Check-Six Forums

A Summary of all the Main Things in Laminar Research's FlightSimExpo 2018 Presentation

Summary of key things from Laminar Research's presentation at FlightSimExpo 2018:

11.25:

645 new airports

11.30:

New York and Washington D.C sceneries

Airfoil maker can calculate the coefficient of drag for you

Brand new prop wash model

New downwash effects, in particular when close to the ground

New fuselage calculations that make fuselage lift and drag more realistic

Research mode: opt-in to to get all the latest physics, but leave off for compatibility with existing aircraft not yet updated

New systems and upgrades: oxygen, anti-ice and de-ice, propellers and governors and autopilots
NEW PARTICLE SYSTEM ALAS!!! And it looks amazing:

Particle emitters can be attached to objects

Video showing condensation in the engine inlets, ground spray and amazing new heat effects!

Can customise effects whilst X-Plane is running

Engine fire particle demonstration (!), with proof it can light up the surrounding area

Vulkan

Vulkan: 10 main API points on a checklist, about halfway through

Airfoil maker can now run in Vulkan... OpenGL uses over 18,000 driver calls, but Vulkan uses just 5,700 -> Proof it works

Vulkan will not: fix rendering artifacts, run at 500 fps, not improve multi-core use (but enables it for X-Plane). It's about getting room to grow

Statistics show Vulkan is giving the team approximately double the frame rate from 11.00, 11.10, 11.20 and 11.30, with the bars slowly creeping upwards in each version

2D OpenGL addons should work in Vulkan

3D addons that use the latest APIs will work in Vulkan; else they won't

Addons that draw in 3D (xEnviro, SkyMaxx Pro etc.) either run in OpenGL or Vulkan. Cannot cross the two engines together (obviously)

OpenGL, like 32-bit X-Plane, will be supported for the remainder of X-Plane 11

11.25: Available NOW (Steam coming soon) [BETA]
11.30: Late summer/early autumn
Vulkan: Maybe this year, but if not, next year (they just don't know)