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openSAM

openSAM is an open-source replacement for the commercial SAM plugin (Scenery Animation Manager) by Stairport. It controls animated jetways, VDGS, marshallers, and custom animations in SAM-enabled custom sceneries.

Background

  • Developer: hotbso (also developer of AutoDGS)
  • Repository: github.com/hotbso/openSAM (open source; code LGPL-2.1, assets/VDGS CC-BY and CC BY-NC-SA)
  • Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux (native binaries)
  • Compatibility: X-Plane 12 only — the current openSAM (v5.x) runs on XP12 exclusively. XP11 users must stick to a legacy 4.x release, which is no longer actively developed

openSAM is actively maintained and is the recommended successor to the commercial SAM plugin, which is no longer loaded starting with X-Plane 12.4. openSAM reads the original sam.xml configuration files from sceneries and serves as a drop-in replacement.

Features

  • Animated jetways: Scans SAM-enabled sceneries at startup and operates their jetways; falls back to X-Plane 12 native jetways
  • VDGS: Activates after landing (beacon on), shows azimuth and distance guidance to the stand
  • Marshallers: Animated ground crew guidance
  • Custom animations: Support for SAM custom animations
  • SAM Seasons emulator: Built-in (separate SAM Seasons plugin should be removed)
  • SimBrief integration: Via the companion plugin simbrief_hub
  • Multiplayer support: Compatible with xPilot, Traffic Global XP, and LiveTraffic
  • Zero-configuration mode: Scenery developers can place openSAM library assets in WED without writing custom config files

Value in Flight Simulation

Many high-quality custom sceneries were developed for the commercial SAM plugin. Since SAM no longer works with X-Plane 12.4, openSAM takes over this role as a free open-source replacement. As of v5.x, openSAM also incorporates AutoDGS, so it covers default gateway airports as well as SAM-enabled custom sceneries from a single plugin — a separate AutoDGS installation is no longer needed on X-Plane 12.

Installation

Download: GitHub Releases

The ZIP file contains two components:

  • openSAM → extract to Resources/plugins/
  • openSAM_Library → extract to Custom Scenery/

In scenery_packs.ini, openSAM_Library must be placed above SAM_Library. If the commercial SAM plugin is still installed, it should be removed (the SAM_Library can remain if needed by sceneries).

No additional system packages are required. There are no known Linux-specific issues. Automatic updates via the SkunkCrafts Updater are supported.

Sources