diff --git a/src/Scenery/tileentry.cxx b/src/Scenery/tileentry.cxx
index be3026ec4..3ccf0e79d 100644
--- a/src/Scenery/tileentry.cxx
+++ b/src/Scenery/tileentry.cxx
@@ -1006,7 +1006,9 @@ FGTileEntry::add_ssg_nodes( ssgBranch *terrain_branch,
     // bump up the ref count so we can remove this later without
     // having ssg try to free the memory.
 #if PLIB_VERSION > 183
-    makeDList( terra_transform );
+    if ( fgGetBool( "/sim/rendering/use-display-list", true ) ) {
+        makeDList( terra_transform );
+    }
 #endif
 
     terra_transform->ref();