X-Plane's [VATSIM] pilot client, XSquawkBox is up for an update. Having last received one in August 2017, many VATSIM pilots are yearning for an update to bring XSB up to the standards of VPilot, amongst others.

On the official XSquawkBox website, Chris Collins has released a progress report. Included in the post is the announcement of XSquawkBox version 2. V2 will be compatible with X-Plane 11 only - XP10 users will have to stay with version 1.4.

The version 2 appears to be the update all online pilots were hoping for, with VR support, Pop-out text boxes and map overlays. Plus, the dreaded LegacyCSL's will finally be retired from v2 onwards. By far the largest change is to "ground clamping" - which is how XSB handles placing aircraft on the ground, as opposed to hovering a few metres in the air like in previous versions.

Here is a (drafted) changelog;

⦁ Strictly for X-Plane 11 (or newer) only.

⦁ VR Support

⦁ The Text Radio window will become a proper floating window, and not a special-transparent one.

⦁ The Who’s Online window will become a proper floating window and not a special transparent one.

⦁ Map Overlays for locating other aircraft and active controllers

⦁ LegacyCSL removed completely before the final release of 2.0

⦁ Text Labels removed completely before the final release of 2.0

Very exciting times for any VATSIM pilots on the platform, with new client "Swift" on the horizon as well as XSB version 2, we will be spoiled for choice!

To find out more about XSquawkBox V2, view the post on the XSB website.