January 6th, 2022 Development Update - Microsoft Flight Simulator

Screenshot by AdventureJoe978 (Forum)

Happy new year simmers! It’s great to be back. We hope you’ve had a restful holiday. To kick off 2022, this morning we released build version 1.21.18.0, available now on PC and Xbox. If you participated in the public beta, please click here to learn how to leave the preview smoothly. Release notes are available in our forums and we welcome all feedback here.

This week brings us a brand new Development Roadmap below. We look forward to what’s in store for 2022, and we know you do, too! We recently asked several members of our community to tell us about their personal Microsoft Flight Simulator highlight from 2021 and what they’re most anticipating in 2022. You can see how they responded in the video below:

– MSFS TEAM –

DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP

Click here for the web-friendly version.

FEEDBACK SNAPSHOT

Click here for the web-friendly version. To learn more about Accessibility in Microsoft Flight Simulator, click here.

KEY
SU = Sim Update (6, 7, etc.)	WU = World Update
ASAP = As Soon as Possible	TBD =To Be Determined
Several Releases = Fixes will come over a series of updates
Ongoing Fixes = An item we will continually be working on
Planned = Scheduled to be worked on
Under Investigation = The team is currently looking into this issue
Not Planned = We will likely not work on this
Not Started = We have not begun investigation on this yet
Started = Development work as started on this item

Community Triage Update

Click here for the list of Known Issues.

Here is an update on a few of the most popular bugs currently being discussed in the forums:

Xbox Thrustmaster Hotas One Sensitivity Settings do not save – The team has found a fix for this issue and are targeting Sim Update 8 for release.
Losing Mouse Control on Xbox – The team is actively investigating this issue. Please watch the thread for CM posts if more information is needed.
Weather Radar No Longer updates – The team has found a fix for this issue and are targeting Sim Update 8 for release.
VR: Input from peripherals not recognized while mouse cursor is over menus/toolbar – The team has found a fix for this issue and are targeting Sim Update 8 for release.

SDK UPDATE

General
- The entire team wishes you a Happy New Year! Thank you for your constant support and for using & helping us improve our tools. We’re excited to bring a lot more features to DevMode this year, but also more video tutorials, more live Q&As… The sky is the limit!
- On the next Sim Update we will release a revamped documentation website. It will be easier to find information and browse the different chapters.
  - A new page will also be available in the documentation: the How to make an aircraft tutorial! From model making to instruments tuning, VR, cameras, gauges, flight model, we will provide you with a very detailed explanation on how to achieve the different steps that lead to the release of your own aircraft. The tutorial will be updated along the way, but we wanted it to be available for you ASAP, so you will already be able to discover a first batch of chapters in Sim Update 8. Stay tuned!

Dev Mode
- We fixed a crash in the Airport Wizard. We also fixed the airport creation with a null altitude.
- Scenery Editor:
  - We fixed a crash when deleting several taxi points.
  - We fixed the light rows not working on airports without runways.
  - When editing a VASI, we now hide the spacing parameter when not needed.
  - We added a “Projected Mesh exported with Scaling” warning.
- Visual Effects Editor:
  - We fixed a crash that could happen in the FX Editor Spawner when no aircraft instance was available.
- Material Editor:
  - We fixed the reloading of material libraries (no more purple textures!).
  - We fixed the issues on tag removal and added a pop-up to confirm a tag deletion.
  - We now hide the delete button if a bitmap is referenced in a material.
  - The Bitmap inspector sub-window now adapts to the window size.
  - Material is now read-only if the asset-groups is not loaded.
  - We fixed the Bitmap color name.
- Aircraft Editor:
  - We fixed the transparency of the debug window in aircraft editor.
  - We are investigating new corruption issues and encourage you to save a copy of your files before using the Aircraft Editor – this tool will receive a lot of love in the upcoming months!

SimConnect
- We added new SIMCONNECT_WAYPOINT_FLAGS.
- We enabled AILERON and ELEVATOR events through simconnect.

3rd Party Update

Thanks to the amazing creator community, over 2,000 add-ons have either been released already or are in production. It’s incredibly exiting to see all these new and high-quality products coming to the simulator. Thank you!!!
As of 12/30, we have now approved 228 (+3) third parties into the in-sim marketplace and – so far 129 (+3) have released 811 products on PC (+171) and 505 on Xbox (+192).
In total, 1,673 products (+175) have already been released in 3^rd party stores and the in-sim marketplace. Beyond that, another 404 products (+19) from 3^rd party developers are in production (267 announced, 137 unannounced). In total, over 2,077 3^rd party products (+194) are either released or are in development.
Airports:
- 1268 airports (+93) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 1056 airports (+90) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 593 airports (+75) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 102 airports (-8) beyond the released airports have been announced.
  - 110 airports (+11) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an airport is in production.
Aircraft:
- 267 aircraft (+26) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 92 aircraft (+10) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 61 aircraft (+9) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 148 aircraft (+13 beyond the released aircraft have been announced.
  - 27 aircraft (+3) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an aircraft is in production.
Scenery:
- 477 sceneries (+55) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 460 sceneries (+55) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 78 sceneries (+37) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 17 sceneries (+0) beyond the released scenery have been announced.
Mission Packs:
- 65 mission packs (+20) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 65 mission packs (+20) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 7 mission packs (+2) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 0 mission packs (+0) beyond the released missions have been announced.

MARKETPLACE UPDATE

There are 44 new and 12 updated products in the Marketplace today.

44 NEW PRODUCTS: 23 ON PC, 21 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 and Xbox ✅	New on PC and Xbox ✅
New on PC ✅	New on Xbox ✅	New on PC and Xbox ✅
New on PC ✅	New on Xbox and PC ✅	New on PC and Xbox ✅
New on 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 ✅

12 UPDATED PRODUCTS: 7 ON PC, 5 ON 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 ✅
	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅

ART GIVEAWAY

The winner of this art giveaway will be announced in tomorrow’s community stream! Don’t miss it!

Microsoft Flight Simulator End Of The Year Giveaway

TWITCH UPDATE

We stream weekly on Twitch.tv/MSFSOfficial!

For our first fly-in of 2022, we wanted to start the new year by sharing a message of international peace, cooperation, and goodwill. One of the most beautiful places in the world that epitomizes this sentiment is the Waterton Glacier International Peace Park. Located in North America’s Rocky Mountains, this park is shared jointly by Canada and the United States, with the Waterton portion in the Canadian province of Alberta and the Glacier portion in the American state of Montana. We will be flying on both sides of the border during this flight. Everyone is welcome to fly, regardless of skill level! Click here for more details.

COMMUNITY VIDEO

You’ve heard of Sim vs. Reality, but what about Reality vs. Virtual Reality? In this video, YouTuber Martin Laubner cuts back and forth between a real world flight and then a digital re-creation of it in Microsoft Flight Simulator VR using an HP Reverb G2 headset.

SCREENSHOT CHALLENGE

You can now submit your screenshot via Instagram and Twitter with #MSFSchallenge or the Weekly Forum Post! This week’s screenshot challenge: National Parks

This past week our Screenshot Challenge was “Your Dream Vacation”. Here are our runner ups this week: