[BLOG] April 21st, 2022 Development Update

Jummivana · April 20, 2022, 10:52pm

Screenshot by A___LIVAS (Twitter)

Thank you to everyone who submitted or upvoted a question in the forums for our upcoming Dev Q&A! We are taking a look now and are looking forward to chatting with you next week, April 27th at 10:30am PT (1730Z) on Twitch.

As we near the end of our Sim Update 9 Public Beta, we will provide an update at the end of the week on how to transition smoothly between your Beta build and the public SU9 build next week for each platform. We hope you enjoy Sim Update 9 next Tuesday, as well as the release of our next Famous Flyers, the Gee Bee R2 and the Model Z.

MSFS Team

DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP

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FEEDBACK SNAPSHOT

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SDK Update

Roadmap:
- Here is a glance at the team’s current work, and a list of features that will be made available on the upcoming update.
  
  Sim Update 10
  - Terrain & Weather APIs
  - Aircraft Editor V2
  - Game rendered in a window in the DevMode
General:
- The flighting for Sim Update 9 is almost over. Your feedback on DevSupport allowed us to investigate & fix several critical issues. Thanks for all your time and your great engagement!!
DevMode:
- We fixed potential issues in the Replay tool.
- We’re polishing the “Game rendered in a Window” feature and it will be available in the next Sim Update.
- Visual Effects Editor:
  - We fixed the double scroll-down bar in SimVar unit dropdown menu.
  - We fixed the multiplayer contrails that were no longer visible on Sim Update 9.
- Aircraft Editor:
  - We have removed the Debug windows from the Aircraft Editor, allowing you to access them without opening an aircraft project first. You will soon be able to find them under “Options > Debug drawing > Aircraft”.
  - We are still polishing the new Aircraft Editor. A first version will be made available ASAP!
WASM:
- We are polishing the Weather & Terrain APIs and creating samples to help you understand the usage.
SimConnect:
- We fixed FacilityGetAirportList.

Third Party Update

As of 04/17, we have now approved 246 (+0) third parties into the in-sim marketplace and – so far 143 (+0) have released 1,045 products on PC (+15) and 756 on Xbox (+20).
In total, 2,057 products (+20) have already been released in 3rd party stores and the in-sim marketplace. Beyond that, another 553 products (+27) from 3rd party developers are in production (292 announced, 261 unannounced). In total, over 2,610 3rd party products (+47) have either been released or are in development.
Airports:
- 1,470 airports (+14) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 1,237 airports (+6) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 699 airports (+3) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 119 airports (+0) beyond the released airports have been announced.
  - 114 airports (+8) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an airport is in production.
Aircraft:
- 358 aircraft (+6) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 123 aircraft (+4) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 82 aircraft (+1) have been released in the in-sim PC marketplace.
  - 55 aircraft (+1) have been released in the in-sim Xbox marketplace.
  - 157 aircraft (-3) beyond the released aircraft have been announced.
  - 78 aircraft (+5) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an aircraft is in production.
Scenery:
- 697 sceneries (+23) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 617 sceneries (+9) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 153 sceneries (+2) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 16 sceneries (+0) beyond the released scenery have been announced.
  - 64 sceneries (+14) are not announced, but the dev let us know that scenery is in production.
Mission Packs:
- 85 mission packs (+4) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 80 mission packs (+1) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 17 mission packs (+1) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 0 mission packs (-1) beyond the released missions have been announced.
  - 5 mission packs (+4) are not announced, but the dev let us know that they are in production.

MARKETPLACE UPDATE

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There are 49 new and 16 updated products in the Marketplace today. Marketplace updates generally go live on Thursdays between the release of this blog post and 5pm PT.

Fokker Update

FOKKER UPDATE

F.VIIa/1M

Fixed engine start-up and throttle issues
Fixed altimeter reading 0 when over 10,000ft
Fixed magnetic compass jumping
Updated geometry and textures for entire cockpit
Updated rear wall fuel panel with correct levers
Improved gauge readability
Introduced new fuel control system
Added steerable tail skid
New steering wheel yoke
Chocks/parking brake removed

F.VIIb/3m Original Cockpit

Fixed engine start-up and throttle issues
Fixed magnetic compass jumping
Updated geometry and textures for entire cockpit
Updated rear wall fuel panel with correct levers
Introduced new fuel control system
Improved gauge readability
Added steerable tail skid
Added new hand-crank click prop engine starter feature
New steering wheel yoke
Chocks/parking brake removed

F.VIIb/3m Modern Cockpit

Fixed texture banding on grey surfaces
Fixed blue fuel pump lights
Fixed ADF/NDB radio issues
Fixed compass card
Fixed geometry for overhead switch panel and window frame to reach switches
Updated fuel system
Improved overall switch function light status

F.VIIa / b KLM

Removed KLM logo from the floor and improved textures

Southern Cross

Improved rear cabin geometry and textures

Friendship

Fixed aircraft lean when on water
Fixed wake effects when traveling on water

All Planes

Fixed snowing inside cockpit
Fixed icing effect
Fixed gaps in fuselage and cowling
Fixed isolated textures issues
Fixed over-stressing crashes
Fixed plane rolling right after takeoff
Fixed LODs
Fixed geometry clipping on all cockpits
Fixed extended range fuel tanks on SC/Josephine/Friendship
Updated flight model on all variants
Updated in-sim checklists and QRC’s
Updated AO bake for all cockpits and cabins
New in-tail geometry and textures
New engine cowling on all variants
New clickable cockpit/cabin door
New camera view now able to enter cabin from the cockpit
New engine smoke added to all variants
Removed all Orbx branding

TWITCH UPDATE

We stream weekly on Twitch.tv/MSFSOfficial ! Tomorrow, April 22nd, is Earth Day! In recognition of this day, we have invited a special VIP guest to join us on our Community Fly-In Friday livestream. Gregory Davis is a commercial pilot, aerospace engineer, and President & Interim CEO of Eviation, makers of an upcoming all-electric commuter plane known as Alice. Greg will be here to answer questions from the community and share his expertise about the future of environmentally-sustainable aviation. All are welcome to join! Click here for the flight plan and details.

If you would like to learn more about Greg, we published a Community Spotlight article about him earlier this week that you can read here: Community Spotlight: Gregory Davis

COMMUNITY VIDEO

The upcoming Boeing 737 from PMDG is one of the most-anticipated addons for Microsoft Flight Simulator, and it’s launching very soon! PMDG has granted pre-release versions of this plane to several content creators to showcase to the community. YouTuber British Avgeek recently posted a short demo video of the PMDG 737. Check it out here!