X-Plane 12 Graphics Settings | Complete Settings Guide

[@XP72official]

Excellent explanation of all the settings and great video Q8. Thank you.

[@Q8Pilot]

Hey there XP72 how are you doing my friend. Thanks for stopping by, glad you liked the video. Stay safe my friend!

[@fergomez7413]

Fully agree! Thank you as always!

[@noodles5477]

Yeah

[@VinceWatches]

I was positively surprised by my M1 performance

[@AirborneHedgehog]

Really, really, really appreciate you taking the time to put this together. It's been a huge help tuning X-Plane 12 on my machine. Thank you!

[@Q8Pilot]

Glad it helped. Happy flying and thanks for watching!

[@phjo5117]

An excellent explanation of those settings that are not always intuitive, you make it crystal clear and the high/medium/low end machine recommendations will certainly be very much appreciated. I will certainly refer to this video when I move from XP11 to XP12. Many thanks for your great contribution to our community.

[@Q8Pilot]

Thank you for your kind words!

[@VRFlightSimGuy]

A really excellent and comprehensive guide. I'll share this with my Discord members cheers!

[@Q8Pilot]

Thank you for your kind words and for sharing the video. Appreciate it!

[@jamesromanoski7292]

Thank you for the thorough explanation. As usual, you make it so much easier for the rest of us. Some of the settings (shimmering clouds), led to me uninstall the demo and stick with XP 11. But I'm definitely going to give it another go now. Cheers!

[@Q8Pilot]

Glad this was useful for you James and thank you for your kind words.

[@Wlaspec]

This was what I was waiting for, thank you very much!

[@Q8Pilot]

Thank you for watching, I hope it helps.

[@danaickin5301]

Q8pilot - what a great explanation of the numerous settings available in XP 12. This would have taken a significant amount of time to research...really appreciate the time and effort you have put into figuring all of this out, so we don't have to 😁

[@dave-r]

You always do a wonderful job on these Sam. This guide and your guide for MSFS are masterpieces for how to to get the most out of your setup

[@Q8Pilot]

Glad it was useful for you. Thanks for watching!

[@Kapetanic]

Thanks for this video! I was persevering with 30fps with many settings on low (like clouds, veg etc). Frustrating as my machine is 1/2 decent. I changed to your medium recommendations and now getting 50-60fps plus a way better visual quality experience - you are a legend!

[@Q8Pilot]

Glad this was helpful. Thanks for watching!

[@leiflavebrink9639]

Super my friend !! As always well prepared, explained in a nice and educational manner, leaving no important factors behind. Of outmost value for us, facilitating the introduction in a new complex environment. A million Thanks, you are the best !!

[@Q8Pilot]

Thank you for your words and motivation. Truly appreciate it my friend.

[@jackbailey3156]

Excellent and informative. You Sir are to be commended for taking time to do this. Invaluable information!!!

[@Q8Pilot]

Thank you for your kind words and for watching the video Jack!

[@PJ-ee5mc]

This is the perfect explanation for setting up X-Plane graphics. Beautifully demonstrated with concise and easy to understand instruction. Thank you!

[@Q8Pilot]

Thanks for watching and for your kind words!

[@a.nelprober4971]

This is the type of class content that made your channel big. Good stuff

[@Q8Pilot]

Thank you for your kind words!

[@Doug4817]

Thank you, great job I have been fiddling around trying to get it right. So glad you did for us all.

[@Q8Pilot]

Glad this was useful and thanks for watching!

[@StringerCourier]

I was watching your videos (as I always do) and considering the changes to my X-plane 12 settings when it dawned on me --- "HEY, wait a minute. I just upgraded to an RTX 4090, 32G DDR5 RAM and a 19-12900K CPU on a 2K monitor. Why am I being namby-pamby about this as if I were still using my Commodore 64?" Well, I just pushed those settings to the wall, and I tell you, I don't recall X-Plane looking so beautiful and being so smooth - 80-110 FPS. I don't mean to brag, but for once I listened to my kids who said, "Dad, stop being so cheap." What fun!!!!

[@Q8Pilot]

Have fun John and enjoy. Thanks for sharing your experience!

[@JohnmarkIndangan]

Great video. So much time figuring my graphics and settings. Finally figured out my medium settings for my pc. Thanks bro more power to you

[@FlightSim2703]

I'm so glad you have also interest on x-plane, because you explain it really well, and I'm one of your fans since last several years ago. Thanks so much for being on the web. 🥰👍✌

[@Q8Pilot]

Thanks for watching and for your kind words and support!

[@EverydayNormalGeek]

Great guide and explanation for graphics settings. The only thing that I find to be different for me is the use of VRAM for Texture Quality. I have a 3080 with 10GBs of VRAM and I don't get more than half of the VRAM usage when this slider is set to MAX. Even in dense city areas like London or New York, it doesn't go higher. Personally, I think there is no need to reduce this if you have 8GBs of VRAM or more.

[@harry-tq6td]

I have the 3080 as well and an i7 processor, I just cannot for the life of me seem to get a decent balance of the settings. Would you mind advising what settings you have selected?

[@EverydayNormalGeek]

@@harry-tq6td I have Texture Quality - High, Antialising - 2x MSAA, Rendering Distance - High, World Objects Density - High. All the other sliders are set to max (right side). Mind that I'm not rendering 4k so the load is a bit less for my GPU. Despite my comment above, I kept the Texture Quality to high because Vulcan is decreasing the resolution of textures to avoid filling up the VRAM. I would say if you are GPU bottlenecked try to reduce Vegetation and Shadows a bit, if you are CPU bottlenecked the World Objects are the main factor in CPU load. And if you are in 4K try to play with the FSR Supersampling slider to cut down on the load of the GPU.

[@iruxcheri]

Jesus, they have indeed got the lighting spot on. It looked so brilliant and lifelike when you were landing with that Cessna in the intro to the video. The moment one gets further away fromt the airfield is when things get questionable. Hopefully, Laminar or developers in general make it "lifelike" across the board.

[@Q8Pilot]

The lighting is amazing in XP12. The night lighting needs work though.

[@justjase1576]

Just what I was looking for! thank you very much for putting this together!

[@Q8Pilot]

Glad this was helpful. Thanks for watching!

[@yosri617]

Thank you very much for this. X-Plane 12 us now a lot more usable for me.

[@wayneduchscherer4676]

I have a P6X58D Premium i7 930 plus MSI Geforce GTX 1050Ti & 24 GB Ram which worked great for XP 11.I followed your settings here for XP12 @ "low".Seems not bad,not great but O.K.Having been a Private pilot in Canada it still will work without spending a lot more for very little return on performance. Getting close to 25 FPS in several areas.Advice welcome from everyone.Thanks.

[@chopperskier]

Thank you for a straight forward explanation of settings.

[@user-zl8gy1tf7u]

Great piece of work and an excellent narrative! It all makes so much more sense. And, X-Plane 12 is much more enjoyable - thank you!!!

[@Q8Pilot]

Thanks for watching!

[@johnleach2484]

Great video, really helped me set my machine to its optimal capabilties, can really enjoy xplane12 now

[@Spek1212]

The Ambient Occlusion Quality really does make a difference in performance. I have an 13th gen i7 and a 4070, could barely get over 25 FPS in Amsterdam. Changed it to none, got 55-60

[@Q8Pilot]

Amsterdam has an FPS issue native to XPlane 12 elevation. Try another airport if you are testing.

[@DavidVanderWyst]

Would like to see this redone using a city that is a challenge. Like Las Angeles or Manhattan Island

[@AndrewGrey22]

Man, you make some sweet videos. You got a great voice, good music and great content well-presented.

[@Q8Pilot]

Thank you for your kind words.

[@papacharlie2841]

Thank you for the work of explaining all the settings! What is disturbing for me is that your high end PC renders about 30 to 45fps and not more. I remember in XPL11 with the default aircraft and high settings I had nearly double FPS and no stutters and now the performance has been cut in half basically.

[@Q8Pilot]

This is normal in Early Access. I remember the same issue in XP11 Early Access and pretty much MSFS for a long time after release. Things will be ironed out with time.

[@Althar93]

This. They are going to have to optimise XPL12 a LOT before I consider moving across. I don't mind the blurry / wip cloud tech or some of the visual issues but the sim has to perform flawlessly, especially when compared to the hardware requirement of all the other flight sims on the market (MSFS, DCS, etc.) which run much better than this.

[@C42210]

Great video! I just wish LR to improve the mesh, landscape as soon as possible. We don't need the level of detail of MFS but just improve for something more real...

[@nick-dm3if]

Xp12 is insanely amazing and i am fully invested in it but yes the mesh for sure, its coming so im not worried about anything. Best sim out there!!!!

[@aleszemlicka5232]

Hi. Very informative video and I set up my X-plane 12 sim exactly according to it. I get about 35-38 fps at maximum settings. The video helped me a lot. Thank you very much and have a good flight

[@Q8Pilot]

Glad it was helpful. Thanks for watching!

[@cruisingaltitudepilot]

God BLESS you Sam, and thank you so much for this!! 🥺 Thank you for explaining what each setting means and what I can compromise on without it looking bad. It finally runs good without terrible frames. We really appreciate these videos! 🙏

[@Q8Pilot]

Glad this has helped you. Happy flying my friend and thanks for watching!

[@Mr.Martini549]

Anyone complaining that XP 12 doesn't look any better than XP 11 needs to watch this must see video. I've seen recent content creators with the jagged shadows and they must not be taking advantage of the settings to improve them from previous XP11 renderings. This has led to some disparaging comments from folks who haven't delved into everything XP 12 has to offer. One fair criticism of XP 12 is it does appear to require a very robust PC to take full advantage of the higher quality graphic settings. Not something everyone can afford.

[@thesparkypilot]

X plane has superior physics, glad to see a way to get decent scenery too.

[@ACME22]

Exactly what I was looking for. I love when that happens! 💙

[@jzaviation]

congrats on 100k!

[@looseparts]

Q8Pilot always the best. I have screen captured and made notes to use once I get home from work. Thanks SO MUCH !!

[@Q8Pilot]

Thank you for your kind words and for watching the video!

[@LPChip]

I found that disabling the check "Enable 3D vegitation" actually improves the performance quite a bit without any visual impact.

[@hectorpartidasreyes2663]

Thanks for your recommendations. Very helpful in my case.

[@jc59jc]

Hi Q8. Thanks for the instructional video. When it comes to teaching you are still the best. THANKS

[@Q8Pilot]

Thank you for watching and for your kind words. Glad you found this helpful!

[@chassmash8903]

What I really do like about your XP12 reviews is that you pick out only the good things of XP12 in a straight forward way and don't complain about any obvious "beta-issues" like so many other "experts". I think Laminar delivered what Austin had promised and they delivered pretty good. Thanks for your good work.

[@Q8Pilot]

Thank you for your kind words and for watching the video!

[@Snailmale7]

And just like that , I subscribed

[@Sim737Pilot]

Another masterpiece to put in the library. Thanks.

[@Q8Pilot]

Thank you sir!

[@EricH_1983]

1:01 Nintendo 64 called, they want their mountain range back..

[@a.nelprober4971]

Mesh data would make sim too big tbh

[@glennkamers]

Very nice, the sim will get better over the coming year.

[@Q8Pilot]

Thanks Glenn, I am sure it will.

[@iain8837]

13:06 Do this at an airfield near London, like one of many Orbx (Fairoaks for example) and this slider becomes very important for FPS!

[@franksmoutimages4715]

Good morning. I just installed version 12 on a Mac Mini M2 with 24 GB of Ram. Everything seems to be going perfectly. What surprises me is that there are no PAPI’s for the landing! On your video I don’t see any PAPI’s either. It's annoying when you're used to it. Good day. Frank

[@Q8Pilot]

There are PAPI lights for sure. Which airport are you looking at? Sometimes it's hard to see the lights during daylight.

[@franksmoutimages4715]

Portland INT.

[@falcony100]

THIS GAVE YOU AN IDEA ABOUT HOW CRUDE STILL THIS LAUNCH IS

[@EagleOne49]

Perfect! Well worth the wait. Thank you, Q8.

[@Q8Pilot]

Thanks for watching my friend!

[@daviddavila7002]

Thank you so much for that great explanation. One more time an excellent video!

[@Q8Pilot]

Thanks for watching David.

[@tonkaGuy888]

Extremely helpful. Thanks for posting!

[@Q8Pilot]

Thanks for watching!

[@moleisrich1]

3090ti here . Full tilt all the way baby. Crank it up.

[@Mr.Martini549]

😄😄

[@wesambaker6229]

Many thanks Very helpful I love your videos 😊😊 I wish u the best 👍👍

[@bsewall]

Thanks for the great video settings overview! There definitely seems to be something going on with M1 Macs and XP12. Even when I use your lowest settings with the XP12 Demo, I barely get 9 FPS. Comparing this to my XP11 setup with Orbx ortho scenery, custom KPDX scenery and many other add-ons, I have the graphics settings cranked up higher and can easily pull 30 FPS. Pretty disappointing how poorly this runs on Macs. Hopefully that will improve as we get closer to an official release of XP12.

[@lorenzomanna4810]

Exactly!!!! XP 11 runs better and it runs on Rosetta Emulation, XP 12 is native and has worse performance, so disappointed

[@aorr]

I’ve been very disappointed with stuttering on an M1 Ultra Studio as well. The machine should easily handle XP with most settings maxed or almost maxed - yet I get nasty stutters with all of the settings adjusted lower. XP11 doesn’t have the issue at all. Fingers crossed it will be resolved. Because Austin is a Mac guy, I’m sure they’ll work on the Mac-specific bugs soon.

[@Pr3miuM]

As I'm now starting with XP12 I'm watching this now and it's so nicely put together! Did you do full sim restarts between changing settings? Or is this no longer required to get a good "clean" change as it was in XP11? Many thanks!

[@jesseordonez5088]

This simulator is performing terribly on M1 Macs and it supposedly has M1 ARM native support.

[@What_If_We_Tried]

Stumbled across your very helpful video. * subscribed *

[@Q8Pilot]

Welcome.to the channel my friend!

[@jackdriskill4345]

This is a very useful video. Worthy of a like.

[@Q8Pilot]

Thank you Jack! Appreciate it.

[@franksmoutimages4715]

Thank you for this video. At the moment I'm flying in XP12 with a Mac Mini M2 and 24Mb RAM. My graphics settings are the default. Regularly, in mid-flight, my mouse becomes uncontrollable and therefore the plane too. If I open another program it also behaves strangely. The computer does not seem to heat up abnormally. I'm going to start lowering the default settings as you recommend and see what happens. Good day. Frank. PS I flew with the Mustang P51-D from Verona to Innsbruch via the Adige Valley and the Brenner Pass.

[@tommyhandsome3003]

Hello Q8Pilot, thanks for the nice explanation like in all videos I saw in the last years. Question, It is possible create a video for nvidia-graphics settings in xplane12 some day, I guess it will help many simmers, including me 😀 By the way, your Intro of your videos is amazing (video&music)!!

[@Q8Pilot]

I will make a video once the Sim reaches at least RC1.

[@BrooksIngersoll]

As usual a great video. I fell I have a medium to high end PC and can run at ultra but with 18fps to 22fps. After your video and medium PC settings I am now at 30 to 32 fps. Much better. Thank you. again for your instuction. (AMD Ryzen 7 5700X 8-Core Processor ATI AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (MSI)Graphics Card 4-Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 CL15 Memory)

[@Q8Pilot]

Glad this has helped. Thanks for watching!

[@petervalmers2630]

Very useful explanations, thanks a lot!

[@Q8Pilot]

Thanks for watching Peter!

[@mertoya3]

Perfect as always. Thank you Q8.

[@Q8Pilot]

Thank you sir, appreciate it!

[@EnsPulver]

Excellent presentation! Thank you.

[@Q8Pilot]

Thanks for watching!

[@doors2manual]

Your videos as always is a joy to watch. Just out of interest, I have upgraded my PC to an RTX 3070ti but still getting 30fps. Is this because of my i7-8700k processor?

[@AirspeedisLife]

everything I see on this video is without any plugins/ addons ? is it just x12 out of the box? awesome video btw

[@Q8Pilot]

Yes thats plain vanilla X-Plane 12 no addons.

[@Coussini]

I always love your video. Thanks a lot, for your effort and your help.

[@Q8Pilot]

Thanks for watching my friend!

[@Coussini]

@@Q8Pilot How do you put the parking cone around the default cessna ?

[@silkysmooth1968]

Thanks for the video. I currently have Nvidia 2080 Super, was going upgrade to AMD 6800 XT but probably will wait til AMD release new 7000 gpu series later this year.

[@1shARyn3]

Nav#4 option needs to be re-established on the GNS 430 as was provided in XPlane10

[@dtrjones]

Thanks, Q8Pilot, excellent video. I have similar settings on X-Plane 11. Not bought X-Plane 12 yet but the more I see the more I like.

[@Q8Pilot]

It does grow on you with time =)

[@Flexflex744]

I am late but I wish there was a bit more context on what to consider a e.g. high-end PC. I am planning to get a new PC very soon, with an RX6600 (8GB VRAM) and 16GB of Ram. Would that be a mid machine? Other than that, a very helpful video, thanks ❤

[@professortaste2890]

Thanky Osama. Great Video!!

[@peterhiatt]

very intuitive and helpful, thanks.

[@Q8Pilot]

Thanks for watching!

[@lukelucas68]

Great video! Thanks, Osama!

[@joaocavalcanti7721]

Great video... Keep up the good work thank you very much !

[@Q8Pilot]

Thanks for watching!

[@sithiradulanjithgalhenaged6974]

Another thing to add Ipersonally limit my frames to 30fps from the nvidia controll panrll. Should reduce FPS fluctuations a lot.

[@AndrewGrey22]

I turned off hyperthreading for MSFS2020 but (I think) I've noticed much better XP12 performance, also.

[@kreshnik]

I have Ryzen 9 3950X 32gb ram and a 1080ti, In the same scenario as the video on everything low I get 40fps. Max I get 20 fps, but everything else I do it just stays around 30fps mark. I guess it needs more optimization as it seems most sliders don't really effect performance but they do the visuals.

[@jakeperl5857]

Excellent and informative. I'm able to get 30+ (which I'm happy with) with all settings to max BUT am seeing horrible aliasing, even with AA and AF maxed. Time to look at tweaking Nvidia control panel settings...any suggestions?

[@Q8Pilot]

Make sure Texture Resolution is set to MAX. You can reduce AA to 4x.

[@colinreece3452]

My personal opinion about trees is there should be another stting to further remove them, when you fly low they are everywhere, every house has 2 or more trees in the garden, some scenes look like they have built a town inside a forest. Also there should be a way to remove airport vehicles, they are not good, the driving through buildings and each other is terrible, it ruins the effect, they say go in WED and you can alter the setting but it should be a normal setting without downloading another program to do it.

[@xdiver01]

Thanks. Try this setting with Zibo or FFA320 at default EGLL with VR. 😁

[@rodolphof.godoyjr.1735]

Excellent explanation!

[@BerserkPublishing]

I've noticed now that we are in beta 8 that my 3060TI does well at the same settings. The only slowdown is in high urban areas, like KSNA. I would also mention, with payware aircraft the anti-aliasing can sometimes be turned down. I have several Aerobask aircraft, and since X-Plane 11 I've noticed they spend a lot of time reducing the jagged lines in their modeling. I'm running 1080p, so it's a pretty standard resolution vs 2k or 4k. Just thought I would mention that because I think that is one of the aspects I do not hear much about when reviewing any payware. It means a lot not to rely on graphics technology not make your aircraft presentable.

[@Q8Pilot]

Thanks for sharing your experience with the community.

[@davidmou7433]

We continue with the same anti-aliasing problem and the same blinking and moving objects, horrible even if I raise the anti-lising to the maximum it is still the same...

[@Q8Pilot]

I have to agree with you there; this needs fixing for sure.

[@davidmou7433]

@@Q8Pilot thank you very much friend for everything you teach us, can I tell you my characteristics of my pc?

[@Q8Pilot]

@@davidmou7433 Please do!

[@davidmou7433]

@@Q8Pilot now i have this pc,i7 9700k 5.0,ram 32gb,rtx3060 12gb,monitor 1440p 31.5 inch,but im going to buy another computer i5 12600k,ram 32gb,rtx3070ti,storage M2

[@antoniocalheirosneves]

Thank you, very much.

[@Q8Pilot]

Thanks for watching!

[@wafflclouds]

Hello! Really helpful video 🎉 I was struggling to determine what would be best for my device, and this really helped! I’ve came to the below decisions. I’m using a 24 inch iMac 🖥️ with M1 chip and 16GB ram. Also having a thrust master throttle quadrant and joystick plugged in. Can you please review them for me? Thanks! texture quality: maximum Ambient occulusion: ultra unless fps issues shows Rendering resolution: Max sampling Antialiasing: 2x or 4x Anisotropic rendering: 16X Cloud: maximum Shadows: medium Rendering distance: medium-high World objects density: high-maximum Vegetation density: high-maximum

[@The1PatSmith]

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Thank you, Osama, - top stuff and appreciated as always! 😊

[@Q8Pilot]

Thank you Patrick!

[@mjcorreia53]

Excellent! Thank you.

[@Q8Pilot]

Thanks for watching!

[@gfar4964]

Another great video. Thanks.

[@Q8Pilot]

Thanks for watching!

[@GregVD]

Very useful. Thanks!

[@Q8Pilot]

Thanks for watching!

[@GoriksX]

I bought Xplane 12 and I can tell that it looks like FSX. Probably because I'm get used to MSFS. But like ATC is better in Xplane although sometimes on landing it's guiding me in weird headings and altitudes. That's my personal opinion.

[@stevenburris969]

Very very helpful!

[@martinschmidt5541]

very useful...thank you

[@martinschmidt5541]

very good video...thanks a lot

[@Q8Pilot]

Thanks for watching, glad this was helpful.

[@teddh5904]

Excellent.

[@psour33]

I do not agree with SSAO. With no SSAO houses and trees on the ground look very weird, like plastic toys. Otherwise great guide thank's.

[@alejandromg3705]

Thanks very much Sir!!!

[@Q8Pilot]

Thanks for watching my friend!

[@Bassmunchkin1]

I have a MacBook Air M1 and I'm using my keyboard as I've just started today, but I cannot find out how to steer with the keyboard, would you know which keys I use to steer with please

[@goblin2bis707]

Very useful ! thanks

[@Q8Pilot]

Glad it was helpful!

[@mzaeem1]

Thank you for the settings video. That really helped a lot. Cheers!

[@V-SEC943]

As I sain in my xp12 'review' not enough granular control on the graphics and visual settings ..and a huge rant about this release