April 28th, 2022 Development Update - Microsoft Flight Simulator

Screenshot by Matt_Photomode (Twitter)

Sim Update IX is out now! Click here to see release notes. If you’d like to provide your overall impressions of the update, don’t forget to vote in our forum polls here and leave us a comment.

Our Famous Flyer II: The Gee Bee Model Z and Model R-2 are also available now in the Marketplace! In case you missed it, here is the trailer:

MSFS Team

DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP

Click here for the web-friendly version.

COMMUNITY TRIAGE UPDATE

We are currently tracking your feedback on Sim Update 9 via the forums. Here are some top-known issues that have emerged that we are currently investigating:

SDK Update

Roadmap:
- Sim Update 10:
  - Terrain & Weather APIs
  - Aircraft Editor V2
  - Game rendered in a window in the DevMode
General:
- We have identified issues on the fuel system’s behavior when it is being used on some specific engine types. We are currently investigating to understand exactly what caused the issue, and how to prevent it from happening again.

DevMode:
- We now force NanoVG use for XML Gauges even when DevMode is not active.
- On NanoVG rendered gauges, we fixed the elliptical shapes drawing.
- We polished the “Game rendered in a window” feature.
- We fixed a crash when going back to the main menu from a flight with the game rendered in a window.
- Visual Effects Editor:
- - We fixed the double scrolldown bar in the SimVar unit dropdown menu.
- Aircraft Editor:
  - We added support for the Camera section.
  - We now ensure that files with no modifications are not checked out.
  - We fixed a parsing bug.
  - We added new types of fields for better fidelity (e.g. GUID).
  - We added tooltip as “?” beside fields for better readability.
  - We added labels for better readability.
  - We’re polishing the tool based on an UX/UI audit performed last week.
- Scenery Editor:
  - We fixed car parking update.
  - We support LODs for road cars.
  - SimObjects can now be hidden.
  - We added a spacing parameter for PAPI.
  - We fixed the framerate drop due to offline air traffic.
  - We fixed a crash that happened when using the airport wizard while the scenery editor was open.
WASM:
- We made some small fixes in the WASMDebug window.
SimConnect:
- Key events that use multiple arguments can now be triggered through WASM & SimConnect.

Third Party Update

As of 04/24, we have now approved 251 (+5) third parties into the in-sim marketplace and – so far 146 (+3) have released 1,069 products on PC (+25) and 779 on Xbox (+24).
In total, 2,076 products (+19) have already been released in 3^rd party stores and the in-sim marketplace. Beyond that, another 544 products (-9) from 3^rd party developers are in production (290 announced, 254 unannounced). In total, over 2,620 3^rd party products (+10) have either been released or are in development.
Airports:
- 1,476 airports (+6) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 1,250 airports (+13) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 718 airports (+19) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 116 airports (-3) beyond the released airports have been announced.
  - 110 airports (-4) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an airport is in production.
Aircraft:
- 359 aircraft (+1) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 124 aircraft (+1) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 86 aircraft (+4) have been released in the in-sim PC marketplace.
  - 59 aircraft (+4) have been released in the in-sim Xbox marketplace.
  - 158 aircraft (+1) beyond the released aircraft have been announced.
  - 77 aircraft (-1) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an aircraft is in production.
Scenery:
- 700 scenery packs (+3) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 621 scenery packs (+4) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 155 scenery packs (+2) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 16 scenery packs (+0) beyond the released scenery have been announced.
  - 63 scenery packs (-1) are not announced, but the dev let us know that scenery is in production.
Mission Packs:
- 85 mission packs (+0) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 81 mission packs (+1) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 19 mission packs (+2) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 0 mission packs (+0) beyond the released missions have been announced.
  - 4 mission packs (-1) are not announced, but the dev let us know that they are in production.

MARKETPLACE UPDATE

Click here for a web-friendly version.

There are 23 new and 32 updated products in the Marketplace today. Marketplace updates generally go live on Thursdays between the release of this blog post and 5pm PT.

23 NEW PRODUCTS: 9 ON PC, 14 ON XBOX
New on Xbox ✅	New on Xbox ✅	New on 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 Xbox ✅

16 UPDATED PRODUCTS: 8 ON PC, 8 ON XBOX
Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC ✅
Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on 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 ✅

TWITCH UPDATE

Our Community Fly-In Friday event is cancelled this week. We look forward to returning for another fantastic group flight next week on Friday, May 6. In the meantime, you can watch archived videos from recent broadcasts on our Twitch channel, https://twitch.tv/MSFSOfficial:

Our Senior Community Manager Jayne continues her virtual flying lessons with community member ForderLearnToFly. You can watch their latest lesson covering float plane operations here, and information about the entire series is available on our forums in this thread.

Additionally, Jayne also hosted our latest monthly Developer Q&A with Jorg, Seb, and Martial yesterday. If you missed it live, you can see a replay of the livestream below.

COMMUNITY VIDEO

Recently on the official Microsoft Flight Simulator subreddit, emmanuelgemini posted the clip below. By using film grain and other post-processing video effects, emmanualemini created a truly cinematic sequence showcasing an Airbus A320 taxiing for departure at Boston Logan International Airport (KBOS) enhanced with the recently-released FlyTampa scenery addon. Check it out!

SCREENSHOT CHALLENGE

You can submit your screenshot via Twitter with #MSFSchallenge or the Weekly Forum Post ! This week’s screenshot challenge: Ground Equipment. A lot goes on at an airport to ensure smooth operation. This week, we want to see your screenshots highlighting the ground equipment, service vehicles, and/or crews that are involved in this important “behind the scenes” aspect of the aviation industry!

This past week our Screenshot Challenge was “Earth Day”. Here are our runner ups this week: