In a recent Aerosoft forum discussion, Aerosoft lead developers, Mathijs Kok and Hans Hartmann have shared new development details and some new previews of the company’s upcoming Aerosoft Mitsubishi CRJ Series family for MSFS.
The discussion begins with a screenshot of the CRJ’s in-built EFB, provided by Hans Hartmann, and shows the “Options” page of the Electronic Flight Bag. Keen observers can, however, quickly spot that the EFB will come with numerous pages, including those dedicated to Checklists, Performance Calculations, and Maintenance. Additionally, a tab entitled “Aircraft” can also be observed, most likely referring to actions related to the aircraft’s exterior that can be triggered, such as toggling the GPU or setting the chocks. Hans also provided a cockpit shot of the same EFB page as observed from within the P3Dv5.1 version of the plane, essentially providing readers with a side-by-side comparison of how the EFB’s looks will differ in MSFS.
Hans also confirms that the developers, though not at first release, do plan to eventually integrate the native MSFS checklist system into their addon. However, due to said integration requiring for the entire checklist to be ported over into .JSON format, the developers indicate that this feature does not, at the moment, occupy the top of their priority list.
Moving on, Matthijs demonstrates the accuracy of the modelling and the sharpness of the texture work that has already been accomplished by posting two screenshots. The first screenshot captures the detail surrounding the pitot-static valves, located outside the aircraft just below the cockpit windows. The other picture captures the detailed texturing, implemented inside the cockpit, on the centre pedestal. Mathijs further indicates that even the screws have been modelled to be fixed in different angles to avoid repeating patterns.
Although providing a significant number of details, the highlight of the discussion is the range of previews posted by developer Hans Hartmann, capturing both the exterior and interior of the Mitsubishi CRJ in multiple different phases of flight.
Mathijs indicates that the initial release of the CRJ Series will cover both the CRJ-550 and CRJ-700 Series aircraft, with the CRJ-900 and CRJ-1000 Series being added later on. The developer also states that this “expansion” will come in the form of a paid update, though he specifically underlined that pricing will be fair to existing customers.
Also, being asked the question whether, with recent SDK updates to the MSFS platform, all the puzzle pieces have now been provided to the developers to complete the aircraft, Mathijs responds that the SDK does not prove to be the bottleneck at present. Mathijs indicates that, provided one has the required financial resources, the SDK actually proves quite workable. Working in close cooperation with Asobo Studios at the moment, Mathijs also lets readers know that, though important, only bugs remain to be solved.
In conclusion, Mathijs indicates that Beta testing of the aircraft is set to begin in earnest within the next couple of days, putting an official release most likely not too far off in the future.
If you desire more information and would like to read the entire forum post, head on over to the Aerosoft forums.
