Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024’s Sim Update 6 Beta is available now. Here’s what you need to know before you join.
SU6’s headlining feature is support for NVIDIA DLSS 4.5 and AMD FSR4 upscaling and frame generation technology. We covered what DLSS 4.5 means for Flight Simulation in an article here, but basically, the newest upscalers from both NVIDIA and AMD give pilots better performance and visual quality.
For AMD 7000 and 9000 series GPU owners in particular, native FSR4 support means OptiScaler is no longer required to access it. Importantly, the in-game menu will only say “AMD FSR,” while your card’s driver figures out which version to use.
Along with the new upscalers, texture/LoD popping inside the cockpit has been improved, Raymarched shadows at distance have been fixed, blurry secondary aerials have been fixed, and a rare LoD-related blinking issue has also been corrected.
Playstation VR 2 compatibility received significant attention. Sim Update 6 Beta brings further improvements to the graphics pipeline, leading to better resolution at the center of the field of vision, better performance, and lower memory cost for PSVR2 users, along with a fix for the night vision effect.
Quality of Life Improvements
Walkaround can now be skipped in Free Flight. There is a new assistance option to start a Free Flight without doing the walkaround. SU6 also adds logbook-entry notifications in Free Flight, toolbar button tooltips, a revamped World Photographer reward screen, and lighting at generic airports.
Taxi Ribbons have been improved. Issues like ribbons cutting over airport areas, long detours, and ribbons leading to the wrong hold-short area have been fixed.
Weather interface updates include: a fix for visibility data not displaying correctly in free flight when showing a flight plan with live weather, a fix to allow pilots to hide clouds in free flight when not using live weather, a fix for weather desynchronization in multiplayer groups, and a fix for TAFs not correctly displaying the evolution of weather data over time in the EFB.
ILS localizers and glideslopes have been realigned with runways in cases when they are not intentionally offset. GBAS/SBAS points and GLS facilities are now in the sim, but GLS approaches are not enabled yet. An LPV200 flag for approach navigation data has also been added.
Other navdata improvements include the addition of a threshold crossing height for glideslopes, new boundary designations, and comm frequency sector bearing/altitude/distance restrictions.
Avionics and Systems Updates
The G3000/G5000 received an updated weather radar settings page, the ability to control radar tilt and bearing, fixes to the initialization page, and a fix to disable automatic stabilization of the radar if attitude data isn’t available from the AHRS. The older Garmin GNS 430 and GNS 530 units received improvements to backlighting usability.
The Pro Line 21 received fixes for EFB to avionics data transfers, while the UNS-1ew received improvements including an LNAV CDI scale value, glidepath support, and improved turn anticipation.
The Avidyne IFD550 and IFD540 received improvements to the terrain awareness overlay and simvar handling.
Together, the avionics updates in Sim Update 6’s first beta build paint a picture of quality-of-life improvements rather than dramatic new additions.
Sim Update 6 Aircraft and Development Tool Updates
Sim Update 6’s first build features minor aircraft-specific improvements. Engines in the 172, AT802, DA62, and E330 should now shut down more quickly when running out of fuel, since a new fix addressed an issue with oversized fuel lines.
Aircraft systems received the majority of the attention in Sim Update 6’s first public beta build. The electrical system was updated for better loop detection and load sharing, a new line tension simulation was added, and battery charge rate fixes were implemented.
The hydraulic system received a new “drop pressure” parameter under which actuators cannot move. This prevents controls from moving under the 14psi of ambient pressure that exists when systems are not powered on.
New pneumatics behavior means the outflow valve now manages cabin altitude rate instead of cabin pressure, allowing it to restrict the cabin climb as much as possible. Pack logic is now separate from engine bleed logic, and electric valves can now activate their respective electrical circuits on their own.\
Pilots won’t immediately notice these systems changes, as these updates and a host of other new tools and fixes in the MSFS SDK are geared towards improving developers’ experience with the platform.
Sim Update 6 3rd Party Compatibility
Parallel 42 issued a cautionary statement on its Discord advising customers to leave the beta and return to the current public release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 if they experience issues with ChasePlane.
TFDI Design issued a community announcement on its Discord stating that due to the constantly evolving nature of the platform, bug reports submitted by pilots using the Sim Update 6 Beta may not be immediately addressed.
TFDI also shared that switching into and out of Sim Update Betas may corrupt WASM builds for 3rd party modules. If users experience issues with products not working properly, the first step is to delete the WASM folder for that specific package and let the sim rebuild it upon load.
PS5 users have reported and reproduced an issue with the Thrustmaster T.Flight Hotas 4 in the MSFS Forum.
We’ll continue to update this article as developers provide more information.
Click here to read the full announcement on the Microsoft Flight Simulator Forums.
