X-Plane settings

Open the control panel

Everything lives in the control panel (figure below).

The XPGuard control panel

Bind a key to the panel

You can show/hide the panel from a key:

1. Open Settings → Keyboard.
2. Search XPGuard.
3. Bind XPGuard/toggle_panel.

Status block

The top of the panel tells you what is happening right now (figure below):

• The airport and its light counts - LTFM: 12 Stop bars + 3 REL + 2 THL.
• Server: and VATSIM: connection state.
• Controlled by … - who is running the position (or Lights are not controlled (OFF) if nobody is). While a controller is online, a Day mode / Dusk mode / Night mode line names the live brightness band.
• If a new version is out, an Update available line appears with a Get launcher button. The launcher installs the update.
• On Windows, with xPilot running, an xPilot-bridge status row sits at the very top - see the xPilot bridge.

XPGuard Control Panel with Active ATC

When you are above 1,000 ft, the panel shows Standby mode (Altitude > 1000 ft AGL).

Publisher

The Publisher dropdown picks which scenery’s stop-bar map you get here. It is auto-selected from your detected scenery. Override it only if it reads wrong.

Brightness

Found under the Brightness section. At the top, a read-out says whether the scenery’s own lights are suppressed. Under it are the two put-back settings, Put-back follows airport lights and Put-back radius (m) - see Scenery lights and the put-back. Below them, a Mode now: readout shows which of DAY / DUSK / NIGHT is live. This is chosen automatically by sun elevation.

There are two color groups:

Stop bars / THL / REL - the reds share the glow:

Setting	What it does	Default
Day %	Red glow strength in daytime	100
Dusk %	Red glow strength at dawn/dusk	20
Night %	Red glow strength at night	10
Spill size (m)	Pool of light each fixture casts on the pavement, in the beam direction	15

FTG / Lead-on - the Follow the Greens lights, with their own triple:

Setting	What it does	Default
Day %	Green light strength in daytime	100
Dusk %	Green light strength at dawn/dusk	20
Night %	Green light strength at night	10

Below both, Hide light fixtures picks which families skip their dark housings - see below.

These sliders do not change lead-on/off and IHP lights. Green and amber lights use X-Plane’s own taxiway light objects. The FTG / Lead-on sliders change only the Follow the Greens lights.

Hide light fixtures is a multi-select. Tick any of Stop bars, THL and REL.

• A hidden family stops drawing its dark in-pavement housings.
• So only the lit lights appear when a controller switches them on.
• Pick per family. The preview line reads none, all, or the list you chose.
• Contribution mode always shows the housings - they are the draft preview.

Scenery lights and the put-back

At the top of the Brightness section, a read-out reports the scenery’s own lights:

• Scenery lights: suppressed by XPGuard Launcher (N airports) - the launcher suppressed the scenery’s own lights under XPGuard’s lights X-Plane started.
• Scenery lights: untouched - run XPGuard Launcher to suppress them - nothing suppressed yet. Suppression lives in the launcher (Suppress scenery lights, on by default - recommended) and only works when X-Plane is started from it.

While no ATC is controlling a bar, or while you are not connected to VATSIM, the plugin restores the scenery’s own lights. Two settings under the read-out control this put-back:

• Put-back follows airport lights - on by default. The green put-back lights (lead-on/off and the FTG taxiway centerline) are on only while X-Plane’s own airport lights are on. X-Plane decides when that is, so they can come on by day too, for example in low visibility. The amber hold-short lights put back at a bar stay on. Untick it to keep the whole put-back on all the time.
• Put-back radius (m) - how far from the aircraft the put-back is laid. It follows you as you taxi. Default: Unlimited - the whole field, paced over a few seconds.
• With nothing suppressed by the launcher there is no put-back. The scenery keeps its own lights, and these two settings and Exclusion test mode are greyed out.

Log level

Log level - Info (default) or Debug.

• Written to X-Plane’s Log.txt.

Alignment

Alignment → Height offset (m) lifts or sinks every XPGuard light at the airport (±5 m, 0.05 m steps).

Reload

At the very bottom is Reload (re-detect airport + light objects).

• It re-detects the nearest airport and reloads the light objects. No restart.
• Use it if you changed airport and the bars did not follow.

Force connection

Next to the VATSIM: line is an amber Force connection button.

• Use it when the plugin does not detect a VATSIM connection: when you fly without VATSIM, or when you are online but the plugin cannot read your pilot client.
• Switched on, the row reads [forced] and the lights appear - stop bars, THL, REL and lead-on.

Next: Start your first flight.