April 13th, 2023 Development Update - Microsoft Flight Simulator

This week’s Screenshot Challenge winner is forum user mk89ns, featuring A Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet.

Our Spring Marketplace Sale continues until April 21. Enjoy savings of up to 93% off on over 1,100 products for both PC and Xbox. To see which items are discounted, visit the Microsoft Flight Simulator Marketplace, select ‘Featured’, scroll down to ‘Special Offers’, then select ‘See All’ and look for the savings.

Additionally, we are also pleased to offer 25% off the regular purchase price of the Standard, Deluxe, and Premium Deluxe editions of Microsoft Flight Simulator for the next week. This discount is available from the Xbox Store for console players and for PC players via the Microsoft Store.

– 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 55 new and 65 updated products in the Marketplace this week. Thursday’s Marketplace update generally goes live between the release of this blog post and 5pm PT.

55 NEW PRODUCTS: 28 ON PC, 27 ON XBOX
New on PC and Xbox	New on PC and Xbox	New on PC and Xbox
New on Xbox	New on PC and Xbox	New on PC and Xbox
New on PC and Xbox	New on PC and Xbox	New on PC and Xbox
New on PC and Xbox	New on PC and Xbox	New on PC and Xbox
New on PC and Xbox	New on PC and Xbox	New on PC
New on PC	New on PC and Xbox	New on PC and Xbox
New on PC and Xbox	New on PC and Xbox	New on Xbox
New on PC and Xbox	New on PC and Xbox	New on PC and Xbox
New on PC	New on PC	New on PC and Xbox
New on Xbox	New on PC and Xbox	New on PC and Xbox
	New on PC and Xbox

65 UPDATED PRODUCTS: 38 ON PC, 27 ON XBOX
Updated on PC	Updated on PC	Updated on Xbox
Updated on PC and Xbox	Updated on PC and Xbox	Updated on PC
Updated on PC	Updated on Xbox	Updated on PC and 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 and Xbox
Updated on PC and Xbox	Updated on PC and Xbox	Updated on PC and Xbox
Updated on PC and Xbox	Updated on PC and Xbox	Updated on PC and Xbox
Updated on PC and Xbox	Updated on PC and Xbox	Updated on PC and Xbox
Updated on PC and Xbox	Updated on PC and Xbox	Updated on PC and Xbox
Updated on PC and Xbox	Updated on PC and Xbox	Updated on PC and Xbox
Updated on PC and Xbox	Updated on PC and Xbox	Updated on PC
Updated on PC and Xbox	Updated on PC and Xbox	Updated on PC
	Updated on PC

Marketplace Backlog

We will have an updated Marketplace Backlog available next week!

SDK UPDATE

Asobo

No Update this week.

Working Title / MSFS Avionics Framework

MSFS Avionics Framework
- 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 rudder auto-coordination to the framework autopilot option. (AAU_02)
  - Fixing bug with framework flight plan sync between instruments that could occur when not using the standard copy event. (AAU_02)
  - Adding new nav_radial_error topic to the NavProcSimVars Event Bus publisher. (AAU_02)
  - Fixing a bug in CasSystem where deactivating a suffixed alert when it was not active can corrupt the alert state. (AAU_02)

THIRD PARTY UPDATE

As of 04/09, we have now approved 209 (+0) third parties into the in-sim marketplace and – so far 185 (+1) have released 1,803 products on PC (+13) and 1,513 on Xbox (+6).
In total, 2,896 products (+148) have already been released in 3^rdparty stores and the in-sim marketplace. Beyond that, another 878 products (+104) from 3^rd party developers are in production (354 announced, 524 unannounced). In total, over 3,774 3^rd party products (+252) have either been released or are in development. This week, we added livery packs and ships/watercraft as both categories have been popular with simmers.
Airports:
- 1,889 airports (+7) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 1,619 airports (+5) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 1,012 airports (+4) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 125 airports (+3) beyond the released airports have been announced.
  - 145 airports (-1) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an airport is in production.
Aircraft:
- 591 aircraft (+2) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 227 aircraft (+3) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 165 aircraft (+3) have been released in the in-sim PC marketplace.
  - 140 aircraft (+2) have been released in the in-sim Xbox marketplace.
  - 208 aircraft (+1) beyond the released aircraft have been announced.
  - 156 aircraft (-2) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an aircraft is in production.
Scenery:
- 884 scenery packs (+2) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 770 scenery packs (+0) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 290 scenery packs (-1) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 20 scenery packs (+1) beyond the released scenery have been announced.
  - 94 scenery packs (+1) are not announced, but the dev let us know that scenery is in production.
Mission Packs:
- 170 mission packs (+1) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 142 mission packs (+2) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 81 mission packs (+7) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 0 mission packs (+0) beyond the released missions have been announced.
  - 28 mission packs (-1) are not announced, but the dev let us know that they are in production.
Livery Packs (NEW):
- 207 livery packs (+1) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 114 livery packs (+114) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 109 livery packs (+109) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 1 livery pack (+1) beyond the released scenery has been announced.
  - 92 livery packs (+92) are not announced, but the dev let us know that scenery is in production.
Ships & Watercraft (NEW):
- 33 ships & watercraft (+33) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 24 ships & watercraft (+24) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 11 ships & watercraft (+11) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 0 ships & watercraft (+0) beyond the released scenery have been announced.
  - 9 ships & watercraft (+9) are not announced, but dev let us know that scenery is in production.

Community Fly-In

April 12 is the anniversary of humanity’s first voyage into space, achieved by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. This milestone is celebrated annually around the world as Yuri’s Night. The launch place of Gagarin’s historic 1961 mission was the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (part of the Soviet Union at the time), a complex still being used for space launches today, including many crewed flights to the International Space Station! For our fly-in this week, we will journey across the Kazakh Steppe and fly over the Baikonur Cosmodrome then continue on to Kazakhstan’s capital city of Astana.

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

Community Video

Winston Churchill famously gave the nickname “The Few” to the relatively small group of Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire pilots who flew during the Battle of Britain in 1940. These days, however, there are even fewer qualified Spitfire pilots in the world than there were in 1940. Among the small number of airworthy Spitfires still in service are six flown by the Royal Air Force’s Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF). To earn the immense privilege of flying one of these legendary historic aircraft, each operator must be an experienced RAF fighter pilot. However, since none of the BBMF’s Spitfires are two-seat variants, the RAF pilots selected for this assignment have few ways to practice and hone their skills before taking to the skies solo in the real thing…

…Or at least that was the case until recently. Thanks to Microsoft Flight Simulator, the popular Spitfire addon from 3rd Party Developer FlyingIron Simulations, and a set of 3D printed flight controls from AuthentiKit designed to perfectly match the controls of a real Spitfire, RAF pilots serving in the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight can now gain practice time in a Spitfire without the risk of damage to one of these priceless vintage warbirds.

In this week’s Community Video, AuthentiKit showcases Squadron Leader Mark “Disco” Discombe of the Royal Air Force practicing emergency procedures in a Spitfire using Microsoft Flight Simulator. Check it out!