May 12th, 2022 Development Update - Microsoft Flight Simulator

Screenshot by MihamaBlend (Twitter)

Yesterday, we released a patch to Sim Update 9 that addresses some Xbox crashes as well as some bugs that were found in the Beta. Release Notes can be found here. We are also planning to host our May Dev Q&A on Wednesday, May 25th at 10:30 am PT (1730Z), the same day as the release of our free Top Gun: Maverick DLC! If you wish to ask or upvote a question, you can do so here.

MSFS Team

DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP

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SDK Update

Roadmap:

Sim Update 10:
- Terrain & Weather Radar Drawing APIs
- Aircraft Editor V2
- Game rendered in a window in the DevMode

General:

We’re working on our samples, listing them and evaluating which ones can be improved, revamped, and which new samples should be added to the SDK. If you have an idea about that, please let us know on DevSupport!

DevMode:

We fixed the “Save As” option.
We removed ContentInfo & MarketplaceData from the available types when creating a new Asset Group.
We added a limit to the Marketplace Data backgrounds number.
We now warn the user when discarding media because of a limit overflow.
We now properly save settings upon checking/unchecking the “Don’t show again” checkbox.
We fixed the .xml gauges string formatting (\t, \n, etc.).

Aircraft Editor:

Final review with the entire team happened this week. The tool is ready to go live on Sim Update 10! The old Aircraft Editor will remain available until SU 11, then removed.
We fixed the wrong coordinate order in camera/InitialXYZ.

Scenery Editor:

We fixed bugs with polygon point altitudes.
We now allow real time editing for exclusion rectangles.
We fixed a crash when opening a scene after building a package.

Third Party Update

As of 05/07, we have now approved 251 (+0) third parties into the in-sim marketplace and – so far 147 (+0) have released 1,100 products on PC (+21) and 812 on Xbox (+18).
In total, 2,113 products (+18) have already been released in 3^rd party stores and the in-sim marketplace. Beyond that, another 544 products (-5) from 3^rd party developers are in production (293 announced, 251 unannounced). In total, over 2,657 3^rd party products (+13) have either been released or are in development.
Airports:
- 1,491 airports (+7) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 1,266 airports (+7) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 731 airports (+9) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 118 airports (+2) beyond the released airports have been announced.
  - 107 airports (-2) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an airport is in production.
Aircraft:
- 369 aircraft (+3) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 131 aircraft (+3) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 91 aircraft (+3) have been released in the in-sim PC marketplace.
  - 65 aircraft (+0) have been released in the in-sim Xbox marketplace.
  - 160 aircraft (+1) beyond the released aircraft have been announced.
  - 78 aircraft (-1) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an aircraft is in production.
Scenery:
- 710 scenery packs (+2) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 630 scenery packs (+3) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 158 scenery packs (+2) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 15 scenery packs (-1) beyond the released scenery have been announced.
  - 65 scenery packs (+0) are not announced, but the dev let us know that scenery is in production.
Mission Packs:
- 87 mission packs (+1) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 86 mission packs (+5) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 24 mission packs (+5) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 0 mission packs (+0) beyond the released missions have been announced.
  - 1 mission packs (-4) are not announced, but the dev let us know that they are in production.

MARKETPLACE UPDATE

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Milviz 310R is now available:

New on PC ✅

Released Wednesday, May 11:

New on PC ✅

There are 38 new and 29 updated products in the Marketplace today. Marketplace updates generally go live on Thursdays between the release of this blog post and 5pm PT.

38 NEW PRODUCTS: 18 ON PC, 20 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 and 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 Xbox ✅

29 UPDATED PRODUCTS: 15 ON PC, 14 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 ✅
Updated on PC ✅	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 Xbox ✅

TWITCH UPDATE

We stream weekly on Twitch.tv/MSFSOfficial! Third Party Developer Just Flight recently released a new complex airliner for Microsoft Flight Simulator, the BAe 146. We know many of you in the community are excited to fly one of the first “study level” airliners to be released for MSFS, so we’re planning this week’s Friday Fly-In to feature this new aircraft. IMPORTANT NOTE: you do not need to purchase the Just Flight 146 Professional to participate in this event. You can choose to fly any other plane with a similar cruise speed (suggestions in link below).

To help make the 146 Professional addon as realistic as possible, Just Flight had hands-on access to a real BAe 146 (registration number G-JEAO). This plane is now retired from service and is on display to the public at the de Havilland Aircraft Museum in Hertfordshire. Our flight this week will see the group depart from EGVN, fly over this museum, then turn northward and make our way to Aberdeen, Scotland. Along the way, we will complete a few touch & go landings and pass many handcrafted POIs from World Update III: UK & Ireland.

Click here for flight details. All are welcome to participate!

Next week we also have our Flying Lessons with Jayne and ForderLearntoFly! We will be introduced to the basics of the Beechcraft Bonanza G36 on Wednesday, May 18th at 2pm PT. All students are welcome to learn with us!

COMMUNITY VIDEO

It’s been a huge few weeks for new aircraft addons for Microsoft Flight Simulator. In addition to highly-anticipated airliners like the Boeing 737 from PMDG and the British Aerospace 146 Professional from Just Flight, fans of general aviation planes also received a high quality addon from Milviz, the Cessna 310R. Available now in the Marketplace, YouTuber and real-life Cessna 310 pilot zkdos recently posted a starter guide for this excellent twin engine plane from Milviz. Check it out!