Almost one month after formally announcing the project, iniBuilds shared Art Development Update 1 for the upcoming A340 Airliner for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.
To start, Max, the Art Director, stated that their rendition of the A340-300 will reflect the 20+ year-old average age of the airframes. This is in stark contrast to the relatively new A350 fleet.
In the previews (provided below), Max highlighted how the team paid close attention to the way that time affects specific components. Panels are worn, grease has accumulated, and hydraulic stains are visible. They’ve even paid attention to fine details like fading text on placards and chips in the paint.
New Engine Modeling Techniques for the A340 Airliner
The A340 will be the first airliner in the iniBuilds fleet to make use of the MSFS-24 exclusive engine ‘shader’ effect, as showcased in the preview video above. While the engine currently rotates the wrong direction due to a simulator limitation, iniBuilds remains confident that Microsoft will address this in a future fix.
Performance, Effects, and Wear
In the post, Max stated that performance and VRAM consumption have been top of mind in the A340 development cycle. In an effort to conserve VRAM, iniBuilds abandoned using 4k and 8k textures entirely in favor of decal-based liveries. This should help preserve quality across a wide range of system settings.
Furthermore, since the A340 will be an MSFS2024 exclusive title, iniBuilds took full advantage of new development tools like the expanded LOD model, modular simobjects systems, and many other performance tweaks.
Like the A350, the A340 will include a wide range of airline-specific options, including SATCOM antennas, ice detection probes, brake fans, and more. Dynamic weathering returns from the A350, along with a new tyre and brake wear simulation.
The post also included a work-in-progress capture of the new wing flex effects on the A340, shown below.
Speaking of wing effects, the A340 will also come with a suite of external efects including wing vapour trails, engine condensation, over-wing vortices, and wingtip trails when atmospheric conditions permit.
According to iniBuilds, interactivity is another key part of immersion. To that effect, they’ve modeled many openable panels on the A340, including fuel loading, ground air, external power, APU access, engine cowlings, potable water, wastewater, cargo doors, and the cargo door control panel. They included two previews of these panels (pictured below).
Cockpit Previews
The primary development focus for the A340 is on the LCD-equipped EIS2. However, the CRT-equipped EIS1 cockpit will also be modelled in the A340. Previews of both cockpits are included below.
Cabin Previews
Two distinct cabin variants were showcased in the Art Update: a make-shift freighter variant that iniBuilds refers to as a “preighter”, along with a full passenger cabin modelled after a German operator. These cabins have been built with performance in mind, and iniBuilds intends that they will be fully suitable for Xbox with only minor reductions.
To close out the post, iniBuilds acknowledged how the A340 is a different beast compared to the lighter handling, faster A350, requiring a much firmer hand at the controls.
No timeline for the release of the iniBuilds A340 was provided in the post. To read the full update on the iniBuilds forum, click here.
