To simmers in the United States, we'd like to wish you a happy Independence Day! Many of our team members are enjoying the holiday themselves today, so this Development Update will be abbreviated compared to most other weeks. In particular, there are no new or updated Marketplace products releasing today, but a few products did release earlier this week on Monday and Tuesday. Please see the Marketplace section below for more details!

Two of this week's releases come directly from the MSFS team! To celebrate the Fourth of July holiday, City Update 9: Northeastern USA is now available FREE from the in-sim Marketplace. Additionally, we also launched a new aircraft from our Local Legends series, a storied American cargo aircraft: the Curtiss C-46 Commando! This plane is available in the Marketplace for USD $14.99 (discounted pricing for owners of the Deluxe/Premium Deluxe Editions apply).

We recently updated our Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 FAQ page with more information about November's upcoming release, including some additional clarification about how your owned MSFS2020 add-on products (from both the in-sim Marketplace and from external sites) will be transitioned to MSFS2024. Check it out here!

Our next monthly Developer Livestream is coming up next week on Tuesday, July 9 at 10:30am PDT (1730 UTC). Be sure to follow our official Twitch channel so you'll be notified when our panel of Jorg, Seb, Martial, and special guests go live to answer questions from the community and discuss future updates to Microsoft Flight Simulator. We'll be taking questions live from Twitch chat during the broadcast, and you can also use this web form to pre-submit a question to the panel in advance.

Finally, we have an upcoming community event! If you live near or are able to travel to Cologne, Germany on August 24 and would like an opportunity to mingle with some MSFS team members and other flight sim fans, you can express your interest by filling out the form at this link!

- MSFS Team

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Microsoft Flight Simulator: City Update IX highlights select locations throughout the northeastern United States with updated aerial imagery, new digital elevation models, and TIN (triangulated irregular network) surface texturing. The update includes the Washington, DC region; Buffalo, New York; Allentown, Pennsylvania area; and the East End of Long Island, New York. They are the latest enhancements to the immersive and ever-improving Microsoft Flight Simulator world experience!

Continue reading about City Update 9!

The Microsoft Flight Simulator team had a fantastic time at FlightSimExpo 2024 in Las Vegas last weekend! Whether you were one of the thousands of simmers who attended the event live or you were able to follow the various product reveals and announcements from your home, we hope you enjoyed the festivities from the expo. We can't thank the FSExpo organizers enough for making us feel welcome at the event, and, of course, we were incredibly humbled and grateful to meet so many Microsoft Flight Simulator fans over the weekend.

In case you missed it, our team presented two seminars during the expo.  On Saturday, Jorg and Seb spoke at length about the upcoming Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and personally introduced many of the development partners who will be assisting Microsoft and Asobo in creating our next generation sim. If you missed the presentation or want to watch it again, you can find it on YouTube here:



On Sunday, Julie, Mabel, and Todd from our Marketplace team delivered a presentation in which they revealed some data analytics from the MSFS2020 Marketplace and also previewed some new changes coming with the MSFS2024 Marketplace. The primary audience for this seminar was third-party developers, but regular simmers may also find the presentation interesting, too. You can watch it on YouTube here:



With all the excitement about MSFS2024, we'd forgive you if you forgot that we're still supporting MSFS2020 as well! Next week, we'll be launching our next City Update! City Update 09: United States Northeast is scheduled for release on July 2, just in time for the USA's Independence Day holiday!

- MSFS Team

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During last weekend's Xbox Games Showcase on June 9, we revealed a new trailer for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and also announced the release date: November 19, 2024. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 will be launching simultaneously on all platforms (PC/MS Store, PC/Steam, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox Cloud Gaming) and will be available Day One on PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass. In case you have not yet seen the trailer, you can watch it below:



Earlier today, we released an update to the Douglas C-47D Skytrain, part of the Famous Flyer 9 bundle which launched last week. The update is available via the in-sim Content Manager, and you can find the release notes on our forums here.

Coming up on Monday, June 17, we're excited to host a special Community Fly-In livestream on our Twitch channel featuring guest co-hosts Jon Ostrower and Thomas Nield, co-founders of Yawman. Jon is a veteran journalist who previously covered the aviation industry for the Wall Street Journal. He is now the editor-in-chief of The Air Current and co-host of The Air Show podcast. Thomas formerly worked as a consultant for Southwest Airlines and now teaches Aviation Safety at the University of Southern California. We're thrilled to welcome both Jon and Thomas as guests on our channel! As with all of our Community Fly-Ins, this is an open event, and all sim pilots are welcome to join. Full details can be found in the Community section below. (Note: this event was originally planned for Tuesday, June 11 but has been rescheduled for Monday, June 17.)

Last but certainly not least, next week many members of the Microsoft Flight Simulator team will be at FlightSimExpo in Las Vegas, Nevada! If you're attending in-person, be sure to stop by our booth to speak with our team. We love meeting you and talking about flight simulation! While you're at the booth, you can also try your hand at some in-sim challenges. We'll be giving away many fantastic prizes to the top scorers throughout the weekend. You can find us in booth 502, the biggest booth on the convention floor, so it'll be impossible to miss us.

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Take to the Skies on November 19th with the All-New Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024!

Windows PC, Xbox Series X|S, cloud, or play it day one with Xbox Game Pass.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is the next installment in the Microsoft Flight Simulator franchise. It is the most ambitious consumer flight simulator ever undertaken. It features the largest, most diverse and detailed fleet of aircraft, the most complete representation of airports and air traffic, and the most visually stunning rendition of Earth ever created. This brand-new simulator is designed to take advantage of the latest technologies in simulation, cloud, machine learning, graphics and gaming. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 goes beyond merely operating the aircraft; it will allow simmers to pursue their dream of an aviation career.

With features like aerial firefighting, search and rescue, commercial flights, remote cargo ops, VIP charter service, air racing, and more, simmers will not only be experiencing the joy of flight, but also dive into the pilot career they always dreamed of. The sky is calling! Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 takes off on PC and Xbox Series X|S on November 19, and will be available with Game Pass on console, PC, and cloud on day one.

Yesterday we hosted another Developer Livestream featuring our regular panel of Jorg, Seb, and Martial. They answered many questions from the community and also announced several future updates for Microsoft Flight Simulator including two new City Updates, a new Famous Flyer bundle (more info below) and the next Local Legend, the Boeing 707! In case you missed it live, you can watch the full video on YouTube here:



The new Famous Flyer bundle is available from the in-sim Marketplace now and consists of two aircraft, the C-47D Skytrain and the Waco CG-4A glider. Both of these aircraft played an important role in World War II’s Normandy landings (Operation Overlord) which occurred exactly 80 years ago today on June 6, 1944. In recognition of this anniversary, for every purchase of the Famous Flyer 9 pack made between June 6, 2024 and July 5, 2024, Microsoft will donate 100% of each sale to the USO (https://www.uso.org/). More information about the USO is available by contacting them at info@uso.org.



– MSFS Team

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Hot off the heels of last week's release of Sim Update 15, this week saw two more new additions to Microsoft Flight Simulator!

City Update VII: European Cities II is now available as a free download from the in-sim Marketplace. After installing this package, you can enjoy updated scenery for Barcelona, Madrid, Monaco, Nice, Porto and Stockholm.

Also available from the Marketplace is the next Local Legend series aircraft, the Short SC.7 Skyvan. You can learn more about the plane affectionately known as the "Flying Shoebox" on our website here. We have also released an Aircraft Discovery Series video on YouTube to help simmers become familiar with the Skyvan's features:



As a reminder, our monthly Developer Livestream was pushed back by one week. Originally scheduled for May 29, it will now be held on Wednesday, June 5 at 10:30am PDT (1730 UTC). Follow our official Twitch channel to be notified when the regular panel of Jorg, Seb, Martial, and special guests go live to answer questions from the community and discuss the future of Microsoft Flight Simulator. If you missed your chance to pre-submit a question in advance, we will also be taking questions live from viewers in Twitch chat. See you then!

– MSFS Team

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Microsoft Flight Simulator introduced City Update 7: European Cities II today which features notable locales throughout Europe: Sweden’s Stockholm, France’s Nice and neighboring Monaco, Portugal’s Porto, and Spain’s Barcelona and Madrid. This latest update to the vast and growing Microsoft Flight Simulator experience is certain to captivate and inspire.

The Microsoft Flight Simulator team and its partners captured these renowned cities in exquisite detail using recent high resolution aerial imagery, digital elevation data, and TIN (triangulated irregular network) surface modelling. This latest release invites simmers to choose their preferred aircraft to explore these vibrant locales, from the French Riviera to the skyscrapers of Stockholm.


Continue reading about City Update 7!

Sim Update 15 is available now! You can read the full release notes here. In addition to over 200 bug fixes and other improvements, highlights of SU15 include:

• Airbus A320neo V2
• Touch/gryo controls on Xbox Cloud Gaming
• Updated Garmin G3X Touch avionics from Working Title

To go along with the Airbus A320neo V2, we have also published a new Discovery Series video. You can watch it on YouTube here:



As always, we want to give a huge thanks to all the volunteer beta testers from the community. Thank you so much for your feedback and bug reports throughout the SU_15 public test so we could make this release the best it could be.

In last month’s Developer stream, we announced that Top Gun: Maverick would be removed from Microsoft Flight Simulator on May 25th due to our license agreement with Paramount coming to a close. As we were all a bit sad about this news, we contacted Paramount and both parties agreed to extend our agreement for another two months. You can continue to download and enjoy the Top Gun: Maverick expansion until July 25th. Happy flying!

Speaking of Developer Livestreams, our next one is coming up in a week on Wednesday, May 29! Tune in to our official Twitch channel at 10:30am PDT (1730 UTC) to hear our regular panel of Jorg, Seb, Martial, and special guests answer questions from the community and discuss the future of Microsoft Flight Simulator!

Also next week, we are launching a new City Update and Local Legend aircraft! City Update 7: European Cities 2 includes enhanced imagery for Barcelona, Madrid, Monte Carlo, Nice, Porto, and Stockholm. Local Legend 17 is the Short SC.7 Skyvan, known affectionately as the "Flying Shoebox". Both City Update 7 and Local Legend 17 are scheduled to release on May 28.

Finally, please note that the regular Marketplace release of new and updated products for May 23 has been postponed until tomorrow (Friday, May 24) because of the Sim Update 15 launch. We will update this post with the new/updated Marketplace releases on Friday.

– MSFS Team

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If you are playing on PC, outdated packages in your community folder may have an unexpected impact on the title’s performance and behavior.
If you suffer from stability issues or long loading times, move your community package(s) to another folder before relaunching the title.
How to install a new update safely

• Microsoft Flight Simulator is now available to play with touch/gyro controls on Xbox Cloud Gaming!
  
• Airbus A320neo (V2) is now available

• Fixed an issue where friends occasionally appeared duplicated in the friends list
  
• Improved performance:
  
  • Improved FPS, particularly where the FPS was low
    
  • Reduced stutters, particularly after long gameplay
    
  • Reduced loading times
• Various crash fixes across the title
  
• FPS display memory usage now displays allocated virtual memory rather than used physical memory pages. This more accurately reflects the memory effectively used by the simulator

• Fixed an issue preventing the Content Manager from loading while the player was offline

• Resolved an issue where users were experiencing a loss of audio for ATC instructions and other aircraft communications while the AI copilot continued to respond
  
• Fixed some navdata packages not correctly loaded
  
• Improved usage of available FlightAware data to feed live traffic in the sim
  
• Increased the maximum number of aircraft visible in free flight
  
• Improved spawn condition of air traffic planes to increase live traffic at airports
  
• Improved AI behavior of live traffic planes on and around airports

• Moved the iced water threshold up from 27cm to 72cm in order to limit the amount of wrongly frozen water in the world. Example: Swiss lakes, Norwegian fjords, etc.

• Fixed an error in the “ILS Approach” training, the CDI and the CRS info are now both displaying the correct heading.
  
• Fixed Bush Trip and live event achievements
  
  • Corrected achievements are: Fire and Ice, Anemoi, Goldrush, and Decathlon

• Fixed an issue where the MFD navigation data bar DEST field displayed the incorrect airport in certain cases
  
• Fixed incorrect calculations for MFD navigation data bar fields related to the destination (DTG, LDG, FOD) in certain cases. These values are now also consistent with the airport displayed in the DEST field
  
• Fixed an issue where GPS signal could degrade inappropriately during long flight sessions
  
• Fixed an issue where the flight plan could become corrupted after removing an approach in rare cases
  
• The HSI to/from indicator now displays the correct indication while the active navigation source is FMS instead of always indicating TO
  
• The system will no longer automatically switch CDI source from FMS to LOC during ILS/LOC approaches unless the autopilot’s LOC mode is armed and ready to capture the localizer course

• Comprehensive visual overhaul of the avionics for accurate font, symbology, look, operation, and feel
  
• Built-in support for Direct-To and point-to-point VFR flight planning and navigation capability
  
• Support for IFR navigation when paired with a compatible external navigator (such as the WT GNS530W/430W)
  
• Support for aircraft-specific EIS and MFD Engine page layouts, including optional Lean Assist and Fuel Calculator functions

• Fixed an issue where the PFD could become partially unusable on initialization and required a flight restart
  
• Fixed a bug where the XPDR keypad entry would break when the XPDR mode selector button was pressed while already in XPDR mode
  
• Fixed an issue where the MFD navigation data bar DEST field displayed the incorrect airport in certain cases
  
• Fixed incorrect calculations for MFD navigation data bar fields related to the destination (DTG, LDG, FOD) in certain cases. These values are now also consistent with the airport displayed in the DEST field
  
• Fixed an issue where the last digit of COM frequencies could not be entered with the control pad
  
• Fixed an issue where the Control Knob events did not reset the Control Mode reset timer
  
• Fixed approach minimums GCU keypad entry not working
  
• Fixed an issue where the flight plan could become corrupted after removing an approach in rare cases

• Fixed an issue where the autopilot would not function correctly after loading or reloading the GNS instrument in the middle of a flight session (e.g. when hot-swapping instruments in certain airplanes)
  
• Prevent instruments not loading correctly when hot-swapping
  
• Fixed an issue where GPS signal could degrade inappropriately during long flight sessions
  
• Fixed an issue where the flight plan could become corrupted after removing an approach in rare cases
  
• Added support for configuring the index used by the LNAV Computer using the <LNavIndex> panel.xml tag; where this is not set it will default to 0 to preserve support
  
• Added support for setting the autopilot max bank angle using the <MaxAPBankAngle> panel.xml tag Where it’s not set, this will default to 20
  
• LNAV data simvars will now be published with indexes according to the LNAV Computer index
  
• Added support for disabling the autopilot through XML configuration using the <DisableAutopilot> tag
  
• GNS units no longer require an internal autopilot (or autopilot of any kind) to automatically switch CDI source from GPS to VLOC during ILS/LOC approaches
  
• The logic to automatically switch CDI source from GPS to VLOC during ILS/LOC approaches now runs independently on each GNS unit. This fixes some incorrect behavior that could be encountered if two GNS units in the same airplane were configured to maintain independent flight plans

• FMC: Fixed FPLN RECALL not working on the co-pilot FMC
  
• Added plugin system to allow third party developers to customize and extend the functionality of the WT21
  
• Added alternate style option for the artificial horizon on color schemes via CSS variables (documentation follows soon)
  
• Removed CJ4 specific code from the WT21 and moved it to CJ4 plugins
  
• CDU: Ported CDU to new framework in Avionics SDK to enable extensibility by third party developers

• Corrected a tooltip which indicated a value in Celsius degrees rather than angular degrees

• Added multi rotor support for helicopters (Chinook, dual rotor, etc.)
  
• Improved performance of glass cockpit heavy airplanes (ex. Boeing 747) that use the Coherent/JS tech stack[
  
• Initial work on improving plane and livery model matching for live traffic aircraft. It will now try to partially match aircraft types of the same airlines, if a specific livery or model is not installed. As a last resort it will try to fall back to an airline that generally serves the current airport or region
  
  • Known Issue: The nameplates of AI traffic can show a wrong aircraft type ICAO
• New high accuracy physics system to enable vibrations and micro movements
  
• Enabled new soft gears on the Cessna 172 and Guimbal Cabri G2
  
• Optional soft ground collision model for tires / flexible gears
  
• More accurate ground contact model
  
• Ground Contact Resolution improvements
  
• Improvements to ground handling and ground collision physics for the Cessna 172 and the Guimbal Cabri G2
  
• Fixed an issue that caused some P-51 Mustangs to lose power on full throttle

• Improved functionality of multi-engine helicopter governors and engine trimmers (see SDK for more details)
  
• Multi-engine helicopters: it’s now possible to control the governor switches and engine trimmers for each engine individually. See SDK for details
  
• Multi-engine helicopters: it’s now possible to bind governor switches and engines trimmers via CONTROL OPTIONS menu for each engine individually

Click here to continue reading the Release Notes!