October 14th, 2021 Development Update - Microsoft Flight Simulator

Screenshot by Maniek87PL

We are just a few days out from the release of Sim Update 6! The new build will go live on October 19th with many anticipated bug fixes from the community. Right after release, we have our monthly Live Dev Q&A on October 20th at 1750Z (10:30 am PT) over on our Twitch channel.

In case you missed it, our Discord admins also just opened a spooky livery contest. If you’re skilled with making aircraft liveries or want to create your very first one, join our Discord and look for the channel ‘#halloween-livery-contest’ for rules and how to enter.

Have you been eyeing any Carenado planes in the Marketplace? For ten days starting today at 6pm PT, save 30% on the following aircraft: C170B, CT182T Skylane, M20R Ovation, PA28R Arrow III, PA34T Seneca V, PA44 Seminole, and WYMF5. Check them out in the in-sim Marketplace later today.

We are looking forward to a busy upcoming week!

– The 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 to see our Known Issues list.

Thank you for reporting and providing details on specific issues in the forums.

Black Screen/Avionics: Multiple root causes are being investigated.
- One issue being investigated for Xbox potentially links to a memory leak. Xbox users with this problem usually report the avionics go black and then a few moments later have a CTD. Disabling avionics (screens going black) allows the console to have enough memory if it’s low. This also applies to scenery (some won’t display if there isn’t enough memory on the console). This is being investigated for validation.
- For PC, if you are experiencing this issue, try the following workaround:
  - Flip the ENG switches off prior to starting a flight. This only applies to the piston aircraft (e.g. C172, DA40).
  - Unbind the “Set Starter” from the ENG 1 switch
  - Unplug the TCA Airbus Quadrant

The following bugs will be fixed in Sim Update 6 (Oct. 19th) based on direct Community Feedback from the forums:

SDK UPDATE

Audiokintec Wwise
- If you use Audiokinetic’s Wwise middleware to build sound banks for MSFS then you’re most likely aware that your key has recently expired. In order to use Audiokinetic’s Wwise audio middleware to build sound banks for FS, you will need a license. A license provides you with a key that is periodically updated and allows you to create content using their tools. Microsoft provides this Wwise license to our 3^rd party content creators free of charge and all you need to do is register on the Audiokinetic website to receive yours. There are several methods of doing this based on the scope of your need. Please choose the method that best suits your development needs:

1. If you’re making a single non-commercial mod, visit the website, and under the Get Wwise menu, click ‘Register my Project’. Then, choose ‘Non-Commercial’ and ‘More than 200 sounds’, then fill out the form. Once approved, you’ll have a non-commercial key to cover your development time.
2. If you’re making a single commercial mod, visit the website, and under the Get Wwise menu, click ‘Register my Project’. Then, choose ‘Commercial’ and ‘More than 500 sounds’, then fill out the form. Once approved, you’ll receive a free Commercial license, covering your development time.
3. However, if you’re a company making multiple commercial mods, then register a single commercial project for your company. This just makes things easier, as you can use the same license key for each of your mods. visit the website, and under the Get Wwise menu, click ‘Register my Project’. Then, choose ‘Commercial’ and ‘More than 500 sounds’, then fill out the form. Name the project ‘MSFS Mods for <Company Name>’, to make it clear that it is for multiple mods. Once approved, you’ll receive a commercial license for a 6 month term, which will be renewed if needed later on. Just contact Audiokinetic to let them know you still need an active key, and they’ll take care of it. If you’re within 30 days of your expiration date, every time you build soundbanks you will receive a warning about the impending expiration. To contact Audiokinetic, you can use the ‘Contact your AK representative’ button that is in each project.

- Please note: If you are currently using the Wwise license key that was provided in the SDK demo project you will need to follow one of the above paths to receive a new key as this one has expired.
Dev Mode
- We fixed a gamma correction issue on the gauges rendered with NanoVG.
- Action waypoints are now prefixed with the action name when drawn on the screen.
- We fixed the action waypoint links rendering.
- We fixed the conflict between drone camera and developer camera.
- Project Editor
  - We removed the ArtProj type from the list of asset group types.
- Scenery Editor

- - We made the “Hide and lock by type” window a sub window instead of a popup to be able to dock it.
  - We fixed the switch to developer cam when launching the Scenery Editor.
  - We fixed the light update when moving taxipoints.
  - We added more color for taxiparkings and taxipaths.
  - We are developing a Validation process which will perform several checks on your airport:

- - - Taxiways connectivity check
    - Duplicated runway check
    - More to come!

- - We optimized the Scenery Editor CPU usage.
  - We are creating a top down camera to ease the airport creation process.

- Visual Effects Editor

- - We fixed a gap at particle emission with high velocities.
  - We fixed crashes that could happen when editing BezierCurve with no points (node creation and adding first point)
  - We refactored the particle emission and update. Emission is done after update so old particles may die before we try to emit new one; particle count is significantly more stable.

3RD PARTY UPDATE

As of 10/10, we have now approved 219 (+0) third parties into the in-sim marketplace and – so far 119 (+0) have released 548 products on PC (+3) and 185 on Xbox (+29).
In total, 1,392 products (+16) have already been released in 3^rd party stores and the in-sim marketplace. Beyond that, another 391 products (-2) from 3^rd party developers are in production (255 announced, 136 unannounced). In total, over 1,783 3^rd party products (+14) are either released or are in development.
Airports:
- 1,115 airports (+10) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 894 airports (+13) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 439 airports (+0) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 108 airports (+1) beyond the released airports have been announced.
  - 113 airports (-4) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an airport is in production.
Aircraft:
- 227 aircraft (+0) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 74 aircraft (+0) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 43 aircraft (+1) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 130 aircraft (+0) beyond the released aircraft have been announced.
  - 23 aircraft (+0) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an aircraft is in production.
Scenery:
- 398 sceneries (+4) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 381 sceneries (+3) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 38 sceneries (+1) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 17 sceneries (+1) beyond the released scenery have been announced.
Mission Packs:
- 43 mission packs (+0) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 43 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 UPDATES

There are 28 new products (10 on PC, 18 on Xbox), and 27 updated products (21 on PC, 6 on Xbox) in the Marketplace today.

28 NEW PRODUCTS: 10 ON PC, 18 ON XBOX

New on PC and Xbox ✅

New on Xbox ✅

Already on PC

New on Xbox ✅

Already on PC

New on Xbox ✅

Already on PC

New on Xbox ✅

Already on PC

New on Xbox ✅

Already on PC

New on Xbox ✅

Already on PC

New on Xbox ✅

Already on PC

New on Xbox ✅

Already on PC

New on Xbox ✅

Already on PC

New on Xbox ✅

Already on PC

New on Xbox ✅

Already on PC

New on PC ✅

New on Xbox ✅

Already on PC

New on PC and Xbox ✅

New on Xbox ✅

Already on PC

New on Xbox ✅

Already on PC

New on PC and Xbox ✅

New on PC ✅

New on Xbox ✅

Already on PC

New on Xbox ✅

Already on PC

27 UPDATED PRODUCTS: 21 ON PC, 6 ON XBOX
Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC and Xbox ✅	Updated on PC ✅
Updated on PC ✅	Updated on PC ✅	Updated on PC ✅
Updated on PC ✅	Updated on PC ✅	Updated on PC ✅
Updated on PC ✅	Updated on PC ✅	Updated on PC ✅
Updated on PC ✅	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 ✅

TWITCH UPDATE

We stream weekly on Twitch.tv/MSFSOfficial!

This week’s Community Fly-in Friday, our flight plan comes courtesy of Twitch streamer CaptArash, an Iranian-born Canadian. We start by flying along the coastline of the Caspain Sea before turning south through the Alborz mountain range before arriving at Iran’s capital city of Tehran. Click here for details. All are welcome to join!

COMMUNITY VIDEO

Have you been thinking about enhancing your sim realism by communicating with human air traffic controllers on the VATSIM network? Many flight sim pilots would like to get started with VATSIM but are unsure where to begin or feel nervous with “mic fright”. There’s no need to be intimidated! YouTuber AtmosFlight is here to help with this great tutorial that guides you through everything you need to know to get started on the VATSIM network.

FEATURED FREEWARE MOD

Did you see Senior Community Manager Jayne’s flying lesson with Forder on Wednesday’s Twitch livestream? They discussed virtual flight planning in Microsoft Flight Simulator and showed a variety of tools sim pilots can use to plot their routes including LittleNavMap, SkyVector, and SimBrief. Community developer DrinkingGuide84 has recently released another MSFS flight planning tool, Grand Tour Flight Planner, with many unique features not found in other apps. GTFP allows users to add waypoints based on many different methods, including street address, geographic coordinates, or landmark name (e.g. “Golden Gate Bridge”). Check it out at the following link:

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/announcement-grand-tour-flight-planner-gtfp/460704

SCREENSHOT CHALLENGE

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

This past week our Screenshot Challenge was Upside Down. Here are our runner ups this week: