March 25th, 2021 Development Update - Microsoft Flight Simulator

Screenshot by BobbyFuzzy – Dream Vacation: Dubai, UAE

Thank you so much for your continued engagement and feedback! Because of your feedback on performance/framerate issues we have been better able to diagnose the underlying problems. To help address some of these issues we are releasing a patch (1.14.6.0) that we anticipate will be available to download from the Windows Store and Steam tomorrow, March 26th.

The following issues will be addressed:

Performance optimizations when flying close to large airports such as Dallas-Ft Worth (KDFW)
Performance optimizations of server requests when in the menus and during flight

While this fix may not address all performance related issues we believe this patch will help many of you get back to flying and encourage you to provide feedback on this patch as we continue to improve the sim performance with each future update. Thanks!

–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

THIRD PARTY UPDATE

We have been delighted to see the great reviews of Aerosoft’s CRJ and it’s rewarding to see the results of our collaboration with Aerosoft. We’re already excited about their upcoming Twin Otter!
We hear from quite a few developers that their teams are expanding as they see the success of the platform. It really feels like the beginning of a golden age for 3^rd party developers and we couldn’t be more excited when we see how widely the platform has been adopted.
As of 03/21, we have now approved 148 (+5) third parties into our marketplace and – so far – 67 (+4) have released 266 products (+17). In total 760 products (+20) have already been released in 3^rd party stores and the in-sim marketplace. Beyond that, another 285 products (+0) from 3^rd party developers are in production (152 announced, 133 unannounced). In total, over 1,045 3^rd party products (+20) are either released or are in development.
Airports:
- 665 airports (+9) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 481 airports (+13) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 221 airports (+16) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 73 airports (-3) beyond the released airports have been announced.
  - 111 airports (+0) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an airport is in production.
Aircraft:
- 124 aircraft (+2) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 27 aircraft (+1) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 21 aircraft (+5) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 75 aircraft (+1) 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:
- 234 sceneries (+8) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 230 sceneries (+6) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 17 sceneries (+0) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 4 sceneries (+2) beyond the released scenery have been announced.
Mission Packs:
- 22 mission packs (+2) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 22 mission packs (+1) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 3 mission packs (+0) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 0 mission packs (+0) beyond the released missions have been announced.

SDK UPDATE

General:
- We are currently working on a solution to replace the 3rd Parties Forum with a dedicated Q&A platform. This should make the support easier and clearer for everyone. We’ll keep you posted!
- On the next SDK update, you’ll be able to consult all past release notes directly in the DevMode.
Documentation:
- The first video tutorial is on its way. It will be a “Getting Started” video to help you design a simple smoke effect.
- A new livery sample will also be released soon.
DevMode:
- We continue working on the FX Editor and expect to ship a first version very soon.
- We disabled timestamp on BGL.

Marketplace

There are now 14 new products in the Marketplace and 7 updated products.

14 NEW PRODUCTS

7 UPDATED PRODUCTS

Community Video

Check out Obsidian Ant’s brand new series, One Earth. Listen to the beautifully arranged original score and learn about Scotland while enjoying stunning shots from Microsoft Flight Simulator.

COMMUNITY SCREENSHOT CHALLENGE

This past week we challenged you to take a screenshot “Dream Vacation” for a chance to win a Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 and Flight Simulator Deluxe Edition. The winner is BobbyFuzzy with their stunning shot of Dubai, UAE and is our featured screenshot at the top of this update. Congratulations! The choice was a difficult one as so many of you brought your A game and there were hundreds of incredible entries.

The runner ups were: F14TM, Maidens1 and UnkemptTeacher9. The other top contenders are below. Thank you to all who participated!

Our next weeks screenshot challenge: “The Grass is Greener”