Third-party developers had plenty of reveals to share about upcoming add-ons for Microsoft Flight Simulator, mostly focusing on aircraft, on top of a couple of airport releases.
We start with Just Flight, which provided a development update on its Panavia Tornado GR1. We get to see a few liveries being created focusing on the Royal Air Force, albeit there will be more from the German Air Force, German Navy, Italian Air Force, and Royal Saudi Air Force at release, with a mix of standard and special ones.
The systems are being coded from scratch, and work is well underway on functionality added to the electrical, fuel, and hydraulic systems, which lay the foundations for all other systems. The plan is to provide "the highest level of fidelity possible within Microsoft Flight Simulator."
We stay with Just Flight for a new look at the Piper PA-38 Tomahawk, alongside a development update.
One of the main features that has recently been added to the Tomahawk is an interactive walkaround mode. Accessible via the EFB, you will be able to navigate around the exterior of the aircraft and interact with various components as you perform your walkaround. Clicking on a camera position on the EFB will move your camera to that position on the exterior of the aircraft. Once you are at one of the preset positions, the mini checklist on the EFB shows you which components can be checked and interacted with at that position. As evidenced in the screenshots here, interactive components range from the fitting and removal of chocks, tie-downs and tow bar, the former of which actually appear in the aircraft’s baggage compartment when not fitted, as well as other interactable components such as control surfaces, stall warning tab, and the propeller. Just promise us you’ll be careful not to hand crank the prop with the magnetos switched on!
You might also notice from the screenshots that a wear level is now displayed in the lower corner of the EFB, and that is because we have also added wear and tear simulation! Not only will the wear level and fluid quantity of components be affected over time, but it will also be affected depending on how you treat your aircraft. Are you the type of pilot who looks after their aircraft, and greases every landing on a smooth asphalt runway? Or are you the type who likes to fly on rough dirt strips and prefers a ‘positive’ touchdown? These types of behaviour will, for example, directly affect the wear and tear on your tyres. And as the tyre wear increases, your braking performance and handling quality will decrease. If a component has too much wear, you may need to repair it before you can get a “tick” next to an item to indicate that it has been cleared for flight.
Moving back into the cockpit, the instruments are now also affected by the amount of suction in the vacuum system. This is particularly noticeable when starting the engine and the attitude indicator and direction indicator wobble as the suction increases. During shutdown, the attitude director will initially remain in its correct position, before slowly rolling to one side.
The entire exterior of the aircraft has also been retextured, but the screenshots still show the old textures.
Moving on to the realm of freeware, we get a development update on the Embraer E170 and E175 by Ouroboros, provided on the developer's Discord server. Here's a list of the progress made since the previous update and a few screenshots.
- Aircraft Wing structure added for part placement and gear bay accuracy
- Wing skin "Shape" adjusted to fit new gear bay and supercritical airfoil.
- Complete retopology of inner-mid wing segments
- Slats, Flaps, Spoilers, re-modeled & placed
- Modeled Panel gaps, and wingspars are ready for new hydraulic and mechanical details!
- Gear bay walls constructed
- Wheel shape mirrored to fuselage & wing for door cutouts
- E170 & E175 Wingtips preserved
We also get an update from Horizon Simulations about its overhaul of the Boeing 787-10 showing new work done on the textures, including the addition of dirt and grime.
Moving back to paid products, Orbx released the Swedish Triple Pack including Umeå (ESNU), Kiruna (ESNQ), and Scandinavian Mountains airports (ESKS). It's available on Orbx Direct for $29.98.
It includes the following perks and you can see a trailer below featuring the new airports alongside the other Scandinavian airports by Marcus Nyberg.
- Three beautiful airports for the price of one - ESNU Umeå, ESNQ Kiruna and ESKS Scandinavian Mountains
- Snow piles and snow trucks with conditional display at all airports
- Amazing ground textures based on 7-8cm/px ortho imagery
- Unique statics true to Umeå Airport (optional)
- Sauna boat at Umeå for those wanting to chill out after landing
- A digital sign featuring time and temperature at Kiruna Airport
- Included GSX profiles (thanks to pvrlpe)
- A perfect getaway for the 737, A320, and ATR fans with multiple seasonal routes covering several European hubs
- Great way to expand your route network from Stockholm-Arlanda & Stockholm-Bromma
Lastly, Spinoza released Osnabrück-Atterheide Airport (EDWO) in Germany. It's available on Simmarket for $19.69.
As usual, you can stay tuned on TechRaptor for daily news about Microsoft Flight Simulator's frequent add-on releases and reveals.
