EDIT: when this article was originally written, the 2.1.2 plugin SDK was not available, which caused a lot of confusion. The new SDK is now posted, and the building instructions are completely updated.
Beta 11 is out and this hopefully has the final set of SDK changes for 64-bit plugins. Besides a bunch of other fixes (see the release notes), here’s the rough state of plugins:
- 32-bit plugins should just work. If you have a plugin that worked in X-Plane 10.11 but is broken in 10.20, please report a bug – even if it’s not your own plugin! I really want to hear about any of these cases.
- 64-bit plugins should just work; if they don’t, it may be due to programmer error, so please only report a 64-bit plugin problem if you wrote the plugin.
- A new SDK (2.1.2) is cut with real frameworks for the Mac; Sandy and I spent a pile of time working on this, but I need to update the wiki instructions. Docs coming in the next 48 hours I hope.
- Name and shame is gone for linking, so the logs should be clean. If your plugin crashes, you still get named and shamed.
RT @XPlaneOfficial: Dev Blog Post: X-Plane 10.20 Beta 11 and plugins http://t.co/9IxID8DN #xplane
This BETA runs much faster and smoother than all previous versions of beta!
Great work BTW! 🙂
Confirm, please: “32-bit plugins should just work” … while running the 32-bit executable of X-Plane, and exclusively there.
Correct. A plugin ONLY works in the same bit-depth as the sim!
Hello,
maybe I’m just looking at wrong places, but the latest SDK version I was able to find is 2.1.1 … The xsquawkbox xplane sdk title page mentions 2.2.1, here is mentioned 2.1.2 – could you please point me in the right direction?
Thank you for your time,
Michal
SDK page will be updated later today.
Is the new SDK (2.1.2) available at Sandy’s site yet?
The links are not yet updated.
Ben, does this mean that developers will now have to write two plugins for each aircraft? If so…poor them.
Secondly….(sorry mate) if I want to run all those lovely aircraft in the 64 bit version of X-Plane, do I have to wait for them to release it?
Well done on the progress though, never ending job.
Dom
PS. Ben, will it be possible to select runway/gate/parking on startup in the future, instead of just global airport? I know another sim that allows you to this, LOL.
No. Developers make one plugin supporting 3 OS x 2 bit-sizes (64 and 32-bit) – 6 binaries in a single plugin. This is an extension of current tech (3 binaries in one plugin for 3 OSes). This is unchanged for the 10.20 beta.
Hi Ben; any word yet on the AC3D scripts since I don’t use blender nor do I have any desire to do so. I do use 3DS Max and export into AC 3-D but lately I’ve been feeling like the outcast stepchild. 🙂 Unless somebody can tell me how to make blender texture 3-D geometry in the cockpit to map digital displays which AC 3-D seems to cough up a hairball trying to do.
I can report that the VSE 2010 project updates with ease to VSP 2012. Thanks for taking the additional time to provide a base project that already compiles to 64 bit without link errors. Working starting points are always helpful, so I know if it breaks, it’s on me!
Could you possibly tell us a little more about the “Reduced network bandwidth for multiplayer.”?
X-Plane 10 has to transmit localized weather data over the network; the data has the same bandwidth cost as about 1 multiplayer user.
10.20 won’t transmit weather to other multiplayer users if you don’t have the weather window open. For 1-on-1 with VERY low bandwidth connections, this can help improve network performance.