Today, we also published the 53rd episode of our video series “This Week in Flight Simulation News,” to keep you up to date in case you missed any big news in the past seven days.
Airbus A350 for MSFS by Rhodiumcode Gets First Cinematic Trailer
Rhodiumdode revealed the first extensive look at its Airbus A350-900 in a cinematic trailer, providing a look at the flight deck, exterior, and even a glimpse at the systems in action.
While a lot of mystery remains over this aircraft, it certainly looks quite promising. We’ll have to wait and see for more information down the line.
At the moment, the aircraft doesn’t have a release date, but the developer mentioned that there’s much work still to do. It has been developed natively for MSFS 2020, but MSFS 2024 is planned to come before beta testing starts. The trailer itself shows the aircraft running in MSFS 2020.
Fokker F100 and F70 for MSFS Gets New Screenshots and Development Update
Just Flight released new screenshots and a development update for its upcoming Fokker F100 and F70 add-on.
We get a detailed explanation of the current state of development, and we learn that every livery will have its own custom cabin. Over 25 unique cabins will ship with the aircraft.
The one thing we don’t get today is a release date or window. We’ll have to wait longer for that.
“As we move closer to release (yes, we have a tentative release window set internally – no, we’re not quite ready to share that yet…), parts of our development team are beginning to make the shift from extensive testing and development, to completing the remaining work on the Operations and EFB manuals, support page FAQs, and a selection of pre-release videos that show off the product’s vast feature set in detail. All of this content will indeed be available ahead of release. With the level of dedication and passion we have invested in these products, we are extremely confident that they will represent our very best work to date.
On the systems coding side, a new beta build was supplied to our testing team within the last week. This beta build marks the start of the final testing phase and is the first build to include our fully re-coded AFCAS Profile logic. The aircraft can be flown in Profile mode from 35ft after takeoff, all the way down to approach minimums, while correctly respecting any altitude and speed constraints, and maintaining minimal deviation from the computed vertical profile. If a descent path is too steep, or if a discontinuity exists in the flight plan, alerts will also be generated on the PFD and CDU.
Our testers are currently busy flying the aircraft on a wide range of routes, and in the nicest possible way, trying to break it in as many ways as possible. At the same time, our development team continues to work through feedback received from this latest build. While the vast majority of the feedback has been incredibly positive, it’s fair to say that there is also further bug fixing and extra polishing still required ahead of release, hence why we’re not quite at the point of being in a position to announce a specific release date.
To give an example of the type of work that is currently ongoing, we’ve just completed a mini-overhaul of the braking system. Braking effectiveness for both manual braking and the autobrake systems has been fine tuned based on figures quoted in the real aircraft’s documentation, along with the figures provided by the Performance Calculator located on the EFB. These changes also necessitated some changes to the brake temperature logic, which has now also been improved to more accurately simulate the heat generated during braking. In addition, we have also recently completed work on the systems tests, which, when you’re in a position to do so, we encourage you to try when running through the aircraft’s pre-flight checklists.
As you may have noticed in previous screenshots, the cockpit artwork has also received significant attention in recent months. Alongside a full ambient occlusion re-bake, colour corrections have been applied across the entire cockpit – most noticeably on the FMP knobs, which have taken on a slightly yellowed appearance over time due to UV exposure. Additional dirt has been added to buttons based on newly sourced reference imagery, and a light amount of dust is also now present on selected panels.
Those familiar with Just Flight products will know that clean, fresh out of the factory aircraft just aren’t our thing, and we much prefer to depict an aircraft that has been a workhorse for the airlines it served.
Continuing on the artwork front, our livery artist has also been hard at work producing custom cabin textures for each F70 and F100 livery that will be available to download at the time of release (more news on that soon…).
In total, over 25 unique cabins have been created, offering a good variety of classic and modern cabin designs. Combined with the advanced galley simulation, fully interactable doors, Auto Cabin Crew logic, and Digital Music Player with announcements and music modes, these bespoke cabin texture help make the cabin a very immersive place to be.
Hopefully this update has offered an insightful look behind the scenes into what is a relatively small segment of the ongoing work on the F70 Professional and F100 Professional. Do keep an eye on our social platforms for more content as we get closer to the big day!”
Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport Coming Soon to MSFS 2024
LHSimulations announced that the MSFS 2024 version of its Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport (LHBP) serving the capital of Hungary, is on “final approach.”
The MSFS 2020 version got update 2.4.0 today, and you can find the patch notes below.
Ground & Markings
- Asphalt layer mesh artifacts at taxiway U (fixed)
- Nosewheel stopping lines with aircraft type added to T2 gates and parking stands
- Jetway base position ground markings added
- Exit H1 ground marking added
- Red hatched safety area markings added at stands 37–39
- Blue pedestrian walkway markings added at stands 37–39
- Ground marking colors adjusted
Lighting
- Runway hold short lights added (scripted: lights switch off when the user aircraft approaches)
- Runway guard lights added at holding positions
- Complete rework of apron lighting (airport was too dark at night)
- New taxiway lights added (hold short bar, no entry bar, intermediate taxiway lights)
- Apron hexa lights LODs, light source reworked
- Strobe light added on top of the Tower
- Taxiway center lights updated according to official ground charts
- Runway edge lights incorrectly placed on some taxiways (fixed)
- PIER jetway lamps too bright and bleeding into cockpit (fixed)
- PIER jetway emissive map missing (fixed)
Objects & Models
- Some buildings on the west side sinking into the ground (fixed)
- Duplicate radar model at runway 31R (fixed)
- Missing ILS DME at all runways (fixed)
- Escalator in Terminal 2 (Economy) repositioned (fixed)
- Static jetways (34–36) blocking alternate stands (fixed)
- Static jetway ladders (34–36) rendering artifacts (fixed)
- All static vehicles removed from parking stands and gates
- VDGS models extended with stand number and coordinates at PIER (34–39)
- New parking stand boards with stand number and coordinates at GA and Cargo areas
- L1–L8 signs added at PIER Terminal
Terminal II, Tower and Fire Station:
- Light sources and emissive maps reworked
- Collision boxes added
- LODs reworked
- Terminal II SkyCourt handrail rendering artifacts (fixed)
Tokyo Haneda Airport for X-Plane Completed and Releasing Soon
Axonos announced on Discord that its Tokyo Haneda Airport (RJTT) in Japan is now complete. It was unfortunately delayed due to the developer’s health issues, but it’s finally ready for prime time.
It should be released very soon, and you can check out a few screenshots in the gallery above.
If you’d like to read more flight simulation news, you can find plenty in our previous roundup article from yesterday.
If you want to go further back, we have a handy overview video of the major flight simulation news in the past week. You can watch it below. As usual, leaving a like and a comment and subscribing to our growing YouTube channel is extremely helpful.
