Laminar Research has been busy once again and the latest beta version with 12.2.1 is bringing a lot of foundational assets that will hopefully boost the experience in the long run. A lot of the new content is focused on their Gateway Assets which have been used by the community to update airports within the sim using flexible assets. There are also some new hardware supports built in and a new airport.

New gateway objects

The focus in 12.2.1 is updating X-Plane’s library of assets that are used as part of their global scenery gateway. This is a feature that has been part of the X-Plane platform for a long time and its helped the community create and submit updates for airports around the world using standard assets. This results in airports that, while not quite as custom looking as a fully custom scenery, still have a high degree of fidelity. More assets and more variation helps to make this even better.

In addition to airport structure assets, there are also new vehicles.

And there are new construction vehicles and assets too.

Of course, all of these will need to wait for Gateway users to make full use of them so I see these as foundational to future updates. The community will need time to make full use of them and start using them to upgrade airports in the sim.

New custom airport

One of the things that X-Plane has been doing recently is bundling in some custom scenery with their updates. Previously we’ve seen TFFJ Gustaf III Airport, Princess Juliana International Airport TNCM, and Salzburg Airport LOWS among others.

The latest is LSEZ Zermatt Heliport located in Switzerland. Located in a valley hemmed in by mountains on either side, the heliport looks to offer some more challenging helicopter flying.

Hardware and other content updates

In addition to all of these new assets to help build out X-Plane’s world experience, there are also some other updates coming with this one. For example, there’s new hardware support for Thrustmaster, SOL-R 1 next gen flightsick, support for MOZA’s new line of hardware and support for SimFlight Servhices rotAIR modules.

There are also other updates to the sim including adjustments to birdstrikes, ATC support for touch & go in continual circuits, and more.

Laminar have a changelog for the latest version here and then there’s also a lengthier overview available here.

On sale

Finally, X-Plane 12 is currently on sale with a 33% discount as part of the Steam Summer Sale. The sale lasts until July 10 and you can take advantage of the discount on both the X-Plane.com website or via Steam.