.org
More Planet.osm mirrors[wiki.openstreetmap.org].

Must have hardware

Wanna be a true flight simmer? This is what you will need:

- Joystick / Flightstick

i am using still my old T16000. My next one could be a CH Fighterstick PRO.

- Head tracking device

Starting with ARMA2 back in 2010 I needed TrackIR 5 between my walls. Absolute worth the money, using it also for racing sims.

Old, but still a watchable video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wXx3vMy_AQ
My XP-profile (Zoom slider mapped to my flightstick plus you can use your mouse sqroll wheel, TrackIR "Center" key and "Pause" key (to fix your view in special situations) mapped to my throttle):

Spitfire profile:



The year 2016. The last devices to catch. Early in this year I have decided to go deeper into Sim-flying and after hours of studying the web finally the decision: The "CH family". Fair price and industrial quality.

- Throttle

CH products Pro Throttle.
The only con: its too light, had to fix it.

- Rudder Pedals

CH Pro Pedals.
The only con: cable should leave the side of the chassis not the back :( Fixes needed to save the USB-cable.

- "Multi" Throttle and button box

CH Throttle Quadrant.
No cons. Funny is: This device took the most study time. i did not liked the "cheap" design, but without a competitor in this price regio. Bought it and can live with it now ;)

- Flight Yoke
Optional or as only control device. I feel no need for this yet.

And hardcore simmers? They go further ;)

Happy flying @ll!

PS: Helicopter pilots check this topic[forums.x-plane.org].

- Association of Flight Simulator Builders and Instructors[www.afsbi.org]
- Autopilot[jeffrlatham.wixsite.com]
- simpleFCU[simplefcu.com]

Websites

X-plane devs[developer.x-plane.com]

Dev Supniks blog[hacksoflife.blogspot.com]

Feature requests & suggestions[feedback.x-plane.com]


Some Infos and more:

- Airports4xp[airports4xp.info]

- satellites|pro[satellites.pro]

- Airport Nav Finder[airportnavfinder.com]

- Aerosoft Forum[forum.aerosoft.com]

- Aviation Stack Exchange[aviation.stackexchange.com]

- Aviation Weather[www.aviationweather.gov]

- Avsim-com[www.avsim.com]

- Badbadweather-com[www.badbadweather.com]

- flightnews24[flightnews24.de]

- Flightradar24[www.flightradar24.com]

- Flightsim-com[www.flightsim.com]

- Flight Simulation Association[flightsimassociation.com]

- FSdeveloper[www.fsdeveloper.com]

- flightsim: all about PC flight simulation

- Flying X-Plane[flyingxplane.apps-1and1.net]

- FSelite[fselite.net]

- HeliSimmer [www.helisimmer.com]

- Hoggit Fighter Wing

- Jetphotos[www.jetphotos.com]

- KeyAero[www.key.aero]

- Online Flight Planner[onlineflightplanner.org]

- SimFlight|Com[www.simflight.com]

- Liveatc[www.liveatc.net]

- simpleflying|com[simpleflying.com]

- Smart Cockpit[www.smartcockpit.com]

- Simreviewshouse-com[www.simreviewshouse.com]

- SKYbrary[www.skybrary.aero]

- Thresholdx-net[www.thresholdx.net]

- Unofficial X-Plane

- WW2aircraft|net[http//forum]

- WWII aircraft performance[www.wwiiaircraftperformance.org]

- Windy[www.windy.com]

- X-pilot[x-pilot.com]

- X-Plane Reviews[xplanereviews.com]

- X-planeES[www.x-plane.es]

- X-planeFR[www.x-plane.fr]

- X-planeIT[www.x-plane.it]

- Forums-x-plane-org[forums.x-plane.org]

- X-plained[www.x-plained.com]

Who knows german:

- cruiselevelDE[cruiselevel.de]

- Eulen and Friends[eulenandfriends.de]

- Flusinews[flusinews.de]

- Friendly Flusi[www.friendlyflusi.de]

- FSC-eV|de[fsc-ev.de]

- euroluftbildDE[www.euroluftbild.de]

- Monokuro[monokuro.eu]

- SimFlight[www.simflight.de]

- VFR-flightsimmer[www.vfr-flightsimmer.de]

- X-planeAT[www.x-plane.at]

Airplane landing

Everything what goes up, must come down. ;)

For faster progress and understanding choose a small plane for the beginning like the Cessna.

Depending on the plane use:

- Flaps,

- Speedbrakes, Airbrakes, Auto-brakes,

- Manual left & right brakes,
With pedals: push constant and increase slowly the intensity. No full stop braking. No tapping. Tapping increases your braking distance.
Without pedals: tap the brake button. Tapping is here without pedals the only way to slow down or the runway is long enough to roll out ;-).

- Thrust reversal,

- Drogue parachute and for aircraft carrier landings a tailhook.


How to learn landing:

Messaggio originale di bujablaster:

If you are about to make your best for your take offs and landings here are my humble advices (at least for me it worked fine):

- you can drill your landings via selecting Final approach on any airport under Location/Select global airport menu, it will place your aicraft on glide slope aligned with runway you selected (in such case i recommend to you do it with aircraft fully running, also as soon as X-Plane puts your aicraft on approach hit "P" for pause, then go to Location/Local map and set aour aicraft's speed)

or

- pick some airport dense area like San Francisco bay or better Vancouver bay area in Canada BC and fly between the airports

or

- fly traffic patterns, on small place and with short time you'll learn quickly about your aicraft's climbing, descending and turning abilities.

When i get some new aircraft i allways do some patterns or some training day flying with several landings and take offs to learn abilities of that aircraft and to get used with it.

To the landing itself:

- be sure your indicated air speed (IAS) on final approach is about 10-15 kts above your aicraft's stall speed (lower end of green arc on air speed gauge) and about 500ft above airport elevation

- point your aicraft like you are pointing to the touchdown zone on runway - not with your aicraft's nose but with your eyes

- don't flare too soon otherwise you will most probably loose speed too much and induce stall above runway -> hard landing at least (flare is that moment when you level your airplane i.e. above runway from descent to levelled flight to loose rest of unneeded air speed to touch down

If you want to go deeper i strongly recommend to install landing speed plugin :) it simply measures your descent rate at the moment of touchdown so evaluating how good or how hard landing was is easily for that plugin.

Sorry for such novel ;), but i hope it will help you.

B-24 Belly Landing in Italy 1944

Flight School

- Check this overview: http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/forum/33-flight-school/

- Helicopter Flight School[forums.x-plane.org]

- How to fly Helicopters[www.helisimmer.com]

- Lerne Heli fliegen (german)[www.rotorsim.de]

- Helicopter Flying Handbook[www.faa.gov]

- Hovering a Helicopter is Hilariously Hard

- Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge[www.faa.gov]

- Taming The Taildragger[www.aviationsafetymagazine.com]

- Youtube Channel:
Your teacher Captain Joe
IAC34 - International Aerobatic Club
Mentour Pilot
Helicopter Lessons In 10 Minutes or Less
thecorporatepilotdad
Nancy Bradshaw CFI & Airline Pilot

Exploration

XXXX - ICAO Codes (International Civil Aviation Organization)

Some nice places with some dangerous airports to fly around:

Lukla, Nepal - VNLK
Courcheval, France - LFLJ
Ísafjörður, Iceland - BIIS
Toncontin, Honduras - MHTG
Gustav III Airport, St Barthélemy - TFFJ
Paro, Bhutan - VQPR
Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport, Saba - TNCS
Princess Juliana International Airport, St Martin - TNCM
Chagual, Peru - SPGL
Stewart, Canada - CZST
Luleå, Sweden - ESPA
Molde, Norway - ENML
Unalaska Airport, USA - PADU
Anchorage, USA - PANC
Juneau, USA - PAJN
Hong Kong's old Kai Tak airport, China - VHXX
Samos, Greece - LGSM
Salzburg, Austria - LOWS
Innsbruck, Austria - LOWI
Gibraltar - LXGB
Barra, Scotland - EGPR
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - SBRJ, SBGL
Wellington, New Zealand - NZWN
Kansai, Japan - RJBB
Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Canada - CYTZ
Halifax, Canada - CYHZ, CYAW
k2 / Godwin-Austen - Skardu, Pakistan - OPSD
Manaus Amazonas, Brasil - SBEG

"Everyday" a new airport[www.badbadweather.com] to explore
+ a nice world weather overview[earth.nullschool.net].

- Sim-routes[sim-routes.netlify.app]

The Seven Summits + some more mountains:



Asia:
8,884 m / 29,029 ft
Mount Everst - Lukla, VNLK

8,611 m / 28,251 ft
K2 / Godwin-Austen - Skardu, OPSD

South America:
6,961 m / 22,838 ft
Aconcagua / Los Andes - San Rafael, SCAN

North America:
6,190 m / 20,310 ft
Denali - Talkeetna, PATK

Africa:
5,895 m / 19,341 ft
Kibo - Kilimanjaro Airport, HTKJ

Europe:
Caucasus Mountains:
5,642 m / 18,510 ft
Mount Elbrus - NALCHIK, URMN

5,047 m / 16,558 ft
Kasbek - Beslan, URMO

Alps:
4,808 m / 15,776.7 ft
Mont Blanc - Courcheval, LFLJ

Pyrenees:
3,404 m / 11,168 ft
Aneto - La Seu d'Urgell, LESU

Antarctic:
4,892 m / 16,050 ft
Vinson Massif - No scenery available :( - Sky Blu, AT24

Australia:
4,884 m / 16,024 ft
Puncak Jaya / Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia - Timika, WABP

2,228 m / 7,310 ft
Mount Kosciuszko - Khancoban, YKHA

Some History

This day in aviation[www.thisdayinaviation.com]

Aviation Photographer Erik Johnston
https://www.youtube.com/user/ErikJohnston/videos

Elwyn R´s YT-Channel
https://www.youtube.com/user/POSTY1ify/videos

Forces News
https://www.youtube.com/c/forcestv/videos

MojoGrip´s YT-Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp0-1iilun-zz1oeuunbNyw/videos

Some picturised past events:

Flight 90 - 1982
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Florida_Flight_90

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBlRsNACp3k

Flight 243 - 1988
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloha_Airlines_Flight_243

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83Ognz8SCKE

Storm landing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=183&v=roS6oFjCDhc

IL-62
https://youtu.be/I4MiZQbZdAk?t=103

Airbus A310 Low Pass Turn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26H-WzIe858

World´s Rotorcraft
http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters.html

Glider
https://youtu.be/QwK9wu8Cxeo?t=79

Miami Approach
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KK5KTQGuXSQ

Piloting the SR-71
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nuAZfKSvvg

MD500 Tuna Boat Landing and Shutdown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm-B2B8RUyY

H145 - Offshore wind hoist operations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvjYHyHsqCg

More help

- Official X-Plane Q&A[questions.x-plane.com]

- X-Plane 11 Desktop Manual[www.x-plane.com]

- Data Set Output Table[www.x-plane.com]

- X-PLANE BEGINNERS GUIDE[www.thresholdx.net]

- Unsure to buy XP11? Check the demo[www.x-plane.com]!

Here some screenies from my LFPG-EGLL "ride" (11.02steamrc):

[xKilroyx]

Just picked this up. Thanks for the detailed guide!

[lambups]

couldn't find anything :/

[harryorlsen]

Hmm, no clue. Check the forums, org etc.

[lambups]

checked both
according to the dev console, there's an issue with the road system?

[harryorlsen]

Check your scenery order and maybe your simheaven download is corrupt.

[lambups]

simheaven.com scenery won't load despite doing everything correctly :(

[harryorlsen]

https://simadditions.com/visualxp-v1-1-7-finishing-up-04-aug/
Weather Engine and Enhancement Plugin

[harryorlsen]

X Plane to MSFS2020 Bridge Released
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rix1wcbnF2c
https://discord.gg/MRR9zUMQhM

[Wafflez]

I recently started to play x-plane 11. I already know how to play it, but thanks you for this guide.
Also now I can see why my computer do loud noises while playing

[David Bowman]

thats also a good choice