Microsoft just hosted a livestream dedicated to Microsoft Flight Simulator, with plenty of information about features and improvements coming to the simulator.
As usual with this kind of livestream broadcasted on the official Twitch channel, the news was shared by head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jorg Neumann, Asobo chief executive officer Sebastian Wlock, and executive producer Martial Bossard.
Neumann mentioned that over the past two months, the simulator has been "soaring" with the highest monthly active user numbers in over a year and the second-highest returning user number ever, behind the launch of the Top Gun expansion.
We then hear that a fourth City Update has been added to 2024's calendar. Previously, only three were planned. Neumann also clarified that City Updates will always focus on North America and Europe due to the amount of data available.
Neumann then mentioned that the previously-delayed Dune expansion is coming soon, but Microsoft is not yet ready to announce the specific date.
Interestingly, we hear that the team wants to add AMD FSR3 support to the game, but they're not able to commit to a date for now.
We then move on to improvements coming in Sim Update 15, which is targeting a March 12 release, while the beta testing should start soon.
Data ingestion for live traffic will be changed and the amount of planes that will be displayed is going to be significantly increased. Traffic planes will be piloted by the AI directly while trying to stick to the real-world data received.
Model and livery matching will be improved including a setting that will try to replace missing liveries with airlines that realistically fly in the same region.
A fix for missing ATC voices is also being tested, alongside several more fixes for various issues with ATC.
The team at iniBuilds is trying to bring back the new Airbus A320neo for Sim Update 15 (but this wasn't promised). That being said, it won't be in the first round of beta.
The update will include performance improvements and optimization. A big improvement will be made to memory allocation. The developers have found out that the system they used was not efficient, so it's going to be changed in a way that should prevent random performance loss.
Another area that the developers (both Asobo and Working Title) are working on is improving the performance of glass cockpit screens, as you can see below.
Snow coverage will be improved further. The team is in discussion with MeteoBlue on how to get better data, and below you can see a comparison between Sim Update 14 (above) and Sim Update 15 (below). There will be much less icing on the water.
Another round of crash fixes will be included in Sim Update 15, albeit the number of crash cases has become much smaller as of late.
Moving on to new features coming with the Sim Update, below you can see support for multi-rotor helicopters. Further improvement will be worked on for future updates.
We hear about new features coming for xCloud. It'll support touch and gyro controls including a new touch control scheme with custom button mappings. Sensitivity of the gyroscope will also be customizable, As a result, an Xbox controller won't be required anymore.
The Garmin G3X Touch avionics suite has also been redone by Working Title from the ground up with the following features.
Lastly, the World Hub is being tested in closed alpha. The first bundle of user-submitted changes is planned for implementation in the simulator in February and the developers expect to provide updates alongside the new AIRAC cycles every month. A list of updated airports will be provided when the implementation happens.
Below you can check out the updated roadmap for the year. It's worth mentioning that the fourth City Update mentioned above has not been added just yet.
Moving on to third-party developers, NetDesign released new screenshots showing the current state of development of Houari Boumediene Airport (DAAG) serving Algiers, the capital of Algeria.
As usual, you can expect daily news on Microsoft Flight Simulator here on TechRaptor, as we cover this lively but complex hobby and provide you with navigation aids among the super-active third-party industry.
