March 18th, 2021 - Development Update

[ChaoticBeauty 6,692]

MARCH 18TH, 2021 DEVELOPMENT UPDATE

Posted by: Microsoft Flight Simulator Team

Screenshot by JF6420

 

This Tuesday, the long anticipated CRJ released to the Marketplace in partnership with Aerosoft. We want to thank the community for the continued feedback. We have altered our Feedback Snapshot slightly to account for a more transparent workflow and will continue to listen to our community and adjust accordingly.

 

We are excited this week to work with NVIDIA on a screenshot contest! Make sure to read below on how to enter for a chance to win an NVIDIA RTX 3080 Graphics Card and more.

–MSFS TEAM-

 

 

DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP

Click here for the web-friendly version.

 

FEEDBACK SNAPSHOT

Click here for the web-friendly version.

 

KEY:

SU = Sim Update (3, 4, etc.)

WU = World Update

ASAP = As Soon as Possible

TBD = To Be Determined

Several Releases = Fixes will come over a series of updates

Ongoing Fixes = An item we will continually be working on

Planned = Scheduled to be worked on

Under Investigation = The team is currently looking into the issue

Not Planned = We will likely not work on this

Started = Work as started on this item

 

THIRD PARTY UPDATE

• Aerosoft’s CRJ launched this week and it’s an excellent example of a sophisticated 3rd party aircraft add-on that can be made with the SDK. Our team is excited by the quality that was achieved and we are happy that the close collaboration with the Aerosoft team led to a great result.

• As of 03/14, we have now approved 143 (+6) third parties into our marketplace and – so far – 63 of which have released the 249 products (+15). Outside of our store, 740 products (+94) have already been released in 3rd party stores and the in-sim marketplace. Beyond that, another 285 products (+16) from 3rd party developers are in production (152 announced, 133 unannounced). In total, over 1025 3rd party products (+110) are either released or are in development. What a milestone!
• Airports:
  • 656 airports (+8) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 469 airports (+8) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 205 airports (+12) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 76 airports (-1) beyond the released airports have been announced.
    • 111 airports (+1) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an airport is in production.
• Aircraft:
  • 122 aircraft (+1) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 26 aircraft (+1) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 16 aircraft (+2) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 74 aircraft (+0) beyond the released aircraft have been announced.
    • 22 aircraft (+0) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an aircraft is in production.
• Scenery:
  • 226 sceneries (+2) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 224 sceneries (+2) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 17 sceneries (+0) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 2 sceneries (+0) beyond the released scenery have been announced.
• Mission Packs:
  • 21 mission packs (+0) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 21 mission packs (+0) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 3 mission packs (+0) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 0 mission packs (+0) beyond the released missions have been announced.

 

SDK UPDATE

• General:
  • We have expanded our SDK Team this week by adding a new tech QA and an engine programmer. They will help provide more features, bug fixes, and direct technical support.
• Documentation:
  • We created a section about VR configuration for cockpits.
  • Along with the soon-to-be-released FX Editor, we are preparing a video tutorial, documentation & samples.

• • We are currently preparing an external installer sample.

• DevMode:
  • We are polishing a new feature that will display all the past release notes in the DevMode, and which will also allow users to download the latest update package.
  • Improvements are being made on the DevMode’s font, which could be blurry on some screens.
  • On the Scenery Editor, we fixed a bug on taxiway lines that were no longer displayed. We also fixed a buffer overflow on Display Name.

 

MARKETPLACE

This week we added 17 new products including the CRJ on Tuesday and updated 8.

16 NEW PRODUCTS

 

8 UPDATED PRODUCTS

 

COMMUNITY VIDEO

 

TWITCH SCHEDULE

Tomorrow, join us for a guided tour around the Norwegian Fjords with tour guides SeedyL and FactualGull. Click here for more details on how to fly with us!

Next Tuesday, BeMint will be joining us for the first time! She will fly one of the most dangerous VFR flight paths in the world. Come cheer her on!

 

COMMUNITY SCREENSHOT CHALLENGE

This past week we challenged you to take a screenshot “The Setup” The winner is JF6420 and is our featured screenshot at the top of this update.  The other contenders are below. Thanks to all those who participated!

Our next challenge brought to you by NVIDIA: “Dream Vacation” (Winner receives: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 and Flight Simulator Deluxe Edition)

 

GEFORCE GARAGE – THE ULTIMATE MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIMULATOR PC & RIG BUILD

 

Screenshot by CuzDawg3

 

Screenshot by espn74

 

Screenshot by AfootGlitter642

 

Screenshot by DrCsany

 

Screenshot by CarneyUK

 

NEXT DEVELOPMENT UPDATE BLOG – 3.25

Sincerely,

Microsoft Flight Simulator Team

Edited March 19, 2021 by ChaoticBeauty

[ChaoticBeauty 6,692]

This week's Feedback Snapshot is much more detailed than last time, giving us a clear roadmap of the planned ongoing improvements (instead of just Autumn 2021). Seems like Sim Update 4 overall will include improvements to:

• Garmin panels
• Autopilot
• Live weather
• Wind readings
• Turboprop engine logic
• Icing effect
• ATC phraseology
• LOD issues
• Tree density

Good to see they're being a lot more responsive towards the issues that Sim Update 3 brought. It's probably a couple of months away still, but it looks like Sim Update 4 is going to be a good one. Though I also noticed that DirectX 12 is not slated for Summer 2021 anymore. I'm wondering if the Xbox release will be delayed.

Also, they've now started working on the high-quality terrain map when zooming in.

Edited March 19, 2021 by ChaoticBeauty

[Scottoest 1,561]

Just now, ChaoticBeauty said:

Though I also noticed that DirectX 12 is not slated for Summer 2021 anymore. I'm wondering if the Xbox release will be delayed.

I see the "Dreadful Performance" item says Summer 2021, which I assumed meant the switch to DX12U.

If they knew they were delaying MSFS out of the summer window, I suspect they'd announce that before inadvertently putting it out via dev roadmap.

But yeah, I definitely like the revised format.  Should hopefully help manage expectations on some of these things, though... I doubt it.

[RichieFly 730]

That one pic...that's the biggest PC case I've ever seen. Looks like a mini computer case.

[omarsmak30 4,068]

Sim Update 4 looks to be a big one, when they mentioned it will come? I think they mentioned something like June or July, isn't?

[pmb 5,137]

"Please fix photogrammetry" is in SU VI now. Far away, but at least on track. This would make me more than happy if they can indeed achive it. Even more as according to several megathreads in the official forum, people are still debating what's the core problem with the molten cities.

Kind regards,  Michael

And as always thanks to ChaoticBeauty for the handy report.👍

[Dillon 2,197]

23 minutes ago, ChaoticBeauty said:

This week's Feedback Snapshot is much more detailed than last time. Seems like Sim Update 4 will include to improvements to:

• Garmin panels
• Autopilot
• Live weather
• Wind readings
• Turboprop engine logic
• Icing effect
• ATC phraseology
• LOD issues
• Tree density

Good to see they're being much more responsive towards the issues that Sim Update 3 brought. It's probably a couple of months away still, but it looks like Sim Update 4 is going to be a good one.

Though I also noticed that DirectX 12 is not slated for Summer 2021 anymore. I'm wondering if the Xbox release will be delayed.

There's should have been a hotfix for the LOD/Tree density issue.  Waiting until July for a fix for that is crazy.  That was a major thing they broke and the track record shows for every fix two or three things are broken.  Hopefully that's not the case just the same the Tree density fix should come sooner than later.😣

[Flic1 977]

6 minutes ago, Dillon said:

There's should have been a hotfix for the LOD/Tree density issue.  Waiting until July for a fix for that is crazy.  That was a major thing they broke and the track record shows for every fix two or three things are broken.  Hopefully that's not the case just the same the Tree density fix should come sooner than later.😣

The recent performance issues caused by the last update shows 'ASAP' (#5 on bug list).  The "Dreadful Performance" bug has been on that list for a while so that is something different than the latest problem we have...which is equally as "dreadful".  ASAP to me implies they may hotfix it....

Edited March 19, 2021 by Flic1

[scotchegg 4,186]

47 minutes ago, Scottoest said:

But yeah, I definitely like the revised format.  Should hopefully help manage expectations on some of these things, though... I doubt it.

Ditto. I imagine there will be some wailing and gnashing of teeth about the not planned items especially, but everyone should at least be a bit clearer on the likelihood of things happening or not.

[sd_flyer 6,043]

I happy to see Garmin and Weather improvements are ongoing!

[Tuskin38 6,525]

2 hours ago, Scottoest said:

I see the "Dreadful Performance" item says Summer 2021, which I assumed meant the switch to DX12U.

They've said adding DirectX 12 won't have a big performance improvement.

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,798]

2 hours ago, Dillon said:

There's should have been a hotfix for the LOD/Tree density issue.  

 

Thing is it is not a tree density issue, it is a tree draw distance issue 😄

Good to see FlyTampa YSSY Sydney made it to the marketplace.

[in2tech 588]

Hey who gave them permission to use my build for the  "GEFORCE GARAGE – THE ULTIMATE MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIMULATOR PC & RIG BUILD".  That's just rude 🙂 

Edited March 19, 2021 by in2tech

[MrFuzzy 2,118]

3 hours ago, Scottoest said:

I see the "Dreadful Performance" item says Summer 2021, which I assumed meant the switch to DX12U.

But DX12 is no longer Summer 2021, just "2021" 😞

[Pilot53 544]

So instead of actually fixing the icing, they are just going to add an off button?  Really??? Come on Asobo.