The X-Plane Connect (XPC) Toolbox is an open source research tool used to interact with the commercial flight simulator software X-Plane. XPC allows users to control aircraft and receive state information from aircraft simulated in X-Plane using functions written in C, C++, Java, MATLAB, or Python in real time over the network. This research tool has been used to visualize flight paths, test control algorithms, simulate an active airspace, or generate out-the-window visuals for in-house flight simulation software. Possible applications include active control of an XPlane simulation, flight visualization, recording states during a flight, or interacting with a mission over UDP.
For existing users, several important breaking changes have been made in version 1.0. For detailed information, see the 1.0 release changelog. For client-specific guidelines on migrating to 1.0, refer to the follwing guides:
XPC includes an X-Plane plugin (xpcPlugin) and clients written in several languages that interact with the plugin.
To get started using X-Plane Connect, do the following.
- Purchase and install X-Plane 9 or 10.
- Copy the X-Plane Plugin folder (
xpcPlugin/XPlaneConnect) to the plugin directory ([X-Plane Directory]/Resources/plugins/) - Write some code using one of the clients to manipulate X-Plane data.
Each client is located in a top-level directory of the repository named for the
client's language. The client directories generally include a src folder
containing the client source code, and an Examples folder containing sample
code demonstrating how to use the client.
For detailed information about XPC and how to use the XPC clients, refer to the XPC Wiki.
The XPC Toolbox allows the user to manipulate the internal state of X-Plane by reading and setting DataRefs, a complete list of which can be found on the X-Plane SDK wiki.
In addition, several convenience functions are provided, which allow the user to efficiently execute common commands. These functions include the ability to set the position and control surfaces of both player and multiplayer aircraft. In addition, the pause function allows users to easily pause and un-pause X-Plane's physics simulation engine.
XPC has been tested with the following software versions:
- Windows: Vista, 7, & 8
- Mac OSX: 10.8-10.11
- Linux: Tested on Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation release 6.6
- X-Plane: 9 & 10
All contributions are welcome! If you are having problems with the plugin, please open an issue on GitHub or email Chris Teubert. If you would like to contribute directly, please feel free to open a pull request against the "develop" branch. Pull requests will be evaluated and integrated into the next official release.
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