OCTOBER 14TH, 2021 DEVELOPMENT UPDATE

Posted by: Microsoft Flight Simulator Team

Screenshot by Maniek87PL

 

We are just a few days out from the release of Sim Update 6! The new build will go live on October 19th with many anticipated bug fixes from the community. Right after release, we have our monthly Live Dev Q&A on October 20th at 1750Z (10:30 am PT) over on our Twitch channel. 

In case you missed it, our Discord admins also just opened a spooky livery contest. If you’re skilled with making aircraft liveries or want to create your very first one, join our Discord and look for the channel ‘#halloween-livery-contest’ for rules and how to enter.

Have you been eyeing any Carenado planes in the Marketplace? For ten days starting today at 6pm PT, save 30% on the following aircraft: C170B, CT182T Skylane, M20R Ovation, PA28R Arrow III, PA34T Seneca V, PA44 Seminole, and WYMF5. Check them out in the in-sim Marketplace later today.

We are looking forward to a busy upcoming week!

– The MSFS team

 

DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP

Click here for the web-friendly version.

 

FEEDBACK SNAPSHOT

Click here for the web-friendly version. To learn more about Accessibility in Microsoft Flight Simulator, click here.

KEY
SU = Sim Update (6, 7, 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 this issue
Not Planned = We will likely not work on this
Not Started = We have not begun investigation on this yet
Started = Development work as started on this item

 

 

COMMUNITY TRIAGE UPDATE

Click here to see our Known Issues list.

Thank you for reporting and providing details on specific issues in the forums.

• Black Screen/Avionics: Multiple root causes are being investigated.
  • One issue being investigated for Xbox potentially links to a memory leak. Xbox users with this problem usually report the avionics go black and then a few moments later have a CTD. Disabling avionics (screens going black) allows the console to have enough memory if it’s low. This also applies to scenery (some won’t display if there isn’t enough memory on the console). This is being investigated for validation.
  • For PC, if you are experiencing this issue, try the following workaround:
    • Flip the ENG switches off prior to starting a flight. This only applies to the piston aircraft (e.g. C172, DA40).
    • Unbind the “Set Starter” from the ENG 1 switch
    • Unplug the TCA Airbus Quadrant

The following bugs will be fixed in Sim Update 6 (Oct. 19th) based on direct Community Feedback from the forums:

• Wrong IAS calculation
• Altitude not affected by OAT
• Thrust reverser animation wrong on all aicraft
• Turboprop ITT simulation still way off
• Longitude thrust reverser messages missing
• 930 barber pole still incorrectly shows on standby instrument warning
• Decreased aircraft airspeed in cloud
• VR graphics settings are listed twice
• Menus in VR have excessive Aliasing when compared to previous version
• TCA Quadrant & AddOn problem with SU5 
• Airport History not updating on world map
• Duplicate Airports and Waypoints in the Longitude 
• Xcub floats unable to steer on the ground
• MSFS START CTD…today
• Cirrus SR22 – Nose-wheel doesn’t move when turning on the ground
• Citation Longitude oscillating after 1.12.13.0 Update
• Toolbar – Handle Bar – Flight Menu (triangle) will not disappear
• Tail number and call sign not registering
• Live/AI Traffic Missing Lights
• Please fix the lights on AI Aircraft

 

SDK UPDATE

• Audiokintec Wwise
  • If you use Audiokinetic’s Wwise middleware to build sound banks for MSFS then you’re most likely aware that your key has recently expired. In order to use Audiokinetic’s Wwise audio middleware to build sound banks for FS, you will need a license. A license provides you with a key that is periodically updated and allows you to create content using their tools. Microsoft provides this Wwise license to our 3rd party content creators free of charge and all you need to do is register on the Audiokinetic website to receive yours. There are several methods of doing this based on the scope of your need. Please choose the method that best suits your development needs:

1. 1. If you’re making a single non-commercial mod, visit the website, and under the Get Wwise menu, click ‘Register my Project’. Then, choose ‘Non-Commercial’ and ‘More than 200 sounds’, then fill out the form. Once approved, you’ll have a non-commercial key to cover your development time.
   2. If you’re making a single commercial mod, visit the website, and under the Get Wwise menu, click ‘Register my Project’. Then, choose ‘Commercial’ and ‘More than 500 sounds’, then fill out the form. Once approved, you’ll receive a free Commercial license, covering your development time.
   3. However, if you’re a company making multiple commercial mods, then register a single commercial project for your company. This just makes things easier, as you can use the same license key for each of your mods. visit the website, and under the Get Wwise menu, click ‘Register my Project’. Then, choose ‘Commercial’ and ‘More than 500 sounds’, then fill out the form. Name the project ‘MSFS Mods for <Company Name>’, to make it clear that it is for multiple mods. Once approved, you’ll receive a commercial license for a 6 month term, which will be renewed if needed later on. Just contact Audiokinetic to let them know you still need an active key, and they’ll take care of it. If you’re within 30 days of your expiration date, every time you build soundbanks you will receive a warning about the impending expiration. To contact Audiokinetic, you can use the ‘Contact your AK representative’ button that is in each project.

• • Please note: If you are currently using the Wwise license key that was provided in the SDK demo project you will need to follow one of the above paths to receive a new key as this one has expired.
• Dev Mode
  • We fixed a gamma correction issue on the gauges rendered with NanoVG.
  • Action waypoints are now prefixed with the action name when drawn on the screen.
  • We fixed the action waypoint links rendering.
  • We fixed the conflict between drone camera and developer camera.
  • Project Editor
    • We removed the ArtProj type from the list of asset group types.
  • Scenery Editor

• • • We made the “Hide and lock by type” window a sub window instead of a popup to be able to dock it.
    • We fixed the switch to developer cam when launching the Scenery Editor.
    • We fixed the light update when moving taxipoints.
    • We added more color for taxiparkings and taxipaths.
    • We are developing a Validation process which will perform several checks on your airport:

• • • • Taxiways connectivity check
      • Duplicated runway check
      • More to come!

• • • We optimized the Scenery Editor CPU usage.
    • We are creating a top down camera to ease the airport creation process.

• • Visual Effects Editor

• • • We fixed a gap at particle emission with high velocities.
    • We fixed crashes that could happen when editing BezierCurve with no points (node creation and adding first point)
    • We refactored the particle emission and update. Emission is done after update so old particles may die before we try to emit new one; particle count is significantly more stable.

 

3RD PARTY UPDATE

• As of 10/10, we have now approved 219 (+0) third parties into the in-sim marketplace and – so far 119 (+0) have released 548 products on PC (+3) and 185 on Xbox (+29).
• In total, 1,392 products (+16) have already been released in 3rd party stores and the in-sim marketplace. Beyond that, another 391 products (-2) from 3rd party developers are in production (255 announced, 136 unannounced). In total, over 1,783 3rd party products (+14) are either released or are in development.
• Airports:
  • 1,115 airports (+10) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 894 airports (+13) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 439 airports (+0) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 108 airports (+1) beyond the released airports have been announced.
    • 113 airports (-4) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an airport is in production.
• Aircraft:
  • 227 aircraft (+0) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 74 aircraft (+0) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 43 aircraft (+1) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 130 aircraft (+0) beyond the released aircraft have been announced.
    • 23 aircraft (+0) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an aircraft is in production.
• Scenery:
  • 398 sceneries (+4) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 381 sceneries (+3) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 38 sceneries (+1) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 17 sceneries (+1) beyond the released scenery have been announced.
• Mission Packs:
  • 43 mission packs (+0) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 43 mission packs (+0) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 4 mission packs (+0) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 0 mission packs (+0) beyond the released missions have been announced.

 

MARKETPLACE UPDATES

There are 28 new products (10 on PC, 18 on Xbox), and 27 updated products (21 on PC, 6 on Xbox) in the Marketplace today.

28 NEW PRODUCTS: 10 ON PC, 18 ON XBOX
New on PC and Xbox ✅	New on PC and Xbox ✅	New on PC and Xbox ✅
New on Xbox ✅ Already on PC	New on Xbox ✅ Already on PC	New on Xbox ✅ Already on PC
New on Xbox ✅ Already on PC	New on Xbox ✅ Already on PC	New on Xbox ✅ Already on PC
New on Xbox ✅ Already on PC	New on Xbox ✅ Already on PC	New on Xbox ✅ Already on PC
New on Xbox ✅ Already on PC	New on Xbox ✅ Already on PC	New on PC ✅
New on Xbox ✅ Already on PC	New on PC and Xbox ✅	New on Xbox ✅ Already on PC
New on Xbox ✅ Already on PC	New on PC and Xbox ✅	New on PC ✅
New on Xbox ✅ Already on PC		New on Xbox ✅ Already on PC

27 UPDATED PRODUCTS: 21 ON PC, 6 ON XBOX
Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC ✅
Updated on PC ✅	Updated on PC ✅	Updated on PC ✅
Updated on PC ✅	Updated on PC ✅	Updated on PC ✅
Updated on PC ✅	Updated on PC ✅	Updated on PC ✅
Updated on PC ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅
Updated on PC ✅	Updated on PC ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅
Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC ✅	Updated on PC ✅

 

TWITCH UPDATE

We stream weekly on Twitch.tv/MSFSOfficial!

This week’s Community Fly-in Friday, our flight plan comes courtesy of Twitch streamer CaptArash, an Iranian-born Canadian. We start by flying along the coastline of the Caspain Sea before turning south through the Alborz mountain range before arriving at Iran’s capital city of Tehran. Click here for details. All are welcome to join!

 

COMMUNITY VIDEO

Have you been thinking about enhancing your sim realism by communicating with human air traffic controllers on the VATSIM network? Many flight sim pilots would like to get started with VATSIM but are unsure where to begin or feel nervous with “mic fright”. There’s no need to be intimidated! YouTuber AtmosFlight is here to help with this great tutorial that guides you through everything you need to know to get started on the VATSIM network.

 

FEATURED FREEWARE MOD

Did you see Senior Community Manager Jayne’s flying lesson with Forder on Wednesday’s Twitch livestream? They discussed virtual flight planning in Microsoft Flight Simulator and showed a variety of tools sim pilots can use to plot their routes including LittleNavMap, SkyVector, and SimBrief. Community developer DrinkingGuide84 has recently released another MSFS flight planning tool, Grand Tour Flight Planner, with many unique features not found in other apps. GTFP allows users to add waypoints based on many different methods, including street address, geographic coordinates, or landmark name (e.g. “Golden Gate Bridge”). Check it out at the following link:

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/announcement-grand-tour-flight-planner-gtfp/460704

 

SCREENSHOT CHALLENGE

You can now submit your screenshot via Instagram and Twitter with #MSFSchallenge or the Weekly Forum Post! This week’s screenshot challenge: Fly Me to the Moon

This past week our Screenshot Challenge was Upside Down. Here are our runner ups this week:

Screenshot by ValTrust

 

Screenshot by Borgxence

 

Screenshot by canuck695

 

Screenshot by Xpilot7

 

Screenshot by MartinFromCH

 

Screenshot by fs_spotter_kaf

 

Screenshot by SubtotalGuide81

 

Screenshot by Intoxicated06

 

Screenshot by Ellegaard17

 

Screenshot by Parorng

 

NEXT DEVELOPMENT UPDATE BLOG – October 21st, 2021

Sincerely,

Microsoft Flight Simulator Team

Edited October 14, 20214 yr by ChaoticBeauty

Thanks CB.  I was pining for this!..   

I simply can't go to bed until I have read it. 

Edited October 14, 20214 yr by bobcat999

Is there a hidden meaning behind the fact that every featured screenshot in this update is blatantly displaying an upside down aircraft? Is it because Sim Update 6 is going to turn our world upside down, or just our addons? Stay tuned, soon all will be revealed!!! And this post subsequently vanishes in a puff of smoke💨

Edited October 14, 20214 yr by steve310002

As usual 🌲🌲

5 minutes ago, steve310002 said:

Is there a hidden meaning behind the fact that every featured screenshot in this update is blatantly displaying an upside down aircraft? Is it because Sim Update 6 going to turn our world upside down, or just our addons? Stay tuned, soon all will be revealed!!! And this post subsequently vanishes in a puff of smoke💨

The hidden meaning is very clearly revealed above the pictures.

1 minute ago, scotchegg said:

The hidden meaning is very clearly revealed above the pictures.

I had scrolled too fast. Indeed.

I'd just like to point out how cool it is that MS is promoting and creating awareness of VATSIM. It's also cool that MS embracing and promoting a community project is now simply "normal".

1 hour ago, enright said:

I'd just like to point out how cool it is that MS is promoting and creating awareness of VATSIM.

They have no choice.  MSFS ATC is so devoid that this becomes the choice. It is quite welcome in my world.  Hope it happens with more aspects within MSFS.  Embracing third parties is badly needed.

Edited October 15, 20214 yr by fppilot

27 minutes ago, fppilot said:

They have no choice.  MSFS ATC is so devoid that this becomes the choice. It is quite welcome in my world.  Hope it happens with more aspects within MSFS.  Embracing third parties is badly needed.

Really?  Even if the default ATC was 100% perfect it still wouldn't be anywhere close to the same as a live network.  Apples to oranges, not to mention of a really bad troll of MS and ASOBO.

AI ATC shouldn't even be in the sim as far as I'm concerned.  There's like 5 trillion different combinations of things, not to mention RL ATC changes with the circumstances.

Edited October 15, 20214 yr by Jeff Nielsen

According to the fixed bug list for SU6, the “Turboprop ITT Simulation”  is fixed.

Looking forward to that and the hopefully improved ground handling for taildraggers.

10 hours ago, steve310002 said:

Is there a hidden meaning behind the fact that every featured screenshot in this update is blatantly displaying an upside down aircraft? Is it because Sim Update 6 is going to turn our world upside down, or just our addons? Stay tuned, soon all will be revealed!!! And this post subsequently vanishes in a puff of smoke💨

I..noticed it as well.. WHY? hahah

Ah just what the Marketplace needs, more Demios and MScenary planes.

Good job from MS "Quality Control" allowing these in while keeping dodgy stuff like the JF Arrows out /s

32 minutes ago, Matchstick said:

Ah just what the Marketplace needs, more Demios and MScenary planes.

Good job from MS "Quality Control" allowing these in while keeping dodgy stuff like the JF Arrows out /s

App stores, whether they be Apple, Google or Microsoft rarely are about quality of the apps. The only thing that is required from Microsoft for the marketplace is to check whether the aircraft are flyable.

I'd had higher hopes too about the internal marketplace, but the thing is, perhaps some people actually want to fly a cheap unrealistic MIG 15, since a realistic simulation would require much more study. If these get more children (mostly) into flight simulation I am not against it, but at the same time it is a nuisance for those expecting a higly realistic aircraft.

Should Microsoft ban these kind of addons from the marketplace? I think not, but it would be nice if we had an option to filter addons we do want, but that would require developers to classify their addons, like "study level" or "professional" and "toy aircraft". I doubt developers would want to do that, especially those that want to make a quick buck.

You can off choose to only show certain developers in the marketplace, but its too bad that filter is not remembered. It is also not reliable because some developers seem to have gone the route from expensive high quality addons to expensive half-finished copies of their previous FSX models.

13 minutes ago, orchestra_nl said:

App stores, whether they be Apple, Google or Microsoft rarely are about quality of the apps. The only thing that is required from Microsoft for the marketplace is to check whether the aircraft are flyable.

I'd had higher hopes too about the internal marketplace, but the thing is, perhaps some people actually want to fly a cheap unrealistic MIG 15, since a realistic simulation would require much more study. If these get more children (mostly) into flight simulation I am not against it, but at the same time it is a nuisance for those expecting a higly realistic aircraft.

Should Microsoft ban these kind of addons from the marketplace? I think not, but it would be nice if we had an option to filter addons we do want, but that would require developers to classify their addons, like "study level" or "professional" and "toy aircraft". I doubt developers would want to do that, especially those that want to make a quick buck.

You can off choose to only show certain developers in the marketplace, but its too bad that filter is not remembered. It is also not reliable because some developers seem to have gone the route from expensive high quality addons to expensive half-finished copies of their previous FSX models.

App stores can choose whether to concern themsleves with the quality of products and with something like the Marketplace which (by comparison to the other stores you mention) has a tiny number of products, basic quality requirement should in my opinion be enforced.

You're perfectly entitled to feel differently but for me MSFS is a chance to bring a new generation into Flight Simulators through the XB (with the Marketplace the only place they can get addon) and I fear a marketplace flooded with cheap rubbish risks alienating and driving those new players away,

Looks like another  "we gunner do this and we are gunner do that" update