Hello there!
We’ll be implementing a new way to provide the best custom scenery experience in the forthcoming 10.45 update. Don’t miss the information below on multi-monitor set ups, as well as a free general aviation aircraft download.
Keeping Your Custom Scenery Clean
Your favorite custom sceneries will fear the automatic Airport Scenery Gateway updates no more! X-Plane 10.45, the next update currently in beta, will have a new way to keep your highest priority custom scenery packs free of interference from lower priority packs.
Right now, exclusion zones successfully remove objects such as trees, roads, and buildings only when they’re in the highest priority scenery pack. This often puts the burden of exclusion on third party scenery developers, and means that low priority default scenery can’t control what shows through. X-Plane 10.45 is implementing a second way to exclude scenery: by airport ID. (Please note that scenery designers must keep using exclusion zones!)
Excluding objects by airport ID works by removing all objects associated with a lower priority airport that has the same airport ID as the higher priority one. By default, Gateway airports automatically delivered via updates are considered the lowest scenery priority. Gateway airports are also required to have all of their objects and facades “inside” the airport in order to upload it to the Gateway. That means this type of exclusion works if the underlying airport is modified–which, in most cases, is the Gateway airport. If you already have scenery for KLAX, for example, receiving a new Gateway version of KLAX should no longer affect what you see.
If you’re interested in all the technical details, check out the X-Plane developer blog article. Check here for a list of Gateway airports that will be included in the 10.45 release.
Tips and Tricks
If you have more than one monitor or computer, you’ve probably thought about creating (or already have) a multi-display set up with X-Plane. If you’d like to have one, super-wide view, it will probably be easiest and cheapest to use multiple monitors connected to the same computer. If you would like to view different things on each monitor, you will most likely need multiple computers running separate installs of X-Plane 10.
X-Plane features one way to use two monitors to display the instructor operating station and the flight view. To set it up:
- Connect the monitors to the same computer and arrange them so the secondary monitor is on the right.
- Open the Rendering Options screen and check “display IOS on second monitor”.
- Choose if you want the second monitor to display scenery only, the HUD, the panel or the 3D cockpit.
- Optionally, check “run full screen” at this resolution.
When you exit the rendering options screen, the IOS will be on the left screen and your flight on the right. You can display the instruments on the IOS by checking the “inst” box at the top of the window. Note you cannot use a mouse to fly in this set up.
To learn about all the ways you can set up multiple monitors or computers to display X-Plane, check out this section of the manual.
Featured Freeware
The Piper PA-28 series is one of the most-produced civilian aircraft in the world. They are all-metal, unpressurized, single-engine, piston-powered airplanes with low-mounted wings and tricycle landing gear. Despite their popularity, none of the PA-28 family of aircraft ships with X-Plane 10, but you can remedy that with a free download of the PA28-181 Piper Archer III.
This freeware version of the Archer features a detailed widescreen 2D panel and numerous manipulable items such as the seatbelt and headset. It also comes with a 6 page checklist accessible from within the cockpit itself. You can learn more and download the aircraft from X-Plane.org (requires a free account).
Happy flying!
— The X-Plane Team
