May 27th, 2021 Development Update - Microsoft Flight Simulator

Screenshot by YusufWardana

We had a great time answering your questions and interacting with the community in yesterday’s Dev Q&A. If you missed it, here is the video with timestamps for each question:

The Q&A was packed with information like an update from Working Title, a guest appearance from Will at Fly By Wire Simulations, a new partnership with Perfect Flight, and a new plane announcement coming soon to MSFS: The Husky A-1C!

Sneak peek of the new Husky coming ~August, 2021

We are also pleased to welcome Fly By Wire Simulations’ A32NX mod to the Marketplace today, your top Wishlist request!

– The MSFS team

DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP

Click here for the web-friendly version. Most recent update:

FEEDBACK SNAPSHOT

Click here for the web-friendly version.

Key:

SU = Sim Update (3, 4, 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 the issue

Not Planned = We will likely not work on this

Started = Work as started on this item

THIRD PARTY UPDATE

As of 05/22, we have now approved 192 (+0) third parties into the in-sim marketplace and – so far 92 (+2) have released 398 products (+15).
We were excited to read Robert Randazzo’s recent blog post (link) with an update on their exciting fleet of planes. We simply cannot wait to try out the upcoming Douglas DC-6 Skymaster (hopefully soon) and their 737, 747 and 777 aircraft. All of us are very happy that this acclaimed developer is “all in” on the platform!
In total, 994 products (+32) have already been released in 3^rd party stores and the in-sim marketplace. Beyond that, another 339 products (+3) from 3^rd party developers are in production (203 announced, 136 unannounced). In total, over 1,333 3^rd party products (+35) are either released or are in development.
Airports:
- 836 airports (+27) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 628 airports (+23) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 336 airports (+15) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 94 airports (-1) beyond the released airports have been announced.
  - 114 airports (+5) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an airport is in production.
Aircraft:
- 156 aircraft (+1) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 41 aircraft (+1) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 23 aircraft (+0) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 93 aircraft (+0) beyond the released aircraft have been announced.
  - 22 aircraft (+0) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an aircraft is in production.
Scenery:
- 305 sceneries (+6) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 289 sceneries (+6) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 24 sceneries (+0) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 16 sceneries (+0) beyond the released scenery have been announced.
Mission Packs:
- 36 mission packs (+1) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 36 mission packs (+2) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 3 mission packs (+0) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 0 mission packs (-1) beyond the released missions have been announced.

SDK UPDATE

General
- We updated the warning prompt when a package has been modified before building/exporting, to clearly state the consequences of saving versus not saving before building.
Documentation
- We added mission docs.
- We added a tutorial for airport creation which uses our new Airport Creation Wizard.
- We also made a minor fix to call out changes in .flags file behavior for MetalRoughnessAO textures.
- The WASM documentation was updated.
Dev Mode
- We fixed a crash when loading a project during game load
- The FX Editor will be available in beta version along with the SDK. We added FX selection when right clicking on it and we fixed several issues (listed below):
  - ParticleColor parameter that wasn’t working in the Update
  - orphan attachments when FX isn’t spawned (node graph related)
  - the attachments when no node is specified (node graph related)
- We fixed corrupted asset group paths when creating a VFX library.

MARKETPLACE

Today there are 4 new products and 8 updated products in the Marketplace.

The CRJ update will be going out later today to match Aerosoft’s timing on their store.

4 NEW PRODUCTS

8 UPDATED PRODUCTS

TWITCH UPDATE

Join us tomorrow for fly-in Friday for a trip to Mount Everest! All are welcome to attend. More details can be found here. Next Wednesday, we will learn about cross-country planning and flying on the C152 with ForderLearntoFly. Details here! And last but not least, rescheduled for next Friday, June 4th, TheFlyingFabio will lead a group flight. Mark your calendars!

COMMUNITY VIDEO

Drawyah’s new series on freeware – 5 Freeware in 5 Minutes:

SCREENSHOT CHALLENGE

This past week we challenged you to take a screenshot of “Natural Ecosystems – Tropical Rainforests”. The winner is featured above. Below are our runner up choices! This week’s Screenshot Challenge: Higher Ground

Last challenge’s Finalists: