The team behind the popular X-Plane addon xEnviro have released an update on what's in store regarding the project's future development. 

‍In a forum post this evening, head of development Magnus has outlined future plans for the project along with reasons behind the perhaps seemingly slow development of version 1.17

‍

It has been revealed that xEnviro will not be released during the Beta phase of X-Plane 12. Magnus provides us with the reasoning behind this; 

“xEnviro will not be released in this Beta run. Laminar Research has closed off all access to the platform by not giving access to the 3D draw callback, depth buffer and so on. X-Plane 11 was already limiting us and thus demanded a lot on performance to work. Especially when Vulkan was released, and our dynamic seasons got abruptly cut off. “ 

Magnus goes on to further state; “However. We are in a dialogue with Austin on the matter, and I am optimistic that we will find a solution to our limited access so that we can release 1.18 in XP12. Regardless of when this access is given, we must finish 1.17 in XP11.”

New features expected in version 1.17 of xEnviro include; 

• Full volume rendering
• Unlimited layers of clouds and layer mixing
• Full 3d uninterrupted and non-divided smooth volume rendering
• Different cloud types (Including towering CB’s)
• Dynamic cloud density
• VR groundwork for future VR compatibility

Magnus has disclosed that they are currently rebuilding the beta testing team and while he is not in a position to provide a time frame he provides us with in update in stating “We’re at the final stretch before the chicanes that lead to the finish line”

We will keep you update on the development of xEnviro V1.17 as it progresses.

‍