Here is a timeline of the major discussion areas. Times are approximate.
The Twitch stream is available here
| Elapsed Twitch Time (min/sec) | Topic |
|---|---|
| 00:05 | Start, Participants: Jorg Neumann, Hugo (SDK Producer), Eric (Lead SDK Developer), Sylvain (Associate Lead TechQA SDK), Jayne. |
| 00:07 | SDK Review (Jorg) / Creators / 5,000+ |
| 00:09 | Agenda |
| Introduction | |
| – | |
| 00:11 | SDK 1 - General Overview |
| Backwards Compatibility | |
| A MSFS 2024 package will not work in MSFS 2020 | |
| 00:14 | Migration Key Points |
| Same assets will produce different results when built with 2020 or 2024 | |
| Use of “Export for Marketplace” process is now enforced when submitting a package | |
| 00:16 | Thin Client |
| Most content is streamed | |
| Prevents developers from browsing packages freely | |
| Solutions of this rolled out in Dev Alpha | |
| 00:19 | VFS Overriding Limits |
| MS2020 allowed overriding of nearly every VFS file & folder | |
| MS2024 will forbid the overriding of key files | |
| This may limit what you are trying to do. | |
| 00:20 | LOD Limits |
| New LOD selection system | |
| General idea is to preserve vertex density on the screen | |
| Whole process and applied limits available in the SDK documentation | |
| 00:22 | LOD Limits Vetex Count / Size on screen |
| 00:23 | LOD Limits |
| Time consuming to create | |
| Ensure each new LOD is lighter than the previous one | |
| Tools that can help you. | |
| 00:27 | Questions |
| Are there any improvements / changes to blending when multiple animations are applied to a single object / armature? | |
| Per-object LODS - what can we expect? | |
| 3rd-part scenery compatibility - will they work in 2024? | |
| LiveQ: Can 2020 & 2024 SDK co-exist? | |
| LiveQ: Are the locked files for just marketplace or also community? | |
| LiveQ: Vertex color does not work for airliners | |
| – | |
| 00:33 | SDK 2 - Aircraft |
| Modular SimObjects | |
| MSFS 2024 allows reuse of common bricks | |
| Each part follows LOD selection rules | |
| 00:36 | Modular SimObject Graph |
| 00:37 | SimAttachments Library |
| 00:38 | Navigation Graphs |
| Navigatuin graphs are spatial graphs | |
| They have multiple purposes | |
| They can contain Subgraphs | |
| 00:40 | Navigation Graph (Cessna Caravan) |
| 00:41 | Flight Model |
| New Geometry Specification | |
| 00:42 | Core Systems |
| New & Updated Systems | |
| 00:44 | Career Compatibility |
| To be compatible with an activity, an aircraft must meet various criteria | |
| SimObject Editor includes a career compatibility tab | |
| Available for all Marketplace Partners making 2024 aircraft. | |
| 00:46 | Questions |
| Time taken to implement features in an aircraft, | |
| 00:47 | Will flight models on existing aircraft need to be redone? |
| 00:48 | Will there be performance improvements to the lights system? |
| 00:49 | LiveQ: Can simobject switch between two Flight Models depending on configuration? For example a helicopter between standard vertical stabilizer and FastFin vertical stabilizer? |
| 00:50 | Will we manually have to save menu icons and aircraft selection images to each size & shape as opposed to autoscaling? |
| 00:52 | Will wear & tear allow / affect the handling of the aircraft? |
| 00:53 | LiveQ: I have my own wear and tear system already, it has it owns LVARS, etc. can I hock up to the new MSFS 2024 wear and tear by using my own vars? so I integrate my already developed modules already? more specifically, the dots on the external views I see on videos, can they display my own LVARS values? |
| 00:54 | Will new gameplay features be exposed in the SDK so they can be used in free-flight? |
| 00:55 | LiveQ: Will more vars be passed across multiplayer? Doors, even specific Lvars? |
| 00:56 | LiveQ: Will there be more parameters for helicopter tail rotors? |
| 00:57 | LiveQ: Are 3rd party aircraft mission compatibilities shown in the marketplace? |
| 00:58 | LiveQ: Why can only marketplace aircraft participate in careers? |
| 00:59 | LiveQ: Will freeware aircraft be in the marketplace, especially w.r.t. career compatibility? |
| 01:00 | LiveQ: If I buy a 3rd party plane outside of the marketplace that is also sold in the marketplace but works for career. Could I use that or no? |
| – | |
| 01:01 | SDK 3 - Airports & Sceneries |
| Sim Prop Containers | |
| 01:03 | Biomes & Geomes |
| 01:05 | Key Changes for Airports |
| 01:06 | Questions |
| Will the drone camera issue with collision material be addressed in 2024? | |
| 01:07 | LiveQ: Can grass density now be modified separately from the material’s color? Also can we gen more fine tunes rotation controls for aprons? |
| LiveQ: Is it possible to repair water issues? | |
| 01:08 | For projected meshes, will it be possible to use own detail maps? |
| 01:09 | Will you be able to properly simulate flooded areas with the new water model? |
| LiveQ: Will terraforming be more precise with the new ground model? | |
| 01:10 | Will there me an easier way to create custom POIs? |
| 01:11 | LiveQ: Will there be any access for water masking? |
| Will you support double-sided taxiways? | |
| 01:12 | Is the default scenery & sim object names going to stay the same? |
| – | |
| 01:14 | SDK 4 - Other SDK & Dev Mode Improvements |
| WASM | |
| WASM modules do not run on the main thread. | |
| New types of WASM modules | |
| New WASM APIs | |
| 01:19 | Documentation |
| 01:20 | Other Improvements |
| Device-specific & Aircraft-specific profiles | |
| Compiled Behaviors | |
| Exporters - 3DS Max, Blender | |
| 01:24 | Questions |
| When can we expect to see a mission editor? | |
| 1:25 | Are there any changes to materials created in 3Ds/Blender? |
| 1:26 | Will we able to edit roads & road traffic? |
| 01:27 | LiveQ: What happens if I created 2 WASM modules for 1 aircraft? will each one run on separate threads? sequential? or simultaneously? big airliners will benefit from this… |
| 01:28 | Are there going to be more SimConnect API improvements? |
| 01:29 | How can we programmatically determine the location of the community folder? |
| 01:30 | LiveQ: In dev mode will the new SDK allow for community folder content to be reloaded in-sim rather than needing a re-start? |
| 01:31 | Will there be better support for making network requests from WASM modules? |
| Will raw TCP connections be supported? | |
| 01:33 | Are there plans for a more lightweight development environment? |
| 01:34 | Is a camera API coming? |
| 01:35 | Has the UI system been totally re-written? |
| – | |
| 01:36 | SDK 5 - Rollout Plan for Dev Alpha |
| Available October 21st | |
| Only accessible to Marketplace registered developers. | |
| 01:39 | Questions |
| Do we need to purchase a copy of 2024 to access Dev Alpha? | |
| Will we be able to push content for ingestion during Dev Alpha? | |
| Will 3rd-party developers receive unique access or one per team member? | |
| 01:42 | Possible second SDK livestream next week - TBD |
| 01:44 | Livestream Ends |
