March 19th, 2020 Development Update

POSTED BY: MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIMULATOR TEAM

Screenshot Credit: SchereUlme68442

“Together.”

It is with immense pride that we stand with our community during this very challenging time. We continue to prioritize the health and well-being of our team, friends and families. We do so with an unwavering commitment to remain connected to the community as we continue to develop the next iteration of Microsoft Flight Simulator. Your feedback, support, and encouragement continues to be an invaluable inspiration to the team.

With guidance from our leadership, we have taken steps to establish remote work spaces that will minimize impact on our development efforts. We have prioritized team focus on key deliverables core to completing the project, while pausing work on deliverables that are not. In the near term work will be focused on delivering an updated Alpha build, followed by assessing our Alpha participation. Once we’ve completed that process, we will turn our focus back to other deliverables we have in the pipeline (e.g. Feature Discovery Series Episodes, DR Roadmap Updates, Partnership Series updates, etc.). This is a temporary measure, we will continue to monitor the situation while providing frequent updates to the community.

For now, expect that many of the deliverables we’ve been working on will be delayed by a few weeks while we get the team working at optimal efficiency remotely.

In moments like this we are mindful of the importance of taking care of those that take care of us. From all of us, to all of you, we wish you good health and safety.

We are all in this together.

Sincerely,

 – MSFS TEAM

 

The following deliverables have been postponed and the team will provide an update during the next update.

• POSTPONED – EPISODE 8 (Multiplayer) will be released.
• POSTPONED – DR roadmap preview for April/May will be released. (potentially delayed)
• POSTPONED  – EPISODE 7 (IFR) will be released.
• POSTPONED – Partnership Series update will be released.
• POSTPONED – Feedback Snapshot update.

 

ALPHA BUILD UPDATE

The team is currently focusing on releasing an updated Alpha build which we are planning to release next week.

Build notes for the upcoming Alpha update:

HIGHLIGHTS

• We’ve added Groups to multiplayer, and while still early in development you should be able to Add Friends and find them on the world map, and click to join them.
• We’ve added Training Missions for those who are new to Flight Simulator. These missions will take you through the Basic Controls, Attitudes and Instruments, and Take-off, Level flight and Landing.
• The Cessna 152 has been added and is now cleared for takeoff.
• We’ve added Live Events which are time-limited activities that we plan to switch out with different events frequently.
• Peripherals Support has been improved, and more devices added. Please note that due to these changes, previous mappings from the Alpha will no longer work with the current Alpha.
• We are hard at work prepping the airliners for release in the next Alpha update!

 

NEW CONTENT

• Training missions
• Cessna 152
• Sedona Landing Challenge

 

PLANE SPECIFIC UPDATES

• Cessna 172 Skyhawk (G1000) has been improved for flight controls and instruments
• DA40 TDI instrumentation improvements
• DA62 has improved pilot controls
• DA62 instrumentation improvements
• Beechcraft Bonanza G36 issues glass cockpits improvements
• TBM 930 flight controls improved
• TBM 930 instrumentation improved
• TBM 930 animations have been updated

 

ALPHA INVITATIONS

There have been a number of discussions in the community regarding Alpha build access recently. We are continuing to discuss our current participation strategy and will finalize any changes/communicate to the community, once we release the updated Alpha build. Our current top 3 tasks regarding Alpha participation are as follows:

1. Ensure that everyone that received an acceptance email has access to the Alpha.
2. Ensure that those that registered early for pre-release build testing, have access to the Alpha.
3. Assess Alpha participation options for adding more people as quickly as possible.

     

MORE GREAT SCREENSHOTS FROM ALPHA PARTICIPANTS!

Screenshot Credit: Beechc23

 

Screenshot Credit: LeLapindeGiens

 

Screenshot Credit: SM4RT4N117

 

Screenshot Credit: Batlle777

 

Screenshot Credit: Virtual Flights

 

Screenshot Credit: garywinhk

 

Screenshot Credit: SulfonicCarp982

 

Screenshot Credit: CaseBug2496684

 

Screenshot Credit: BonhamFive

 

Screenshot Credit: tomiaut1980

 

Screenshot Credit: Batlte777

 

Screenshot Credit: CaseBug2496684

 

NEXT UPDATE – 03.26

Sincerely,

Microsoft Flight Simulator Team

Edited March 19, 20206 yr by ChaoticBeauty

Kinda sad to see the multiplayer video delayed, but understandable given the virus situation. Since I signed up early for the alpha, here's hoping I get into it (16 GB ram fam).

Stay Safe Asobo! 😉

I'm glad to see Peripheral support has been added. Would think it might be hard to Alpha test if one can't control the plane in the first place.

Nice to see a C152 is added into the default mix. That's news to me.

Finally some incentive for those who registered early. 

I was half expecting something like this due to the circumstances that the world is currently facing, to be fair, we all have bigger things to worry about than a fantastic new flight simulator. The priority is for people to stay safe and enjoy MSFS in the future when it's released.

hope everyone in the team is staying safe thanks a million for the efforts to keep pumping this updates from home the shots look really nice ....

Edited March 19, 20206 yr by rtodepart

Area 51?

@ChaoticBeauty

Back on your game. Thanks for the update and more 🌲🌲🌲🌲 for you.

 

8 minutes ago, loubar said:

Kinda sad to see the multiplayer video delayed, but understandable given the virus situation. Since I signed up early for the alpha, here's hoping I get into it (16 GB ram fam).

Looks like they are prioritising those who signed up earlier during the entire recruitment process, your chances should be much higher now. Since it's evident they keep updating the Alpha build regularly, it is likely they have pushed more optimisation in as well.

3 minutes ago, Ident said:

Nice to see a C152 is added into the default mix. That's news to me.

Considering it's been out of production for several decades, it's a surprising but a welcome development for sure. Considering their access to real aircraft and other assets via their partnerships, it would be an awesome opportunity to create great simulations of discontinued models.

Oh that shot of Edwards AFB, there's some 3D buildings down there. Nice to see that at least some military bases won't be devoid of buildings, even if they will be generic.

  

1 minute ago, Lorenzog said:

Area 51?

Edwards AFB.

Edited March 19, 20206 yr by Tuskin38

The screenshot by Virtual Flights makes me think they don't have wake turbulence modeled.  And the SulfonicCarp982 river shot shows angled curves rather than smooth rounded curves.   The rest look good.  A lot of planes in that first shot.  

I suggested Groups a while back, I hope they use some of other ideas tied with Groups.  Like only seeing people from your group, and letting you be in multiple groups, and only seeing people in your current group, etc.

Very disappointing that they postpone the discovery series videos. I know there's the virus situation to blame for it, but I would honestly have thought it's been made long before the Covid-19 outbreak. I can't imagine they haven't already made the Multiplayer and IFR videos, so what a shame we have to wait another god knows how long. 😞 

The development update was filled in with three extra screenshots and a date for the next update, 26 March. Main post has been amended.

It looks like it`s still mainly GA aircraft in Alpha test.

Does this mean we will not see the video in the near future? I don't understand why marketing is interfering with other activities. I would not expect that a programmer is making marketing video's. 

This is what I don't understand either: "With guidance from our leadership, we have taken steps to establish remote work spaces that will minimize impact on our development efforts." I mean, we are talking about Microsoft. This company is literally building remote work-spaces for the entire world. How is it possible that Microsoft has so much trouble with working at home that they are forced to postpone their marketing video's twice without being able to give any release date.