JULY 9TH, 2020 DEVELOPMENT UPDATE

[highflyer2020 607]

https://www.flightsimulator.com/july-29th-2020-development-update/

 

Screenshot by CaseBug92496684

As the month of July continues, our next big deliverable has arrived!

Alpha 5 has been released, and Closed Beta has moved into final testing.

Wishing everyone the very best of health and happiness!

– MSFS TEAM

ALPHA 5 HAS BEEN RELEASED!
 

 

Welcome the Microsoft Flight Simulator Alpha 5 (build 1.5.4.0)! 

In this update you’ll find improved content, bug fixes, and an updated list of known issues. 

A note from the development team: 

This update is focused primarily on community feedback, bug fixes, and an overall polish pass.  

All planes have received another round of polish and tuning. We continue triage bugs and reset priorities when needed. You should also find an updated round of polish (on-going) to the world, airports, scenery, and the weather.  

We are hard at work focused on community feedback, polish, polish, and more polish. Please keep the feedback coming as we genuinely value the community’s help improving the overall flight-experience!  

Improved Content 
FLIGHT MODEL  

The engine/propeller effects on all propeller planes has been improved for P-Factor, Torque, Gyro-Precession, and Prop Wash  
Flap lift and drag adjustments across all planes were made 
Belly landings are now possible for the Bonanza G36 
Overall A320 Fly By Wire (FBW) improvements continued 
TBM 930 Engine torque adjustments made 
Ongoing improvement to the ground effect formula to improve the overall “realism” 
 

Community Feedback and Fixes 
THANK YOU FOR YOUR FEEDBACK! 

TBM 930:  

The radio altimeter would continue to give indications regardless of the set bank angle 
AIRPORTS 

[KMLB] Many taxiway signs were missing or were far away from the runway 
[EDDN] Users identified issues with several buildings, including some that were missing, that have now been corrected 
[GMMX] Users identified issues several buildings, including some that were missing, that have now been corrected 
General Improvement passes made to our procedurally generated airports to add any missing towers based on locations identified by users 
PERIPHERALS:  

Pilots were reporting difficulty to understand or figure out how to delete their individual peripheral mappings. Please try again and let us know if the changes made have improved this. 
X52 Pro was reported as non-intuitive – we made efforts to improve the mapping and the trim controls to help 
WEATHER 

Inconsistencies were reported between what was listed on the load screen and what appeared in game 
 

Plane Specific Changes/Improvements 
A320neo 

Vertical Speed (VS) improvements: 
No longer using pitch to aim target speed but corrected to use thrust instead 
VS no longer decreased upon activation of VS mode 
Stall warning no longer triggers when in Alpha protection 
Speed mode now correctly toggles when reaching the cruise altitude 
Fixed that the aircraft was sometimes not following its approach when reaching a transition 
Engaging the AP1 button would also engage AP2 – this is no longer true 
Auto Pilot was too aggressive – this has been tuned and improved 
Engines used to shut down when adjusting fuel mid-flight 
Improvements to APPR mode, fixed some issues where it was not working correctly 
We had a regression issue found in how the plane would level off in the last update, this is now working as intended 
B747-8i 

Vertical Speed (VS) Improvements: 
Vertical Speed was not behaving as expected and would cause the plane to climb and descend erratically 
Using ALT mode would still allow control of the vertical speed selection   
We found animation issues with the wheels, now fixed 
We found that when spawning the aircraft, the front wheel would sometimes spawn in the air – now corrected 
FLT number now uses up to 7 characters as expected 
Overspeed warning no longer announces when under the cruise speed 
Speed protections are now working 
Auto throttle was not reaching the target speed during a climb 
Worked on aircraft overshooting turns when following the flight plan 
The check list is no longer missing the steps that enable the engine generators 
Adjusting the trim was having no effect in flight 
DA40 

The glass cockpit waypoints now show correctly in the map and on the toolbar  
We corrected the Low Volt displayed after completing the checklist  
BONANZA G36 

Audio: The engine audio on startup is now correctly synced to the engine startup  
Following the checklist, it was impossible to read the RPM because the MFD was OFF 
The Alternators 1 and 2 are no longer ON when starting from Cold and Dark 
TBM 930 

You are now able to tune the NAV Radios using the touch screen 
The NAV screen sometimes showed flight plan errors and artifacts, improvements have been made here 
The tuned VOR was not giving a bearing 
Checklist issues: 
Prop RPM and TRQ was not achieving goals 
The engine was not turning off because the throttle was not reaching the Cut Off position 
 

Airport Specific Changes  
AIRPORTS 

ZBAA – There is a large green texture on the ground in the ZBAA Beijing airport  
KMCO – Landing Ribbons do not remain solid at KMCO Orlando International  
LXGB – Road traffic crossing over LXGB airport  
VQPR – Service vehicles fall from the sky when departing from Parking 20 at the VQPR Paro airport  
KLAX – Wrong departure runway at KLAX  
 

Bug Fixes and QoL Improvements 
ALL PLANES 

Auto Pilot was causing many aircraft to “rock” from left to right when ON 
The “Landing Gear” alert was spamming when at 16,000 MLS 
AIRLINERS 

Mach Speed Management – we found issues that were affecting overall airliner performance that are now fixed. Mach numbers should now be more consistent 
Vertical Speed logic improved – the aircraft was only following the vertical speed and would not adjust for speed. This was having a negative effect on the Auto Pilot functionality. This has now been fixed but let us know if there are any other autopilot issues of which we should be aware 
Airliners should now be managing speed correctly – this was previously causing the aircrafts to overshoot their designated speeds 
Live Air Traffic 

Live Air Traffic was only representing one or no planes during Free Flight 
Navigation Lights used to detach from the Live Planes 
We were missing pilots in the live planes – now we are not… 
Cameras 

The 3rd person camera would shake when performing 45° degree turns 
Multiple Instrument Camera Controls were lacking functionality 
The user would get stuck while looking at instruments combined with the Right Click + Drag free look in Cockpit view 
Flight Director 

The Flight Director was not always in sync with the activation of the FD button at the start of a flight 
Users were unable to turn off the Flight Director in some aircraft during flight 
COCKPITS AND INSTRUMENTATION 

Issues fixed with the altimeter “jumping” during flight 
G1000: Auto-tuning the NAV Radio on a G1000 used to default to NAV1 instead of the selected radio 
G1000: the approach drawn after setting the direct to or classic-flight plan was not correct 
Glass Cockpits: Tooltips were corrected  
MULTIPLAYER 

Issues fixed that were preventing pilots from seeing other pilot’s planes during flight 
Existing friends would display as disconnected in the friends list after launching the game 
Making changes to the Custom Weather settings was not applying those changes to all group members in a Multiplayer Session 
 

Known issues 
A320neo 

The aircraft speed does not maintain when changing altitude in the managed mode 
The NAV mode only activates when also activating the autopilot 
B747-8i 

AUTO BANK gives bank angles that are too low (e.g. 5° instead of 25-30°) 
Once speed targets change to Mach, multiple interactions are then required to get your speed to follow the target 
DA40 NG 

Cannot currently clear “Direct To” flight plan in the DA40NG 
The aircraft is currently rocking left and right during navigation 
GRAND CARAVAN 

Autopilot currently overshoots too much to reach the FPL leg  
TBM 930 

Airport info doesn’t appear when selected in the nearest airport list 
You are currently unable to monitor COM2 in the TBM 930 without also using ATC window 
The aircraft doesn’t follow the flight path during steep turns (smoothed trajectory) 
MULTIPLAYER 

We are currently missing a notification when adding users to a group that is larger than capacity 
PERIPHERALS 

Many keyboard controls are still missing – we will continue to add these and improve upon them 
WEATHER 

Snow does not last on the ground surfaces as expected 
You can read these release notes in the Forums here – https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/alpha-5-patch-notes/100315

You can leave feedback on the various topics here – https://forums.flightsimulator.com/c/alpha-5-1-5-x-0-discussion/107

ALPHA INVITATIONS
New wave of invitations being sent today!

CLOSED BETA IS COMING!
We are currently scheduled to release Closed Beta on 07.30.

As a reminder, if you are currently an Alpha tester, you will be automatically granted access to the Closed Beta.

If you are not currently an Alpha tester, we will be sending out new invitations for Closed Beta participation.

FEEDBACK SNAPSHOT UPDATE 05_01

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[hervef 47]

Wow, great news 🙂

[JRBarrett 3,070]

Es gibt einen Gott... 🤐

[hanhamreds 592]

Another great update

Glad the Beta hasn't been pushed back.

That 747 pic - wow 

[Greazer 1,320]

It would literally take Laminar 4 years for this kind of update.

[Krakin 5,748]

I was hoping for additional aircraft but oh well.

[Amon1973 1,421]

A slightly underwhelming update, but Asobo haven't had much time to add things since Alpha 4 was released, so it's hardly surprising.  

[badderjet 181]

I still find it weird that long standing bugs have never appeared in any of those lists, neither fixed nor known issues. Thinking about flashes throughout the simulation (lightning strikes and other flash effects like RAIL/RTIL), or also the faulty 8.33 kHz implementation. With all subsequent screenshots we’ve never ever seen another 8.33 kHz frequency in any of the COM radios that were shown. By now I’m almost 100% convinced these bugs will make it straight into the Beta, and from there on into the release candidates.

Also, to this day we don’t know for sure if runway and approach lights will propagate through fog and moisture. Which is literally essential for any serious IFR training.

[reignman40 450]

Quote

Snow does not last on the ground surfaces as expected

Please tell me snow melts depending on the temp 😮 Also that picture from inside a building with luggage is interesting. Could this be part of a mission? Could it be a multiplayer lobby of some kind? 

[rtodepart 761]

Looks like You cant never keep everyone happy . Thanks for the updates again. 

[dtrjones 356]

11 minutes ago, eaim said:

A slightly underwhelming update, but Asobo haven't had much time to add things since Alpha 4 was released, so it's hardly surprising.  

Yes my feeling as well. I suspect many of these issues were also called out by the 3rd party developers and the QoL improvements is as much to help them progress there development as well as improve the overall quality of the Alpha.

It's a pity though that the two major releases prior to a Beta release as far as I know hasn't featured any major new content. No sea planes, no business jets which I believe were in the trailers and still not in the Alpha.

[ChaoticBeauty 6,692]

The videos on YouTube in case anyone cannot view them in the website.

 

[Amon1973 1,421]

37 minutes ago, dtrjones said:

Yes my feeling as well. I suspect many of these issues were also called out by the 3rd party developers and the QoL improvements is as much to help them progress there development as well as improve the overall quality of the Alpha.

It's a pity though that the two major releases prior to a Beta release as far as I know hasn't featured any major new content. No sea planes, no business jets which I believe were in the trailers and still not in the Alpha.

Personally I think Asobo should give themselves more time to add more features before the closed beta, imo they should delay the beta and have an alpha 6, what's another month of waiting as long as they get the SIM right, in the long run, it would benefit us all.

[LHookins 3,103]

3 minutes ago, eaim said:

Personally I think Asobo should give themselves more time to add more features before the closed beta

Release dates are typically set by the publisher, not the developer.  This is why you see so many games released in a not-quite-finished condition.  

"We're shipping it Wednesday.  Have it ready." -- actual quote I heard at work from a representative of the publisher to the programmer doing the work.

I suspect that when MSFS is released, it will be in a "ready to release" condition rather than a finished condition.  This is not as much of a problem as it sounds given the online and streaming nature of the sim, which will have content added as necessary, along with bugs fixed.

The reason there weren't a lot of new features in this update was given in the comments that repeat the word "polished" several times.  This update is about bug fixes and minor enhancements.  The Beta is likely to have a lot of features we haven't seen before;  hopefully they all work. 🙂 

Hook

[YVRLHRDXB 321]

I was hoping for more with this update but it'll do until the beta. Currently testing so lets see if there's an improve over the previous.