Flight Simulation developers shared news today, including aircraft and airports for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and MSFS 2020.
Without further ado, you can check out the news below.
Nemuro Nakashibetsu Airport for MSFS Gets New Screenshots
Gate15 Scenery provided another gallery of screenshots of its upcoming Nemuro Nakashibetsu Airport (RJCN) in Hokkaido, Japan, showing JAL and ANA gate staff in their uniform.
The airport is complete and should be released soon.
Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport for Microsoft Flight Simulator Gets New Video
Photorico Scenery released a new video of its upcoming Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (TJSJ) serving San Juan in Puerto Rico.
You have to watch it on Facebook since we can’t embed it here. Incidentally, the developer already confirmed that it’ll come to Xbox and PS5.
PMDG Provides Updates on Boeing 737 for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, 777 Line, and a 747-100 Screenshot
PMDG provided a look at a work-in-progress main gear of the Boeing 747-100, which is being developed side-by-side with the 400 version. We also hear about it from CEO Robert Randazzo.
“I got my first look at the fully implemented landing gear on the 747 this week, and it left me thirsting to throw the Pimax on my head and give it a good solid preflight. The detail level on this monster is just fantastic. It will be a bit yet before we start to preview, as we have the majority of the team pivoted to the 737 in order to start ticking off the things that we want to get finished so that we can properly accelerate this new product line to release.
This is an in-development image of a model that is not finished and doesn’t include many parts of the airplane because it was done as a test build for a purpose OTHER than creating an image. Lots of stuff is missing, (like… the left main gear!) including plenty of detail, grime, proper texturing etc. This is just to give you an idea just how detailed the model is going to be when it is set in front of the deliver stand for you to take on your first flight. Something truly spectacular that will be as visually stunning as it is sophisticated!”
We also hear about the 737 series that is being ported to MSFS 2024.
“Speaking of the 737NG Native Product Update for 2024- we just pushed a new build of the 737-800 out to our beta testers, and we have officially pivoted from development to fitness and cleanup. We are looking at dates on the calendar, and preparing to roll this refreshed product line out for our MSFS 2024 customers. I am being careful not to talk about dates or timelines because there are still some pieces I am not happy with and all of us are pushing to get the loose ends wrapped up so that you can finally have your 737 native-built for MSFS 2024!
The moment the -800 goes into final testing, the whole team will pivot to the -700, then -900 and -600 respectively. Those will be quick as much of the hard work has already been accomplished, we are just keeping the dev resources and testing resources focused on the -800 in order to prevent fractalization of attention.”
We also hear about the 777 line.
“PMDG 777 for MSFS:
– MSFS Marketplace users for 2020 and 2024 should now be up to build 121. (we held up the build 121 for 2024 users because of some QC issues on the Marketplace side… more on that below)
– PMDG.com customers are on Build 130.
– A new build will be sent to PMDG.com customers next week (build number TBA) and will also get pushed to Marketplace intake for 2020/2024.
– PMDG 777-200LR has been held off of Marketplace due to some build issues related to Marketplace. We hope to have those resolved within the next couple of weeks and then it will appear.A note for Marketplace 2024 777 users:
We have identified a texture corruption problem with the 777 fleet in MSFS Marketplace 2024 distribution that is still being investigated by PMDG and Microsoft. Essentially, if you switch to the outside view of the airplane, you see odd textures on the wings and other places, which is unsightly. This appears randomly and has something to do with texture streaming (we think?) and is under investigation for a resolution- HOWEVER: If you go into the tablet or the FMS and replace all of the tires- the problem will clear. We aren’t sure what/why- but clearly MSFS 2024 doesn’t like the methods we are using to adapt textures to reflect tire wear. We have reported the issue and are awaiting help from Microsoft to resolve the issue permanently- but in the mean time, if it appears on your airplane, you can use that method to cure it until a more resolute fix is found.What about the 777 sound update?:
We are in the final approval stages for a sound package update that will initially appear in the 777-300ER, 777F and 777-200LR packages. This is a complete rebuild and upgrade to the sound environment in the airplane based upon hundreds of on-site recordings, intricate code work, a metric-<bleep>-ton of audio engineering work and hundreds of hours of adapting, processing and blending to get the sound package to please the ears of our 777-experienced testers and on-site experts.As we near the end of testing and fitness, we have had a few really hard knee-knockers to clear that have slowed us down on this first iteration of the new sound methodology for the entire PMDG product line- but we think the wait will prove to be worth it. One of the challenges we hit was that our initial sound recordings were taken at a higher fidelity than MSFS would tolerate- and that had us chasing our tail on a few issues that eventually were cured by stepping the sound sampling down to match what the MSFS SDK wants to see. (sometimes the simplest cures are the dumbest… this would be one of those moments. Oops.)
Another, even larger challenge we faced was to make sure that the sound environment sounds like it sounds on the airplane, and not simply serving as a mimic the high-frequency-distorted sound you hear in most youtube videos. If you have an opportunity to sit on the flight deck in flight, the audio environment is far more broad-spectrum than what can be picked up by the average consumer grade electet microphones, so we not only had to make a heavy investment into studio grade equipment, we had to then make the investment in studio grade processing and expertise in order to ensure the sound sampling and mixing was done in such a way that you will experience the entire broad spectrum of sound as if you were sitting in the airplane, rather than hearing a high-frequency-biased recording on youtube.
We think you will love it- and I can’t wait to start rolling this out to you in a few weeks. One of my favorite things to do with this new sound-set is to wander the cabin during the climb and hear how the richness of the sound changes as you move from the cockpit to the forward/mid/aft cabin and back. I’ve spent a lot of time wandering about a lot of airplanes in my flying career and I am thoroughly impressed by why our sound team has pulled off here. The extra wait time has been worth it- and the truly great news is that we really only have to invent the wheel the first time. We are already beginning to test the new sound environment in the 737 update that is in testing… It will be nice to check this off the task list!”
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.
