Earlier this week, the official X-Plane Twitter account posted photos depicting aerial shots of a snowy landscape, along with the caption “looks chilly but we'll take it…” and hashtag “#XPlane12”. This tweet, undoubtedly showcasing the developmental progress of X-Plane 12, marks the first time for which the dynamic season system and snow textures that are coming with the new simulator are being displayed on a large scale. Previous previews that demonstrate seasonal changes mostly focus on dynamic tree colouring.

From the pictures, we can see that during the winters in the simulator, snow can be generated to cover most of the ground, trees, roads, and other structures, providing the users with a more immersive experience. Additionally, it can be observed that the amount of snowfall is also dynamic, presumably controlled by weather variables as demonstrated where one picture shows light snow that leaves most objects on the ground still visible while the other depicts heavy snow that almost turns the entire landscape into a shade of white. A question was asked regarding snow in evergreen regions to which the developers humorously responded to“ buy a copy of X-Plane 12 and see for [themselves]”.

Apart from the much anticipated season system, the new volumetric clouds can also be seen in the pictures. To find out more on X-Plane 12’s new cloud system, check out this Threshold article.

Currently, Laminar Research is yet to formally announce a firm release date or pricing for X-Plane 12, a comment on one of their facebook posts asking about the release date got the team to reply with an early 2022 release window. When X-Plane 12 becomes available, presumably as a beta, users who purchase an early copy will have their serial key support both the current X-Plane 11 version as well as the forthcoming version 12 in the same vein during X-Plane 11’s early rollout with keys supporting version 10 and 11. For more information on X-Plane 12, check out a previous Threshold article covering the announcement of the simulator at FlightSim Expo 2021