September 2nd, 2021 Development Update

Screenshot by Sottomayor3823

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DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP

We are pushing our Development Roadmap update to next Thursday which will show September-November plans. We apologize for the delay.

FEEDBACK SNAPSHOT

To learn more about Accessibility in Microsoft Flight Simulator, click here. We will return to normal weekly Feedback Snapshot updates next week, in the meantime, click here for last week’s Feedback Snapshot.

SDK UPDATE

• General:

• • We made some optimisations on hardware setup, so if you own a home cockpit, the sim may take a shorter time to launch.

• DevMode:

• • We added a new option in the DevMode’s menu to display the collisions draw debug.
  • We made the Scenery Editor & the Material Editor-windows opaque.
  • We fixed the VFX template.
  • Scenery Editor:

• • • We are currently investigating the disappearing jetways issue.
    • We improved the existing hide/lock feature which allows you to hide and/or lock an object, a group of objects, or an entire type of objects.
    • You can also filter the objects treeview to display only the object types you want to work on (ie. taxiways, aprons…)

3RD PARTY UPDATE

As of 08/29, we have now approved 215 (+0) third parties into the in-sim marketplace and – so far 115 (+0) have released 520 products on PC (+0) and 73 on Xbox (+0).

•  In total, 1,277 products (+15) have already been released in 3rd party stores and the in-sim marketplace.Beyond that, another 363 products (+0) from 3rd party developers are in production (229 announced, 134 unannounced). In total, over 1,640 3rd party products (+15) are either released or are in development.
  •  Airports:
    • 1033 airports (+11) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 816 airports (+11) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 426 airports (+0) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 106 airports (+0) beyond the released airports have been announced.
    • 111 airports (+0) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an airport is in production.
  •  Aircraft:
    • 196 aircraft (+1) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 63 aircraft (+1) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 37 aircraft (+0) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 109 aircraft (+0) beyond the released aircrafthave been announced.
    • 23 aircraft (+0) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an aircraft is in production.
  • Scenery:
    • 371 sceneries (+3) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 357 sceneries (+3) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 35 sceneries (+0) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 14 sceneries (+0) beyond the released sceneryhave been announced.
  •  Mission Packs:
    • 40 mission packs (+0) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 40 mission packs (+0) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 4 mission packs (+0) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 0 mission packs (+0) beyond the released missions have been announced.

MARKETPLACE UPDATES

FEATURED FREEWARE MOD

Hong Kong’s legendary Kai Tak Airport closed in 1998 after it was replaced by the current Hong Kong International Airport (VHHH). The site of the former airport has now been converted into a cruise ship terminal which you can visit in Microsoft Flight Simulator using the default scenery. When the old airport was still operational, its infamous Checkerboard Approach — nicknamed the “Kai Tak Heart Attack” by airline pilots — was considered one of the most challenging landings in the world. If you want to put your Boeing 747 landing skills to the ultimate test, you can restore Kai Tak Airport to its former glory using this mod available at flightsim.to from community creator ali501.

COMMUNITY CHARITY EVENT

This weekend, SeedyL is leading a charity group flight with over 60 other MSFS pilots flying small GA planes half-way across Canada from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Thunder Bay, Ontario. This event is inspired by Terry Fox, a Canadian hero who attempted to run across the country in 1980 to raise money for cancer research. You can read all about the event in this topic from the forums. The race starts at 1100Z on Saturday, September 4, and you can follow the action, fly along with the racers, and cheer on the competitors by watching SeedyL’s Twitch stream for the entire duration of the flight. On behalf of the Microsoft Flight Simulator player community, we are trying to collectively raise CAD $10,000 for cancer research. Anyone wishing to support this great cause by making a donation to the Terry Fox Foundation can do so by clicking this link to our fundraising campaign.

SCREENSHOT CHALLENGE

This week, we’re trying something a little different for submissions. You can now submit your screenshot via Twitter with #MSFSchallenge or the Weekly Forum Post! This week’s screenshot challenge: Final Approach.

This past week our Screenshot Challenge was Color Series – Blue! Here are our runner ups this week: