April 11, 2024 MSFS Development Update

[David Mills 4,774]

APRIL 11TH, 2024 – DEVELOPMENT UPDATE

Posted by: Microsoft Flight Simulator Team

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

This week, we’re pleased to share an updated Development Roadmap which you can find below. A few highlights include:

• City Update 06: Southwest Germany and Local Legend 15: Dornier Do 31 are both releasing next week on April 17!
• Sim Update 15 and the Airbus A320neo (V2) are tentatively targeted for a full release on April 30.

Speaking of Sim Update 15, last Friday we released a new test build to those players enrolled in the optional public beta. You can find the release notes for this build on our forums here. Once again, we would like to thank everyone participating in the pre-release test for your timely feedback and bug reports. If you would like to join the public beta test, you can find instructions (for PC/MS Store, PC/Steam, and Xbox Series X|S) here.

Our next Developer Livestream is scheduled for April 24th at 10:30am PDT (1730 UTC). If you would like to pre-submit a question for our panel, please complete the form at this link. We will accept submissions until April 16th at 8:00am PDT (1500 UTC). Once the form is closed, our team will collate all your submissions to ensure the panel addresses the most frequently-asked questions from the community. As always, the livestream will be broadcast on our official Twitch channel, so please follow it to be notified when we go live if you have not already done so.

– MSFS Team

DEVELOPMENT UPDATE

DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP

FEEDBACK SNAPSHOT

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

• No update this week.

SDK UPDATE

ASOBO

• No update this week.

WORKING TITLE / MSFS AVIONICS FRAMEWORK

• No update this week.

MARKETPLACE

Note: the weekly release of new and updated Marketplace products has been delayed by one day. The products listed below will go live in the sim starting tomorrow: Friday, April 12. We apologize for the delay and inconvenience.

FEATURED RELEASE

This week, we’re pleased to highlight the OV-10 Bronco from developer AzurPoly!

Available from the in-sim Marketplace starting Friday, April 12 for both PC and Xbox, the OV-10 is one of the most famous light attack and observation aircraft.

Initially developed in the 1960s and extensively used in several countries, it has proven to be a durable and flexible platform and is still flying today for various roles, including firefighting.

Its short takeoff and landing (STOL) capabilities and a cockpit that offers unparalleled visibility make it a pleasure to fly.

The development has been conducted along with real OV-10 pilots, and AzurPoly had access to a flying Bronco which allowed them to create an accurate product.

AzurPoly’s OV-10 Bronco features a highly optimized 3D model and high resolution textures based on 3D scans, a custom sound package made with real recordings, faithful systems, and much more!

Check out the video trailer below!

MARKETPLACE RELEASES

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

There are 81 new and 35 updated products in this week’s Marketplace Update.

MARKETPLACE BACKLOG

Current Backlog: 474 Total

BACKLOG: NEW PRODUCTS

	Testing Status
Content Type	In MS Processing	In MS Testing	In 3P Testing	Total
Aircraft	21	6	6	33
Mission	58	3	49	110
Scenery	12	5	1	18
Livery	53	0	11	64
Airport	28	17	16	61
Other	10	0	6	16
Total	182	31	89	302

BACKLOG: UPDATED PRODUCTS

	Testing Status
Content Type	In MS Processing	In MS Testing	In 3P Testing	Total
Aircraft	32	2	13	47
Mission	12	0	0	12
Scenery	15	4	4	23
Livery	17	5	6	28
Airport	43	4	13	60
Other	2	0	0	2
Total	121	15	36	172

THIRD PARTY UPDATE

• As of 04/07, we have now approved 268 (+0) third parties into the in-sim marketplace and – so far 221 (+0) have released 3,448 products on PC (+41) and 3,192 on Xbox (+40).
• In total, 4,299 products (+0) have already been released in 3^rd party stores and the in-sim marketplace. Beyond that, another 860 products (+26) from 3^rd party developers are in production (342 announced, 518 unannounced). In total, over 5,159 3^rd party products (+26) have either been released or are in development.
• Airports:
  • 2,386 airports (+5) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 2,161 airports (+0) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 1,633 airports (+0) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 114 airports (+0) beyond the released airports have been announced.
    • 116 airports (+5) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an airport is in production.
• Aircraft:
  • 817 aircraft (+0) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 382 aircraft (+0) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 299 aircraft (+0) have been released in the in-sim PC marketplace.
    • 284 aircraft (+0) have been released in the in-sim Xbox marketplace.
    • 209 aircraft (+0) beyond the released aircraft have been announced.
    • 226 aircraft (+0) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an aircraft is in production.
• Scenery:
  • 1,126 scenery packs (+1) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 1,092 scenery packs (+0) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 656 scenery packs (+0) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 20 scenery packs (+0) beyond the released scenery have been announced.
    • 14 scenery packs (+1) are not announced but the dev let us know that scenery is in production
• Mission Packs:
  • 346 mission packs (+19) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 280 mission packs (+0) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 219 mission packs (+0) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 0 mission packs (+0) beyond the released missions have been announced.
    • 66 mission packs (+19) are not announced, but the dev let us know that they are in production.
• Livery Packs:
  • 441 livery packs (+1) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 357 livery packs (+0) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 349 livery packs (+0) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 1 livery pack (+0) beyond the released scenery has been announced.
    • 83 livery packs (+1) are not announced, but the dev let us know that scenery is in production.
• Ships & Watercraft:
  • 38 ships & watercraft (+0) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 27 ships & watercraft (+0) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 22 ships & watercraft (+0) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 0 ships & watercraft (+0) beyond the released scenery have been announced.
    • 11 ships & watercraft (+0) are not announced, but dev let us know that scenery is in production

COMMUNITY

COMMUNITY FLY-IN FRIDAY

We’re taking a break from our Fly-In Friday World Tour this week to instead enjoy a flight in Florida starting from beautiful Miami!

Our full-stop destination of this journey will be Lakeland Linder International Airport (KLAL), which is currently hosting the annual Sun ‘n Fun Aerospace Expo, the second-largest fly-in event in the United States (behind EAA AirVenture Oshkosh). This year is the 50th anniversary of the Sun ‘n Fun fly-in!

En route, we will also fly over some other well-known Florida points of interest including Kennedy Space Center and the Walt Disney World resort.

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

COMMUNITY VIDEO

Have you ever wanted to record your own cinematic video to potentially be featured in our Community Video section? Well look no further than this brilliant tutorial, created by Runway in Sight! Going through each step on the software needed, and how to get the best drone camera settings and angles, this tutorial is the perfect way to get all PC players prepared to record.

Will you be giving this a try and editing your own video?

SCREENSHOT CHALLENGE

This week’s screenshot challenge: Fun in the Sun!

This past week’s Screenshot Challenge was: Turbulent Trips

Weekly Screenshot Challenge Winner: @CpuGeta486 (Twitter)

Screenshot by @ukaka5656 (Twitter)

Screenshot by jskoker (Forums)

Screenshot by @KotetuP (Twitter)

Screenshot by HeKa48 (Forums)

Screenshot by @pommes_l (Twitter)

Screenshot by @nintaroww (Twitter)

Screenshot by FSXico97 (Forums)

Screenshot by HolmesCZ6127 (Forums)

Screenshot by XiaoHuX2610 (Forums)

Screenshot by ZILLNIAZI17 (Forums)

---

NEXT DEVELOPMENT BLOG UPDATE – April 18th, 2024

Sincerely,

Microsoft Flight Simulator Team

Edited April 11 by David Mills

[Flyfaster_MTN002 412]

wow end of April they really pushed this back...

[dusty_sourdough907 77]

Another underwhelming week from MS...

Thank you David for posting.

[RichieFly 737]

8 minutes ago, Flyfaster_MTN002 said:

wow end of April they really pushed this back...

Yes. I'm wearing my disappointed face right now.

[outermarker 237]

"Tentatively targeted" for April 30, you've gotta be kidding me...that's crazy. It was scheduled for March 12.

Edited April 12 by outermarker

[Krakin 5,839]

Better late than broken. Now we have an idea of when we can get our mitts on the Duke!

[Cpt_Piett 4,814]

Thanks David for posting these development updates, I'm sure it takes a while to prepare these. 

So... SU15 tentative release date is set to April 30th. As I've been in the beta all along, it doesn't affect me, but I'm sure those who haven't been in the beta are excited to see how the sim performs. And test the new ground handling implementation. 

Some very nice screenshots there, makes me inspired to practice more crosswind landings in airliners. Btw which city is that in the 747 image? It looks like the Toronto CN tower, but... And what about the Ferris wheel? Are those PG-buildings? 🤔

EDIT: Curious what the delay is with the beta. What are they working on (besides the Neo)?

Edited April 12 by Cpt_Piett

[outermarker 237]

8 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

EDIT: Curious what the delay is with the beta. What are they working on (besides the Neo)?

Asobo is pleading the fifth on that one.

[Cpt_Piett 4,814]

10 minutes ago, outermarker said:

Asobo is pleading the fifth on that one.

Haha, that's probably wise! I wonder if something other than the Neo keeps delaying the beta. Perhaps some revolutionary improvements in multithreading or memory optimization? That would be something worth waiting for 😄

If the real reason is the Neo, I think they've made a mistake including that in the beta process. I mean, the beta started Feb 14, and the Neo appeared 20 days ago. Seems almost like an afterthought...

Edited April 12 by Cpt_Piett

[B777ER 2,492]

Would not be surprised at all if the iniBuilds NEO is the cause of this long delay. They are still patching the A300. Also would not be surprised if it gets delayed again into May. They want this for the Xbox crowd because the PC folks already have the great FBW one. I for one could care less about this NEO.

[scotchegg 4,240]

Not sure I need any more German cities in high quality...

[peloto 213]

At this pace I think SU16 will be released before SU15.

[B777ER 2,492]

Looking at their roadmap update, safe to say they have pretty much put a fork in MS2020. 

[JBDB-MD80 1,485]

Edit disregard. 

Edited April 12 by JBDB-MD80

[Cpt_Piett 4,814]

At this stage perhaps more will join the beta, not for testing, but more for "early access" 😉 Performance and stability is IMO very good. Sadly I don't have any scientific comparisons between SU14/15, but I think others do.