December 10th, 2020 Development Update - Microsoft Flight Simulator

Screenshot by LivingBird26348

Xbox? Coming Summer 2021.

We are humbled to announce we have won Best Simulator/Strategy tonight on The Game Awards. Thank you to the community for your support during launch and moving forward as we continue to refine and bring you the best flight simulator possible!

–MSFS TEAM-

DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP

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FEEDBACK SNAPSHOT

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SDK UPDATE

DevMode:

The first version of airport creation within Project Editor is almost ready. Once validated we should enrich this new wizard with some other asset types creation (i.e. aircraft).
We fixed an important unexpected shutdown in Script Editor, lately raised by the community.
Hierarchical instances / Grouping in Scenery Editor has now arrived at the test stage.
As usual, the team is working on improving the overall stability of the DevMode at the same time, giving special focus to the Project Editor, the Scenery Editor, and the Aircraft Editor. The community’s feedbacks keep on being very helpful to identify & fix bugs and thus making the tools better.

WebAssembly:

We identified and fixed potential security weaknesses in the WASI layer.
We changed the way WASM modules are compiled asynchronously for faster flight loading.
We fixed minor issues with the stencil buffer in our low-level graphics API.

THIRD PARTY UDPDATE

The creator community keeps blowing us away and our team is delighted by all the new releases and announcements. Some updated numbers:
- Airports:
  - 258 airports (+29 from last week) have been released for the platform so far.
  - 84 airports (+11 from last week) are already in our in-sim store.
  - 45 airports (-1 from last week) beyond the released airports have been announced.
  - 117 airports (-1 from last week) are not announced but in dev based on information from 3^rd parties.
    - In total 420 airports are either already released or are in active production.
- Aircraft:
  - 12 aircraft (+0 from last week) have been released for the platform so far.
  - 6 aircraft (+1 from last week) are already in our in-sim store.
  - 57 aircraft (+2 from last week) beyond the released airplanes have been announced.
  - 20 aircraft (+0 from last week) are not announced but in dev based on information from 3^rd parties.
    - So overall, 89 aircraft are either released or are in production.
    - Not sure if you saw the new screenshots of the CRJ from Aerosoft – we have tested the plane and it’s great! Wonderful job by the team!
- Scenery:
  - 40 scenery add-ons (+6 from last week) have been released for the platform so far.
  - 9 scenery add-ons (+1 from last week) are already in our in-sim store.
  - 3 scenery add-ons (+0 from last week) have been announced.

Great to see the new aircraft development announcements this week – we can’t wait for the T-45C, the A220 and the A380!

MARKETPLACE UPDATE

12 new products are being released today in the Marketplace:

12 NEW PRODUCTS

9 products are being updated today in the Marketplace:

9 UPDATED PRODUCTS

TWITCH SCHEDULE

Dec. 11 [Friday]: Community Fly-in: Guided Tour of New Zealand with Community Member Zkdos! All are welcome to join. Read here for more information.
Dec. 15 [Tuesday]: Join TheFlyingFabio as he makes his first appearance on the MSFS stream! More details next week.
Dec. 16 [Wednesday]: Flying Lessons: Taught by ForderLearnToFly, Lesson #2 on the Cessna 152.
Dec. 18 [Friday]: We are planning a Grand Canyon Razor Run for the community! More details coming to the forums soon.

If you are interested in giving a guided tour or joining us on stream, please send a DM to jummivana in the forums! Thank you!

IN MEMORY OF CHUCK YEAGER

Aviation legend Charles Chuck Yeager, first pilot to pass the wall of sound, passed away earlier this week at the age 97. Chuck Yeager made a major step in aviation history on October 14th, 1947 by reaching nearly 700 mph, the speed needed to pass the sound barrier. He was only 24 years old when he did what no man could do before, an achievement which many pilots failed to complete. At the time, trying to reach that supersonic speed usually ended up in the pilot losing control over the aircraft. With the courage of Chuck and the aircraft Bell X-1 named after his wife “glamorous Glennis,” a new era in aviation started. The technology can now propel a human being faster than the sound speed.

Later, Chuck Yeager continued to push the limits by breaking a new speed record by reaching 1,600 mph on Dec. 12th, 1953. Once a legend, always a legend. The MSFS Team will always remember this hero.

COMMUNITY VIDEO

Shoutout to r/gothoomm for his MSFS video featuring It’s A Wonderful World created shortly after the sim launched. Thank you from our team. Great minds think alike!