MSFS Development Update (18.03)

Last week, the Microsoft Flight Simulator development team put out another development update, and within this episode, the team has made it known that they have altered their Feedback Snapshot slightly.

Intending to present a more transparent workflow, they have placed corresponding abbreviations and phrases alongside the feedback points. The key to understanding the abbreviations is listed below.

The team also thanked the community for their feedback, particularly with the recently released CRJ by Aerosoft. Also, they have announced their collaboration with Nvidia through a screenshot contest where the prizes consist of an NVIDIA RTX 3080 Graphics Card and more. The theme this time is Dream Vacation, and further details can be accessed via this link.

This screenshot contest will close for entries on Wednesday, March 24th at 5pm PST.

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KEY:

THIRD PARTY UPDATE

• Aerosoft’s CRJ launched this week and it’s an excellent example of a sophisticated 3^rd party aircraft add-on that can be made with the SDK. Our team is excited by the quality that was achieved and we are happy that the close collaboration with the Aerosoft team led to a great result.

• As of 03/14, we have now approved 143 (+6) third parties into our marketplace and – so far – 63 of which have released the 249 products (+15). Outside of our store, 740 products (+94) have already been released in 3^rd party stores and the in-sim marketplace. Beyond that, another 285 products (+16) from 3^rd party developers are in production (152 announced, 133 unannounced). In total, over 1025 3^rd party products (+110) are either released or are in development. What a milestone!
• Airports:
  • 656 airports (+8) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 469 airports (+8) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 205 airports (+12) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 76 airports (-1) beyond the released airports have been announced.
    • 111 airports (+1) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an airport is in production.
• Aircraft:
  • 122 aircraft (+1) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 26 aircraft (+1) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 16 aircraft (+2) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 74 aircraft (+0) 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:
  • 226 sceneries (+2) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 224 sceneries (+2) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 17 sceneries (+0) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 2 sceneries (+0) beyond the released scenery have been announced.
• Mission Packs:
  • 21 mission packs (+0) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 21 mission packs (+0) 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 have expanded our SDK Team this week by adding a new tech QA and an engine programmer. They will help provide more features, bug fixes, and direct technical support.
• Documentation:
  • We created a section about VR configuration for cockpits.
  • Along with the soon-to-be-released FX Editor, we are preparing a video tutorial, documentation & samples.

• We are currently preparing an external installer sample.
• DevMode:
  • We are polishing a new feature that will display all the past release notes in the DevMode, and which will also allow users to download the latest update package.
  • Improvements are being made on the DevMode’s font, which could be blurry on some screens.
  • On the Scenery Editor, we fixed a bug on taxiway lines that were no longer displayed. We also fixed a buffer overflow on Display Name.