lwt1971

I'm glad that iniBuilds jumped on the CFD bandwagon early on as it was introduced in MSFS, and were always quick to adopt new flight dynamics tools and techniques as MS/Asobo introduced them in later 2020 SUs and especially in 2024. It helps that they're a premier partner dev of MS/Asobo of course. Even though some of their earlier aircraft offerings might've lacked in systems (for a high fidelity class aircraft when compared to the likes of Fenix) they've always delivered great flight dynamics IMO using the core sim FDE, and now seem to have put together a great experience for flight physics in the A380 based on all the feedback I'm hearing/seeing. This also bodes well for the A350 v2. That said, for those of you who have it what are your thoughts on ground handling and the ground<->air transition? TIA.

Are there posts from other threads here on avsim or elsewhere that gives the latest technical details and summary of the problem? I went searching on MSFS devsupport and found this post from Kaiii with somewhat recent updates and responses from others: https://devsupport.flightsimulator.com/t/sim-culls-model-parts-and-ignores-lods-of-the-model/17174 Looks like "FlyingRaccoon" (Sylvain) might be an Asobo dev?, their response here points to some suggestions: https://devsupport.flightsimulator.com/t/sim-culls-model-parts-and-ignores-lods-of-the-model/17174/10 ... other 3rd party devs also provided more details/info, but no response from Asobo on this thread since Jun 12th looks like. There's mention of the "invisible cube" workaround that model devs can use I guess, not ideal of course. Would be good to get the latest thoughts from 3rd party devs and whatever other communications they've had (or not) with MSFS above and beyond public forums.

But how do you know it's "by design" though? I find it to be a rather silly conspiracy theory that they're sitting there thinking "well we can't allow the PC to look better than the console". They already allow increased visual fidelity for PC via settings while the consoles are locked down to lower visual settings. If there was a way where they could fix the culling issue for more capable hardware platforms (via settings) and then still be performative for lower-end hardware platforms, then why wouldn't they allow that since that's a win-win for all. I'm thinking the current problem is either a bug they haven't quite figured out a good fix for, or they haven't figured out how to properly scale the visual fidelity and LOD processing/curves across various hardware capabilities (hence the more aggressive LOD processing in order to cater to the lowest common denominator for now). My hunch is that it's the latter, but hoping it's the former so it can be fixed soon.

FWIW, thermals in MSFS do actually take ground color (albedo?) into account amongst various other factors such as clouds, position of sun, terrain slope/topography, temperature, etc (see https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/testing-the-new-airflow-simulation/549454). Now as to how well this is implemented, a gliding expert like @jcomm can chime in. As for this thread and the debates, I guess it's the same old debates :) IMHO, live weather is the top remaining big thing they need to improve (and this is with acknowledgement that live weather has definitely improved since the SU7 debacle and then in 2024). The core weather engine is certainly capable of depicting varied and realistic/dangerous weather as can be seen when using manual/presets weather. I appreciate it's not a simple problem to solve and perhaps they need to reconsider their weather data provider, but I continue to think it's their METAR blending that needs a revamp. It's ever since the introduction of METAR blending that live weather took a downturn. Apart from weather, the other big thing they needed to improve IMO from 2020 was flight and ground dynamics. And I feel they've delivered on that aspect to the point where I don't see any appreciable differences compared to the best of other sims out there. Again, it always comes down to how the aircraft developer makes use of the sim platform's core FDE and toolbox, and there are numerous examples of both GA and large aircraft (both in the default fleet and 3rd party space) where stellar dynamics/physics are implemented, and easily show an improvement (sometimes significant) over 2020. In addition to flight dynamics/physics, numerous other advancements have obviously gone into 2024, so the usual hyperbole about MSFS straying away from free-form flight simulation is just plain silly. If MS/Asobo's aim was to purely cater only to the casual gaming crowd, they would NOT be bothering with numerous aspects/features that have required a lot of dev expense, hiring of Working Title, etc etc (deep avionics, AAU default aircraft whose fidelity is unprecedented for default birds, bothering with CFD for both flight and atmospheric dynamics, and on and on). As for the culling issues... I understand their aim to improve performance for both lower-end PCs and consoles, and ideally the performance and visual quality should be able to scale across various hardware capabilities via user settings (with consoles of course being frozen on specific settings). That's the part that could be complex to implement well, and I wish they could get right.. so that those with higher-end hardware can benefit, and those with lower-end can also benefit (i.e. not at the expense of each other).

Given what they've shared so far (https://forum.inibuilds.com/topic/37603-inibuilds-a380-airliner-development-update-august-2026/), especially when it comes to flight and ground dynamics, I am certainly interested in this despite FBW's great free offering (on paper ini's A380 def does seem higher fidelity). Will wait to see independent reviews and then likely get it as long as there are no major surprises. I'd agree with others that outside of the initial A350 release issues, their A340 has been a more solid offering and smoother release roll-out. Also looking forward to their A350 v2. As for a high fidelity A330, the Toliss + Aerosoft announcement sounds promising, but seems a long way out.

This section of the update on flight and ground handling for the A380 sounds promising, and perhaps some of that tech and techniques will make into the A350 v2 too, especially when it comes to ground handling and ground<->air transitions. Flight Model & Aircraft Dynamics 💨Recreating the A380’s behaviour has required several areas of the flight model to be approached differently from our previous aircraft. One of the most obvious examples is the landing gear. the A380’s complete landing-gear configuration is represented within the flight model, including functional body-gear steering. The rear body-gear assemblies physically steer in response to pilot inputs, giving the aircraft surprisingly manageable ground handling despite its enormous size. This has been combined with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024’s new suspension modelling, allowing the individual landing-gear assemblies to react more naturally while taxiing, turning and travelling across uneven surfaces. The aircraft’s complex arrangement of multiple bogies has also required additional work around ground contact and compression. By using additional contact points within the MSFS 2024 flight model, the individual gear assemblies can react progressively as they make contact with the runway. This becomes particularly noticeable during touchdown, where the aircraft can settle naturally across the different bogies rather than behaving as though the entire landing gear were a single rigid contact point. Whether the aircraft touches down firmly, gently or with some roll angle, each assembly responds independently as the weight transfers onto the landing gear. Dedicated A380-specific fly-by-wire rotation laws have also been developed. These simulate the transition between the ground, rotation and airborne phases during take-off, while accounting for the A380’s enormous operating-weight range. Sidestick input is translated into an appropriate pitch response so that the aircraft remains consistent and predictable whether operating relatively light or close to maximum take-off weight. The wings themselves are driven by a custom dynamic wing-flex system, responding to aerodynamic forces, aircraft weight, turbulence and manoeuvring loads. Rather than relying on a simple predefined animation, the wing movement continuously responds to the conditions acting upon the aircraft.

Hopefully this means SU6 beta will be soon :)

Vector's update on their 787 at FSExpo: https://vector-sim.com/FS-Expo-2026/ https://fselite.net/content/vector-sim-pulls-back-the-curtain-on-its-787-9-during-fsexpo-2026-presentation/

Good summary: https://fselite.net/content/microsoft-new-airplanes-live-at-fsexpo-2026/ SU6 notes A new down draft visualization will be coming to MSFS allowing pilots to better see when airflow goes downwards e.g. off of mountains. New tools for helicopter developers allow fine tuning of flight model characteristics for more realistic behavior. This includes assistance tuning, rotor airflow visualization, and ring state visualization. A new phase lag tool helps developers see the effects of cyclic controls, phase lag, and assymetry of lift. Pilots will be able to receive visual warnings for varying degrees of turbulence in an effort to help the developers get better feedback on the turbulence simulation model. Night Lighting is getting a revamp in Sim Update 6. Apron lighting has been automatically added to 2,236 airports covering M,L, XL, and XXL Airports. A variety of different light poles at different intensity options help create more authentic night time environments. Career Mode will receive significant updates in Sim Update 6. Runway lighting information will be provided to all airports, helping players make more informed mission choices. An improved mission filtering system will help pilots find the mission types they want as more and more aircraft become career-mode compatible.

Looks very impressive! Glad that iniBuilds continue to embrace MSFS's CFD tech in their flight models, having started early since the 2020 days. If there ever was a need for 2024's detailed aircraft geometry definition for CFD it would be for the A380 with its atypical fuselage and airframe shapes. Given how they improved on the A340 roll-out based on the A350 experience, hope the A380 roll-out is even smoother with all their combined experience so far.

Vector could well do for Boeings what Fenix did for Airbuses in flight simulation: raise the bar with a standout product, backed by a fresh new dev house. Their initial announcement and release of info tidbits were interesting and got my attention, but this dev update definitely goes a long way in showing the level of depth they claimed initially. Looking forward to their future deep dives and release. What a time for MSFS and the 3rd party aircraft scene so healthy and active!, with great birds being released or in the pipeline.. and the variety of aircraft be they GA or heavies.

Re: the object culling, LOD curve topic (i.e. landing gears not showing on AI aircraft), there was still some investigation I believe @Kaiii3 and team were doing (per below). Anyone heard any updates since?

Oh, wasn't even referring to you or your posts, and didn't realize you were talking about consoles in them 🙂... my response was to other comments on this thread attributing any issues/degradations to intentional scaling back of the whole sim just for console users, which is a silly and tired talking point (i.e. from a previous comment on this thread: "MS/Asobo have further dumbed down MSFS2024 for console players in SU5", etc 🤷‍♂️

But, but, I've been reliably informed by the MSFS development expert and project manager cosplayers on avsim that any time I see a visual problem (or any problem) it must be due to MS/Asobo serving the "cOnSoLe KiDz" ??

Oh ok, I guess "gamification" is why they keep pushing out these AAU updates with high fidelity aircraft and avionics, bother with computation fluid dynamics in flight models and airflow modelling, and bother with improving the accuracy of ground effect for helicopters, bothering with all those other flight dynamics improvements from 2020->2024, etc etc 🙃