Phase 2 Update Notes

[DTG_Cryss 244]

- Cross Posted from Steam - 

Hello everyone, 

It’s an exciting day for Flight Sim World as we launch Update 16, which features a number of avionic fixes, adjustments to the missions (based on your feedback), the introduction of two new variations of the Super Cub (who’s ready for an amphibious landing) and much more. 

Update 16 is also the first update in the second stage of the development of Flight Sim World, igniting the spark that will bring about Phase 2. We’ve got some exciting announcements to make about our plans for Phase 2, but those are better handled by executive producer, Stephen Hood (and he has done so here). There are some exciting announcements which we know you’re all going to love (did someone say dynamic weather?), so make sure to check it out. 

On with the notes for Update 16:

Aircraft

• Added PA18 - SuperCub Amphibian to core aircraft
• Added PA18 - SuperCub Tundra to core aircraft

All

• Improved appearance and clarity of gauge glass surfaces
• Improved appearance of windshield glass surfaces
• Keypad ‘5’ now centralizes all control surfaces, inclusive of elevators
• Localised cockpit tooltips for English, French and German
• Shift+L now restricted to toggling cockpit and panel lights
• Magneto states are now saved across flights
• Alternate air, carb heat and master device are now tied to engine device so that engines will no longer fail under cold weather conditions.
• Cockpit panel lights are now automatically applied/disabled on day->night transitions
• Reference speeds and contact points updated across the aircraft, with Accu-feel settings updated to match reference speeds.

DA40

• Improved raindrop windshield mapping
• Fix inconsistencies with mixture checks on Cold and Dark checklist.
• Updated 'POH' reference speeds.
• Prop animation corrected and appearance improved.
• ASI reference aligned with G1000’s readings.
• Player can now interact with Horizon Emergency Power switch 
• Prop feather functionality added.
• Rear wheel contact points refined.
• Improved appearance of AP lights and buttons. Improved AO mapping on cockpit’s lower panel.

DA42

• Updated 'POH' reference data
• Added Gauge helper tooltips

PA18

• Improved LOD transitioning
• KX155 COM/NAV unit made compatible with C&D.
• Turn Indicator now compatible with failure feature.
• Strobe lights are now disabled if battery is OFF.
• Kohlsman operation corrected and calibrated. 
• Improved smaller registration appearance.
• Click point added along lower door edge to aid with closing.
• Corrected gap in the rear of the lower door.

PA28

• Audio panel updated to allow keypresses.
• Analogue clock now shows correct time.
• Kollsman calibration improved for both InHG and MB scales.
• Turn Indicator now compatible with failure feature.
• Prevent GNS430 from being selected as a 2d panel.
• KN62 display adjusted to improve appearance.

PA34

• Audio panel updated to allow keypresses.
• Vacuum annunciator trigger point and flap annunciator logic refined.
• Contact points now allow for a gear up landing.
• Tweaked interior dome light to reduce nose reflections

PA46

• Alternator added to Cold and Dark checklist.
• Pitch trim wheel animation reversed.
• Updated 'POH' reference data.
• Audio panel functionality improved to allow for keypresses.
• DC Ammeter now shows correct value when hovered over.
• HDG knob mouse-wheel functionality corrected
• Fix autopilot needle oscillation when reaching target altitude.
• Resolved issue with landing lights LOD

RV7

• RV7A nose wheel steering restored.
• Improved raindrop windshield mapping
• AutoPilot - Heading and altitude hold now fully functional
• Audio panel functionality improved to allow for key presses

Avionics
G1000

• Flight Director indicator added to PFD.
• NRST function now displays on first push of the NRST softkey.
• G1000 FPL text legibility improved.
• Annunciator box no longer expands height by itself.
• Clock display improvements.
• DA40 / DA42 - G1000 audio panel now functions.

GNS430

• DTO popup legibility improved.
• Map view restored.
• FPL screen decluttered.
• Proc and CDI buttons now consistent across 3d and 2d panels
• PROC page made clearer.
• PA34 - G500 and GNS530 CDI/ VLOC functions unified.

G500/GNS530

• GNS530 - FPL screen decluttered.
• GNS530 - DTO page cleaned up and 2D version now emulates 3D version.
• G500 and GNS530 CDI/ VLOC functions unified.
• GNS530 - PROC page made clearer.
• Aircraft pointer vertical offset now corrected for ‘North-up’ view

M803 Chrono

• OAT readings corrected.

KAP140/KFC225

• If NAV signal is lost, AP regresses to HDG mode.
• AP - VS and ALT modes functionality corrected. HDG no longer cancels other modes.
• AP - HDG regress mode no longer forces NAV off when using GPS as nav source.

KX155

• Electrical failures now disable the LCD display.

RDR2000

• Now displays terrain and alert information (weather currently not supported)

SYS55X

• AP - Value inputs aligned right so that they don't fall off the screen.
• AP - ALT mode pitch trim indicator now works correctly.

Lessons/Missions
Eagle Pilot School

• Lesson 2 - Emergency landing
• Fixed repeating VO at end of lesson

Lesson 7 - Solo Cross-Country

• String added and code reworked to give the player a heading range to help them re-intercept the 061 radial
• Aligned altimeter to the lesson’s wind speeds. Tweaked realism settings to improve the playability of the landing conditions

Wings Flight Academy
Lesson 4 - Skills Test

• Rebalanced the difficulty of successfully achieving the first climb

PPL 1

• Prevented instructor claiming “fuel pump is on” while it’s actually off.

PPL 2

• Plane now starts trimmed

LAPL2

• Fixed instances of repeating VO dialogue

MEP01 DA42 Checkout

• Fixed instances of AI plane spawning incorrectly
• Prevents instructor repeating if the player leaves controls

MEP03

• Fix for the rapidly alternating top bar text after a failure

Cross Controlled

• Can no longer pass the mission when landing with landing gears up

Time Pressure

• Aircraft now centred on runway at start
• Additional scenery polish added across mission

Low and Slow

• Added a couple of extra point of interest to break up long sections; added 3 pieces of airborne AI traffic as well as 3 pieces of static AI traffic parked at the destination airport to add some life to the mission

Short Hops

• Additional scenery polish added across mission

UI

• The arrow keys, the Insert, Delete, Start, End, Page Up, Page Down keys as well as the Alt Gr key now produce the correct results in the settings menu. 
• Loading screens updated
• Compass waypoint marker now flashes when the compass is shown and when the waypoint marker changes.
• Remove purple bar from Log window (but not ATC window)
• Antialiasing drop down strings changed to OFF/MSAA

Engine

• Reduced pixelation artefacts seen intermittently with the sun at cloud edges.
• Resolved white and black ‘silhouetting’ seen intermittently with trees and mountains on the horizon 
• Resolved instances of aircraft tail corruption seen intermittently when returning from the settings menu.
• Reduced aliasing on airport fences.
• Increased scene object texture cache size to reduce scene object pop-in
• Introduction of option to enable SSAO (defaults to ‘disabled’)
• Introduction of ‘borderless window’ display setting: An alternative for full-screen mode, running the title as a window but with top and bottom borders cropped.
• Default configs setup for CH PRODUCTS YOKE, Saitek X-56 Rhino HOTAS controllers
• Default configs setup for Saitek Yoke and rudders, Mad Catz Cyborg v1.0 controllers
• Default configs setup for X52 and X52 Pro.
• Fix crash seen in “wobbly cam” caused by infinitely increasing camera values when FPS is low.
• Resolved infrequent live lock seen when interacting with GDI panels
• Pausing game during cold and dark no longer resets the checklist
• Extended flight time system, to allow correct logging of flight times when loading saved flights
• Various localisation fixes

Note: Existing owners experiencing issues with CH PRODUCTS YOKE, Saitek X-56 Rhino HOTAS controllers are advised to go into the controls menu and click "reset to defaults" on those controllers.

That's it for Update 16, if you've made it this far without checking out Stephen Hood's post about what's next for Flight Sim World then we really recommend checking out his post.

[TheFlightSimGuy 514]

That is a huge update! Thanks! 

[DTG_Cryss 244]

6 minutes ago, TheFlightSimGuy said:

That is a huge update! Thanks! 

Admittedly it's about half a gig! 

Don't forget that Dynamic Weather will be landing on the first of February.

[anden145 2,273]

Thanks for the update!

This may be self-explanatory, but how do you differentiate 'Dynamic Weather' from 'Live Weather'? 

[TheFlightSimGuy 514]

2 minutes ago, Anders Bermann said:

Thanks for the update!

This may be self-explanatory, but how do you differentiate 'Dynamic Weather' from 'Live Weather'? 

Also, will that be when we see cloud shadows or will that be something we see after the proposed ground improvements? 

[switch686 50]

Dynamic weather changes over time but not "live"....

[DTG_Cryss 244]

10 minutes ago, Anders Bermann said:

Thanks for the update!

This may be self-explanatory, but how do you differentiate 'Dynamic Weather' from 'Live Weather'? 

Dynamic weather will use a dataset to alter conditions within the trueSKY environment to alter the weather based on time or travel.

Live weather draws the current conditions in the real world and implements them within the simulator. 

That's my basic summary! 

[Murmur 3,941]

11 minutes ago, DTG_Cryss said:

Dynamic weather will use a dataset to alter conditions within the trueSKY environment to alter the weather based on time or travel.

Will the weather transitions be smooth? Sudden weather redrawing is one of the plagues of the legacy weather system.

[torium 207]

A big thank you for this great update!

[A32xx 129]

A great update from a great team - thanks to all at DTG!

Can we have some floatplane bases to land on in the next update please? 

[in2tech 588]

Yeah I have already mentioned to Cryss about popular water runways like W33, W55, A29 I think is next to PASI and of course all the rest or most of them. Hopefully they will ad them soon, in the mean time just start off at some where like Friday Harbour and mess around in all the water there. We did today in a multiplayer. And the Tundra version is awesome too!

 

Thanks DTG, and some of us in the community specifically asked for a float plane, and I am sure the tundra too! Thanks DTG for listening to us!

[simaddict 46]

Is it just me, or can anyone else not notice any improvements other than the Cub? And I don't see that as anything important, when the water still doesn't look like water! Ok, maybe we still see the flickering trees, the weird look on the ground through the clouds, the terrible anti-aliasing, The "locked spot" view has never been locked, as it floats and changes during flight. We are supposed to believe that it's not "optimized" yet because they are still working with True Sky? Scrap it, and work with Active Sky or REX and cloud issues solved!! Or, even the default FSX cloud textures were better! Had my hopes up and still do for DTG, but can they at least make it look good first, then move on?

I will keep hanging in there, hoping!

Mike

   

[Adrian123 1,015]

After receiving an email, I tried it out after not using for 6 months. I seen little difference.

[simaddict 46]

Exactly my point! Thanks, Adrian!

[Adrian123 1,015]

1 hour ago, simaddict said:

Exactly my point! Thanks, Adrian!

Good Marketing though. :)