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X-Plane 12 World Scenery Overhaul: What to Expect from the Next-Gen Raster-Based System.
X-Plane 12 World Scenery Overhaul: What to Expect from the Next-Gen Raster-Based System
X-Plane 12 World Scenery Overhaul is planned to make the most realistic flight simulators on the market even better! Laminar Research are planning a revolutionary scenery overhaul in a future update that could elevate the sim to a new graphical standard.
A next-generation world scenery system is currently in development, aiming to bring richer terrain detail, photorealistic elements, and better performance to both low- and high-end systems.
The new X-Plane 12 World scenery overhaul system opens up the opportunity for the addition of NVIDIA’s DLSS & AMD’s FSR to be implemented latter but ill explain this below.
In this post, we’ll break down what we know so far, what to expect, and how this system could reshape the future of scenery in X-Plane.
What Is the New Scenery System in X-Plane 12?
The upcoming scenery overhaul is centered on a raster-based scenery system, a major shift from the current vector-based approach. Raster-based scenery uses high-resolution textures and masks for terrain representation rather than relying solely on landclass data and polygons. This allows for a much more natural and visually detailed world, especially in flatlands, deserts, and agricultural regions.
Laminar’s goal is to increase realism without sacrificing performance, and this new system is designed to do just that by offloading much of the heavy lifting to GPU-optimized pipelines.
GPU’s work primarily with RASTA DATA so the switch to this format helps performance considerably as well as lowing LOD & VRAM requirements.
Combining Raster Data and Procedural Texturing
The innovation doesn’t stop at raster terrain. The new scenery system is expected to blend raster imagery with procedural texturing techniques, which are already used in X-Plane 12 to add fine detail based on terrain type. This hybrid method enables:
- More realistic fields, forests, and urban areas
- Regionally accurate landscape transitions
- Seasonal and environmental variation (e.g., crops, foliage)
- Better integration with lighting, shadows, and weather effects
This approach will help X-Plane keep the dynamic, living-world feel it’s known for, while catching up to or surpassing the photoreal quality of scenery mods like Ortho4XP or Microsoft Flight Simulator’s Bing-based streaming world.
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Is Raster Data the same as ARTHO Tiles?
While often confused, raster tiles and orthophotos are not the same even though they can work together. Raster tiles refer to any pixel-based data used in scenery, such as landclass textures, vegetation maps, or elevation overlays.
Orthophotos, on the other hand, are actual aerial or satellite photographs that have been geometrically corrected to align with the Earth’s surface. All orthophotos are raster images, but not all raster tiles are orthophotos.
X-Plane’s upcoming scenery system uses raster tiles to provide detailed terrain representation, which can include—but does not require—photorealistic imagery like orthophotos.
This approach allows for both high realism and better performance, while still leaving the door open for future integration with real-world photo scenery.
Will It Replace Ortho4XP? Integration or Competition?
While Laminar hasn’t officially stated that their new system will integrate directly with Ortho4XP, there are strong hints that their approach will support off-the-shelf technologies such as:
- Geospatial image overlays (satellite imagery)
- Heightmap and elevation data
- Land classification rasterization
- Streaming or on-demand loading systems
This suggests the new system may natively support or mimic some of the features that Ortho4XP users enjoy without the multi-step setup or massive storage requirements. It could also eliminate inconsistencies between ortho scenery and procedural elements like autogen and airports.
Performance and Optimization: A Modern Pipeline
Laminar is also revamping the rendering pipeline to support this new system with efficiency in mind. The upcoming “modern collector” system will streamline CPU usage by intelligently determining which scenery tiles and features need to be rendered.
Expected benefits include:
- Improved performance in VR and multiplayer, especially over complex terrain
- Smoother transitions between scenery tiles
- Faster scenery loading and reduced stuttering
- Enhanced compatibility with future multithreading improvements
This is crucial for X-Plane users flying in dense metropolitan areas or custom-built environments.
How the New Raster System Could Unlock DLSS and FSR in X-Plane 12
Currently, X-Plane 12’s scenery is built on a vector-based landclass system combined with procedural shaders. While this method is efficient for generating terrain based on data like land use or elevation, it doesn’t produce the kind of consistent, image-based frames that upscaling technologies like NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR require.
These technologies depend on rasterized output with stable temporal data between frames essentially, they need clear, pixel-based images to analyze and enhance.
The shift to a raster-based scenery system changes that equation. Raster tiles generate textured ground layers that behave more like conventional images, similar to those seen in games or simulators already using DLSS/FSR.
With more of X-Plane’s world rendered as consistent pixel-based imagery, the sim’s rendering pipeline becomes far more compatible with advanced upscales.
While Laminar Research hasn’t officially announced DLSS or FSR support yet, this new graphics architecture lays the necessary foundation bringing X-Plane 12 closer than ever to supporting these powerful performance-boosting technologies.
New Scenery Assets Coming Soon
Even before the full raster system rolls out, Laminar has already begun updating X-Plane 12’s visual assets:
- New 3D models for airport ground vehicles (baggage tugs, emergency equipment, fuel trucks)
- Improved urban and industrial tiles
- Better forest and vegetation shaders
These changes indicate that the groundwork is being laid for a major overhaul in the global scenery engine.
When Will the New Scenery System Release?
There is no confirmed release date yet, but several signs point to late 2025 or early 2026 for a major rollout. Here’s why:
- Raster-based terrain tech is being previewed internally at Laminar Research.
- Related updates like the modern collector, improved rendering systems, and new default assets are being released incrementally.
- The system may debut in X-Plane 12.2.x or a major future build—possibly as part of a broader performance and graphics package.
It’s also possible the system will release in phases, with experimental options appearing in beta builds for user feedback and tuning.
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Why This Matters: Competing with Microsoft Flight Simulator
One of the major criticisms of X-Plane 12 has been its global scenery realism, especially compared to Microsoft Flight Simulator’s satellite streaming world. This upcoming scenery system could close that gap significantly by:
- Bringing photo-realistic detail to the entire globe
- Supporting streaming or cached high-res terrain
- Creating a cohesive environment with accurate elevation and vegetation
- Making manual scenery installations (e.g., Ortho4XP) obsolete or optional
For sim pilots who prioritize immersion, this could be the most exciting development since the introduction of Vulkan in X-Plane 11.
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Will Third-Party Scenery Still Work with X-Plane’s New Raster System?
The move from vector-based landclass data to a raster-based scenery system in X-Plane 12 raises important questions about third-party compatibility. Fortunately, according to early information from Laminar Research, the new raster system is being designed with backward compatibility in mind.
This means that popular third-party scenery libraries—such as those from Orbx, SimHeaven, and countless freeware developers should continue to function without becoming obsolete. However, while existing scenery will still load and display, it may not fully benefit from the improved visuals and blending techniques offered by the raster system unless developers choose to update their packages.
In other words, your current add-ons won’t be “broken,” but updated versions could look significantly better when optimized for the new system. Laminar is aiming for a transition that preserves community content while unlocking new graphical potential for those who want to take advantage of it.
Im sure this will remove some of the concerns regarding your scenery libraries and airports becoming a waste of money. Its good news they will be fine and with possible updates from creators will possible become even better.
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Conclusion: A New Era for X-Plane Visuals
The upcoming world scenery system for X-Plane 12 represents a massive leap forward in realism, technology, and user experience. With raster based terrain, integration with procedural texturing, and modern optimization, X-Plane is poised to become not just a flight dynamics leader but also a visually compelling simulator that rivals anything else on the market.
If you’re a current X-Plane user or on the fence about switching, keep a close eye on future updates. The sim is evolving fast, and 2025 might be the year that X-Plane finally looks as good as it flies!
Author
Brendon McAliece (Aka Gunnie) is a military veteran with 23 years working on Jet Fighters, their weapons systems and ejection seat/module systems as well as munitions and R&D. Involved with flight simulation since the 1980s, he has flown all the major flight simulators over the years.
He is an Australian expat who has lived in Malaysia, UK, Saudi Arabia and more recently Thailand. He is a multi-lingual blogger who loves to share his life experiences here on LetsFlyVFR.com and DreamingGuitar.com, with his lifestyle and Travel experiences Blog plus his Dreaming Coffee website.
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8 responses to “X-Plane 12 World Scenery Overhaul: What to Expect from the Next-Gen Raster-Based System.”
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As one of the many volunteer scenery “artists” working to maintain and upgrade airports within the X-Plane database, I would hope that all our hours of work doesn’t go for naught and can be seamlessly integrated into any new scenery system upgrades. Our airports are the best part of X-Plane scenery.
I would hope so as well Mike. What I read is they are also conscious of making everything backwards compatible. Let’s hope they give us an option to update the scenery we create. Thanks for visiting my Blog 🙂
Wow this is really fantastic news. This is the only thing X-Plane 12 really lacks in comparison to MSFS 2024. While the flight physics and dynamics, the sound and even the looking of even small airfields is better…the world scenery needs some polishing and the performance especially in VR sucks really badly.
So this is a huge step forward for my most favorite flight simulator. Fingers crossed we will see these improvements soon.
I mean, they do already a lot good work on their graphics – currently with the lightning and clouds an so on – this better looking than ever before. So I am confident that they will also do a good job in the update for the world sceneries.Its pretty incredible Thomas! I hope it all becomes the result we all dream of. The DLSS and FSR is still a bit of speculation, but it seems this opens the door for its implementation. As always we will have to waite and see. Thanks for visiting my blog. Muchly appreciated 🙂
Thanks for the speculative article, ChatGPT!
Hi Stephen, Appreciate you visiting my Blog post. Thank You 🙂 Some aspects like the article like DLSS/FSR updates/inclusion are speculative yes. I accept this and yes CHAT GPT is a tool I use in writing but I guide it comprehensively with detailed prompts so its writing the items I wish to discuss. Chat GPT solely written articles aren’t much good in my opinion. You really need to be in the process and guide it comprehensively on what it delivers. 🙂
The overall article is based on a blog post by Laminar themselves where they are talking about the new graphics engine So that’s Not Speculative at all! It’s something they are actively working on now. Have an awesome day Stefen 🙂
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