A new post has been shared on the Microsoft Flight Simulator blog, which has highlighted that patch #4 will be coming on October 13th 2020. Alongside that news, further development information was shared, a new partnership series update (featuring Aerosoft) and also a snapshot into when we can expect further updates to the simulator.
Patch #4 – Oct 13th 2020 Release
Microsoft is keen to let the community know that tracking, fixing and implementing changes to the simulator is heavily driven by the community’s comments from all the platforms out there. They are working hard to ensure that the transparency is there with the community and when updates will be released along with what the patches will include. The next update will release on October 13th making some improvements to the user interface, the flight aerodynamics, and improvements to the world. The patch notes highlight just a handful of changes, but we’re expecting a full changelog upon release of the patch itself.
- Bug fixes (VFR Map, Avionics black screen, etc.)
- Navigation data updates
- UI updates
- Aerodynamics updates
- Activity updates
- Marketplace updates
- World updates
Future Patches / Updates
The feedback snapshot and development roadmap highlight that Microsoft and Asobo Studio won’t be sat still too long as update #5 is due to release on October 27th 2020, followed by updates #6 and #7 in November. Some of the changes found in these patches are highlighted in the feedback snapshot which was shared in this week’s blog post.
VR Closed Beta
A quick mention was made about the upcoming Closed Beta for VR users. Microsoft is looking through the applications and will update the community once testers have been selected.
Partnership Series: Aerosoft
A new Partnership Series video has been released focusing on Aerosoft. The video reveals that Aerosoft continues to work on the CRJ for Microsoft Flight Simulator and that they are continuing to work closely with Asobo Studio to make the SDK as good as possible to ensure that the aircraft will function well within the simulator. Alongside that, it’s confirmed that Hamburg, Barcelona Airport, Munich Airport, and Brussels Airport will be coming to the simulator.
SDK Updated
The SDK continues to be updated with developer requests and feedback. In Particular, this is what was said to be working on and how it will improve the experience for developers soon:
- Project Editor:
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- We are working on the Project Editor to facilitate Package exporting for community and marketplace targets. A package validation process is also being added to this new publish process, with user-facing error feedback.
- Besides improvements on the Project Editor, we are also working on the Console window to improve its ergonomics and add features which should help better understand what is going on in the sim.
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- Aircraft Editor:
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- The tool keeps on being improved thanks to community feedback and bug report, which are systematically taken into account and most of the time addressed straight away.
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- Scenery Editor:
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- General stability improvements.
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- Nodal Visual System:
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- We keep making progress on the new nodal visual effects system, which should be ready for production soon.
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That concludes everything from the update Microsoft shared in this week’s blog post. We’ll be sure to cover the details of the patch #4 which will release on October 13th 2020.
