Third-party developers shared some interesting news about upcoming aircraft for Microsoft Flight Simulator, including something that promises to be quite revolutionary.
We finally get plenty of details and screenshots of the previously-teased F-5E Tiger II by SC Designs.
We learn that the project is in an advanced stage of development and will be complete and ready for release soon. Work on the flight model and systems is well underway, and the cockpit is almost complete, including gunsight and radar.
The package will include a paint kit and plenty of liveries. Funnily, we're also getting the fictional Mig-28 livery from the original Top Gun movie.
- USAF Silver
- USAF Aggressor
- USN Aggressor
- “MiG-28” from the movie TOP GUN
- USAF Vietnam scheme
- Austria
- Bahrain
- Chile
- FAB
- Iran
- RMAF
- ROCAF
- ROKAF
- RSAF
- Swiss Air Force
It'll be priced at £17.99, and we hear that the two-seater F-5F is a possibility for the future, but no promises have been made. The aircraft will be released on the official marketplace, Just Flight, and other stores.
What's perhaps even more interesting is that SC Designs' sister brand DC Design (pretty literally, as the developers are brothers) is working on a working weapon system supporting multiplayer for Microsoft Flight Simulator.
The system will only work with the military aircraft by DC Designs, SC Designs, and CJ Simulations and it won't affect any other aircraft nor any player flying without the system active.
In the aircraft that will support it, it'll have three modes, Off, Training, and Live. Training mode will simply have a hit counter, while Live will result in hit aircraft crashing and burning. Players won't be able to switch it off in flight to avoid cheating.
It won't be a fully realistic simulation and it appears that only guns and short-range missiles will be supported (including visual effects like tracers and missiles launching off the rails) and the missiles will be stern-quarter Infrared-seeking to encourage players to learn dogfighting techniques.
Interestingly, it appears that it'll also be supported on Xbox and not just on PC. That being said, the weapons and visual effects won't be visible on consoles, as any visible weapons would conflict with the rules of the official marketplace.
The system will start simple to make sure it works before the developer starts to elaborate it further. That being said, it's certainly promising from a gameplay perspective.
Moving on to scenery, Drzewiecki Design revealed an add-on focusing on landmarks for Warsaw, the capital of Poland. You can see the first screenshots below.
Lastly, Orbx released the triple package "Not So Deadly 3 - Cabin Creek, Wilson Bar, and Marble Creek Airstrips." As the name implies, it's the follow-up to the "Idaho's Deadly 3" add-on including I08 Cabin Creek, C48 Wilson Bar, and ID8 Marble Creek airstrips in Idaho, United States.
It's available on Orbx Direct for $12.66 and you can expect the following features.
- 08 Cabin Creek USFS - 1750 ft slight uphill, one way in.
- C48 Wilson Bar USFS - 1500ft uphill, dogleg on final, one way in.
- ID8 Marble Creek - 1160ft tight valley approach. Landable in both directions.
- Cabin Creek STOL Sand Bars - Located directly south of Cabin Creek on Big Creek.
- 3 landing spots, with different degrees of difficulty.
- Wilson Bar and Marble Creek also have extra STOL areas as well.
- Many new animated animals and birds, plus already seen wildlife in the "Deadly 3".
- As usual, make sure your approach is clear.
- Extensive Vegetation library for immersion. Many new bushes, grass, trees, rocks, logs and flowers.
- All new effects - smoke, fire, and rapids/water spray.
As usual, please keep in mind that here on TechRaptor we publish daily news about Microsoft Flight Simulator add-ons, to help you keep track of this fluid and dynamic market.