[BLOG] May 19th, 2022 Development Update

Screenshot by paulyoungphotos (Twitter)

With the release of World Update IX: Italy and Malta, a mandatory update for the generic airport data folder on Xbox was also pushed which led to an increase of crashes on launch for both Xbox Series X|S and Xbox Cloud Gaming.

We have identified the specific crash instances and plan to release a hot fix as quickly as possible (we are targeting Friday) to get Xbox and Xbox Cloud Gaming users up and running again.

For those currently unable to launch on Xbox Series X|S due to World Update IX, we have just released a beta build to the Xbox Insider Hub. If you would like to help validate our fix, please join the build using the following steps:

  1. On your Xbox console, open the ‘Xbox Insider Hub’ (or install it via the Microsoft Store if you do not have it yet)
  2. On the left side, click ‘Previews’
  3. Look for ‘Microsoft Flight Simulator Beta’ and click ‘Join’ to confirm your participation.
  4. Wait for the Join process to complete, then restart your console (hold down the Xbox button on the controller and select Restart console from the power menu).
  5. After the console restarts, launch Microsoft Flight Simulator and you’ll be prompted to update the game to the hot fix build.
  6. Feel free to let us know if your launch issue is fixed by reporting in this thread. Thank you!

We sincerely apologize to all the affected Xbox players who are unable to play the sim at this time and recognize that more needs to be done on our end to ensure smoother updates.

Thank you for your continued support and patience. We strive to be better with each update and we know that we have not met your expectations with this latest release. We look forward to the upcoming hotfix and your feedback in the forums and on socials.

MSFS Team

SDK Update

Roadmap:

  • Sim Update 10:
    • Terrain & Weather Radar Drawing APIs
    • Aircraft Editor V2
    • Game rendered in a window in the DevMode

DevMode:

  • Aircraft Editor:

    • We improved the UX/UI.
    • We added a “Legacy” option to hide/display parameters inherited from FSX but no longer in use.
    • We added logic conditions to hide/display parameters based on other params values.
  • Visual Effects Editor:

    • We fixed a crash with nullptr output graph.

WASM:

  • We fixed a crash where WASM compilation tried to access non initialized data.

Third Party Update

  • As of 05/14, we have now approved 251 (+0) third parties into the in-sim marketplace and – so far 148 (+1) have released 1,120 products on PC (+20) and 833 on Xbox (+21).

  • In total, 2,126 products (+13) have already been released in 3rd party stores and the in-sim marketplace. Beyond that, another 552 products (+8) from 3rd party developers are in production (298 announced, 254 unannounced). In total, over 2,678 3rd party products (+21) have either been released or are in development.

  • Airports:

    • 1,496 airports (+5) are either released or are in various stages of development.

      • 1,270 airports (+4) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
      • 738 airports (+7) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
      • 116 airports (-2) beyond the released airports have been announced.
      • 110 airports (+3) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an airport is in production.
  • Aircraft:

    • 377 aircraft (+8) are either released or are in various stages of development.

      • 131 aircraft (+0) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
      • 94 aircraft (+3) have been released in the in-sim PC marketplace.
      • 66 aircraft (+1) have been released in the in-sim Xbox marketplace.
      • 166 aircraft (+6) beyond the released aircraft have been announced.
      • 80 aircraft (+2) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an aircraft is in production.
  • Scenery:

    • 717 scenery packs (+7) are either released or are in various stages of development.

      • 638 scenery packs (+8) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
      • 164 scenery packs (+6) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
      • 16 scenery packs (+1) beyond the released scenery have been announced.
      • 63 scenery packs (-2) are not announced, but the dev let us know that scenery is in production.
  • Mission Packs:

    • 88 mission packs (+1) are either released or are in various stages of development.

      • 87 mission packs (+1) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
      • 24 mission packs (+0) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
      • 0 mission packs (+0) beyond the released missions have been announced.
      • 1 mission packs (+0) are not announced, but the dev let us know that they are in production.

MARKETPLACE UPDATE

Click here for a web-friendly version.

We will not be releasing any new products on Xbox this week until the launch crash issue is fully resolved.

Our Local Legend IV: Savoia-Marchetti S.55 is also delayed. More information on this soon. Thank you for understanding!

There are 16 new and 30 updated products in the Marketplace today. Marketplace updates generally go live on Thursdays between the release of this blog post and 5pm PT.





TWITCH UPDATE

We stream weekly on Twitch! World Update 9: Italy & Malta is available now! Download this free update from the Marketplace, then come explore some of the new scenery in a beautiful flight with the community that will see us fly through the mountains and valleys of the Italian Alps to the canals of Venice to the busy city streets of Bologna.

Also joining us as guest co-hosts for this fly-in will be some of the performers from this Sunday’s Wings Over The Web 1 virtual airshow to give a preview of the full event! You won’t want to miss their skillful display of precision flying! Click here for more details. All are welcome to participate!

This Sunday, we have our Wings over the Web Airshow! Join us live on May 22 at 1:30pm PT (4:30pm ET) as performers from around the world display breathtaking stunts and precision formation flying in the virtual skies. Featuring performances by the Flight Simulator Thunderbirds and RAAFv Roulettes, this virtual airshow will be an event you won’t want to miss. Learn more about the event here.

We also wrote an article interviewing the famous Canadian Snowbirds along with our virtual airshow crew! Check it out here.

If you missed it, we had our first live Flying Lesson in the Bonanza G36. You can catch up here.

COMMUNITY VIDEO

Among aviation fans, few places are more popular for planespotting than the legendary final approach to Princess Juliana Airport (ICAO: TNCM) in St. Maarten. YouTuber Sam van Breda recently recorded a video showing the approach and landing the newly-released Just Flight 146 Professional at this famous airport. Check it out!

SCREENSHOT CHALLENGE

You can submit your screenshot via Twitter with #MSFSchallenge or the Weekly Forum Post ! This week’s screenshot challenge: Italy and Malta

This past week our Screenshot Challenge was “Amazing Airliners”. Here are our runner ups this week:

Screenshot by zkdos (Forum)

Screenshot by Acegard5503 (Forum)

Screenshot by salad_msfs (Twitter)

Screenshot by AHal (Forum)

Screenshot by SerpaFox (Forum)

Screenshot by AN2Felllla (Forum)

Screenshot by Raynen (Forum)

Screenshot by digital896 (Forum)

Screenshot by MistyEagle3385 (Forum)

Screenshot by jienbacktory2 (Twitter)

NEXT DEVELOPMENT BLOG UPDATE – May 26th, 2022

Sincerely,

Microsoft Flight Simulator Team

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