Laminar Research has released a new beta update for X-Plane 12, bringing a series of bug fixes and graphical improvements to the simulator. The update, released on May 9, 2025, remains in beta status, and the development team strongly advises users to disable or remove third-party mods before installing the update to ensure compatibility.

According to Laminar Research, certain existing mods — such as VisualXP, RXP Enhancer, various FlyWithLua scripts, and the X-Crafts E-Jet Family 2.0 — may interfere with new rendering parameters and cause issues with atmospheric values or reflections.

Key Fixes and Enhancements

Aircraft

• Piper PA-18 Super Cub: Liveries now load correctly (XPD-16826).
• Transponder knobs have been fixed and now function as intended (XPD-16825).

Air Traffic Control

• Voice Packs have been updated to AIRAC cycle 2504, providing the latest navigation data.

VR and Camera Improvements

• G-load camera effects have been disabled for external views in VR (XPD-16806).
• Left and right eye views in VR are now properly aligned, resolving previous visual inconsistencies (XPD-16784).

Environmental Adjustments

• Hot air balloons will no longer spawn in Class B airspace, addressing an immersion concern (XPD-16844).
• The aviation flashlight functionality has been restored (XPD-16829).

Graphics Engine and Visual Improvements

• Enhanced texture paging and memory management improve overall performance (XPD-16855).
• Fixed an issue where magenta light appeared on the right side of the screen for ultrawide monitors (XPD-16796).
• Improved cloud shadows and removed unnatural patterns on terrain (XPD-16787).
• Cloud brightness has been increased, particularly under overcast conditions (XPD-16722).
• Rendering when flying through clouds has been refined for better visual fidelity (XPD-16749).
• At night in VR, nearby cloud rendering has been improved.
• The sun, moon, and stars are now properly obscured by thick fog or cloud layers.
• General improvements to the rendering of the sun, moon, and cloud interactions (XPD-16843, XPD-16295).
• Radio towers no longer display incorrect blue tinting when viewed against clouds (XPD-16745).
• Cloud compute shader performance has been optimized, reducing GPU load.

SDK

• The XPLMDestroyAvionics function no longer causes the simulator to crash (XPD-16895), ensuring more stable development workflows for third-party creators.

Important User Advisory

Laminar Research recommends all users perform a default installation of the beta and remove or temporarily disable mods that may manipulate core simulator files, especially those affecting cubemaps or atmospheric parameters, to avoid unintended rendering issues during the beta period.

The update can be accessed via the X-Plane Installer for users opting into the public beta branch.