You can leave your feedback about AirshowAssistant toolbar here, same as questions, ideas and so on.
Please read manual first, there you can find list of known issues which we are going to fix (or at least try)
Hi there,
I just bought your app on the marketplace, great fun, thank you!
I am having an issue flying the L-39 in formation. The main gear doors are constantly open on the wingman aircraft. I tried to disable the animations, avionics options but they don’t seem to work. Any chance you could look into this?
Thank you.
This tool is awesome!
Now I don’t have to struggle to decide which livery I want to fly when I’m flying alone. I can choose and enjoy looking at 4 of my favorites on any given flight - and then switch them while enroute. Fantastic!
I don’t use the airshow smoke stuff, and I didn’t realize that the wingman function was added to this tool. The wingman function really adds to my experience. If I could suggest any feature for the wingman function (if it’s even possible), it would be the option to choose bearing angle: between 30, 45, or 60 degrees. So far, I’ve only seen the wingmen fly at a bearing of around 60 degrees off the 3/9 line in echelon.
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Just a reminder to all: The Official MSFS forum is not to be used for Technical Support or Customer Support for Third Party Products.
Third Party Devs must have their own off-site support capability - i.e., Discord, Website Forum, Zendesk, etc. - ingest and process customer requests there.
interesting catch. sadly, can’t be fixed from our side - doors animation linked with oil pressure, which always 0 for AI aircraft.
actually I am thinking about how to make formation configs more flexible, adding more formations or individual position offset for each wingman not very user friendly.
what if three additional sliders will be added - bearing, pitch and roll formation adjustment. this way you will be able to control relative elevation (stepdown) and bearing of all wingmen at once.
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Wow, that would be fantastic to have the slider adjustments you’re considering. 
I hope MSFS multiplayer will mature to the point that it will be possible to have the option to see other players’ formations using the tool. It would make it a lot easier to actually fly box formations when a B-17 is released. I’m not part of an organized group, and I’m lucky to fly with maybe two or three people that can hold position. If each person could lead a flight of 3, it will make the release of WWII bombers really epic for more players.
In addition to the aerobatic smoke and wingmen functionality, I’m also hoping one day we will be able to see airborne units, Candy Bombing, and Relief/Supply drops from our wingwen and/or from other players’ and wingmen someday. Then, we can utilize all the great transports that are already released for maximum operational enjoyment 
Also, thank you for the demo version availability. I bought the tool from the marketplace, but I still install the demo version for the latest updates.
Offline travels are much more enjoyable for me.
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I like the new tools in the 2.8.0 update.
- The sliders help to adjust the formation positioning. They now look more correct, depending on which Service you are flying and what you are doing.
- The stacking adjustment is also great to have now.
- I like the direction of the livery selector, which now includes selecting different aircraft types for the formation. Awesome. Although the tool doesn’t seem to be able to scan all of the insstalled aircraft addons yet. I wasn’t able to select/find all the specific aircraft I wanted for a particular flight. I’m really looking forward to any improvements on that feature. I can do my own escort flights
- I really like how the wingmen now drop back into trail automatically below about 1500 ft so everyone can land on the runway. I used to turn off the wingmen on approach. EDIT: Upon extending landing gear. I think it must have been triggered by altitude when I was flying the non-retractible gear biplanes.
This tool also seems to currently be the only way we can fly with other MV-22 Ospreys and see the rotors spinning. Can’t wait for MSFS to fix that one for multiplayer.
Fantastic addon
Maybe one day we can break formation and have the flight continue on a pre planned route. Then everyone can practice holding positions in a formation.
Also, it would be super helpful to have an AI demontration team flight lead to follow so we could practice and test our skills in the vertical too. It would be like that old Blue Angels software from a long time ago.
I remember many years ago the Virtual Red Arrows had a server in DCS where they would have an AI Red 1 flying the full routine, and had a bot in Teamspeak where you could hear the Red 1 voice call outs. It was really good fun, even though I was terrible at keeping formation!
I’d love to see something like this incorporated in Airshow Assistant one day.
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I could never fly in formation or aerial refuel in any flight sim before MSFS. It was MSFS that prompted me to invest in at least upper mid range controllers. Quality peripherals really are the primary contributor to one’s enjoyment of this hobby.
Peripherals are what allow me to be excited about, enjoy, and appreciate this Airshow Assistant addon.
1 Like
Brilliant tool,for the formation flight alone, don’t know how you’ve made them mimic different states like flaps etc. anyway…
On Xbox the right hand slider is very difficult to move with the cursor, generally every time I move the cursor towards it I get the “resize box” cursor, meaning all I can do is move the box, not the vertical slider.
The text for the various settings is truncated/unreadable I less the box is stretched so it takes up most of the screen.
Very good value, good implementation, good idea 
Just bought this add-on. Seriously awesome! This is the kind of thing I’ve been looking for. The ability to add smoke to any aircraft is something I’ve wanted for awhile. And flying in formation is the cherry on top. And the fact that you can even customize just about every aspect of the formation and smoke is even better. The AI formation is a little wonky but I totally get how tough it must be to implement something like this, and if you’re not trying to do loops and stay as smooth as possible they work fairly well.
I would personally love for the smoke (and formation positioning) to stay when active pause mode is on so I can capture some great screenshots of it.
Yeah, this is a bit clunky, and I know it’s a sim issue on xbox and not a mod issue. The cursor is so big that doesn’t want to select the scroll bar. A bit of an annoyance, but it’s the same annoyance I’ve had when trying to customize weather. Microsoft needs to fix that at some point, I’d hope.
RE: Version 2.8.1
Hopefully the database of installed aircraft addons (that the user has scanned) remains intact after updating on the marketplace. I also hope that there is a way to keep the database when updating Airshow Assistant from the website versions too (albeit understood to be demo/beta versions). I spent about 3 hours spawning into all my aircraft that the current version didn’t pickup and let me select in the list. This function lets me visually enjoy 4x the addons per flight. With all the addons I have installed, it’s hard for me to enjoy all of them - I really like being able to do this 
Note: It took me about 3-4 hours to spawn into most of the addons I wanted to be able to select as wingmen (about 30), but that’s inclusive of the standard MSFS CTD’s during the process - I had about 3 CTD’s. The CTD’s are not related to Airshow Assistant. MSFS always CTD’s if I end and restart a flight about 3-5 times without closing the game.
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I only just found out recently about this mod via a Youtube video. It really is one of the best third party add ons anyone has created for the sim, and I say that as someone who has bought an awful lot of add ons lol.
Really since the first fast jet was released for FS2020 I’ve wanted someone to make a mod that would create AI controlled wingmen to fly alongside you. I just presumed that it was impossible and no one was going to make one. Airshow Assistant goes well beyond what I was hoping was possible. It really does make the sim come alive.
I really hope it continues to be developed and sees a life well into FS2024.
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Remember the water injected kc-135 and B-52 takeoffs?
Tried it on the 737 and it looks great.
I really like this addon, but like mentioned before, it would be great if the smoke didn’t disappear when you pause the game.
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I spent the past two days playing around with formation flying. It’s a lot of fun. I think my favorite so far have been the T-6’s. I’ve been flying them around like the Aeroshell Aerobatic team (now Titan Aerobatic team) and it’s fantastic. I don’t think there’s a way to have them follow in a line once in the air unless I’m missing something, but I just put them in diamond formation and it’s great. Canyon runs in any fighter jet with a wingman up front has been fun too. I need to start grabbing more screenshots. This is one of those things that should honestly be in the base sim.
I assume the developer already knows this and it may be something with the sim itself, but when you’re making a turn, if you happen to reach north, that’s when the AI freak out and jump out of formation, and then they’ll work their way back into it. So north seems to be a bit of a reset for them. Although I’m not sure slight turns near north will cause that. But let’s say you’re heading south and want to do a full 360° turn from your current heading, once you hit north they’ll scatter.
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Many thanks for the IG/tiktok review you have made, detailed and entertaining. I really feel that you have spent much time learning all the features, great job!
passing formation controls to the AI is complicated but possible. after all the issues are fixed I will try it. Maybe even something better - you will fly through the airshow program by yourself, then make an AI formation leader to repeat it and fly as a wingman this time. And now imagine you can share your air show routes with others. It will be a big surprise for the people saying this tool only good for the pictures
I have not flown in DCS much so missed it. But I’ve got inspiration from the other flight sim, old console game - Aerowings, where you can learn various aerobatic maneuvers flying in formation as a leader or wingman, and hear voice commands. Maybe the same will be available in this tool as well, who knows.
I am afraid it is current visual effects system issue, which I can not avoid anyhow
I suppose they should - list of installed liveries stored in global MSFS configs database and not related with aircraft add-ons. There is a possibility that you will lose all of the toolbar settings - sim reinstall or failed update, it happened for me once. I am thinking about the scan script that will detect installed aircraft models, in the same manner as liveries scan.
Also advice - to add installed aircraft into the list you can use Debug mode (can be turned in the settings). There is an Aircraft Selector feature which allows the aircraft to change without flight restart. So you click on the first livery of selected aircraft, open AirshowAssistant window, wait until there is a message “initialization finished” appear, select next livery and so on. Do not forget to disable debug mode, or your flight time will be not counted.
https://docs.flightsimulator.com/html/Developer_Mode/Menus/Tools.htm
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Regarding the flight lead in an airshow routine, I was hoping for a scripted lead that we could follow: a lead the flies the routine at an appropriate airspeed, power setting, and roll rate. I have no clue what those parameters are - to allow me to be and look smooth in the vertical during those maneuvers, so following a recorded version of myself isn’t helpful to skill development as would being in formation with an AI that knows what it’s are doing. 
This is a hopeful “want” though. MSFS is currently unable to allow for nor has any intention to allow for smooth formation flying, at least in multiplayer:
- Extreme speed variations between players requiring excessive throttle adjustments/compensation
- Constant data interruptions that cause other players to jump and warp around relative to one another in close proximity
- Weather appears to be slightly out of sync between players when using other than clear skies or few clouds with no winds. Although this is probably realistic, it seems exaggerated a bit.
- The MSFS Bermuda Triangle feature of people disappearing in multiplayer.
For me, flying in formation from the cockpit with my eyes out helps me understand the dynamics of a specific addon and how the addon communicates it’s state. It increases the totality of awareness and control I have with an addon for any given control situation. Knowing how an addon will respond helps me stay ahead of the aircraft and makes any required adjustment reations intuiitive and immediate without thought.
Overall, the Airshow Assistant formation flying function has the greatest potential to add to my exploration of each high fidelity addon and my overall enjoyment of the MSFS world, without having to find the few Twitch streamers that aren’t irritated and tolerate that I’m flying so close to them.
Well, it certainly is good for pictures, but the picture only shows 1 millisecond of a person’s flight or scenario that was enjoyed . Sometimes I think the majority of MSFS players believe military aircraft only fly in formation during airshows or for photo ops.
Considering that many of the younger people I work with have no clue what the Millinium Falcon is, they may not realize that the following “picture” means a lot more to some than just an odd pairing of aircraft types.
Or, that it’s really fantastic to simulate something that they didn’t get to see in one’s life, but would really have loved to witness. Such as the Quebec Airshow 2008
This addon provides me with a lot more additional entertainment value in MSFS. Thank you.
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That “Final countdown” shot is so cool. Very well done.
Saw that movie with my dad when I was 9 years old, way back in 1980.
Have to go watch the movie now …
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