Flight Simulation developers shared news today, including an aircraft and a utility for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and MSFS 2020, on top of DCS World news,
Simulation Daily publishes a roundup every day for all the news across the flight simulation field, helping you keep up to date with the ins and outs of the industry.
Before we move on to the flight simulation news, make sure to check out today’s episode of our “Can You Guess this Airport?” video series and see if you can identify the airport portrayed.
Without further ado, I leave you with today’s flight simulation news.
Boeing 787 by Vector for MSFS 2024 Enters Alpha Stage
Vector Studio announced that its Boeing 787-9 has now entered the alpha testing phase. This means that the aircraft is capable of performing a fullm flight from point A to point B, including every major phase from cold and dark to engine shutdown.
The following systems are now functional and integrated:
- Electrical systems
- Hydraulic systems
- Fuel systems
- Engines
- AFF/PFC/AFDS and Autopilot flight guidance
- FMC
- LNAV and VNAV
- ND/PFD/EICAS
- Aircraft avionics
- The Boeing-built-in EFB & VPAD
- A long list of additional systems and features
The developers are also integrating the aircraft’s art, animations, and sounds. A “substantial amount” of original sound recorded for the 787 has already been implemented.
The testing team includes real Boeing 787 pilots, mechanics, aviation engineers, software developers, and other specialists.
Development is progressing along three main tracks: Alpha Testing, Tuning, and Refinement is the first.
The implementation of additional systems and features is the second, including the airport moving map with Boeing 787 symbology and the weather radar.
The third involves the implementation of further art, sound, and content. This includes more sound recordings, cockpit and cabin improvements, the completion of custom-made fonts throughout the aircraft, and the improvement of the level of detail of areas like the nose landing gear bay, which you can see above.
Optimization is also extremely important for Vector, and the goal is to create “the best possible balance between visual quality, system depth and smooth performance.”
In terms of visuals, the complete base model is now built, and the team is now focusing on fine-tuning and optimization. That being said, they continue to review new visual reference material, “including technical drawings, photographs, video footage and various forms of CAD data” to continue improving the model.
Animation development is also almost done, and the remaining major animations, including the wing flex, should be finished by mid-August.
To help us learn the aircraft, the team is creating a dedicated Knowledge Center, and while they’re not ready to name a price, it “will be priced within the familiar and reasonable range for aircraft add-ons offering this level of depth and complexity.”
They also expect to release the first video in September or October, as they want it to “represent the quality, depth, and attention to detail of the entire product, not simply demonstrate that it can fly.”
F-16C Viper for DCS World Getting DTC COLOR Partition
Eagle Dynamics is continuing to improve the Data Transfer Cartridge for the F-16C Viper for DCS World.
In the near future, the developer will implement the ability to edit the MFS color settings in the avionics.
Over 40 different symbology elements will become capable of being independently set to one of 8 color options: White, Gray, Cyan, Blue, Green, Yellow, Red, or Magenta. Once configured, you can upload the COLR partition by pressing OSB 19 from Page 2 of the DTE MFD format.
FlightControlReplay V6 Released for MSFS 2024 nd MSFS 2020
FlightControlTools released FlightControlReplay 6, the latest iteration of the popular replay tool.
It’s available on Simmarket for $33.62, but if you have version 5, you’ll only pay half price, and if you bought it after June 30, 2026, you can upgrade for free.
It includes the following features.
- Completely redesigned user interface
- New Cinematic Mode with advanced replay camera experiences
- New FlyBy Cameras available during live flights
- Automatic Highlights with intelligent replay scene selection
- Enhanced Custom Replay support for add-on aircraft
- Flight Analysis with detailed logs and charts
- Review altitude, speed, vertical speed, pitch, and bank angles
- Improved replay accuracy and performance
- Smarter replay workflow for content creators and pilots
- Support for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020
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.