Developer Lanilogic is back with a new update for their Self-Loading Cargo add-on. The update comes nearly three years after the last update for SLC, which was on the 4th of August, 2020. The latest update, going by Version 1.6, promises to be a significant update with 90% rewritten or refactored code. The aim of the update is to make Self-Loading Cargo more future proof and to lay the ground-work for future updates. This will also allow for future updates to be smaller increments rather than the large undertaking that Version 1.6 has been, according to Lanilogic.
Version 1.6
One of the most apparent changes in Version 1.6 is a new user interface. The new interface should enable near instant access to some of the features of SLC. According to the changelog it’s a minimal intrusion into your simulator, allowing you to focus on your flight while also attending to your passengers.
Another new feature is voice control, allowing you to speak to your sim to get things done rather than via interface buttons. You can use preset and customisable voice commands to interact with Self-Loading Cargo, and have the cabin crew perform actions for you. The pilot voice pack and cabin crew voice pack have been significantly overhauled as well, with better interactions, announcements and multi-phase announcements.
Another notable feature is the scoring and satisfaction system. Though this is not new, it has been completely overhauled for Version 1.6. The satisfaction level of the passengers will be more granular, with events that happen throughout the flight, you and your crew’s announcements and their punctuality, as well as your control of the aircraft all being factors in this new satisfaction system.
Last but not least, Version 1.6 adds simulation of ground crew for you to interact with, featuring regionalised voices for increased immersion. The full changelog of the latest update can be found at the end of this article. With all these new features as well as increased business costs, the price for Self-Loading Cargo has been increased with £4, making the new price £16.99 GBP. This only goes for new customers and current customers are able to get the changes in this update for free as part of their product.
Future Updates
It’s been no secret that some members of the community felt quite disappointed with the lack of updates for the last three years, with commenters on FSElite stating they felt duped, lied to and scammed. Lanilogic acknowledges that the communication from their side has been “a bit of a disaster”, being aware that they did not meet expectations from customers in terms of communication and actual updates. A new roadmap should help customers and the developer have a clearer picture of future developments and other features coming down the pipeline. At the time of writing, the roadmap already contains several future updates for Self-Loading Cargo, with expected delivery dates for Version 1.6.2, Version 1.7 and Version 1.8 among other things. Lanilogic is also committing to quarterly development updates detailing ongoing development items.
Changelog
- Brand new toolbar + windowed user interface
- Primary communication button allowing interaction without any other data showing for minimal interference with the simulator window
- New Toolbar interface to enable instant access to all secondary features (aircraft layout, cabin management, narration window etc)
- Significantly overhauled Aircraft Cabin window to allow viewing Passenger Manifest, Aircraft Layout, Passenger Statistics + Interaction information
- Autocue window to assist with voice interaction
- Overhauled flight progress window to show flight state and passenger notifications at your discretion.
- Dedicated Narration window to assist deaf community in keeping abreast of what is going on with the application in lieu of being able to hear the communications
- Primary communications are optionally narrated to assist with relevant responses
- Support for non-English voicepacks (narration will show language used if available)
- Optional Voice Control for Ground Crew / Cabin Crew / Passenger Interaction and User Interface manipulation
- Natural Language contextual voice recognition with optional autocue to assist in making announcements.
- Fully customisable scripts via *.txt files
- Support for English (United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India, and Australia), French, German, Japanese, Mandarin (Chinese Simplified and Chinese Traditional), and Spanish recognition.
- Significantly overhauled Pilot voicepack
- Voice control as well as button and automated support.
- English, American Voice Packs (complete)
- French, German & Spanish Voice Packs (available for voice commands, but audio files to follow due to API limits)
- Over 300 individual audio events with over 5,000 sounds per voice pack
- Fully customisable voice scripts via *.txt files
- Significantly overhauled Cabin Crew voicepack
- Voicepacks available include American, English, French, German, Norwegian, Spanish
- Support for dual-language for passenger announcements (ie. English then French)
- Significantly improved two-way interactions between captain and cabin crew via intercom system
- Support for multi-phase announcements based on what is happening in the aircraft (i.e. if drinks are being served shortly after takeoff they will be announced during the climb announcement – if they are not, they won’t be mentioned)
- Over 200 individual audio events with over 4,000 sounds per voice pack
- Announce destination name, temperature, etc after landing at over 600 major airports.
- Cabin Crew to Pilot Interactions (drink requests, welfare checks, status updates etc)
- Support for pre-recorded airline announcements (before takeoff / after takeoff / before landing / after landing) such as those performed by EasyJet / RyanAir, or dynamic versions from the cabin crew if unavailable.
- Text-based accessibility/narration window for deaf community to assist in the usage of the comms + events system (so they can see what is being said in lieu of being able to hear it)
- Automatic volume regulation based on whether the announcement is being made over the intercom, or into the cabin via the PA system – no more need for a “-muffled” flag on sound files.
- Ground Crew Communications
- Regional accents for American, Australia, Austrian, Canadian, Dutch, French, German, Irish, New Zealand, Norwegian, Spanish, UK (English) Ground Crew at both departure + arrival airports
- Over 1900 individual sounds included, with over 60 individual ground events
- Generic interactions for APU startup, engine startup (including Hotel mode support), fuel loading, passenger boarding etc as detected from aircraft state.
- Pushback System (via aircraft EFB or SLC using voice, button or built-in automation)
- Support for single-engine taxi after pushback
- SimBrief Weights Integration For more accurate loading times
- Multi-stage Passenger + Cabin Crew Announcements
- Voice, Button or Automation supported
- Dynamically generated based on your flight (i.e. can include things like airline flight number, destination, cruise altitude etc)
- Multiple choice options for certain announcement sections (i.e “the weather will be good”, “the weather is expected to be severe” etc.
- Integrated scoring and accuracy system for flight report
- Independant/Syncronised Door Management Simulation
- Door states can now be Closed (Armed), Closed (Disarmed) and Open
- Ability to disconnect doors from simulator in case of compatibility issues (with MSFS specifically!)
- MSFS Jetway support
- Updates the context of voice / button announcements based on which mode is currently in use.
- Overhauled Pilot Scoring and Passenger Satisfaction System
- Rebuilt passenger satisfaction and pilot scoring system to monitor not only aircraft handling, but punctuality, communication + communication accuracy.
- Passengers now have real-time scoring, as well as their overall flight experience scoring (which is used to calculate their individual satisfaction with the flight and subsequently the overall flight rating when every passenger is taken into account). This is based on: “Punctuality”, “Communications Accuracy”, “In-Flight Service Provision”, “Cabin Crew Interactions”, “Flight Comfort”, “Personal Experience”.
- Pilot Scoring is now based on your capabilities at flying the aircraft safely, your punctuality, whether you made communications as required (and how accurate you were when making them), as well as how well you landed the aircraft.
- Flight Reports have been redesigned and overhauled for better user experience and more informative structure.
- Rebuilt Cabin Management and In-Flight Services system
- New scheduling system to control when services are provided to passengers
- Support for hot drinks, hot food, alcohol, duty free and in-flight movie
- WIFI System with 3 modes (Air to Ground, KU and KA Satellite based systems), real-time bandwidth monitor, passenger usage determination and weather attenuation simulation.
- Intelligence from cabin crew to bring services forward based on passenger needs, and/or communications regarding descent with the captain
- Ability to manage cabin overhead and emergency lights
- Ability to manage aircraft toilets
- Rebuilt boarding music system with automation or manual support and automatic detection of crew announcements to reduce the volume
- Regionalised passenger names for a more authentic experience when viewing passenger information
- Simulated (skippable) passenger Check-In / Boarding before boarding starts
- Extended cabin crew visualisations
- Arming/Disarming Doors
- Locking/Unlocking Toilets
- Welcoming passenger onboard, saying goodbye during deboarding
- Living Cabin with Automatic passenger requests, or capability to interact directly with individual passengers from the UI into the cabin simulation (Request drink etc)
- Passenger interactivity via “dong” requests on the passenger overhead, including narrated conversations so that you can see what is occuring when they’re talking to the cabin crew
- Ability to view conversations between crew + passengers viewable based on their interactions throughout the flight (displayed in the aircraft layout UI when a passenger is selected)
- Performance and Compatibility Fixes
- MSFS door compatiblity issues no longer a factor
- External (free!) LUAScript (SLCSeatbeltsXP) to bring seatbelt switch compatiblity to most X-Plane aircraft addons
- Support for Metric altitude setting in your simulator (i.e. EU and China)
- Better handling of X-Plane Zulu time shenanigans (including warnings and recommendations)
- Better FSUIPC communication handling
- Pause detection
- Sim-Rate detection
- Better support for Toliss aircraft N1 issue at startup and Cold+Dark detection overall.
- Support for non-standard N1 values from simulator (0-100 instead of 0-16353) where required
- Significantly improved application performance, memory management and no more progressively worse performance as the flight goes on.
- Miscellaneous
- Discord Rich-Text Integration to show your realtime flight data to your friends on Discord.
- Data Export for numerous parameters (altitude, flight phase etc) and optional Stream Overlay Support
- Online Cabin Layout Online Distribution System (via My Account) to allow sharing of layouts (simply upload then turn on your layout on the website to have it appear in SLC)
- User Manual is now online with full documentation included for voicepacks (including context scripts)
- Technical Support system for customers is now on the website.
- No more installation required – can simply run from a folder.
