Welcome to the fourteenth installment of The Workshop – a series dedicated to the latest news and updates regarding FlyByWire’s work on the A32NX and the upcoming A380. Our previous episodes can be read here. The Workshop is written directly by the FlyByWire team within the FSNews and FlyByWire partnership.
Features of the week
This week, some features have been merged into the latest development version of the aircraft.
ELEC SYSTEM REWORK, PART 1
Our developer David has been hard at work over the past few months designing our new electrical system. He first started by integrating the APU module, which provided our users with a realistic simulation of the APS3200 auxiliary power unit we have decided to recreate. Now, he has integrated the simulation of different electrical busses and their configuration under many situations the aircraft can face.
Currently, electrical load is still handled by MSFS, but work is ongoing to bring this system to life by powering the different equipment with the new simulation. This will provide a solid base for our future expansion into both proper failure scenarios and deeper simulation of normal operations. It has been developed with constant feedback from real-life A320 pilots and engineers, to ensure the highest possible level of realism.
For the technical, this system implementation is written in Rust using the msfs-rs crate, which we have developed a few months ago. It is available for developers who wish to use Rust in their next MSFS project here.
DECAL TEXTURE REWORK
Imenes and Aubrey have been busy reworking many of the decal textures for higher accuracy and visual quality.
Before 
After
Before 
After
NEW WING VIEWS
Our contributor Harry has also added new wing views which you can find in showcase > fixed camera > from 13 to 19.
FLYPAD IMPROVEMENTS
A few new features have been added to the flyPad:
- Top-of-descent calculator
- Plane audio settings, including:
- Volume sliders for engine sounds, exterior sounds and interior wind
- PTU audible in cockpit
WORK in progress
Here are some features we are currently working on:
- Complete from-scratch rework of autopilot systems (routing, autoflight)
- Realistic systems simulations
- Current work focusing on a from-scratch electrical system and custom hydraulics
- Modular update system (downloads individual parts of the mod which have changed, instead of redownloading the entire package)
- Additional EFB features
- Redesign of global UI with a new sidebar layout and better readability
- More options in the Settings page, allowing tuning of various aircraft parameters
- Takeoff and landing performance calculator
- Ground services page
- Avionics rewrite (PFD, ECAM, MCDU and FCU) – for performance improvements and easier code maintenance
- Addition of electrical system sounds (bus transfers and contacts)
Media team applications
We are now expanding our Media Team, and therefore currently recruiting new members with particular skills we are looking for. Namely, we are searching for the following roles:
- Copywriter – Public communications and documentation for our aircraft
- Video producer / editor – Featurettes, tutorials and trailers
- Graphic designer – Graphic overlays for our videos, posters and banners
You can apply for any of the roles above here.
A380X Project Update
Some of you many have noticed that the #a380x-chat channel has disappeared from our Discord server. Fear not, the A380X project is still going strong and we are excited to have more previews to show you in our next livestream. The channel was removed because it was mainly used for asking for a release date, which we cannot provide yet. Discussion of the project is still allowed elsewhere and many of our developers will be happy to answer any questions you have about the airplane.
Our next episode of The Workshop is scheduled to be published on March 19th, 2021.
