September 21, 2023 MSFS Development Update

[David Mills 4,774]

SEPTEMBER 21TH, 2023 DEVELOPMENT UPDATE

Posted by: Microsoft Flight Simulator Team

This week’s Screenshot Challenge winner is Twitter/X user CpuGeta486! If you’re interested in participating in our weekly Screenshot Challenges, check out the details in the Community section below!

***

To begin our update this week, we’d like to acknowledge the tragic crash at the National Championship Air Races last weekend. As you may have heard, there was a fatal accident at the Reno Air Races following the conclusion of the T-6 Gold race on Sunday. On behalf of the entire Microsoft Flight Simulator team, we wish to extend our sincerest condolences to the loved ones of the pilots and the entire Reno “September Family”. Blue Skies and Tailwinds.

***

As we announced in the last Development Update, Sim Update 13 has been delayed by one week. It is now slated for release on Thursday, September 28. For those participating in the ongoing SU13 public beta, a new pre-release test build (1.34.16.0) was released yesterday. This build only included one small change which you can read about on our forums here. There is also a small delay to the release of the next aircraft in our Local Legend series. It was originally scheduled to release today, but it will now also be launching next week. The Development Roadmap has been updated to reflect this change.

Also on the schedule for next week is a Developer Livestream! Tune in on Wednesday, September 27 to watch our regular panel of Jorg, Seb, Martial, and special guests talk about the future of Microsoft Flight Simulator and answer some common questions from the community. The livestream will be broadcast on our Twitch channel starting at 10:30am Pacific Time (1730 UTC), and a video recording will be uploaded to our YouTube channel for those who are unable to watch live.

For players who contact our customer support team via Zendesk, you may have recently noticed some changes in the ticket submission process. We always strive for continuous improvement in an effort to serve you better. If you have any feedback (positive or negative) about the new ticketing process, please let us know on the forums.

Lastly, in partnership with Next Level Racing, we are currently running a giveaway on Instagram where one lucky winner will receive the ultimate flight sim set up! For your chance to receive a Premium Deluxe Edition of Microsoft Flight Simulator and a Next Level Racing Flight Simulator Pro, head over to Instagram and follow the instructions in this post. The winner will be chosen on September 26, so be sure to enter prior to then!

– MSFS Team

 

DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP

Click here for the web-friendly version of the Development Roadmap.

MARKETPLACE BACKLOG

Current Backlog: 687 Total

BACKLOG: NEW PRODUCTS

	Testing Status
Content Type	Initial Processing and Validation by MS	Handed off to 3P for Functional Testing	Functional Testing in Progress by 3P	Functional Testing Signed off by 3P	Total
Aircraft	83	8	2	4	97
Mission	30	14	2	4	50
Scenery	59	1	1	8	69
Livery	46	12	7	8	73
Airport	102	7	10	23	142
Other	43	9	14	1	67
Total	363	51	36	48	498

BACKLOG: UPDATED PRODUCTS

	Testing Status
Content Type	Initial Processing and Validation by MS	Handed off to 3P for Functional Testing	Functional Testing in Progress by 3P	Functional Testing Signed off by 3P	Total
Aircraft	28	7	2	7	44
Mission	0	0	0	0	0
Scenery	7	0	1	2	10
Livery	24	7	5	10	46
Airport	53	7	2	22	84
Other	2	1	0	2	5
Total	114	22	10	43	189

 

SDK UPDATE

No updates this week.

THIRD PARTY UPDATE

• As of 09/15, we have now approved 234 (+00) third parties into the in-sim marketplace and – so far 203 (+7) have released 2,604 products on PC (+58) and 2,216 on Xbox (+21).
• In total, 3,561 products (+53) have already been released in 3^rd party stores and the in-sim marketplace. Beyond that, another 785 products (+53) from 3^rd party developers are in production (356 announced, 429 unannounced). In total, over 4,356 3^rd party products (+116) have either been released or are in development.
• Airports:
  • 2,128 airports (+42) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 1,885 airports (+27) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 1,339 airports (+10) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 122 airports (-4) beyond the released airports have been announced.
    • 121 airports (+19) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an airport is in production.
• Aircraft:
  • 670 aircraft (+22) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 284 aircraft (+7) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 216 aircraft (+4) have been released in the in-sim PC marketplace.
    • 200 aircraft (+5) have been released in the in-sim Xbox marketplace.
    • 213 aircraft (+0) beyond the released aircraft have been announced.
    • 173 aircraft (+15) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an aircraft is in production.
• Scenery:
  • 1,000 scenery packs (+33) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 938 scenery packs (+10) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 495 scenery packs (+9) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 20 scenery packs (+0) beyond the released scenery have been announced.
    • 42 scenery packs (+23) are not announced but the dev let us know that scenery is in production
• Mission Packs:
  • 204 mission packs (+6) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 185 mission packs (+4) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 123 mission packs (+3) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 0 mission packs (+0) beyond the released missions have been announced.
    • 19 mission packs (+2) are not announced, but the dev let us know that they are in production.
• Livery Packs:
  • 319 livery packs (+13) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 243 livery packs (+5) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 236 livery packs (+5) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 1 livery pack (+0) beyond the released scenery has been announced.
    • 75 livery packs (+8) are not announced, but the dev let us know that scenery is in production.
• Ships & Watercraft:
  • 35 ships & watercraft (+0) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 26 ships & watercraft (+0) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 19 ships & watercraft (+0) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 0 ships & watercraft (+0) beyond the released scenery have been announced.
    • 9 ships & watercraft (+0) are not announced, but dev let us know that scenery is in production

 

COMMUNITY FLY-IN

September 20 is recognized as Constitution Day in Nepal! This relatively new public holiday celebrates the adoption of the country’s current constitution in 2015. For our Community Fly-In this week, we’ll be touring some beautiful Nepalese scenery in and around the Himalayas including the capital city of Kathmandu and Mount Everest! Finally, our full-stop landing will be at Lukla (VNLK), one of the most exciting and challenging airports in the world!

Event details are available here. All are welcome to participate!

COMMUNITY VIDEO

For this week’s Community Video we jump onboard a beautiful scenic flight between I73 Moraine Airpark and I74 Grimes Field, with pilot and YouTuber SD Falchetti at the helm!

Flying the JustFlight Piper Warrior II, this VFR trip is accompanied by a montage of scenic views before SD Falchetti makes a picture perfect approach pattern.

We’re all sending our best wishes as another virtual pilot continues to work towards their final check-ride exam!

 

SCREENSHOT CHALLENGE

You can submit your screenshot via Twitter with #MSFSchallenge or the Weekly Forum Post! This week’s screenshot challenge: Mountains

This past week’s Screenshot Challenge was “Aerobatics“:

Weekly Screenshot Challenge Winner: CpuGeta486 (Twitter)

Screenshot by 2525ARW (Twitter)

Screenshot by MihamaBlend (Twitter)

Screenshot by pommes_l (Twitter)

Screenshot by tsujiKa_air (Twitter)

Screenshot by ChallengeTk (Twitter)

Screenshot by DaveBGaming (Forum)

Screenshot by FlyingSubset2 (Forum)

Screenshot by HeKa48 (Forum)

Screenshot by HolmesCZ6127 (Forum)

Screenshot by Lwsail (Forum)

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NEXT DEVELOPMENT BLOG UPDATE – September 28th, 2023

Sincerely,

Microsoft Flight Simulator Team

Edited September 21, 2023 by David Mills

[JBDB-MD80 1,488]

Welp kind of quiet in here.

[lwt1971 7,457]

This needs a pin.

Also on the schedule for next week is a Developer Livestream! Tune in on Wednesday, September 27 to watch our regular panel of Jorg, Seb, Martial, and special guests talk about the future of Microsoft Flight Simulator and answer some common questions from the community.

Hopefully they'll drop more info about MSFS 2024 on this dev livestream 🤞
 

[AnkH 2,282]

So, bug and wish lists now completely eliminated or why they do not show them anymore? Bummer as finally some of the most annoying immersion breaking bugs made it onto the list of the 25 most voted bugs...

[lwt1971 7,457]

55 minutes ago, AnkH said:

So, bug and wish lists now completely eliminated or why they do not show them anymore? Bummer as finally some of the most annoying immersion breaking bugs made it onto the list of the 25 most voted bugs...

Assuming this is the latest/best we have? https://www.flightsimulator.com/feedback-snapshot/ ... not sure when it was updated last though.
 

[Tom_L 558]

1 hour ago, AnkH said:

So, bug and wish lists now completely eliminated or why they do not show them anymore?

Would be worth a question in the upcoming Q&A, but obviously the "Q"-part got eliminated as well, as there is no thread for questions in the official forums. Last time questions were possible was in May. These development updates have become anemic, the upcoming SimUpdate has been dubbed as "AAU2.5" by many, and the forums have gone relatively quiet. Probably many - me included - don't seem to expect long standing Bug- and Wishlist items to be adressed in MSFS2020 anymore while on the other hand there is not much information of what to expect from MSFS2024. 

So I hope they take the opportunity to fill the void with some real development information beyond the usual PR nonsense.

[Ianrivaldosmith 5,317]

13 minutes ago, Tom_L said:

So I hope they take the opportunity to fill the void with some real development information beyond the usual PR nonsense.

Now now, you are not allowed to be negative here mind. They’ll jump on you 😁😉

[pmb 5,138]

59 minutes ago, Tom_L said:

Would be worth a question in the upcoming Q&A, but obviously the "Q"-part got eliminated as well, as there is no thread for questions in the official forums.

See here:

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/where-is-the-section-to-post-our-questions-for-the-upcoming-q-a/609868

"They" (obviously the Community Managers) have chosen 10 questions from the forum and obviously already presented them to Jörg etc. I wouldn't jump on them for doing so, if the selection was properly done. There obviously are a number of topics (ground texture morphing, sunset colors etc) which everyone knows and where they hopefully will give detailed answeres.

The ususal sidebar questions will be there, but these are rarely presented.

Kind regards, Michael

[andyjohnston.net 618]

The focus is probably much ,ore on the new version.  I doubt they spend much time anymore chasing bugs in three year old code.

[Ianrivaldosmith 5,317]

35 minutes ago, andyjohnston.net said:

The focus is probably much ,ore on the new version.  I doubt they spend much time anymore chasing bugs in three year old code.

They didn’t spend much time chasing them to begin with, otherwise half of them wouldn’t still exist. 

[Tom_L 558]

1 hour ago, pmb said:

There obviously are a number of topics (ground texture morphing, sunset colors etc) which everyone knows and where they hopefully will give detailed answeres.

I tried to change "hope" into something more tangible.

[bofhlusr 465]

In the testing backlog section Microsoft uses 3P. What is '3P'?

Is it for 3rd Party?

[Shack95 2,665]

3 hours ago, pmb said:

ground texture morphing

Let‘s hope. It would be disconcerting if they left this unaddressed. This has been one of the most widely discussed topics of the last few months. 

[pmb 5,138]

38 minutes ago, Shack95 said:

Let‘s hope. It would be disconcerting if they left this unaddressed. This has been one of the most widely discussed topics of the last few months. 

Yes. I hope they are aware that a half-baked answer will not do in this case.

Kind regards, Michael

[Ianrivaldosmith 5,317]

56 minutes ago, pmb said:

Yes. I hope they are aware that a half-baked answer will not do in this case.

Kind regards, Michael

Good luck!