July 8th, 2021 Development Update - Microsoft Flight Simulator

Screenshot by TrooperKri9819

As we steadily approach Xbox launch this month, there is so much happening within our community! From Twitch streams to community events, we can feel the excitement surrounding us. Check out the community section of today’s post for some of the highlights! And in case you missed it, catch this inspiration video about our favorite local pilot Shinji Maeda, and learn why he likes to fly. Look forward to several more of these videos coming out soon, featuring community members big and small.

One more surprise: The Carenado C170B is now available in Microsoft Flight Simulator!

– The MSFS team

DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP

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FEEDBACK SNAPSHOT

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KEY:

SU = Sim Update (3, 4, 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 the issue

Not Planned = We will likely not work on this

Started = Work as started on this item

SDK UPDATE

General
- We are currently investigating the last issues for the upcoming update.
Dev Mode
- In the Project Editor:
  - We fixed a crash when cleaning current flying aircraft’s package.
- In the Visual Effects Editor:
  - We continue to fix bugs and add~~ing~~ features such as a color converter, from HSV to RGB.

3rd Party Update

As of 07/04, we have now approved 199 (+0) third parties into the in-sim marketplace and – so far 111 (+1) have released 476 products (+10).
In total, 1,117 products (+19) have already been released in 3^rd party stores and the in-sim marketplace. Beyond that, another 350 products (+6) from 3^rd party developers are in production (218 announced, 132 unannounced). In total, over 1,467 3^rd party products (+25) are either released or are in development.
Airports:
- 923 airports (+13) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 709 airports (+11) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 402 airports (+13) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 104 airports (+2) beyond the released airports have been announced.
  - 110 airports (+0) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an airport is in production.
Aircraft:
- 176 aircraft (+18 are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 53 aircraft (+2) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 33 aircraft (+2) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 101 aircraft (+6) beyond the released aircraft have been announced.
  - 22 aircraft (+0) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an aircraft is in production.
Scenery:
- 329 sceneries (+4) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 316 sceneries (+6) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 32 sceneries (+3) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 13 sceneries (-2) beyond the released scenery have been announced.
Mission Packs:
- 39 mission packs (+0) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 39 mission packs (+0) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 4 mission packs (+0) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 0 mission packs (+0) beyond the released missions have been announced.

MARKETPLACE

Today there are 6 new products and 6 updated products in the Marketplace.

6 NEW PRODUCTS

6 UPDATED PRODUCTS

TWITCH UPDATE

Check out our upcoming streams! Follow our Twitch channel here.

Tomorrow, we have a special Community Fly-in Friday event! TwoToneMurphy and the ThunderFlys will takeover for an exciting stream – they will perform a special airshow, we will chat with the ThunderFlys to learn about their process, and even had a group flight where we will learn some flight formation and aerobatics. Mark your calendar for July 9th at 1900Z on the Official MSFS Twitch Channel! More details here.

Next Wednesday, join us for Flying Lessons on the C152! ForderLearntoFly will be teaching us all about VORs. Details here.

COMMUNITY VIDEO

This past Saturday, Seedyl and FactualGull hosted the Paris-Dakar Rally for Microsoft Flight Simulator, a race and charity event to support Doctors Without Borders. They were able to raise $7,886 that day all thanks to the amazing flight sim community! Seedy explains, “Organizing and participating in the MSFS Paris-Dakar Rally was a real thrill for me and FactualGull. We were completely blown away by the generosity and camaraderie from the MSFS player community as we collectively raised money for Doctors Without Borders throughout this incredibly entertaining event. The amount of charity donations far exceeded our most ambitious fundraising goals. I hope we can equal — or even surpass — this amount for our next community endurance race, the cross-Canada Terry Fox Marathon of Hope flight in September.”

The “Closing Ceremonies and Awards Presentation” will be tonight at 8pm ET / 5 pm PT on SeedyL’s channel. If you are interested in supporting Doctors Without Borders through this charity event, this will be your last chance to donate before they close the fundraising page. In addition, here is a free Doctors Without Borders livery for the DA40 NG created by community member pizzamonster.

FEATURED FREEWARE MOD

Check out GotGravel’s Savage Obstruction – Bigger is Better! Rating: 4.9/5. Fun fact: The Obstruction’s outrageous wheels are 1 inch bigger than a 747’s.

From their download page on flightsim.to, “It’s the 1st of April 2021, and you are witness to the dawn of a new era in bush flying! Fly the latest and by far the greatest Savage, the Obstruction! Fitted with top-secret 50 inch Alaskan Humongowheels, because you asked for it! They are designed to provide the pilot with more privacy by making it harder for people to see you. We expect quite a demand due to the very nature of the bush pilot: to get away from it all. And now you truly can!! People can walk past your obnoxious aircraft and have no idea you were even inside!”

GotGravel has also made other mods, such a the Savage Carbon, Savage Grravel, and Vertigo. They even gave a helping to Flying Iron Simulations to help improve the Flight Model of their Spitfire! Thanks for your contributions to the community.

SCREENSHOT CHALLENGE

This past week we challenged you to take a screenshot of ” Pilots of the Caribbean”. The winner is featured above. Below are our runner up choices! This week’s Screenshot Challenge: Color Series – Red

Last challenge’s Finalists: