Dark Space has recently released the long-awaited version 1.20 of xEnviro, making it fully compatible with X-Plane 12, bringing realistic weather simulation to the newly released flight simulation platform.
xEnviro 1.20 is an adaptation of 1.18 for the new platform, with a similar feature set and improved performance: no more than 10% of the framerate is compromised once the weather engine is running (using the recommended settings), making it more performant than 1.18 was. The full changelog follows down below:
### Added
– New architecture to accomodate procedural changes.
### Changed
– Sound processor temporary disabled.
– Visual effects temporary disabled.
– Cloud shader revision.
– Shaders moved to HDR rendering.
– More accurate light phase with glory and fogbow.
– Default X-Plane precipitation temporary enabled.
– Aerodrome surface set using X-Plane runway condition.
– UI colors changed to match X-Plane palette.
### Removed
– Sounds settings.
– Realistic aerial perspective.
– Realistic night perspective.
– Control water waves.
– Draw wet aerodrome surface.
– Draw drifting snow.
– Draw snow in mountains.
– Seasonal changes.
– Windshield effects.
– Volumetric aircraft lights effect.
– Lens flares.
– Diffraction spikes.
– Glorious sun.
– Custom rain.
– Custom snow.
– City lights.
The developer highlights that certain features were now temporarily removed and currently relying on native X-Plane functionalities, such as the xE sounds, waves, and seasonal changes. It is also stated that they will try to re-implement the features they have removed (refer to #removed in the changelog above).
Featuring industry-standard sky modeling, physics-based cloud visualization, and weather and time-dependent changes in atmospheric lighting, xEnviro aims to bring truly volumetric clouds to the world of X-Plane 12.
xE 1.20 is a free upgrade for previous owners of the X-Plane 11 version. They state it will remain a free upgrade for the foreseeable future: “All updates within 2023 and likely 2024 will be free. A transition to 2.0 version would necessitate a substantial upgrade from the current capabilities of version 1.18”, stated the developer.
It’s available on Threshold Store for $69.69, requiring at least a GTX 1050Ti or equivalent for the bare minimum and an RTX 2070 or equivalent for optimal performance.
Stay tuned to Threshold for more flight simulation news!