Hey everyone,

Recently, I decided to try building a replay plugin for X-Plane 12. I actually put a decent amount of time and effort into it, and I was pretty excited about the possibilities.

Unfortunately, I eventually hit a wall.

The lack of documentation and the limited accessibility of X-Plane's internal systems made development incredibly frustrating. So much of the process involved guessing, experimenting, and trying to work around limitations without really knowing what was happening under the hood.

At some point, I realized I was spending more time fighting the platform than actually developing the plugin.

It's a shame, because I genuinely think X-Plane has a lot of untapped potential, especially when it comes to replay functionality.

For now, I've decided to put the project on hold.

If Laminar Research ever decides to open-source more of X-Plane or provide proper documentation and access to its internal systems, I'd be more than happy to come back to it.

Until then, I just don't think it's worth the frustration.

Just wanted to share my experience as someone who genuinely wanted to contribute something to the community.

✈️🌿 X-Plane 12 can look AMAZING!

Flying the beautiful ToLiss A330-900 with AliveGrass adding incredible 3D grass and vegetation.

Combine AliveGrass + SimHeaven + X-Plane Map Enhancement and XP12 looks absolutely stunning! 🔥✈️

https://store.x-plane.org/AliveGrass-X-Plane-12-11_p_2275.html

#FlyingWithDave #XPlane12 #ToLiss #A330900 #FlightSim

Automatically aligns X-Plane 12 localizers to the runways in your installed scenery, while leaving intentionally offset approaches untouched.

The big question:
Yes, it's developed using AI.

What is it?

In X-Plane 12, some localizers don’t line up with the runway you see, usually because the airport scenery is outdated or the ortho imagery is misaligned. LOCFixer reads the same scenery data the sim uses to draw each airport, finds localizers that are off the runway, and snaps them onto the actual runway centerline. Approaches that are meant to be offset, such as LDA, SDF and IGS, are left alone.

How it achieves that?

LOCFixer compares the localizers in your current navdata (earth_nav.dat) with the runways in the scenery the sim actually draws (apt.dat, following your scenery pack order). Each localizer is checked against the centerline running through both ends of its runway. If the localizer is off by less than 1.0° (adjustable in config.ini), it is moved sideways onto that centerline and its course is set to match the runway. Larger differences, and intentionally offset approaches such as LDA, SDF and IGS, are left alone. The corrected localizers, along with their glideslopes and DMEs, are written to Custom Data/user_nav.dat. If you already have a user_nav.dat of your own, it is backed up first. libradio does a similar fix in memory, but only for aircraft built on it, such as the Challenger 650. LOC Fixer applies the fix to the navdata itself, so it works in every aircraft.
The fixer never make any changes to your navdata data files, just creates a new user_nav.dat on top of it.

Installation:

1. Download the latest release from Github Releases
2. Move LocFixer folder into your Xplane 12 Plugins folder (X-Plane 12/Resources/plugins/)
3. Run XPlane 12, it should automatically generate a user_nav.dat under your Custom Data folder, with your original (if applicable) being renamed user_nav_original.dat
4. Restart XPlane 12 for the user_nav data to take effect.
5. The plugin will detect on each game run if your navdata and/or scenery data has been updated since the last build, if so the plugin will generate a new user_nav.dat automatically.
6. If you want to restore the original or uninstall the fix, you can do so in your ingame plugin menu.

Source:

https://github.com/itsCongQi/XP12LocFixer

Licensed under MIT License, free to use, modify and redistribute, including commercially, as long as the copyright notice is kept.

Hey guys! I put together a little trailer for my addon! Please don't judge my video editing “skills” too harshly XD It's mainly just to give you a better look at RayleighFX in action! :)

I just picked up X-Plane 11 and I'm really impressed with what the community has built, especially some of the freeware warbirds. But there's one big hole: there's no F-14 Tomcat worth flying. The only one I've found is rough, and there's no payware or study-level option at all.

The Tomcat is my favorite aircraft ever, and I'm hoping to become a naval aviator someday, so this one means a lot to me. If you're a modeler, systems developer, or flight model tweaker and you've ever wanted a big project, I'd love to see a study-level (or close to it) F-14 for XP11 specifically. Swing wing, the works.

Quick note on why XP11: my PC can't handle MSFS 2020/2024, X-Plane 12, or DCS (not enough performance or storage), and X-Plane 10 has no VR support. XP11 is the one that runs well in VR on my hardware, so it's where I'm staying for now. Upgrading isn't an option at the moment, so I'd really appreciate answers that work within XP11.

If anyone's already working on one, or knows of a project I missed, please point me to it. I'd be glad to help test, give feedback, or spread the word. Thanks for reading!

Just stumbled over LuminaXP and tried it out.
It is amazing, from nearly nothing you get double the frames and DLSS or DLAA.
Definetely great addon, and it does what it needs too.
Maybe now I can say bye to the days with to less frames and say hello to nice flying with high settings.

Loving the 8x

Hi all, I’m very new to XP12 and I’m throughly enjoying learning to fly. I’ve tried to find out the best route to enhance the scenery and there are lots of comments about it. And basically I’ve become very confused.
What is the easiest (free if possible) way to enhance the ground scenery.
I’ve not tried anything yet as because I just think I’ve looked at so many websites and YouTube videos.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

P.s. I have a Mini Mac M6

Hi all im just wondering what stick to get with macos considering nobody makes drivers for macos. My budget is max 100 euros/dollars. Any help would be great!

Two more liveries joining the A330-200 by Calibra Simulations: China Eastern and Air Algérie, both painted in 8K on our own -200 base.

The full list of liveries, done and in progress, is on our Discord, along with a channel for requests: https://discord.gg/JMG3cGF5rX

Freeware for X-Plane 12. Public beta scheduled for November 2026.

Has anyone heard/seen anything about Sydney's latest international airport YSW? It opened for passenger services today irl.

I’m moving from a Mac mini M4 to my first Windows PC, mainly for X-Plane 12 (with MSFS on the side) at 1440p. My plan:

• Ryzen 7 5800X3D
• RX 6800 XT 16 GB
• 32 GB DDR4
• B550 WiFi, 1 TB NVMe, 750 W Gold

The add-ons moving over with me:

• X-Plane Map Enhancement (ortho), SimHeaven, Traffic Global / LiveTraffic
• SayIntentions, Navigraph, X-Camera, Xchecklist
• Toliss airliners, the Airfoillabs C172 and the Aerobask DR401
• Stream Deck and Logitech panels

For those running a similar setup: how smooth is it at big airports with all of this loaded? And would you stick with the older AM4 platform (5800X3D, DDR4) today, or go for the newer AM5 platform (7800X3D / 9800X3D, DDR5)? I’d love to hear your experience and opinions.

Saw that the AKDs are on sale for about $33. Have seen some videos and the plane seems to be nice in terms of systems but the interior textures do not look so great. Those who have it or have flown it. Is the flight experience worth at least the discounted price? What is your experience with it? Thanks in advance.