In a lengthy post on the X-Plane.org Forum, Egor from HST Simulations detailed progress on all of the group's current projects - xAmbience Pro, RealView and a new product, RealView Pro.

First to be addressed, an update to the RealView product. Version 1.51 contains the following changes:

New features

• Added more accurate landing ground effect.
• When you lands your aircraft will have more accurate impact [NOT SIMULATION OF IMPACT]
• Added resize ability for User Interface
• Added resize ability for In-Sim Manual
• Added new more accurate flaps effect
• Added new more accurate G-Force Longitude effect [More gain, and more realistic eye-up]
• Added new more accurate speedbrake effect
• Added compatibility with X-Plane 11.50 Release Builds [Including Vulkan Compatibility]

Major fixes

• Fixed on-startup issue with landing effect
• Fixed spoilers deploy effect behaviour with FF A320, A319 & A321 ToLiss aircrafts
• Fixed on-ground fist loading play of touchdown effect
• Fixed behaviour of preview mode (fixed vibrations issues)
• Fixed CTD when playing a speedbreak effect
• Fixed incorrect plugin work with turned off preview mode

Minor fixes

• Fixed logic module init error om Mac
• Fixed misc errors
• Fixed flaps deploy effect on ground

Updates

• Updated HST Connect components on HST Simulations Servers, Updater now available

The addon is available for $18.95 USD from the X-Plane.org Store.

Next up is a word on xAmbience Pro, for which a release date has been revealed: September 25.

"With the Pro version we are going to reach another level. If earlier the xAmbience project was an improvement of datarefs, a kind of free plugins, now I can say with confidence that this is a different product. Completely different. Totally different", the developer says.

Egor touches on six aspects which have changed with the Pro version - a new approach to development, which streamlines the plugin's use of datarefs, a new idealogy which entails making the product 'as clear as possible for the public and for the end consumer.' Next, a new 'environment' is brought in with the new version which includes what is described as 'voluminous photorealitic clouds with a passing effect'.

New features include snow, which latches to aircraft now, in addition to rain being improved. A mode aimed at better performance is also new in the Pro version. The user interface of the plugin has also been improved, including an automatic configurator which removes the need to pick a certain set of clouds (though this is still possible manually).

Finally, the developer introduced 'Weatherman', HST Simulations' first weather engine. The injector replaces the default turbulence and thermals model and has full control over weather rendering.

The developer claims that weather changes are smooth in xAmbience Pro.

The Pro version will come as a free update to owners of xAmbience 'legacy' and available for $34.99 USD to new customers upon release.

One for the future, Egor also addressed the future of xAmbience Pro and the move to volumetric cloud rendering -"Earlier, I announced the development of 3D Clouds for X-Plane. Now this all has grown into the fact that we are developing a Modern Rendering API for our environmental plugin (xAmbience Pro)."

"It will be available on all operating systems, with all video cards, for virtual reality, and more than 3 screens if you want. We continue to work in this direction, and other people are working on it, who are not working on xA Pro."

Lastly for the roadmap announcement, RealView Pro, which is a completely rewritten version of RealView. Carrying 20 effects, the legacy version will be dwarfed by the new edition's 100+ effects and 500 FMOD sound samples.

RealView Pro is still in it's early stages, so there is not much more information to share at this time.

View the source post for this article - including more screenshots - on the X-Plane.org Forum.