FlyByWire Simulations is the name of the group of volunteer developers working on the A320NX addon for MSFS. For those familiar with X-Plane, they are making a more detailed version of the default plane for free, comparable with how ZIBO does it. The A32NX is a open-source project. Anyone can contribute their two cents. Some of the developers, along with the founder of the project did a live stream yesterday where they answered questions about the project. It is a part of better communication they want to do. It will be a series of livestreams, titles “In the Hangar.” Those were taken from the Discord server, where people could ask questions.
The questions are split up in two parts. One is more about the project itself, who is doing it and how. The second part is about the addon. What is coming, what the state of some features is.
The project
Q: Why did you start the project?
A: This question was answered by the founder of the project. During the closed beta testing, it was already clear that the default aircraft were far from realistic. The ZIBO project in X-Plane 11 inspired him to do something similar with the A320Neo. It was clear that there was a lot of interest from the community in doing this, and so the project started.
Q: In 6 months time, what do you think the state will be? What would you like to see? What would you like to work on?
A: The current big hurdle is the FlyByWire. After that, the autopilot can be improved. The autopilot will need to be made from scratch, as they can’t change what’s in there now. These two systems are the core of the A320Neo and are important for the aircraft to work and fly well and realistically. They are incidentally also the most difficult systems to code. They hope that in 6 months time that will be finished.
Another thing one of the developers is trying to figure out is how to import and export models to Blender. Once that is done, improvements to the cockpit model can be made because that is lacking in quality too. Seeing what has been done in just one month, the next five look very promising. There are more than 500 different people that have contributed to the project so far.
Q: What is the hardest part to work on?
A: The autopilot. It is the main component, but it is hard to recreate as it is in real life. The real-life autopilot uses environmental variables that are sometimes not simulated accurately or not at all. There is a lot of logic in the Airbus A320Neo, and recreating that is not an easy task.
Q: How much do you work on the project?
A: It is an open-source project, which means that anyone can work on it. No-one in the live stream was working on it full-time. Most people are doing it as a side project, besides their main job. The fact that there are so many people working on it, does make this less of a problem.
Q: Will it ever become payware?
Once features will be included that need a server, a donation button might be set up to cover those costs. The team promises that the aircraft will always remain freeware, with the option to donate.
Q: How satisfied are you with the SDK?
It’s lacking is an understatement. It is far from complete. A lot of things are missing. It is currently the biggest obstacle for the team. A lot of features simply can’t be implemented because the SDK doesn’t allow it and doesn’t give access to the files. One such example is the weather radar. This is in line with what other developers like PMDG have said and is a reason why some aircraft are delayed.
The team hopes that the update that’s coming this week will improve the SDK. If not, they’re confident that Asobo will listen to feedback and act accordingly.
Q: What will happen when Asobo updates the simulator?
The changes will just need to be carried over. They don’t think an update will break the addon completely. They do look forward to performance optimizations. Some features are also not yet implemented because of this. The FO and Captain’s PFD and ND are currently linked. They show the exact same information. The team wanted to unlink them, but the impact on performance was too detrimental for the feature to make it to a release.
Changes to the model also won’t have an impact. Any addons overwrite what’s default, so they expect few problems with updates.
Q: How is communication with Asobo? Have they mentioned anything about promoting it?
The team has reached out to with Asobo and Microsoft a few times already, but no answer has been given yet. They do hope that Asobo will communicate more, also with the non-partnered developers. A partnership would mean that some features might be implemented more quickly, and that future communication with Asobo will go more smoothly.
They would love to be included on the Marketplace, so people can install the aircraft more easily and get updates automatically. But for that, they currently need a partnership first.
Q: When will the next update for the plane come?
A: They’re planning to release a stable update once or twice a month. The next one is coming before the end of the month, but they’re waiting for the official MSFS update. If that requires some fixes, that will be done and only after that will they release an update.
The Addon
Q: Will the aircraft become Study level?
A: It all depends on the SDK. At the moment, it does not allow for sophisticated features that would make it study level. They don’t want to make empty promises either. They’ll try their best to get as close to the real thing as possible, keeping in mind the SDK limitations. Whether that means study level or not remains to be seen.
Q: Will you model and implement a cabin?
A: Maybe. At this point, the focus remains with the primary systems of the aircraft. As mentioned before, that is the autopilot and FBW. A cabin is a “nice to have” something, but not crucial for the aircraft to fly. The same goes for a more detailed exterior model. The team is already happy with what Asobo did with it. Once the cockpit is done, those things will be looked into. It certainly is a possiblity further down the road.
Q: The current aircraft has fairly aggressive icing. Can that be changed?
A: No, unfortunately not. Icing is hard-coded by Asobo and they have not found any variables that can be changed to reduce icing. It’s something Asobo needs to fix, third party developers can’t change anything about it.
Q: Will sharklets be added? What about other engine options?
A: An electronic flight bag (EFB) is being worked on. The limits are once again with the SDK. Anything is possible as long as the SDK allows it. If a CEO variant would be made, it is in the far future. If people want it, it can be worked on.
Once they figure out how to import and export models, the exterior might also receive some changes. Any extra textures for that will be in separate files. They will do their best to keep the current liveries working. Unfortunately, that also means that a paintkit won’t come. That would break all the liveries and waste hundreds of hours people have spent making them.
After this, the status of some smaller systems and parts was asked about. We’ll briefly go over it.
Will there be…
- engine sounds? They have figured out how to do it, but a developer by the name wpine215 released his custom engine sounds for free on GitHub. They might get in touch with him to have those sounds included.
- a more realistic camera system? The developer of XPRealistic, an addon that makes the camera more realistic by adding bounciness and other similar features, is making it for MSFS too.
- a top of descent indicator? It worked in the past, but it broke the entire plane. Once that is fixed, it will be included
- the ability to import SimBrief flightplans? Currently not. It is a limitation by JavaScript. If the SDK allows for another way to read files after loading the plane, then yes.
- a paintkit? As mentioned earlier, no there won’t be. They don’t want to put the hundreds of hours other people have put into their liveries to go to waste.
- changes to the flight model? For this, they first need to finish the FBW and the autopilot. The autopilot directly influences the flight dynamics and vice versa. So only after the autopilot is done for the default flight model, will they be able to change it.
- pressure loss simulation? People are working on getting the air conditioning and packs to work realistically. Others are working on the hydraulics and others on electronics. The focus remains on normal operations and procedures. After that can they focus on failures and emergencies.
- full ECAM functionality? The upper ECAM screen is basically finished already for standard operations. This is already receiving some non-normal operation functionalities. The bottom ECAM page as well as the buttons aren’t fully finished yet. Mosts pages are very close, however.
- TCAS implementation? What may seem like a core function of multiplayer actually is not allowed to be changed by the SDK. So not at this moment.
There will be more livestreams like this in the future and we’ll cover them too. You can watch the entire stream again here.
