January 20th, 2022 Development Update - Microsoft Flight Simulator

Screenshot by MihamaBlend (Twitter)

Our Dev Q&A is just around the corner (January 26^th at 10:30am PT or 1830Z on twitch.tv/msfsofficial). We will be closing the forums for questions EOD Friday, so if you haven’t yet, please go upvote for your favorite questions or post your own if you don’t see it asked. We will also take live questions during the stream, so there will be ample opportunities.

– MSFS TEAM –

DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP

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FEEDBACK SNAPSHOT

Click here for the web-friendly version. To learn more about Accessibility in Microsoft Flight Simulator, click here.

KEY
SU = Sim Update (6, 7, etc.)	WU = World Update
ASAP = As Soon as Possible	TBD =To Be Determined
Several Releases = Fixes will come over a series of updates
Ongoing Fixes = An item we will continually be working on
Planned = Scheduled to be worked on
Under Investigation = The team is currently looking into this issue
Not Planned = We will likely not work on this
Not Started = We have not begun investigation on this yet
Started = Development work as started on this item

COMMUNITY TRIAGE UPDATE

Click here for the list of Known Issues.

Here is an update on a few of the most popular bugs currently being discussed in the forums:

Performance Decrease when Using Pop-Out Panels – The team has found a fix for this issue and are targeting Sim Update 8 for release.
Xbox Thrustmaster Hotas One Sensitivity Settings do not save – The team has found a fix for this issue and are targeting Sim Update 8 for release.
Losing Mouse Control on Xbox – The team is actively investigating this issue. If you are experiencing this and have repro steps, please continue to post them in the thread for our devs. Thank you!

SDK UPDATE

General
- Like we mentioned last week, we will meet you again for a new Live SDK Q&A on February 9th! Please ask all your questions here: https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/sdk-q-a-feb-9th-open-for-questions/489615/20 , and we will be more than happy to answer live with Eric, Alyzée & Jorg!

Dev Mode
- Work has started on the weather API for WASM (exposing the same bitmaps that are available in JavaScript).

- Statistics Profiler:
  - We added a new column “Total Vertex Count” which shows the sum of Static Vertex count and Skinned Vertex count. The Vertex/Max Vertex ratio column now uses this total vertex to compute the ratio.
  - We added a new Hiding option in the Hiding menu to hide objects with no active occurrence.
  - We changed and added some tooltips.
- Scenery Editor:
  - We reworked the hierarchy system to provide more intuitive and flexible groups, better filtering, drag and drop feature, etc.
  - We fixed the control towers without sceneries.
  - We renamed “Tower” to “ControlTower” in the object list.
- Aircraft Editor:
  - We added two new entries “Drag” and “Ground Effect” to the Debug menu which provide access to the corresponding debug tools.

3RD PARTY UPDATE

We are very excited about the release of the Twin Otter by our partners at Aerosoft today. Congratulations on the launch!
As of 01/16, we have now approved 228 (+0) third parties into the in-sim marketplace and – so far 133 (+4) have released 858 products on PC (+3) and 554 on Xbox (+28).
In total, 1,724 products (+38) have already been released in 3^rd party stores and the in-sim marketplace. Beyond that, another 450 products (+44) from 3^rd party developers are in production (276 announced, 174 unannounced). In total, over 2,174 3^rd party products (+82) are either released or are in development.
Airports:
- 1,285 airports (+12) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 1069 airports (+7) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 613 airports (+9) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 107 airports (+4) beyond the released airports have been announced.
  - 109 airports (+1) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an airport is in production.
Aircraft:
- 275 aircraft (+4) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 98 aircraft (+6) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 64 aircraft (+3) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 152 aircraft (+1) beyond the released aircraft have been announced.
  - 25 aircraft (-3) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an aircraft is in production.
Scenery:
- 540 sceneries (+58) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 485 sceneries (+19) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 99 sceneries (+12) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 17 sceneries (+1) beyond the released scenery have been announced.
  - 38 sceneries (New) are not announced, but the dev let us know that scenery is in production.
Mission Packs:
- 74 mission packs (+8) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 72 mission packs (+6) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 8 mission packs (+2) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 0 mission packs (+0) beyond the released missions have been announced.
  - 2 mission packs (New) are not announced, but the dev let us know that they are in production.

MARKETPLACE UPDATE

There are 14 new and 85 updated products in the Marketplace today.

14 NEW PRODUCTS: 7 ON PC, 7 ON XBOX
New on PC ✅	New on PC and Xbox ✅	New on PC ✅
New on PC ✅	New on PC and Xbox ✅	New on PC ✅
New on Xbox ✅	New on Xbox ✅	New on Xbox ✅
New on PC and Xbox ✅		New on Xbox ✅

85 UPDATED PRODUCTS: 48 ON PC, 37 ON XBOX
Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC ✅
Updated on PC ✅	Updated on PC ✅	Updated on PC ✅
Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC ✅
Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅
Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅
Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅
Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅
Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅
Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅
Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅
Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅
Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC ✅	Updated on PC ✅
Updated on PC ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅
Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅
Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅
Updated on PC ✅	Updated on PC ✅	Updated on PC ✅

TWITCH UPDATE

We stream weekly on Twitch.tv/MSFSOfficial! We have already streamed our weekly fly-in this week as we celebrated with Aerosoft on their release of the Twin Otter and spoke with Twin Otter expert and aerospace engineer ‘picstloup’. To view the VOD of that stream, click here.

COMMUNITY VIDEO

Long before the days of satellite navigation using GPS and magenta lines, and even before VORs, DMEs, NDBs, and other radio navigation aids, it was common for pilots to chart their course using a centuries-old technique borrowed from the age of sail: celestial navigation. By taking a fix of objects in the sky such as the sun, moon, stars, and planets, navigators could plot their location with a high degree of accuracy. Did you know you can use this navigation method in Microsoft Flight Simulator? It’s true! YouTuber Top of Descent shows you how to do it in this short tutorial video.