Microsoft Flight Simulator developers MS/Asobo and their community manager took to their Twitch stream to discuss many of the new things that will be coming up on the platform. The head of MSFS, along with the CEO of Asobo and their executive producer were present to answer questions and discuss new updates, and other exciting announcements.
Table of Contents
Roadmap for the year
The team first showcased all the products that have been released this year including numerous local legends like the Short SC.7 Skyvan, Dornier Do 31, Westland Scout and Wasp, etc., and a host of world updates like the Caribbean, Southwest Germany, and the latest UK and Ireland. Keeping up with the trend, the team plans to release another world update this month, World Update 18 which will cover Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The team also plans to release another local legend, the Focke-Wulf 200 “Condor”, a 1936 German-manufactured aircraft.
Q&As
The first query addressed was the DLSS blurry glass fix from NVIDIA that was aimed at fixing issues faced by simmers with the upscaling of the glass cockpit textures. Executive producer at Asobo, Martial Bossard explained that although NVIDIA did put out a fix to resolve the issues many players were facing, the issue with glass cockpit does still exist due to the complex nature of the technology.
The Deep Learning Anti Aliasing (DLAA) and Super Sampling (DLSS) techniques used by NVIDIA differ a little from what Asobo uses to make sure the textures aren’t worse than what they are now. More detailing is not possible at the moment since DLSS renders textures at a lower resolution before upscaling them to a higher resolution. Best efforts to optimize them are ongoing but at the moment it is a limitation with glass cockpit-equipped aircraft.
The next query addressed is the bug that helicopters cannot start in the cold and dark state when loading into the sim on helipads. Martial stated that the head of quality at Microsoft flagged it as a feature and not a bug since that is the way how it has been and even aircraft do not start up in cold and dark states. The team will dig deeper into this and come up with a solution.
Another query a user had was about the quality of default GA aircraft in the sim and if they will be updated to a similar level of fidelity and quality as their very nice SR22 that was developed by Asobo but improved by Working Title. Jorg Neumann, the head of MSFS, stated that yes, that is the aim going forward and to meet the quality bar set by iniBuilds’ A310 airliner for all default aircraft in MSFS.
In another question, a user asked if the team would be showcasing more information regarding the next iteration of MSFS, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. The developers stated that this current stream is the last monthly stream that focuses on MSFS2020. From the next month onwards, more info about MSFS2024 will be shared in their dev streams until its release on November 19.
The team in response to another query stated that MSFS2020 and MSFS2024 will not conflict and users can have both simulators installed on their systems. Simmers will however have to separate their community folders to avoid any compatibility issues, as MSFS2024 add-ons will be of a different standard to those of MSFS2020 and the team wants simmers to be on the MSFS2024 standard of quality.
Sim Update 16 and AAU3
Sim Update 16 was slated to be released on August 27 but has now been delayed to an unconfirmed date. The Xbox console version of MSFS is still facing issues and has been pulled out of beta testing. Since the release of the SU is stemming too close to the release of MSFS2024, the team will instead release Aircraft and Avionics Update 3 focusing on the Airbus A310, A320neo, and Pilatus PC-6.
Cameron MacMillan, the lead developer at iniBuilds, joined the presentation as a guest and talked about what we can expect in the latest update, particularly the A310 and A320neo. After a lot of internal reporting and going through a lot of the feedback they received, iniBuilds has made many changes to the A310. Most of them include quality-of-life changes like better FMS predictions and issues with the magnetic bearing on VOR navigation. Issues with tail number registrations have also been resolved as well lots of community feedback has been addressed.
The A320neo on the other hand received a ton of substantial changes to its core systems. The primary thing Cameron previews is the new and revamped LNAV logic of the airplane. It is much smoother with turns and complicated departures (SIDs) will run with fewer hiccups. The LNAV has been the culmination of almost a year of work. Besides this, the aircraft will also feature a new terrain radar that matches that of real-world aircraft.
Changes have also been made to the rotation logic of the aircraft’s FBW dynamics. De-rated takeoffs that previously felt underpowered and slow will now be more accurate to the real-world aircraft’s performance. Performance optimizations have also been made so the aircraft should run smoother and less FPS-heavy on lower-end PCs. The Radial-in feature for extended runway centerline ops has also been integrated.
The Pratt & Whitney engine variant is being talked about but not in active development yet and responding to a query, Cameron also mentioned that an improved wing model of the aircraft is also being looked at. According to Jorg, we can expect AAU3 to be released sometime in mid-September.
World Update 18
The stream then moves on to the latest World Update that we can expect soon and it will cover the regions of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Jorg explained the reason the latest WU is centered on these countries: the EU has something called High Value Data or HVD and if it is intended for research or the good of the public, that data is available for free. This allowed the team to update these regions from 2-3 meter resolution to 1 meter which is “so much better” according to Jorg.
The latest update will feature a lot of revamped and higher-resolution photogrammetry and terrain data. The cities of Berlin, Potsdam, Frankfurt, Munich, and many others will be updated. A ton of landmarks, POIs, and airports have been updated, revamped, or added to the base sim. Germany will feature 5 AOIs, 1 airport, and 42 POIs; Austria will feature 3 AOIs, 1 airport, and 38 POIs, and Switzerland will feature 2 AOIs, 1 airport, and 36 POIs. The airports will be developed by Gaya Simulations.
Local Legend 19
The next Local Legend to feature in our flight sim will be the Focke-Wulf 200 ‘Condor’ which is being developed by Oliver Moser and iniBuilds. The aircraft is a German-manufactured aircraft from 1936 and was created for the purpose of flying from Berlin to New York nonstop. It successfully did so in 1938 and was the most modern airliner of its time. Only one complete specimen exists today; it was an aircraft that was ditched in February 1942 and raised from Trondheim Fjord in 1999. The disintegrated airframe was transported to Airbus Bremen and took 22 years to restore. It is now on exhibition at the former Berlin-Tempelhof Airport, Hangar 7.
Oliver Moser then joins the stream to give us a look at the aircraft in all its glory and to talk about the details of the rendition. The exterior model of the aircraft will be highly detailed with high-quality texturing and PBR. The museum managers in Berlin allowed the team to scan the aircraft for a highly accurate and detailed model for the best possible immersion. The cockpit is also incredibly detailed and will feature a unique aspect of the real-world aircraft: the ability to dump fuel.
The aircraft will also have a detailed cabin interior model that can be accessed by opening the flight deck door. Every switch in the rendition will be operable. The aircraft will also have integrated checklists to get the aircraft going. Both the World Update 18 and Local Legend 19 will be released on August 22nd during Gamescom.
Some miscellaneous stuff
The Top Gun: Maverick expansion to the sim will now be staying up until 2026 in response to the requests from the wider audience. A ‘feature discovery’ mini-documentary showcasing many of the new things we can expect from MSFS2024 is currently in the planning stages.
Furthermore, the next World Update has already been announced; WU19 will feature the Brazil region. The ATR 72 will have its freighter version released sometime in September and the Boeing 707 is also almost complete and is waiting for the last sign-off from the developers.
Overall, very fun and exciting new changes coming to the world of MSFS and we can expect soon a lot more showcases in MSFS2024 starting from next month. FSNews will keep you updated on all things Microsoft Flight Simulator and do read our other pieces on the website.
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