OCTOBER 26TH 2023, DEVELOPMENT UPDATE

Posted by: Microsoft Flight Simulator Team

 

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

Early next week, we will be releasing the first public beta of Sim Update 14 to volunteer community members who wish to help the development team test the next major update to Microsoft Flight Simulator. If you would like to participate in this pre-release test, please follow our official forums for the latest news. Players on PC/MS Store, PC/Steam, and Xbox Series X|S can all join the public test. We will post the release notes on the forums as soon as the beta build is available to download.

We had previously announced that World Update XV: Northern Europe & Greenland and its accompanying Local Legend, Saab B 17 would be released on October 31, but these have been moved back by one week. The new release date for both the World Update and the Local Legend is now November 7.

Last but certainly not least, we are very excited to announce that Famous Flyer 07: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries MU-2 will be launching next week! We can’t wait to get this highly-anticipated plane from developer iniBuilds into your hands! For a sneak peak, check out a screenshot of this beautiful aircraft flying near Mount Fuji below.

– MSFS Team

 

FEEDBACK SNAPSHOT

Click here for the web-friendly version of the Feedback Snapshot.

DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP

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

MARKETPLACE UPDATE

Click here for the web-friendly version of the Marketplace Update.

There are 82 new and 54 updated products in today’s Marketplace Update.

MARKETPLACE BACKLOG

Current Backlog: 484 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	73	11	3	3	90
Mission	4	38	4	0	46
Scenery	15	3	5	0	23
Livery	26	11	10	2	49
Airport	43	12	9	11	75
Other	25	16	2	3	46
Total	186	91	33	19	329

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	21	8	3	10	42
Mission	0	0	0	0	0
Scenery	3	0	1	3	7
Livery	14	10	0	6	30
Airport	26	23	4	12	65
Other	6	3	1	1	11
Total	70	44	9	32	155

 

SDK UPDATE

ASOBO

• No Update this week.

WORKING TITLE / MSFS AVIONICS FRAMEWORK

• MSFS Avionics Framework
  • All SU13 Avionics Framework updated, including updated NPM packages and documentation has been published.
  • Check out MSFS Avionics Source Code Mirror to access the latest Avionics Framework source code.
  • Find documentation about the avionics framework here: MSFS Avionics Frameworks and Instruments.
  • Upcoming framework updates:
    • Adding support for multiple flight planners to enable greater flexibility in avionics where navigation units can operate independently. (AAU_03)
    • Adding support for Framework LNAV classes running outside the Autopilot framework, allowing for avionics that track flight plan progress, but exist without an autopilot present. This will continue to expand flexibility for avionics that share roles across individual components that can be arbitrarily combined in a cockpit. (AAU_03)

THIRD PARTY UPDATES

• As of 10/22, we have now approved 234 (+00) third parties into the in-sim marketplace and – so far 202 (+2) have released 2,756 products on PC (+50) and 2,475 on Xbox (+49).
• In total, 3,679 products (+24) have already been released in 3^rd party stores and the in-sim marketplace. Beyond that, another 804 products (+17) from 3^rd party developers are in production (359 announced, 445 unannounced). In total, over 4,483 3^rd party products (+41) have either been released or are in development.
• Airports:
  • 2,169 airports (+14) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 1,937 airports (+14) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 1,393 airports (+15) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 120 airports (+1) beyond the released airports have been announced.
    • 112 airports (-1) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an airport is in production.
• Aircraft:
  • 696 aircraft (+7) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 294 aircraft (+1) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 221 aircraft (+2) have been released in the in-sim PC marketplace.
    • 205 aircraft (+1) have been released in the in-sim Xbox marketplace.
    • 218 aircraft (+4) beyond the released aircraft have been announced.
    • 184 aircraft (+3) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an aircraft is in production.
• Scenery:
  • 1,010 scenery packs (+5) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 965 scenery packs (+2) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 518 scenery packs (+1) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 20 scenery packs (+0) beyond the released scenery have been announced.
    • 25 scenery packs (+3) are not announced but the dev let us know that scenery is in production
• Mission Packs:
  • 223 mission packs (+1) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 194 mission packs (+4) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 133 mission packs (+4) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 0 mission packs (+0) beyond the released missions have been announced.
    • 29 mission packs (-3) are not announced, but the dev let us know that they are in production.
• Livery Packs:
  • 349 livery packs (+14) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 263 livery packs (+3) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 256 livery packs (+3) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 1 livery pack (+0) beyond the released scenery has been announced.
    • 85 livery packs (+11) are not announced, but the dev let us know that scenery is in production.
• Ships & Watercraft:
  • 36 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.
    • 10 ships & watercraft (+0) are not announced, but dev let us know that scenery is in production

 

COMMUNITY FLY-IN FRIDAY

On October 28, 1918, the first independent Czechoslovak state was founded from territory that was formerly part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. While Czechoslovakia ceased to exist as a unified country in 1993, citizens of modern Czechia continue to celebrate October 28th as their country’s national holiday.

In recognition of this date, our fly-in this week will be a flight from Brno to the capital city of Prague, passing over several landmarks en route. Be sure to install the free World Update 14: Central Eastern Europe from the Marketplace for the best experience!

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

TUBELINER TUESDAY

Earlier this week Community Manager Matt “Chewwy” hosted the second episode in a new weekly series on our Twitch channel called “Tubeliner Tuesday” focusing on airliners within Microsoft Flight Simulator. 

Episode 3 will be hosted on Tuesday 31st October, for a spooky Halloween flight from Transylvania in Romania. Transylvania is famously considered as the home of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, due to Bran Castle also being called Dracular’s Castle, despite the author never citing it as a source of inspiration.

During this flight we will depart from Cluj-Napoca Airport (LRCL) for a one hour hop south to Bucharest (LROP) in the ATR 72-600 turboprop airliner, operated by Tarom Airlines. We will also be flying for the first time on the VATSIM Network so come and ride along!

Event details are available here.

COMMUNITY VIDEO

Saturday 28th October marks the next VATSIM Cross the Pond (CTP) event, where thousands of virtual pilots will venture over the Atlantic Ocean with full Air Traffic Control.

To celebrate the event, this week’s Community Video is provided by AirForceProud95 who took part in the last iteration of CTP in April, 2023. Flying from Toronto Pearson (CYYZ) in Canada to Fort Lauderdale (KFLL) in the USA, AFP95 experiences incredibly high levels of traffic on departure.

Good luck to all participants in this weekend’s Cross the Pond event!

 

SCREENSHOT CHALLENGE

You can submit your screenshot via Twitter with #MSFSchallenge or the Weekly Forum Post!

This week’s screenshot challenge: Thunderbolts and Lightning

This past week’s Screenshot Challenge was Inverted Flight

Weekly Screenshot Challenge Winner: pommes_l (X/Twitter)

Screenshot by HolmesCZ6127 (Forums)

Screenshot by KotetuP (X/Twitter)

Screenshot by JohnStarp (Forums)

Screenshot by Mifaman701 (Forums)

Screenshot by ninwo_nintaroww (X/Twitter)

Screenshot by HangingGabryel (Forums)

Screenshot by MihamaBlend (X/Twitter)

Screenshot by Zeanuck (Forums)

Screenshot by HeKa48 (Forums)

Screenshot by @2525ARW (X/Twitter)

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NEXT DEVELOPMENT BLOG UPDATE – November 2nd, 2023

Sincerely,

Microsoft Flight Simulator Team

Edited October 26, 20232 yr by David Mills

Darn, the World Update was delayed, there goes my plans.

However SU14 beta testing starting early next week, nice.

Edited October 26, 20232 yr by Tuskin38

What is the aircraft in the featured sceenshot at the opening of the dev update?

 

1 hour ago, fppilot said:

What is the aircraft in the featured sceenshot at the opening of the dev update?

 

Diamond DA42

Does anyone have steps to join the beta?
Using Xbox game pass version on PC

Thanks

Attending to mirrored textures on the 747 and 787 is now not planned.

Due to the amount of quality repaints on FS.to, I take it this is now not so much of a problem for painters?

 

Some cool items listed the the Feedback Snapshot for the upcoming SU14. 😀

 

4 hours ago, Falconfly said:

Does anyone have steps to join the beta?

https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=how+to+join+flightsimulator+beta

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/how-do-i-opt-in-to-beta-testing/495889

Edited October 27, 20232 yr by turbomax

47 minutes ago, turbomax said:

https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=how+to+join+flightsimulator+beta

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/how-do-i-opt-in-to-beta-testing/495889

Thank you!

Does anyone know if it redownloads the entire SIM when you opt in for the beta?

No, it's just an update. 

10 hours ago, Tuskin38 said:

Diamond DA42

Whoops.  Guess it was the second one, this one.  What model is this:

Mitsubishi MU-2. I am really looking forward to this one, the FlySimware model for P3D was great, and the airplane has a very unique flight model (no ailerons, large flaps, fast speed but slow landing speed).

57 minutes ago, fppilot said:

Whoops.  Guess it was the second one, this one.  What model is this:

That’s the MU-2 coming next week.

Edited October 27, 20232 yr by Tuskin38

Will be interesting to see what MU-2 training materials come with this.. it has/had one of the worst accident rates on the planet

Quote

ATC now clears a step to the next altitude some time before arriving at the previously cleared altitude, rather than once arrived at the
previously cleared altitude. (Next step is issued when at 2000FT from cleared altitude rather than 250FT from cleared altitude).

That's a nice quality of life improvement, dozens of years in the making. 😁