The latest Microsoft Flight Simulator update is now available to download and it adds a huge amount of extra content. The Game of the Year Edition of the simulator comes packed with new aircraft, new airports, new features and improvements across the board to make the sim even better.
Starting with new additional aircraft, the Game of the Year Edition brings 5 brand new aircraft free of charge to the simulator. Those aircraft are the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet, the Pilatus PC-6 Porter, CubCrafters NX Cub, Aviat Pitts Special S1S and also a new eVTOL called “VoloCity“. All of the aircraft are original creations specifically designed for the new simulator. For example, the PC-6 Porter, originally planned as payware, was developed by Hans Hartmann who is known for his Aerosoft CRJ. Likewise, the F/A-18 was originally planned to release with the Top Gun: Maverick expansion, but Microsoft wanted to give users the chance to fly the military jet now.
Further to the 5 new aircraft, eight new hand-crafted airports across Central Europe and the US were added to the simulator. These are:
- Leipzig/Halle Airport (EDDP)
- Allgäu Airport Memmingen (EDJA)
- Kassel Airport (EDVK)
- Lugano Airport (LSZA)
- Zurich Airport (LSZH)
- Luzern-Beromunster Airport (LSZO)
- Patrick Space Force Base (KCOF)
- Marine Corps Air Station Miramar (KNKX)
New photogrammetry cities have also been added. These are: Helsinki (Finland), Freiburg in Germany (Germany), Brighton, Derby, Eastbourne, Newcastle, and Nottingham (UK), ), Vers-Pont-Du-Gard, Chambord and Port-Vendres (France) and Utrecht (Netherlands).
To help simmers of all experience levels, new tutorials have been added to the Game of the Year Edition. In partnership with FS Academy, the team has added 14 new tutorials to introduce simmers to Bush flying in an Icon A5 and also IFR in the Cessna 172.
In addition to the new content, new features were also added to the core simulator. This includes a replay system, an improved weather engine and also optional DirectX12 usage.
New Replay System
The new replay system is essentially what the Microsoft team use to capture video footage when creating the trailers. The replay system is functional, but lacks a UI that Microsoft considered completely polished and ready, Jorg confirmed to us in an interview that the replay mode will be looked at more in the future as they collect feedback from the community.
DirectX12
Whilst DirectX12 was part of the Xbox release, it has just been added to the PC version with Sim Update 7. It’s worth noting that right now, the implementation of DX12 is optional and is only a port of the API and not a full implementation (in the sense it uses features or enhances performance). It’s there for the community to try and report feedback, but there are no true benefits of using DirectX12 at this point in time.
Other Changes/Features
As with other Sim Updates, this one comes with a bunch of changes and fixes all designed to improve the performance, stability and overall usability of the simulator. Below is the full changelog as given by Microsoft on their blog.
As you wait for the 33GB download to install, why not check out our recap on the latest Developer Q&A session, or read about PMDG bringing their aircraft to the in-sim Marketplace very soon.
STABILITY
- Several crashes have been fixed across the title
- Fixed sim being stuck while loading the world data in rare cases
- Improved online multiplayer plane trajectory accuracy and stability
- A first implementation of DX12 can now be activated via the Option menu (requires a reboot of the title)
NAVIGATION
- New Arinc424 Cycle 2111 is now available
- Flight plans that were externally loaded or manually edited on the world map will no longer be recomputed from scratch when changing the instrument procedures or the parking spots
- AI controls ATC will no longer automatically send the updated flight plan from the aircraft’s instrument whenever a change is made
WEATHER
- Improved METAR ingestion into live weather
- You can now consult real airport METARs during flight from the Weather panel (only when Live Weather is active)
- Updated .WPR file versioning for weather preset edition. Now handles both coverage and density for cloud layers (Formerly density became coverage). Backward compatibility has been handled
- It is now possible to put clouds below sea level (-400m) for regions such the Dead Sea
- Fixed AGL / MSL UI display in weather panel
- Setting wind with weather panel is more coherent with in-game wind near ground
- Fixed unit conversions in weather panel
- Minor UI improvements in weather panel
VR
Microsoft Flight Simulator is now compatible with VR controllers on PC!
- Main menu: Use the raycast mode to navigate and interact with the menus
Cockpit - Instruments: Switch between the proximity mode (you interact with the instruments by grabbing them) and the raycast mode (you use a raycast to pinpoint the instrument you want to interact with). Beware of the autopilot as it overrides your inputs.
- Yoke/stick: In the VR options, you can choose between ‘Hold’ mode (hold the interaction button to grab the yoke) and ‘Toggle’ mode (press the interaction button once to grab the yoke and press the button again to release it) to interact with the yoke at your convenience.
- Toolbar: Use the raycast mode to interact with the toolbar and the in-game panels.
- Implementing support for VR controllers has required a few updates in each plane. If a plane has not been updated, a pop-up message informs you that it is not fully compatible with VR controllers, in which case:
- You cannot grab the yoke with the VR controllers and control it with hand gesture.
- You can control the yoke with the stick of the left VR controllers.
- You can interact properly with the instruments using the VR controllers.
- Implementing support for VR controllers has required a few updates in each plane. If a plane has not been updated, a pop-up message informs you that it is not fully compatible with VR controllers, in which case:
- Lighting issues are fixed.
- VR is compatible with DX12. You might encounter a few issues as the implementation of Dx12 is still WIP.
ACCESSIBILITY
- Audio Customization: Option to convert to Mono for people deaf in a single ear
- Option to Adjust Background Contrast in HUD has been added
ACTIVITY
- A new Spotlight Event landing challenge is available for you to fly, featuring the F/A-18E Super Hornet landing at MCAS Miramar. 4 hours of existing flight time in a non-Discovery flight (free flight, landing challenges, bush trips, etc.) are required to display the event on the homepage, which replaces the Discovery Flight shortcut.
- G-Effect and G-Suit preference assistances have been added in the option menu
- New assistance has been added to disable the automatic logbook at the end of a flight
- Fixed Bushtrip progression not saved when completing a bushtrip leg
- Fixed Germany bushtrip which could not be completed
- Fixed Take Off Airliner Flight tutorial that cannot be completed with the keyboard only
- Completing a landing challenge will no longer change Assistance settings
PLANES
GENERAL
- Fixed a bug with water rudders at high speeds and with water rudders incorrectly affecting aerodynamics in air
- Made ITT simulation engine specific on multi engine turboprop aircraft
- Modular fuel system now supports CG based triggers
- The primed level of the piston engine does not reset anymore when no combustion happens
- Added a new parameter to use in the flt files for turbine engines : CorrectedFF
- Added TACAN related inputs
- Added a SimVar that shows the effective flaps handle position when some logic makes it different than the physical position
- Checklist’s highlights will now properly use the HIGHLIGHT_NODE_ID rather than the NODE_ID if specified (Previously only affected the hover highlight)
- Added a parameter to specify whether or not a plane’s autothrottle attempts to maintain the Vertical Speed when controlling the airspeed
- Title no longer crashes when trying to invert a one-waypoint flightplan
- Added SIMVARs for TACAN Navigation
- Improved accuracy of FLC speed hold system on aircraft with a calibration difference between IAS and CAS
- Corrected an issue which would cause the fuel capacity of planes using the modular fuel system to be displayed as 0gal
- AUDIO : added flaps drag sound effects
- AUDIO : added passenger ambiences cabin in airliners
Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental / Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner
- MCDU now support waypoint insertion in Leg Page
Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner
- Fixed HUD projection
- MCDU has all its buttons highlighted on hover
- ND flightplan display now has correct color
- REV indication on EICAS is now display when in reverse mode
Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental
- NavAids indicator on PFD now have adequate color
- NavAids indicator symbol are removed
Airbus A320neo
- Fixed a problem that prevented auto start (Ctrl+E) without external power unit
- Autopilot now updates its target Vertical Speed while in VS mode
- Autopilot now updates its target Altitude while in VS or Managed mode
- Corrected an issue which allowed setting the Autobrakes to the MAX position in flight, when it should be disabled
Cessna Citation Longitude
- Corrected an issue which caused push buttons for lights not to change state when toggled using a key
- Fixed ITT alarm is ringing and caution message is displayed on PFD while ITT graph and numbers are green on PFD
- Fixed aural warning related to parking brake cannot be silenced without disengaging the brake
JMB VL-3
- Correction lights in the airframe
Cessna 208 B Grand Caravan EX
- Correction of some textures for airframe
- Condition lever has new keys to bind. Preexisting bindings to mixture keys can also be used to move the lever without any change in settings
- Fuel flow controller PID was tuned to avoid FF spikes when using the condition lever
Beechcraft King Air 350i
- Condition lever has new keys to bind. Preexisting bindings to mixture keys can also be used to move the lever without any change in settings
- Throttle levers animation gives incorrect lever position
Cessna 172 Skyhawk
- Pushback service was removed from the Floats version
Daher TBM 930
- Fixed aural warning related to parking braking could not be silenced without disengaging the brake
EXTRA 330LT
- Removed some electrical circuits from the E330 that were not used in the plane but could be enabled using the TOGGLE_ALL_LIGHTS key
WORLD
- Fixed a crash that could occur when flying near cities with a lot of autogen buildings
- Various watermasks have been added around the world
- Improved night lighting by reducing the intensity of the distant sepia layer
- Fixed an issue with wind turbines lights sometimes no display at the right altitude
- Fixed terminal missing at KSFB
- VGHS airport has been renamed
- Collision pass has been performed on most of the bespoke airports
- Vegetation has been tweaked around Christ the Redeemer
- Improved LODs on CYTZ Toronto
UI
- Fixed mouse click sometimes didn’t work on external windows
- Added a Minimized HUD assistance under option
- Moved In-game news and Release notes at the bottom of the main menu
- The Marketplace is now accessible directly from a dedicated widget in the main menu
- Allow inputs to be mapped on key/button release
- Community-made activities now have their own dedicated page. They are grouped by their mission type, which can now have any custom value
PERIPHERALS
- Tobii eye tracker is now supported (more settings/configuration will come in a later update)
- Added a new gamepad preset : Gamepad (Fighter Jet) to complement the F/A 18 release
- Added the Afterburner controls to the commands list
- Added the G Limiter controls to the commands list
