As far as I have found, the only float plane available on MSFS is the the L19 by Blackbox. And I am considering that. Because I am desperate for a >float< plane, not just amphibious or a flying boat. Am I missing any others? I have gotten a vague confirmation Milviz will release the DHC-2 Beaver someday. But they made a teaser post 6 months ago showing images in a very basic state and have not given any updates since then on that aircraft, while detailing the development of several others. So seems it’s on their list, just far from the top of it.
And has anyone made any mods to add floats to aircraft not including them by default?
I can model and texture map some floats to specifications, if anyone knows how to do the mod to an aircraft itself.
I’d call the A5 amphibious. Or a Seaplane perhaps? Though I think some would assume a “seaplane” was a floatplane. Is it still a “flying boat” if it’s as small as the Icon? It lands/floats on it’s hull/fuselage, not floats. So, even though it’s real small, I think it’s still technically a flying boat.
Floatplanes are not called floatplanes because they float, they are called floatplanes because they HAVE floats.
Ya know, the Cri Cri isn’t really what I’m looking for and that little thing on floats sounds terrifying to me in real life. But I’ll keep that in mind, because the Cri Cri is just so insane I have to kind of love it.
Word is Milviz are still doing a float beaver. No idea when we will see it. They are unhappy with the current state of the SDK.
The Wing42 Vega is also coming eventually …
I think the biggest issue is float planes are not properly supported in the game yet ( no wakes for example) and there are a whole bunch of people who seem to spend all their time criticising even very minor issues with any new product released so the developers are being conservative.
Yeah, I don’t think we’ll see wakes until the particle system is available, I have no idea what the status of that is. I had the impression it was announced as coming soon, and yet I haven’t heard a thing about it since then, other than people saying they haven’t heard any good info on it’s progress or ETA.
After considerable pestering and no other information since they posted a teaser about 6 months ago, Milviz did answer one of my many questions. I asked if they could confirm if the Beaver was still going to become a MSFS product some day. They replied with one word. “Yes.” So, there’s that. They are making it, I’m just begging for it because I know it’ll be amazing and I want a DHC-2 very badly. My number one desired aircraft at this point. I’m not holding my breath since they have given detailed updates on several other aircraft for MSFS since the first teaser on the Beaver. Maybe they are deprioritizing the Beaver because of the sad state of water interaction support, but a Beaver is a fantastic aircraft for MSFS if just as a bush plane.
Not as far as I know, but by the same token I am not aware of any improvements on the water side of things either. I would be interested to know if anyone has further information.
There is sometimes an assumption on these forums that if a dev is sick of complaining about the SDK (and getting criticised for it) they must logically therefore now be happy with it, whereas in many cases it is just a diplomatic choice of defer development and keep quiet about it.
It is a complicated issue. One problem seems to be a lot of smaller dev companies are basically (often talented) 3D graphics and texture artists who previously relied on the sim itself to handle most of the heavy lifting with the FM work but MSFS seems to currently need a lot more awareness of the intricacies of the FM.
Another issue is currently anything released with any bugs at all gets a very hostile reception. Some aircraft like the YMF-5 were truly very buggy on first release (getting better with patches) but I have seen other cases of severe criticism of something like stall in an Immelmann for a non-aerobatic rated plane that should not be doing an Immelmann in the first place Releasing an aircraft early is probably a bit of a windfall for a small developer, especially if it makes the marketplace, but runs the risk of a lot of bad PR and trolling as there are a lot of people waiting to pounce on anything with faults.
TL&DNR … They most prob lack the appropriate skills and/or time to work with the current SDK and are not prepared to cop the flack of releasing something before it is 100% sorted so are just keeping quiet for now. We just need to wait.
There is a version of the XCub with floats due very soon and available already at there discord.
From Bush league Legends and will I assume free as there other releases.
A floats XCub would be real fun! I’ll have to check that out!
The Goose is fun! Nice for a free aircraft! I’ve enjoyed it. But still craving smaller float planes. The Goose could really use more geometry and texture details and better PBR materials. I’ve wondered if I could brush up on my modeling and texturing skills and helping out with that one. Just started perusing the flight sim developer forums.
leprechaunlive is also working on a beaver that’s going to be freeware and he’s gotten a fair way with it. He took a break from it to do a payware P-40B Tomahawk but assures that he will finish it.
The main issue with the goose is steering while on water, asymmetric thrust in MSFS is currently broken and not working as expected (well basically any thrust not aligned with the centre line is incorrectly represented and has issues at present) and the real aircraft had no water rudder so the current sim version as downloaded is very hard to turn on the water. The “fake water rudder” config edit of the contact points helps. This video was taken using the modified config files:
Can you even start from the water? Like a third party seaport maybe? If not, I’m assuming this is one of the many reasons we’re not seeing much of a float option yet, but mainly amphibians. The A5 and water capabilities of the sim in general were released badly unfinished. They probably should have just hung on to the A5 (and water operations) for a future sim update like the helicopters.
I’m not sure about that. Seaplane infrastructure is quite lacking by default. Drzewiecki Design Seattle Landmarks includes two seaplane ports. The soon to be released FSim Studios CYVR airport includes the airport’s new seaplane port and I think it will include the downtown Vancouver Seaplane port (VHFC) as well? https://vhfc.ca There’s various free addons seaplane ports, docks available as well. Plenty around the WA/BC areas.
I just find the A5 to be pretty boring. It’s a marvel of a design, but it makes for a slow, sterile experience in the sim. The lack of great water interaction, visually and physically doesn’t help the lack in entertainment. Granted that applies to anything on the water at this point. I find the Goose a lot more fun than the A5, even with it’s faults, including the one EdamllamaB just mentioned.
Landing interactions were mentioned on the last interview with the Asobo team, but they seemed to say we’ll see dust and tire smoke soonish, but not snow and water interactions for a while longer.
So, yes, you CAN start from the water if you have a seaplane “airport”. I tried the Lake Union option included in the Drzewiecki Design Seattle Landmarks, it shows with a ships wheel icon to indicate it’s a water option, not runway. Funny, it started me out in the middle of the lake, not at the seaplane port/terminal. But there’s a few different " blue dots" to choose, so maybe one will start you at the dock.
To bad this Kenmore Beaver is just scenery and not flyable!
Yes, my airport 69NH (formerly 8B8, now defunct, but resurrected for the game) at flightsim.to has two dock parking spots and two water runways, along with a full airport on Wolfeboro spit on Lake Winnipesaukee. There are others (don’t know off the top of my head which).
I do believe the beginnings of particle effects are in the next release, and they’ll be adding more. I don’t know if water wakes are in the first effects to be released. I know tire smoke and dirt spray are. I think it’s in the next World update? Might be the next sim update.
I watched the whole 90 minute discussion of the upcoming update and what I got from that was yes, particle effects will be in the next update, but dust and tire smoke. They said water and snow would be later and didn’t sound like any time soon. And they seemed to indicate contrails was a higher priority, but still needed significant work before we’ll see those.
But if the particle system is added and there’s some info in the SDK, perhaps we’ll see some community work on things like water sprays. Ideally there’d be a wake displacement of the water surface, not just spray, but something could be done so the water doesn’t look entirely unaffected by the hull/floats.
Releasing an aircraft early is probably a bit of a windfall for a small developer, especially if it makes the marketplace, but runs the risk of a lot of bad PR and trolling as there are a lot of people waiting to pounce on anything with faults.
