February 9th, 2023 Development Update - Microsoft Flight Simulator

Screenshot by CpuGeta486 (Twitter)

Hot off last week’s release of Aircraft & Avionics 1, the team is currently preparing for the next two major additions to Microsoft Flight Simulator: World Update 12: New Zealand and Sim Update 12. For the latter, we are currently in the final stages of preparing the first public test build. If you wish to help test SU12 and share your feedback and bug reports with the developers, watch closely for more information about how you can join the upcoming beta. If you were previously enrolled in the AAU1 beta and did not manually opt-out of future tests, then you will automatically download the SU12 beta build as soon as it is available without any further action needed.

The team is also aware of an ongoing issue affecting the Live Weather system. We have been monitoring player reports on the forums about this issue very closely. The current situation is that Live Weather is functioning normally for some people, working intermittently for others, and not working at all for some. The team believes they have identified the root cause of the issue and are working hard to resolve it. We will provide further status updates as we have more information.

MSFS Team

Feedback Snapshot

Unfortunately we have had a delay in the Feedback Snapshot due to members of the team travelling. The Feedback Snapshot will return next week, and we apologise for the delay.

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 28 new and 26 updated products in the Marketplace today, and 2 updated products from Monday, February 6th. Marketplace updates generally go live on Thursdays between the release of this blog post and 5pm PT.

Updated on Monday, February 6th:

2 UPDATED PRODUCTS: 2 ON PC, 0 ON XBOX
Updated on PC	Updated on PC

Added on Thursday, February 9th:

28 NEW PRODUCTS: 14 ON PC, 14 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	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	New on PC and Xbox

36 UPDATED PRODUCTS: 19 ON PC, 17 ON 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 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 and Xbox

SDK UPDATE

Working Title / MSFS Avionics Framework

MSFS Avionics Framework
- We are working hard to prepare an update to the framework including changes from AAU_01 and AAU_01 content – we expect a couple more weeks of coordination between the Microsoft and Working Title teams to get everything released, including lots of updated documentation and the latest code.
- Remember you can find the MSFS Avionics Framework on GitHub here.
- Upcoming framework updates:
  - Added Weight and Balance related SimVars to an event bus publisher. (AAU_02)
  - Added Hydraulics related SimVars to an event bus publisher. (AAU_02)
  - Added GameVar default publisher to streamline publishing GameVars across the event bus. (AAU_02)
  - Added a new ApproachUtils class to the framework that allows better data access to approach frequencies for avionics that automatically load approach frequencies. (SU_12)
- Plug-In Support for updated avionics, including the Garmin G1000NXi, Garmin G3000/5000 and the other avionics from AAU_01 (SU_12).
  - Documentation is nearly complete and will be released in coordination with the framework update in the coming weeks.

THIRD PARTY UPDATE

As of 01/27, we have now approved 209 (+0) third parties into the in-sim marketplace and – so far 179 (+1) have released 1,656 products on PC (+15) and 1,368 on Xbox (+17).
In total, 2,614 products (+40) have already been released in 3^rd party stores and the in-sim marketplace. Beyond that, another 687 products (+32) from 3^rd party developers are in production (336 announced, 351 unannounced). In total, over 3,301 3^rd party products (+72) have either been released or are in development.
Airports:
- 1,759 airports (+8) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 1,544 airports (+19) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 977 airports (+12) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 122 airports (+8) beyond the released airports have been announced.
  - 93 airports (-19) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an airport is in production.

Aircraft:
- 546 aircraft (+58) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 196 aircraft (+7) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 141 aircraft (+9) have been released in the in-sim PC marketplace.
  - 110 aircraft (+6) have been released in the in-sim Xbox marketplace.
  - 194 aircraft (+6) beyond the released aircraft have been announced.
  - 156 aircraft (+45) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an aircraft is in production.

Scenery:
- 850 scenery packs (+2) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 751 sceneries (+10) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 267 sceneries (+11) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 20 sceneries (-0) beyond the released scenery have been announced.
  - 79 sceneries (-8) are not announced, but the dev let us know that scenery is in production.

Mission Packs:
- 146 mission packs (+4) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 123 mission packs (+4) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 49 mission packs (+4) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 0 mission packs (+0) beyond the released missions have been announced.
  - 23 mission packs (+0) are not announced, but the dev let us know that they are in production.

Community Fly-In

Sunday, February 12 is the birthday of Charles Darwin, a date recognized internationally as “Darwin Day”. To celebrate Darwin’s contributions to science and naturalism, we will be visiting the Galapagos Islands, retracing part of the famous voyage of the HMS Beagle.

The Galapagos archipelago is a site of immense biological diversity. Carefully observing the plant and animal life in this unique ecosystem led directly to Darwin chronicling his observations in his seminal 1859 publication “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection”, one of the foundational documents of modern biology.

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

Community Video

Last week saw a bittersweet milestone in the history of aviation. The very last production Boeing 747, the majestic “Queen of the Skies”, left the factory in Everett, Washington to be ferried to its operator in Ohio. To mark the occasion, the plane flew a very unique flight plan, which YouTuber Flight Sim Explorations re-created in Microsoft Flight Simulator. If you would like to fly this route yourself, player dlh747 shared the flight planning details on the forums here.