Microsoft Flight Simulator News & Announcements
Enjoy discounted pricing during our Top-Rated Airport Sale!For 7 Days starting on August 5th, save up to 72% on the following items:DeveloperProduct//4242HB Hogsback Ranch Airstrip//42WY32 Circle B Ranch Airstrip29PalmsLGSR Santorini AirportAerosoftEBBR Brussels AirportAerosoftEDDK Cologne Bonn AirportAerosoftENVA Trondheim International AirportAerosoftOffshore Landmarks - North SeaA-FlightWADD Ngurah Rai International AirportAkaflieg Freiburg e.V.EDTF Freiburg AirportAmSimLIRP Pisa Galileo Galilei AirportANN0VL06 Furnace Creek AirportattbenEFKI Kajaani AirportAusceneYBHM Hamilton Island AirportAviation-Sim-DesignEDAZ Schoenhagen AirportBackwoodStudios67FL Myakka Head AirportBeautiful Model of the WorldLEBG Burgos AirportBeautiful Model of the WorldLEPP Pamplona AirportBeautiful Model of the WorldLFLP Annecy – Mont Blanc AirportBeautiful Model of the WorldLFQQ Lille Lesquin AirportBeautiful Model of the WorldLIBP Abruzzo AirportBeautiful Model of the WorldLICC Catania-Fontanarossa AirportBeautiful Model of the WorldLIMJ Genoa Cristoforo Colombo AirportBlackbird SimulationsKBAB Beale AFBBurning Blue DesignEGCL Fenland AerodromeBurning Blue DesignEGKF Kittyhawk AerodromeBurning Blue DesignEGKH Headcorn AirportBurning Blue DesignEGLA Bodmin AirportBurning Blue DesignEGSL Andrewsfield AirportBurning Blue DesignEGSV Old Buckenham AerodromeBurning Blue DesignEGSX North Weald AirfieldBurning Blue DesignEGTF Fairoaks AirportCli4D DesignsEl Nido, PhilippinesCli4D DesignsPhilippines: A Tropical AdventureCreative Mesh3U2 Johnson Creek AirportCreative MeshU60 Big Creek AirportCreative MeshU70 Cascade AirportDC Scenery Design2W1 DE VEREDC Scenery DesignCZJN Swan River AirportDC Scenery DesignEDRP Pirmasens AirfieldDC Scenery DesignFA83 Orlando North AirparkDC Scenery DesignPACV Merle K (Mudhole) Smith AirportDC Scenery DesignPAWG Wrangell AirportDC Scenery DesignSNPJ Patrocinio AirportDigitalDesignLFLL Lyon AirportDigitalDesignLOWS Salzburg AirportDigitalDesignURSS Sochi International AirportDrazen MatlekovicLDZA Franjo Tuđman AirportDreamflightKCRQ McClellan-Palomar AirportDrzewiecki DesignEETN Tallinn AirportDrzewiecki DesignEPGD Gdansk AirportDrzewiecki DesignKDCA Ronald Reagan Washington National AirportDrzewiecki DesignRJAA Tokyo Narita International AirportDrzewiecki DesignSeattle LandmarksFlightsim Studio AGEDXB Heide-Busum AirportFLYT SimulationsSBCT AFONSO PENA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORTFLYT SimulationsSBJE JERICOACOARA AIRPORTFLYT SimulationsSIBH HELICIDADE HELIPORTFlyTampaEKCH Copenhagen AirportFlyTampaKBOS Boston Logan International AirportFsdreamteamCYVR Vancouver International AirportFsdreamteamLFSB EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse FreiburgFsoaresSBSN Santarém AirportFSoaresSBVC Vitoria Da Conquista AirportFSX3DLFKF Figari-Sud-Corse AirportFSX3DLFMR Barcelonnette Saint-PonsFSX3DLFNS Sisteron-Vaumeilh AerodromeGearDown SimulationsSBVT Vitoria Airport and CityGlideslope ProKSFO San Francisco International AirportIM SceneryEGUL Lakenheath AirbaseIM SceneryEGXC Coningsby AirbaseiniBuildsEGKK London Gatwick InternationaliniBuildsKMKE Milwaukee AirportiniBuildsKOKC Will Rogers World AirportiniBuildsKPSP Palm Springs AirportiniBuildsKPVD Providence T.F. Green AirportiniBuildsLEIB Ibiza International AirportiniBuildsLGHI Chios Omiros AirportiniBuildsYBBN Brisbane International AirportJeppeson2001Victoria Falls Scenery PackageJustSimLGRP Rhodes International AirportLHSimulationsHungary Airport Pack 1LHSimulationsLHBP Budapest AirportLHSimulationsLHDC Debrecen AirportLimeSimEDDN Nuremberg AirportLVFRKBDL Bradley International AirportLVFRKLSV Las Vegas Nellis Air Force BaseLVFRKSAN San Diego International AirportLVFRLEBL Barcelona El Prat AirportMK-STUDIOSBGSF Kangerlussuaq AirportNMG SimulationsFALE King Shaka International AirportOrbx1S2 Darrington Municipal AirportOrbx1WA6 Fall City AirportOrbxEGNT Newcastle International AirportOrbxEGPN Dundee AirportOrbxENGM Oslo Gardermoen AirportOrbxENNO Notodden AirportOrbxENSD Sandane AirportOrbxESGG Gothenburg Landvetter AirportOrbxKORS Orcas IslandOrbxKSBA Santa Barbara Municipal AirportOrbxKSJC San Jose International AirportOrbxLFKX Meribel AirportOrbxLGSK Skiathos International AirportOrbxLOWG Graz AirportOrbxS45 Siletz Bay State AirportOrbxYMND Maitland AirportPachiman287KGRB Green Bay International AirportPaulo Ricardo ScenerySBKP Campinas International AirportPaulo Ricardo ScenerySBRJ Rio de Janeiro AirportPilot Experience SimBIIS Ísafjörður AirportPilot Experience SimLDRI Rijeka AirportPilot Experience SimLFBZ Biarritz AirportPilot Experience SimLFKJ Ajaccio AirportPilot Experience SimLFKO Propriano Tavaria AirportPilot Experience SimLFRB BREST AIRPORTPropair FlightEYKA Kaunas AirportPYREEGUE DEV Co.EGAA Belfast International AirportPYREEGUE Dev Co.EGPF Glasgow AirportPYREEGUE Dev Co.UKBB Kyiv Boryspil International AirportPYREEGUE Dev Co.UKLL Lviv Danylo Halytskyi International AirportPYREEGUE Dev Co.UKOO Odesa International AirportRmStudiosSBJD Jundai AirportRoman DesignCYOW Ottawa International AirportRPSIMULATIONS & LATAVOADORASBMT Campo de Marte AirportSalvuzLIRP Pisa International AirportSalvuzLIRZ Perugia International AirportSamScene3DRKPK Gimhae International AirportSiamFlightVTBS Suvarnabhumi AirportSierrasim SimulationNWWW La Tontouta International AirportSierrasim SimulationSLLP El Alto International AirportSimulación ExtremaEGPO Stornoway AirportSimulación ExtremaSAWE Rio Grande AirportSimulación ExtremaSAWG Rio Gallegos International AirportSimulación ExtremaSAWH Ushuaia AirportSimulación ExtremaSCGZ Puerto Williams AirportSimulación ExtremaSCNT Teniente Julio Gallardo AirportSim-WingsEDDH Hamburg AirportSim-WingsEDDM Munich International AirportSim-WingsGCLP Gran Canaria AirportSLHSimdesignsTFFG Grand Case Airport St.MartinSLHSIMDESIGNSTRPG JOHN A OSBORNE AIRPORTSouth Oak CoPHDH Dillingham AirfieldTechnoBrainRJBB Kansai International AirportV Pilot DesignsSKPA Juan Jose Rondon AirportWFSceneryStudioVHHH Hong Kong International AirportWFSceneryStudioZHCC Zhengzhou Xinzheng International AirportWFSceneryStudioZSPD Shanghai Pudong International AirportWombiiENSH Svolvaer AirportX-Codr Designs1G4 Grand Canyon West To purchase these discounted items, visit the Microsoft Flight Simulator Marketplace on MSFS 2020 or MSFS 2024, scroll down to the Top-Rated Airport Sale row, then select ‘See All’ and look for the savings.
Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) | Sim Update 16 Release Notes - 1.39.9.0
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.Stability & Performance
- Fixed a crash when attempting to reach some areas in the World (e.g. Pecs TV Tower)
- Improved memory management on Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X to improve stability
- Fixed bugs on timezone system; in addition, data is now more accurate (country coasts and borders, islands, etc.)
- Aligned Bing Maps data with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024
- Fixed terraforming on TIN
- Changed the way water body polygons work so that overlapping polygons of the same type no longer cancel each other
- Improved handling of navdata for runways that do not exist in the sim. The resolution is now only done after all scenery layers are loaded, and only transitions will be removed rather than full procedures where possible.
- Fixed an issue where airports used as waypoints in instrument procedures contained a region code that prevented them from being loadable using the ICAO.
- Fixed an issue with handling spoiler inputs that could cause the airplane to spin out of control.
- Added the approach cue to the airspeed indicator and angle of attack indicator.
- Added FMS initialization flow.
- Added the PFD pitch limit indicator.
- Fixed an issue where the THROTTLE_REVERSE_THRUST_TOGGLE key event would sometimes not work correctly even when the throttle lever position was at the full idle stop.
- Fixed the scrolling behavior of the PFD CAS display.
- Replaced certain PFD TAWS/GPWS annunciations with CAS messages.
- The TERRAIN FAIL CAS message no longer appears when TAWS is running a self-test.
- Thrust reverser deployment is now properly simulated, with deployment requiring hydraulic pressure.
- FADEC now commands more realistic N1 targets while reverse thrust is active.
- Disengaging the autothrottle using the autothrottle disconnect switch is now counted as a “normal” disengagement.
- Added the “autothrottle” aural alert when the autothrottle is disengaged.
- Added the “airspeed” aural alert when one of the autothrottle’s speed protection modes (MIN SPD or MAX SPD) is engaged.
- The CABIN ALTITUDE caution CAS message now appears when there are uncommanded increases in cabin altitude.
- Cabin altitude is now initialized to a sensible value when first spawning into a flight.
- The pressurization DUMP switch now functions properly.
- The ENGINE FAIL L/R CAS message now appears when FADEC detects an engine flameout.
- The engine RUN/STOP switch halo lights now function properly.
- Autothrottle now disengages when thrust reversers are in an unsafe condition.
- Added the approach cue to the airspeed indicator.
- Added FMS initialization flow.
- Added electronic stability and protection (ESP).
- The flight director now commands a pitch of 10 degrees when the vertical GA mode is active.
- Added the PFD virtual pathways feature.
- Fixed an issue where the runway leg of a departure or arrival procedure could be duplicated in the flight plan.
- Fixed an issue where sometimes approaches added to the flight plan could have improper connections between the approach transition and the final approach segment.
- Added support for VNAV vertical track annunciations and aural alerts.
- Added the ability to inhibit terrain system alerts through the GTC Terrain Settings page.
- Added support for TAWS glideslope/glidepath deviation (GSD) alerts.
- Fixed an issue where the map wind vector arrow was not updating correctly in certain situations.
- Fixed an issue where scrolling a long list on a GTC could sometimes have an inappropriately large performance cost.
- Fixed an issue where FMS could calculate an incorrect airspeed reference in certain cases.
- Horizontal GTCs (GTC 580) will now allow the use of the upper dual concentric knob to change selected OBS course when the GTC is in the PFD control mode.
- The autopilot will now always allow arming of approach mode (LOC/GS) when the active navigation source is NAV1 or NAV2 and a valid localizer frequency is tuned.
- Fixed various cases where pressing the autopilot NAV or APR button while approach mode was active would not arm/disarm the correct flight director modes.
- Adjusted terrain system alert logic to reduce the chances of issuing spurious or very brief alerts.
- Fixed an issue where the runway leg of a departure or arrival procedure could be duplicated in the flight plan.
- Fixed an issue where sometimes approaches added to the flight plan could have improper connections between the approach transition and the final approach segment.
- Fixed an issue where very long flight plans were not displayed correctly in the GTC Flight Plan page.
- Fixed an issue where long procedure name text in the GTC Procedures page could sometimes wrap and overflow its containing button.
- Added support for automatic slewing of the selected CDI course for NAV radios that have tuned localizers.
- Fixed the appearance of several icons in the Main Menu and Setup Menu.
- Pressing the MENU button while the MFD Info page or MFD Engine page is open will now open a popup menu.
- Fixed an issue where the ‘Add Waypoint’ button on the MFD FPL page would sometimes not be hidden or displayed correctly after loading or removing an approach in the internal flight plan.
- The autopilot will now always allow arming of approach mode (LOC/GS) when the CDI source is VLOC and a valid localizer frequency is tuned.
- Fixed various cases where pressing the autopilot NAV or APR button while approach mode was active would not arm/disarm the correct flight director modes.
- Fixed an issue where the CDI Source button in the PFD Options menu was disabled when two external navigators were configured but only one navigator supported GPS and the external flight plan source was selected.
- Adjusted the styling of the PFD wind display to better match the real unit.
- The APPR button in the AFCS Controls menu is now enabled.
- Fixed an issue where sometimes the PFD Active Flight Plan inset would not correctly display flight plans from external navigators.
- The VNAV button in the AFCS Controls menu now works properly when the G3X is configured with a VNAV-capable external navigator.
- Fixed an issue where the VNAV indication would not appear properly in the AFCS status box.
- Fixed an issue where the runway leg of a departure or arrival procedure could be duplicated in the flight plan.
- Fixed an issue where very long flight plans were sometimes not displayed correctly in the MFD Flight Plan page and PFD Active Flight Plan inset.
- Fixed the display of the EGT readout in the EIS to show the correct value.
- By default, the G3X will now use the fuel density reported by the “FUEL WEIGHT PER GALLON” SimVar when converting between fuel volume and fuel weight.
- The PFD Options menu will now display external GPS CDI sources as “GPS1” and “GPS2” when there is more than one external GPS source.
- Fixed exceptions when loading helipad data.
- Fixed handling of heliport elevation on airport page.
- Fixed an issue where the runway leg of a departure or arrival procedure could be duplicated in the flight plan.
- Fixed an issue where sometimes approaches added to the flight plan could have improper connections between the approach transition and the final approach segment.
- Added MF controller event handling for for COM, NAV, XPDR buttons.
- Fixed a parameter error in the Autopilot.xml template.
- Intercept and manual sequencing legs can now be deleted and the route amended after these legs.
- Fixed FA legs from the runway being skipped in departures.
- Fixed duplicate runway legs inserted into the flight plan with some SIDs.
- Fixed VNAV target readout not displaying the target altitude for passing at-and-above constraints when descending in VPTH mode.
- The AP now rejects invalid flight director coupling flags (L:XMLVAR_AUTOPILOT_LR).
- Some settings will now persist between flights
- Selecting to amend the flight plan route now scrolls to the amend route list item
- When the active leg is being tracked by LNAV, it will now display as magenta, matching the map colours.
- Fixed a bug where SIDs with no runway transitions were not shown after a departure runway was selected.
- Fixed an issue where invalid airports were automatically entered on the flight plan page on power up.
- Fix METAR date handling for systems that have date displayed as \ \ instead of \ \
- Fixed PFD displaying incorrect wind data
- Fixed errors in model behaviours due to incorrect tag names
- Fix nav preview text overlap
- Fixed various input fields not being editable via the TSC keyboard
- Fixed various input fields not losing focus when the enter key is pressed
- Fixed an issue where some facilities did not appear in the select object dialog, and improved the layout.
- Fixed an issue where duplicate waypoints with discontinuities appear in the flight plan when amending the route.
- Pressing the direct to button on the TSC now scrolls the flight plan to the direct to window.
- Fixed handling of the enter button on the direct to random window.
- Fixed incorrect procedure legs being removed when changing procedures.
- Fixed erroneous transitions being displayed for SIDs and STARs with no transitions.
- Fixed VECTORS approach transition selected by default and no de-selectable.
- Fixed STAR/APPR/transition combinations that are not compatible with existing selections being shown.
- Fixed the activate vectors button positioning and logic.
- Fixed flight paths at the connection between STAR and approach transition.
- Fixed merging of approach transition and final approach when the transition joins the FAF.
- 3 and 5 letter airport idents are now accepted as origin and destination.
- Fixed destination fuel remaining unit on the flight management window.
- Fixed an issue where the right-side TSC outer and inner knob functions were swapped when setting the transponder code.
- When on flight plan menu page, the flight plan page button would not work.
- Nav page would not show Estimated Time Enroute and Estimated Time of Arrival
- Nav page would not update the TO leg’s distance to go
- Nav data page would not show up to date nav data expiry
- After emptying the flight plan, the arrival/departure pages will now remove old procedure information
- Changing the arrival airport from the arrival page, will now remove any arrival procedure selected for that airport.
- When an airport is inserted as the last leg of the flight plan, if no approach is selected it will be made the arrival airport
- Fixed handling of heliport elevation in the waypoint ident page.
- Fixed FA legs from the runway being skipped in departures.
- Fixed duplicate runway legs inserted into the flight plan with some SIDs.
- Fix CDI scaling label always displaying as Terminal
- Fixed arrival page not updating data from the flight plan on it being loaded
- Fix departure page not updating runways after inputting a runway
- Fix not being able to select a departure if a departure with no transitions has already been selected
- Fix power/dim overlay not displaying properly on the LIST page
- Added support for Honeycomb Aeronautical Alpha Lite
- Fixed an infinite loading when launching Dune activities
- Added support for 3ds Max 2024
Launched in celebration of FlightSimExpo 2025, held in Providence, Rhode Island in late June, City Update 11: Northeastern United States highlights several areas of interest (AOIs) across four northeastern U.S. states: Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. This update comprises a spectacular mix of locations throughout this storied region of the United States, including portions of New England, one of the most important heritage areas in the nation. Microsoft and partners created each AOI using recent high-resolution aerial and satellite imagery, digital elevation models (DEMs), and TIN (triangulated irregular network) surface texturing. City Update 11 invites exploration throughout the sights of this historically renowned part of America, where each flight is filled with expansive vistas and intriguing landmarks.Areas of Interest included, by state: MassachusettsBoston: The capital of and most populous city in the state of Massachusetts, Boston serves as the primary cultural, financial, and logistical hub of the New England region. Founded in 1630, Boston is one of the oldest cities in the United States and is one of the most renowned of the country’s heritage sites, notably due to its role in the American Revolution.Plymouth: The Mayflower Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in 1620, making it one of the most important historical sites in the United States. Called “America’s Hometown,” Plymouth is located 40 miles south of Boston and is the oldest settlement in New England.New JerseyNortheastern New Jersey: Cities include Newark, Hackensack, and Paterson, all of which are members of the greater New York metropolitan area. Newark, one of the oldest cities in the United States, is renowned for its contribution to the industrial development of the country and as a modern transportation hub. Hackensack is known for its historical importance during the American Revolution where George Washington established a headquarters. Paterson became a key location in the Industrial Revolution due to the energy supplied by the Great Falls of the Passaic River, around which the city was initially constructed.Central Jersey: This AOI focuses on cities in the eastern portion of Central Jersey, including Elizabeth, New Brunswick, and Edison. Elizabeth was the first capital of New Jersey and is one of the state’s oldest cities. New Brunswick played an important role in the American Revolution and is an important university center. Edison (originally called Raritan Township) was named after famed American inventor Thomas Edison who established his research laboratory in the area and created several important innovations, including the incandescent light bulb and the phonograph.New YorkBrooklyn: Located on the western end of Long Island, Brooklyn is the most populous of the five boroughs of New York City. It lies just south of the borough of Queens and is connected to the borough of Manhattan by one tunnel and three bridges that span the East River. Brooklyn offers some of the most stunning views in all of New York City, notably of the Brooklyn Bridge, the East River, and lower Manhattan.Manhattan: Manhattan is one of the most renowned urban centers in the world. The smallest borough by area of the five boroughs that compose New York City, Manhattan is often cited as the capital of several global industries, including finance, media, and entertainment. Known for its iconic architecture, Manhattan is home to the tallest building in both the United States and the Western Hemisphere, One World Trade Center (1,776 feet tall), and the second tallest in the Nation and the Western Hemisphere, Central Park Tower (1,550 feet tall).Long Island’s East End: One of the most beautiful areas in the northeastern United States, Long Island’s East End is renowned for its pastoral landscapes, historic villages, colonial architecture, and maritime vistas. The update includes Southampton, one of the core towns of the well-known Hamptons resort area, and Montauk, the easternmost point in New York State and home to the spectacular Montauk Point Lighthouse.Rhode IslandThe update’s Rhode Island AOI covers all major cities in the state, including Providence, Cranston, and Warwick. Providence, established in 1636, is the capital and most populous city in the state. Providence, along with the cities of Cranston and Warwick to its south, are located along the mouth of the Providence River at the northern extremity of Narragansett Bay, which opens to the Atlantic Ocean.City Update 11: Northeastern United States is available FREE to all owners of Microsoft Flight Simulator. Ensure that you have the latest simulator version installed (1.38.2.0 for MSFS2020 / 1.3.23.0 for MSFS2024 / 1.3.25.0 for MSFS2024 on Windows PC - Steam as of 06/27/2025), download City Update 11, and take to the skies above the Northeastern United States!Microsoft Flight Simulator is available for Xbox Series X|S and PC with Xbox Game Pass, PC Game Pass, Windows, and Steam, and on Xbox One and supported mobile phones, tablets, and lower-spec PCs via Xbox Cloud Gaming. For the latest information on Microsoft Flight Simulator, stay tuned to @MSFSOfficial on Twitter.
Enjoy discounted pricing during our Microsoft Flight Simulator Summer Sale!For 14 Days starting on June 26th, save up to 88% on more than 3300 items. To purchase these discounted items, visit the Microsoft Flight Simulator Marketplace, scroll down to ‘Special Offers’, then select ‘See All’ and look for the savings.
Welcome to the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 Sim Update 16 public beta test!
How to Join
Open your Steam Library
Right-click Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020
Click “Properties”
Click “Betas”
Select “flight_sim_beta – Sim Update 16"
If you would like to exit the pre-release test before it ends and revert back to the live build, follow these instructions:
Open your Steam Library
Right-click Microsoft Flight Simulator
Click “Properties”
Click “Betas”
Select “None”
RELEASE NOTES
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
Stability & Performance
General Bug Fixes
World
Read full release notes
How to Join
Open your Steam Library
Right-click Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020
Click “Properties”
Click “Betas”
Select “flight_sim_beta – Sim Update 16"
If you would like to exit the pre-release test before it ends and revert back to the live build, follow these instructions:
Open your Steam Library
Right-click Microsoft Flight Simulator
Click “Properties”
Click “Betas”
Select “None”
RELEASE NOTES
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
Stability & Performance
- Improved memory management on Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X to improve stability
General Bug Fixes
- Fixed bugs on Timezone system. In addition, data is now more accurate (country coasts and borders, islands, etc)
World
- Changed the way water bodies polygons work so that overlapping polygons of the same type no longer cancel each other
Read full release notes
This release spotlights a diverse selection of the country’s most beautiful locations, from Dallas, Texas to Honolulu, Hawaii.
Microsoft Flight Simulator City Update 10: United States I delivers five spectacular cities throughout the United States in vibrant detail: Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas; Denver, Colorado; San Francisco, California; and Honolulu, Hawaii. Each city has been crafted using the latest aerial and satellite imagery, digital elevation models (DEMs), and TIN (triangulated irregular network) surface texturing. The exquisite detail offered in this latest release will inspire aviators to explore these storied cities and admire their landmarks throughout every season, at any time of the day or night.
Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas
Dallas, and its sister city to the west, Fort Worth, were established in the 1800s as railroad hubs to serve the cotton, livestock, and oil industries of Texas. Today, the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, a key urban anchor in north Texas, is the most populous metropolitan area in the state. The region is a major international hub of several industries, including manufacturing, defense, finance, and tourism. The metroplex offers spectacular sights, including the iconic Fountain Place and a 720-foot-tall modernist skyscraper in Dallas; 777 Main Street in Fort Worth, a striking building that stands 525 feet tall; and the 561-foot-tall Reunion Tower, one of the most recognizable buildings in Dallas.
Denver, Colorado
Known as the “Mile High City” (its official elevation is 5,280 feet, exactly one mile above sea level), Denver is both the most populous city in Colorado and the state’s capital. Established in 1858 by prospectors who led what would come to be known as the Pike’s Peak gold rush, Denver became an important railroad city in 1870. It blossomed into a major metropolitan center in the 20th century, characterized by a stunning skyline set against the high Rocky Mountains. Some of the sights for pilots to behold include Republic Plaza, the city’s highest building at 714 feet; 1144 Fifteenth, one of the world’s most spectacular modern skyscrapers; the Rocky Mountains to its west; and the vast, oceanic plains east of Denver.
San Francisco, California
Called by many the most beautiful city in the world, San Francisco is squarely located where the San Francisco Bay opens to the Pacific Ocean. The city was formally established in 1850 due to the boom in population from the California Gold Rush, which began in 1848. Set along a spectacular section of Pacific Ocean coastline, San Francisco offers a wonderful selection of sights, including the world-renowned Golden Gate Bridge; the iconic Transamerica Building; Alcatraz Island; and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
Honolulu, Hawaii
The capital and most populous city of the state of Hawaii, Honolulu is known for its beautiful architecture set against the tropical blue and green waters of the Pacific Ocean. Located on the southeastern coast of the island of Oahu, Honolulu boasts human history that dates back many centuries and was incorporated as a city in 1907. Meaning “sheltered port” in Hawaiian, Honolulu features numerous sights for the aerial visitor, including its spectacular skyline; Diamond Head, an extinct volcanic cone just to the southeast of the city; the waters of the Pacific Ocean; and the spectacular Koʻolau Range inland of the metropolitan area.
City Update 10: United States I is available FREE to all owners of Microsoft Flight Simulator and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. Ensure that you have the latest simulator version installed, download City Update 10, and explore. The sky is calling!
Microsoft Flight Simulator and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 are available for Xbox Series X|S and PC with Xbox Game Pass, PC Game Pass, Windows, and Steam, and on Xbox One and supported mobile phones, tablets, and lower-spec PCs via Xbox Cloud Gaming. For the latest information on Microsoft Flight Simulator products, stay tuned to @MSFSOfficial on X (formerly Twitter) or visit www.flightsimulator.com.
Enjoy discounted pricing during our Microsoft Flight Simulator Spring Sale!
For 21 Days starting on April 17th, save up to 85% on more than 3500 items.
To purchase these discounted items, visit the Microsoft Flight Simulator Marketplace, select ‘Featured’, scroll down to ‘Special Offers’, then select ‘See All’ and look for the savings.
Enjoy discounted pricing during our Microsoft Flight Simulator Black Friday Sale!
For 6 Days starting on November 27th, save up to 90% on more than 3500 items.
To purchase these discounted items, visit the Microsoft Flight Simulator Marketplace, select ‘Featured’, scroll down to ‘Special Offers’, then select ‘See All’ and look for the savings.
Hello folks,
We have an abbreviated blog post for you this week as our team is currently focused entirely on resolving the launch issues for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. We will be back with a regular Development Update Blog next week. In the meantime, please see this message from Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jorg Neumann about the issues many of you have experienced this week:
We are seeing significant improvements to the capacity and access issues and are planning to gradually increase capacity while we monitor the situation. We are feeling optimistic that players will be able to access the sim and take to the skies. We thank you for your ongoing patience and will provide another update on Friday. - Jorg Neumann, Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator
-Jorg Neumann, Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator
Click here to continue reading the Marketplace Update!![]()
We have an abbreviated blog post for you this week as our team is currently focused entirely on resolving the launch issues for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. We will be back with a regular Development Update Blog next week. In the meantime, please see this message from Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jorg Neumann about the issues many of you have experienced this week:
We are seeing significant improvements to the capacity and access issues and are planning to gradually increase capacity while we monitor the situation. We are feeling optimistic that players will be able to access the sim and take to the skies. We thank you for your ongoing patience and will provide another update on Friday. - Jorg Neumann, Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator
-Jorg Neumann, Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator
Click here to continue reading the Marketplace Update!
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is by far our most ambitious simulator to date, and we are incredibly excited for all of you – from our core sim fans to all gamers and those who want to explore the world with us – to join us on this journey. With authentic realism of all environments, aviation careers to pursue and the ability to explore our beautiful world with various kinds of aircraft, there is something amazing for everyone in this version of the simulator.
We feel very fortunate that Microsoft Flight Simulator has a vibrant, highly informed and passionate community which has been invaluable on our journey to continually improve the simulator. Our motto is “for the community – with the community”, which means that we will continue to carefully listen to your feedback and suggestions to help guide our development efforts – and it also means that we will continue to work with teams from the community to help us produce the best aircraft, airports, scenery, missions, and other features.
The team at Asobo is very much the core with the engine and key innovations all coming from the team in Bordeaux. We were able to substantially enhance the breadth and quality by inviting other creator teams from the flight sim community to help and bring focus to the many areas of this vast simulator. Aircraft were built by well-known and loved community teams like iniBuilds, Carenado, Got Friends, Blackbird, Hype Performance Group, MilTech, S&H, FlightFX, DC Designs, ATSimulations, BlueMesh and others to create the largest and most detailed fleet we have ever had (70 aircraft) for the base simulator. Other areas like airports, heliports, glider airports were mostly built by the talented team at Gaya, worldwide obstacles by Orbx & Puffin Flight, animals by Lakshya and via a collaboration with Frontier Developments, air racing by Climax, and many other elements like avionics and flight planning from Working Title. In total, we had over 800 people contributing to the sim and the result is beautiful and incredibly impressive.
The dream of flight is ingrained in us yet many people have been unable to pursue that dream due to a lack of opportunity to pilot their own plane … MSFS 2024 provides 70 highly diverse aircraft, our entire beautiful Earth, and many activities to suit your aviation desires.
Thank you for embarking on this incredible adventure with us. We hope you enjoy Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.
The Sky Is Calling.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is now available in a variety of editions. The Standard Edition – available with Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass — comes with 70 aircraft and 150 upgraded airports; Deluxe Edition includes 10 additional aircraft and five extra airports; the Premium Deluxe includes another 15 aircraft (total of 95); Aviator Edition includes everything from the Premium Deluxe Edition plus the entire fleet of 30 Microsoft-published Marketplace aircraft developed for Microsoft Flight Simulator between 2021 and 2024. If you own Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) Deluxe Edition or Premium Deluxe Edition the additional aircraft and airports unique to these editions will automatically work in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.
We feel very fortunate that Microsoft Flight Simulator has a vibrant, highly informed and passionate community which has been invaluable on our journey to continually improve the simulator. Our motto is “for the community – with the community”, which means that we will continue to carefully listen to your feedback and suggestions to help guide our development efforts – and it also means that we will continue to work with teams from the community to help us produce the best aircraft, airports, scenery, missions, and other features.
The team at Asobo is very much the core with the engine and key innovations all coming from the team in Bordeaux. We were able to substantially enhance the breadth and quality by inviting other creator teams from the flight sim community to help and bring focus to the many areas of this vast simulator. Aircraft were built by well-known and loved community teams like iniBuilds, Carenado, Got Friends, Blackbird, Hype Performance Group, MilTech, S&H, FlightFX, DC Designs, ATSimulations, BlueMesh and others to create the largest and most detailed fleet we have ever had (70 aircraft) for the base simulator. Other areas like airports, heliports, glider airports were mostly built by the talented team at Gaya, worldwide obstacles by Orbx & Puffin Flight, animals by Lakshya and via a collaboration with Frontier Developments, air racing by Climax, and many other elements like avionics and flight planning from Working Title. In total, we had over 800 people contributing to the sim and the result is beautiful and incredibly impressive.
The dream of flight is ingrained in us yet many people have been unable to pursue that dream due to a lack of opportunity to pilot their own plane … MSFS 2024 provides 70 highly diverse aircraft, our entire beautiful Earth, and many activities to suit your aviation desires.
Thank you for embarking on this incredible adventure with us. We hope you enjoy Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.
The Sky Is Calling.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is now available in a variety of editions. The Standard Edition – available with Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass — comes with 70 aircraft and 150 upgraded airports; Deluxe Edition includes 10 additional aircraft and five extra airports; the Premium Deluxe includes another 15 aircraft (total of 95); Aviator Edition includes everything from the Premium Deluxe Edition plus the entire fleet of 30 Microsoft-published Marketplace aircraft developed for Microsoft Flight Simulator between 2021 and 2024. If you own Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) Deluxe Edition or Premium Deluxe Edition the additional aircraft and airports unique to these editions will automatically work in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.
There's only five more days until the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024! The launch will be a single global release for all time zones simultaneously at 8:00am Pacific Standard Time (1600 UTC) on Tuesday, November 19. To confirm the launch time in your local area, please consult the Arrivals Board below.
Yesterday, we hosted the final Developer Livestream prior to the launch of MSFS2024. This time, we were pleased to welcome aircraft developer Hans Hartmann to demonstrate two planes he created for MSFS2024, the Pilatus PC-6 and De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter! In case you missed it live, you can watch the VOD on YouTube here.
The next Developer Livestream is scheduled for Wednesday, November 27. The regular panel of Jorg, Seb, and Martial will be back to discuss Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and answer many questions from the community. As always, follow our official Twitch channel and ensure notifications are enabled so you'll know whenever we go live.
As we announced last week, we are now regularly posting to Threads! If you're looking for the latest Microsoft Flight Simulator news and information on an alternate social platform, be sure to follow @MSFSofficial to stay up to date with all the latest announcements!
Finally, simmers who purchased the Limited Collector's Edition of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 from Aerosoft may have recently received an email about a shipping delay to non-USA regions that will prevent delivery in time for the November 19 release date. We know everyone who purchased this edition are some of the most dedicated and passionate simmers in the community, and we have heard your disappointment that you won't be able to play on launch day. To make things right, we are pleased to offer all affected simmers one complimentary month of Game Pass (which includes the Standard Edition of MSFS2024 in addition to hundreds of other titles) plus a Standard to Aviator Edition upgrade token, allowing you to enjoy the new sim as soon as it releases. Please see this announcement post for more information.
- MSFS Team
Click here to continue reading the Development Update!
Yesterday we hosted another of our planned weekly Developer Livestreams leading up to the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 on November 19. Joining Jorg this week were Mike Johnson to showcase the Amphibian Aerospace Albatross and Cameron MacMillan and Pablo (a real-world Airbus A330 and A350 captain) from iniBuilds to demonstrate the Airbus A330, A321LR, A400M Atlas, and Beluga XL.
If you missed the broadcast live while it happened, you can watch the VOD on our YouTube channel here.
In the lead-up to the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, we know many of you are looking at different peripheral options so you can enhance your sim experience. All throughout this week, we have been posting spotlight articles on flight sim products from different vendors. You can check them out at the links below:
- Pimax (VR headsets for PC)
- Turtle Beach (flight control peripherals for PC and Xbox)
- Tobii (head and eye tracking for PC)
- Elgato (programmable multi-function control panels for PC)
- Thrustmaster (flight control peripherals for PC and Xbox)
We have more peripheral spotlight articles coming in the next few days. Be sure to check them out!
Finally, for anyone looking for the latest Microsoft Flight Simulator news and information on an alternate social platform, we are now regularly posting to Threads! Be sure to give us a follow so you can stay up to date with all the latest announcments!
- MSFS Team
Click here to continue reading the Development Update!
Yesterday we hosted another of our planned weekly Developer Livestreams leading up to the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 on November 19. This week, Jorg was joined by three members of the SDK team at Asobo to answer some of the most common questions we've seen from third party developers since the start of the Dev Alpha last week. Also appearing on the stream were three members of Microsoft's Marketplace team to discuss some upcoming changes to the Marketplace in the new sim. Of particular note to fans of military aircraft is a new policy change: visible but non-functional weapons will now be permitted on aircraft sold via the in-sim Marketplace.
If you missed the broadcast live while it happened, you can watch the VOD on our YouTube channel here.
The next developer livestream is scheduled for Wednesday, November 6th at 10:30am PDT (1830 UTC). Please note that the start time may be different in your local time zone due to the switch from Daylight Saving Time to Standard time in many parts of the world. Next week's livestream will feature aircraft developer Mike Johnson as well as members of the team at iniBuilds to preview the new aircraft they are creating for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. As always, we will be livestreaming the event on our official Twitch channel! The full schedule for our planned Developer Livestreams over the next month is below:
Finally, next week we're excited to showcase some wonderful partners who make hardware peripherals compatible with Microsoft Flight Simulator. Follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok) or check back on this website to learn more about some great hardware products to enhance your flight simming experience. There might be some prize giveaways... 👀
- MSFS Team
Click here to continue reading the Development Update!
Earlier today, we released an update to Expert Series 01: ATR 42-600/72-600. This update is available to download via the in-sim Content Manager, and you can read the release notes on our forums here.
On Wednesday of this week, we hosted the second developer livestream to feature the creators of new aircraft launching with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. This time, the panel consisted of developers from Got Friends, MilTech Simulations, and Hype Performance Group demoing seven new aircraft. First up, Got Friends showed three airplanes and two gliders: the AeroElvira Optica, Draco X, and Zlin Aviation Savage Norden and the Pipistrel Taurus M and Stemme S12G gliders. Next, MilTech Simulations gave an extensive preview of the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, a new plane that is sure to delight fans of military transport aircraft. Finally, Hype Performance Group ended the livestream with a demonstration of the Airbus H225 helicopter. All you rotary wingnuts out there (hi Sergio!) will love flying this beautiful bird on passenger transport missions to offshore oil platforms.
If you missed the broadcast live while it happened, you can watch the VOD on our YouTube channel here.
The next developer livestream is scheduled for Wednesday, October 30th at 10:30am PDT (1730 UTC) and will feature MSFS team members Julie, Mabel, and Todd joining Jorg to discuss the in-sim Marketplace in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. As always, we will be livestreaming the event on our official Twitch channel! The full schedule for our planned Developer Livestreams over the next month is below:
In case you missed it, last week we shared a full recording of the presentation from September's Global Preview Event at the Grand Canyon. This presentation was delivered by several members of the development team to invited members of the media and flight simulation creator community and covers many of the new features and improvements coming in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. We hope you enjoy watching it to learn more about MSFS2024 ahead of its launch in 26 days!
- MSFS Team
Click here to continue reading the Development Update!
From October 11-14, we ran the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Technical Alpha Test. The purpose of this test was to gather automatic telemetry data related to several online services used by MSFS2024. THANK YOU to everyone who participated! The data collected from the Technical Alpha is tremendously valuable to our production team as we prepare for the launch of MSFS2024 on November 19. For anyone who did not participate in the test, we wish to remind you that any footage from the Technical Alpha you may have seen online was from a pre-release test build and should not be viewed as representative of the final product.
Yesterday, we hosted the first in our series of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Aircraft Partner livestreams. During the broadcast, Jorg was joined by Nick and Marwan from Flight FX to showcase three of the aircraft they created for MSFS2024: the Jetson One, Joby S4, and Archer Midnight. All three of these modern, cutting-edge aircraft are included in the Standard Edition of MSFS2024. If you missed the livestream, you can watch the VOD on YouTube below.
Our next 1st Party Aircraft Partner livestream is scheduled for Wednesday, October 23rd at 10:30am PDT (1730 UTC). As always, we will be livestreaming the event on our official Twitch channel! The full schedule for our upcoming Developer Livestreams is below:
Finally, we're excited to share this video from last month's Global Preview Event at the Grand Canyon. This is a recording of the presentation delivered by several members of the development team to invited members of the media and flight simulation creator community. The presentation covers many of the new features and improvements coming in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, and we hope you enjoy watching it to learn more about MSFS2024 ahead of its launch in 33 days!
- MSFS Team
Click here to continue reading the Development Update!
This week’s Screenshot Challenge winner is Twitter user @BasedRaccoon! If you’re interested in participating in our weekly Screenshot Challenges, check out the details in the Community section below!
Earlier today we launched Expert Series 1: ATR 42/72-600 Expansion, which features a number of bug fixes and improvements to this popular turboprop. Additionally, this expansion also includes two new variants of the plane for your enjoyment: the 42-600S (short take-off and landing / STOL) and 72-600F (freighter). Owners of the Expert Series ATR 42/72-600 aircraft can download this FREE update via the Content Manager.
In the run up to the launch of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 on November 19th, we are hosting a number of Developer Livestreams. The next Developer Livestream will be broadcast on Wednesday, October 16th at 10:30am PDT (1730 UTC) and focuses on 1st Party Aircraft Partners. We will be livestreaming the event on our official Twitch channel! The full schedule for our upcoming Developer Livestreams is below:
Upcoming Developer Livestreams
If you missed the last Developer Livestream with the Asobo SDK (Software Development Kit) Team, you can watch the VOD over on our YouTube channel.
Finally, earlier this week we announced the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Technical Alpha, which is now open for applications via our Insider Sign-Up Survey. Please note that this is only available for the Windows PC (Windows Store) platform. For more details on the Technical Alpha please see our web post, which includes a summary as to what content will be available, as well as other important information.
- MSFS Team
Click here to continue reading the Development Update!
This week’s Screenshot Challenge winner is Twitter user @pommes_l! If you’re interested in participating in our weekly Screenshot Challenges, check out the details in the Community section below!
Earlier this week, we launched Aircraft & Avionics Update 3 (AAU3)! This release enhances three aircraft: the Airbus A310-300, Airbus A320neo V2, and Pilatus PC-6 Porter. To see what was improved for each plane, you can read the full release notes here. We also released the latest Navdata update (AIRAC cycle 2410) this week. Both AAU3 and the navdata update are installed automatically upon launching the sim.
On Wednesday, we hosted the second of our weekly Developer Livestreams leading up to and following the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 next month. This livestream featured Jorg and three members of the Software Development Kit (SDK) team from Asobo. While the primary intended audience for this session was third-party developers who make add-on products for the sim, regular players may also find the information from the broadcast interesting. Some of the covered topics include:
What are the new and enhanced features in the SDK developers can use when making aircraft and airports?
- Can players use third-party add-on aircraft in Career Mode?
- Approximately how much developer effort is required to upgrade a Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) add-on to use the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 SDK?
- And much more!
- If you missed seeing it live, you can watch the VOD on our YouTube channel here:
There was much more information the SDK team would like to share than could be covered in the two-hour broadcast, so we have tentatively scheduled a second SDK-focused livestream for next week. Tune in again on Wednesday, October 9 at 9:30am PDT (1630 UTC). As always, we will be livestreaming the broadcast on our official Twitch channel.
Finally, the MSFS Team would like to send our greetings to all the members of our September Family who are currently attending the Reno Air Show this weekend! While we’re sad that we won’t be there in person this year, we’re sure the various performers and display teams — including the US Navy Blue Angels and Canadian Forces Snowbirds — will give a wonderful send-off to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the Reno Air Races!
- MSFS Team
Click here to continue reading the Development Update!
Aircraft and Avionics Update 3 is now available as a free download for all Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) players!
If you would like to provide general feedback for each of these aircraft, please do so via the dedicated Polls & Feedback threads linked here:
Airbus A320neo V2
Airbus A310-300
Pilatus PC-6 Porter
The release notes are available to browse here.
This week's Screenshot Challenge winner is Forum user KnackBretzel! If you’re interested in participating in our weekly Screenshot Challenges, check out the details in the Community section below!
It's been another big week for Microsoft Flight Simulator news!
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is now available to pre-order on Steam! With pre-orders for Xbox and Windows Store going live last week, players on all platforms can now prepare themselves for the November 19 launch of Microsoft Flight Simulator 204 and also enjoy the De Havilland Canada CL-415 firefighting aircraft in Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) today as a special bonus to everyone who pre-orders!
Yesterday, we hosted our September Developer Livestream! During this broadcast, our regular panel of Jorg, Seb, and Martial were pleased to be joined by guest Hans Hartmann to provide more details about an upcoming update to Expert Series 1: ATR 42-600/72-600. The panel also responded to many of the community's most frequently asked questions regarding Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. If you missed the live broadcast, you can watch the VOD on YouTube here:
Topics covered during the livestream include:
- ATR update information
- Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 PC system requirements
- World & weather updates
- Aircraft & flight model improvements
- Information about Career mode
- Additional clarification about ownership of MSFS (2020) content in MSFS2024
- Announcement of World Update 19: Brazil, Guyana, French Guyana, and Suriname
- And more!
Towards the end of the session, Jorg also announced that we will be hosting (almost) weekly Developer Livestreams for the next two months, each focusing on a different subject area and each with different guest panelists. The first such livestream, scheduled for next week on October 2 starting at 9:30am PDT (1630 UTC), will focus on the Software Development Kit (SDK) used by add-on makers for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. You can watch this livestream on our official Twitch channel. If you would like to pre-submit a question to the panel in advance, you can do so by completing the form at this link. Reminder: this upcoming livestream is about SDK-related topics only, not a general Microsoft Flight Simulator Q&A.
- MSFS Team
Click here to continue reading the Development Update!
Summary:
Click here to pre-order on Steam!
2020’s Microsoft Flight Simulator was by far the most successful entry in Microsoft’s longest supported franchise. It redefined what was possible from a flight simulator by utilizing a mix of cloud-based worldwide map data, cutting-edge photogrammetry, machine learning techniques, and a real-time worldwide weather simulation. These offerings, along with a complex physics system that allowed for highly sophisticated flight models, all made the famous franchise a household name again.
Now with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 on fast approach for a November 19, 2024, release date, we got our first deep dive into the game, and discovered how much more impressive the entire flight simulator experience is about to become for fans. From the digital tourist to a novice flyer to the most advanced pilots, it’s shaping up to have something for everyone to enjoy.
“Since we launched Microsoft Flight Simulator in 2020, we have seen 15 million people come to the simulation and be interested in what we do,” explains Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jorg Neumann. “When you compare that number to the previous biggest launch we had, which was Microsoft Flight Simulator X, it took 16 years to get to 5 million users. So there has been an explosion in the flight simulation hobby and it’s because of the community and excitement that everybody’s bringing .”
Earning Your Wings
One of the features I’m most excited to see come to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 (MSFS 2024) is its Career System, designed to bring a comprehensive and immersive experience for all manner of piloting skills. The system cleverly mimics the experience of how real-world pilots start their aviation careers. “You can pick any single airport on the planet and start your career there, which means that you are going to take your lessons at this location. Your first job can be anywhere, and I mean anywhere, in the world,” explains CCO of Asobo Studio David Dedeine. “You will start as a rookie pilot and meet a mentor who will explain to you how the career works and guide you through the very first steps in the career.”
The Career System introduces new elements to the simulation like pre-flight procedures, logging flight paths, and choosing from a vast amount of mission objectives. Advancement is tracked through a certification tree where you can learn the skills to fly various types of aircraft – each of which comes with a training session to help you master those skills. Later, specializations will unlock a variety of missions, such as Search and Rescue, Commercial Flights, Firefighting, and many more.
“You are not going to have to spend five years of your life to do the actual exam. It’s a simplified version, but still, it will explain to you the basics of each of those different activities, from commercial pilot to tailwind, airliner, transport, etc.” Dedeine adds. “Performance for these missions is evaluated by several factors like following ATC instructions, taxi paths, and flight parameters. Completing these missions successfully nets you credits and reputation, which you can then use to save up and buy your own plane and eventually manage your own fleet.”
Once you have earned enough money to run your business with your personally-owned aircraft, a new phase in MSFS 2024 opens in which you’ll be directly responsible for your aircraft; every landing, every bump on the runway, is going to impact the warranty of your planes, affecting the cost to keep them maintained. Effectively, MSFS 2024 includes a management sim inside the wider flight sim.
“This is basically the management of your fleet,” Dedeine elaborates, “because you will buy more planes at some point to allow you to engage in a different type of activity. Maybe you want to buy your own airliners and expand your fleet across the world. This new Career System is a big chunk of the innovation we introduce in MSFS 2024, and I think it’s never been done at this level of variety and quality before.”
If there was a ding against the 2020 version of Microsoft Flight Simulator, it was that each of its individual experiences, like Bush Trips and Landing Challenges (which are still fun), rarely felt connected to each other. It was akin to putting on a greatest hits album, giving you the best bits without experiencing what the journey was like to get there. This is what I’ve wanted from a flight simulator for such a long time, and having a chance to create my own virtual pilot journey from start to finish sounds like it’s going to keep me flying for a long, long time.
Improving the “Digital Twin”
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is also bringing massive enhancements to the simulated Earth by increasing the detail of its virtual environment by a factor of 4,000. For instance, the ground will no longer be a mere heightfield; it now features tiny stones, rocks, gravel and grass all modeled in 3D. This ground detail impacts your aircraft’s wheels as they interact with the various surfaces affecting take-offs and landings. Improved sky and atmospheric lighting, especially during sunrise and sunset, with varying displays of colors based on the makeup of the clouds ensuring accurate temperatures for all light sources. New cloud types like cirrus clouds will better simulate the highest levels of our atmosphere, while the dynamic weather has been improved as well, increasing the density to make storms and other weather phenomena much more realistic and impressive to fly through.
“We can basically get every rock on Earth now; it’s unbelievable,” Neumann adds. “We updated the aerial imagery for the entire world, and we set up a team of specialists that gather digital elevation maps from across the planet. The result of these last four years of work is that we now have an unprecedented level of ground detail. Nobody else has anything like this.”
And it’s not just inanimate objects that are getting massive improvements. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is attempting to populate its digital Earth (the “digital twin”) as close to our real world as feasible by introducing a large cast of diverse human characters and locally-significant vehicles, all adding to the overall realism of the simulation. For instance, there’s real-time ship tracking so you can see cargo ships move throughout the world as you would in real life. You can see passengers inside airliners or moving from one location to the next in airports. And because landing just about anywhere in the world is one of the key features, due to the much more detailed environments, the development team worked closely with partners like Frontier (creators of Zoo Tycoon and Planet Zoo) to introduce many species that bring the world to life.
“We have species separated into two groups. For wild animals, we are using a fantastic database (GBIF – the Global Biodiversity Information Facility) to place animals across the world both in their appropriate habitats and in roughly appropriate quantities to get close to realistic densities. For domesticated animals, we are using our field detection (which is also used for activities like Aerial Application) to place species like cows, sheep, goats and horses across the planet. We can essentially now go sheep herding or cow herding with helicopters, which is super fun,” Neumann explains.
Powered By the Cloud
Another big area of improvement that’s planned is addressing the installation size. It’s no big surprise how much space Microsoft Flight Simulator takes up on your console or PC (it’s a lot). So, it’s refreshing to hear how this is one of the biggest things that is being addressed in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. By tapping into the latest cloud streaming technology, installation size has been trimmed down to about 30 GB to get you in your seat and flying as quickly as possible, streaming in the higher detailed areas that are only necessary for your flight path; why install all the data for the United States when you’re intending to just fly over Europe for the evening?
“The very important thing is overall bandwidth consumption is way down, because you only download what you really see when you see it, and we don’t pre-download at like hundreds of gigabytes,” explains CEO and Co-Founder of Asobo Studio Sebastian Wloch. ”Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) already had over two petabytes of data on the cloud. That was the whole world data. We kept adding to that, but we still had planes, airports, meshes, points of interests like castles, and textures that were all installed. That’s the part that kept growing with the marketplace content, which had grown to 2 TB. Now we integrated everything into the cloud, and it is all streamed and kept into a rolling cache on the hardware. You don’t have to install any new World Updates; they’re just streamed seamlessly.”
It’s all highly optimized and tailored to each player’s experience. For example, if you fly over a large international airport, you won’t need to have the highest quality version of the mesh downloaded on your system. The simulator is only going to pull the lowest or medium quality version, leaving the higher quality assets streamed on demand through the cloud for when you’re closer.
Another impressive addition to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 will be its “soft body simulation” for hot air balloons. These balloons will be simulated across 6,400 surfaces giving a realistic reaction to heat density — when you turn on the heater, the air will heat up, and it’s going to inflate the massive balloon.
“You will see the balloon inflated and get lighter. Combustion happens, and the balloon goes up. Banners are physically simulated, so they will flap in the wind, just exactly like tissue with the rope attached,” explains Wloch. “Also, we now have parachutes. For example, the Cirrus Vision Jet, which you can fly, has a parachute system that can be deployed when needed.”
Attention to Detail
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is launching with one of the most largely diverse groups of highly detailed aircraft systems than any flight simulator has ever come with before. It isn’t just how good these aircraft look – and they certainly look fantastic – but also the care and attention that has been given to these systems.
“The reason that we wanted to focus on this experience so much and to build things like flight planning and pre-flight activities into the simulator is because we wanted to make sure everyone had the opportunity to take advantage of those kind of capabilities and those kinds of experiences,” explains Co-Founder of Working Title Simulations Christopher Burnett. “One of the things that has impacted simmers in the past is that flight simulators have often used outside tools to do their flight planning or preflight activities, and those came with some barriers to entry, things like cost or maybe complexity, that kept a lot of them from doing that.”
Now you’ll be able to go through the entire preflight experience, from planning to briefing for things like weather, and then executing that flight on some of the most detailed cockpits and avionics systems that we’ve ever seen in a flight simulator. The new flight planning tool supports anything from small flight plans all the way up to larger, more complicated paths using the same kind of tools that airline dispatchers use for their long commercial flights.
“We’ve also got several commercial aircraft systems that we’re bringing into MSFS 2024,” Burnett explains. “The 737 Max 8 avionics package is one of those. Of course, we’ve got the 787 and 747 8i as well. Then something exciting that we’re working on is the Boeing 747 400 LCF, also known as the Dreamlifter. This is a purpose-built aircraft that Boeing made to help them with the manufacture of the 787. They expanded it and now simmers can use this to fly aircraft parts around. We’ve partnered with Boeing to faithfully recreate this aircraft and the 747 400 avionics package that goes with it. We’ve got a ton of great avionics in the simulator.”
All these enhancements, from addressing install size, entirely new forms of photogrammetry and an unprecedented digital twin of Earth, the enhanced learning system, the vast and innovative Career System, were not the only things that the development team was excited about. They are, as Neumann explains, all the result of carefully listening to the wishes and dreams of Microsoft Flight Simulator’s passionate community. The community feedback was welcomed and embraced by the dev teams and became the guiding principles in the creation of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 “We are making this new simulator for the community, and we are working directly with the community and it is through this fantastic collaboration that MSFS 2024 is able to take flight simulation to the next level,” Neumann shares.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is shaping up to be the most ambitious commercially available flight simulator that has ever been undertaken – and it’s not even close. It’s fun to think about how many decades some of us have been “flying” in front of our PCs now, and it’s impressive to see how Microsoft’s longest-running franchise wasn’t content to just settle for sticking the landing a few years ago – it wants to keep soaring and bring all of us along for the ride. Time to buckle up.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 – available for pre-order today on Steam — will launch in a variety of editions on November 19, 2024, and day one with PC Game Pass. All pre-orders will receive the De Havilland Canada CL-415 firefighting aircraft to use instantly in Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020). The Standard Edition comes with 70 aircraft and 150 upgraded airports; Deluxe Edition will include 10 additional aircraft and five extra airports; the Premium Deluxe will have another 15 aircraft (total of 95); and then there’s the Aviator Edition for those who want everything which comes with all of the above plus the 30 planes that have been released in the Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) Marketplace for a grand total of 125 planes with that edition.
Click here to pre-order on Steam!
- Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 takes the franchise further than ever before with groundbreaking new elements like worldwide Aviation Careers, a white-knuckle Challenge League system, and a brand-new World Photographer mode.
- The representation of Earth, the “digital twin,” graphically takes a leap forward with a jaw-dropping enhancement of the ground detail, the inclusion of worldwide ship traffic, the first ever implementation of helipads, glider airports, oil rigs, and vertical obstructions around the world all the way to the addition of dozens of animal species worldwide.
- Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 – available for pre-order today on Steam – will launch in a variety of editions on November 19, 2024, and the Standard Edition will be available on day one with PC Game Pass. All pre-orders will receive the De Havilland Canada CL-415 firefighting aircraft to use instantly in Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020).
Click here to pre-order on Steam!
2020’s Microsoft Flight Simulator was by far the most successful entry in Microsoft’s longest supported franchise. It redefined what was possible from a flight simulator by utilizing a mix of cloud-based worldwide map data, cutting-edge photogrammetry, machine learning techniques, and a real-time worldwide weather simulation. These offerings, along with a complex physics system that allowed for highly sophisticated flight models, all made the famous franchise a household name again.
Now with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 on fast approach for a November 19, 2024, release date, we got our first deep dive into the game, and discovered how much more impressive the entire flight simulator experience is about to become for fans. From the digital tourist to a novice flyer to the most advanced pilots, it’s shaping up to have something for everyone to enjoy.
“Since we launched Microsoft Flight Simulator in 2020, we have seen 15 million people come to the simulation and be interested in what we do,” explains Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jorg Neumann. “When you compare that number to the previous biggest launch we had, which was Microsoft Flight Simulator X, it took 16 years to get to 5 million users. So there has been an explosion in the flight simulation hobby and it’s because of the community and excitement that everybody’s bringing .”
Earning Your Wings
One of the features I’m most excited to see come to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 (MSFS 2024) is its Career System, designed to bring a comprehensive and immersive experience for all manner of piloting skills. The system cleverly mimics the experience of how real-world pilots start their aviation careers. “You can pick any single airport on the planet and start your career there, which means that you are going to take your lessons at this location. Your first job can be anywhere, and I mean anywhere, in the world,” explains CCO of Asobo Studio David Dedeine. “You will start as a rookie pilot and meet a mentor who will explain to you how the career works and guide you through the very first steps in the career.”
The Career System introduces new elements to the simulation like pre-flight procedures, logging flight paths, and choosing from a vast amount of mission objectives. Advancement is tracked through a certification tree where you can learn the skills to fly various types of aircraft – each of which comes with a training session to help you master those skills. Later, specializations will unlock a variety of missions, such as Search and Rescue, Commercial Flights, Firefighting, and many more.
“You are not going to have to spend five years of your life to do the actual exam. It’s a simplified version, but still, it will explain to you the basics of each of those different activities, from commercial pilot to tailwind, airliner, transport, etc.” Dedeine adds. “Performance for these missions is evaluated by several factors like following ATC instructions, taxi paths, and flight parameters. Completing these missions successfully nets you credits and reputation, which you can then use to save up and buy your own plane and eventually manage your own fleet.”
Once you have earned enough money to run your business with your personally-owned aircraft, a new phase in MSFS 2024 opens in which you’ll be directly responsible for your aircraft; every landing, every bump on the runway, is going to impact the warranty of your planes, affecting the cost to keep them maintained. Effectively, MSFS 2024 includes a management sim inside the wider flight sim.
“This is basically the management of your fleet,” Dedeine elaborates, “because you will buy more planes at some point to allow you to engage in a different type of activity. Maybe you want to buy your own airliners and expand your fleet across the world. This new Career System is a big chunk of the innovation we introduce in MSFS 2024, and I think it’s never been done at this level of variety and quality before.”
If there was a ding against the 2020 version of Microsoft Flight Simulator, it was that each of its individual experiences, like Bush Trips and Landing Challenges (which are still fun), rarely felt connected to each other. It was akin to putting on a greatest hits album, giving you the best bits without experiencing what the journey was like to get there. This is what I’ve wanted from a flight simulator for such a long time, and having a chance to create my own virtual pilot journey from start to finish sounds like it’s going to keep me flying for a long, long time.
Improving the “Digital Twin”
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is also bringing massive enhancements to the simulated Earth by increasing the detail of its virtual environment by a factor of 4,000. For instance, the ground will no longer be a mere heightfield; it now features tiny stones, rocks, gravel and grass all modeled in 3D. This ground detail impacts your aircraft’s wheels as they interact with the various surfaces affecting take-offs and landings. Improved sky and atmospheric lighting, especially during sunrise and sunset, with varying displays of colors based on the makeup of the clouds ensuring accurate temperatures for all light sources. New cloud types like cirrus clouds will better simulate the highest levels of our atmosphere, while the dynamic weather has been improved as well, increasing the density to make storms and other weather phenomena much more realistic and impressive to fly through.
“We can basically get every rock on Earth now; it’s unbelievable,” Neumann adds. “We updated the aerial imagery for the entire world, and we set up a team of specialists that gather digital elevation maps from across the planet. The result of these last four years of work is that we now have an unprecedented level of ground detail. Nobody else has anything like this.”
And it’s not just inanimate objects that are getting massive improvements. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is attempting to populate its digital Earth (the “digital twin”) as close to our real world as feasible by introducing a large cast of diverse human characters and locally-significant vehicles, all adding to the overall realism of the simulation. For instance, there’s real-time ship tracking so you can see cargo ships move throughout the world as you would in real life. You can see passengers inside airliners or moving from one location to the next in airports. And because landing just about anywhere in the world is one of the key features, due to the much more detailed environments, the development team worked closely with partners like Frontier (creators of Zoo Tycoon and Planet Zoo) to introduce many species that bring the world to life.
“We have species separated into two groups. For wild animals, we are using a fantastic database (GBIF – the Global Biodiversity Information Facility) to place animals across the world both in their appropriate habitats and in roughly appropriate quantities to get close to realistic densities. For domesticated animals, we are using our field detection (which is also used for activities like Aerial Application) to place species like cows, sheep, goats and horses across the planet. We can essentially now go sheep herding or cow herding with helicopters, which is super fun,” Neumann explains.
Powered By the Cloud
Another big area of improvement that’s planned is addressing the installation size. It’s no big surprise how much space Microsoft Flight Simulator takes up on your console or PC (it’s a lot). So, it’s refreshing to hear how this is one of the biggest things that is being addressed in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. By tapping into the latest cloud streaming technology, installation size has been trimmed down to about 30 GB to get you in your seat and flying as quickly as possible, streaming in the higher detailed areas that are only necessary for your flight path; why install all the data for the United States when you’re intending to just fly over Europe for the evening?
“The very important thing is overall bandwidth consumption is way down, because you only download what you really see when you see it, and we don’t pre-download at like hundreds of gigabytes,” explains CEO and Co-Founder of Asobo Studio Sebastian Wloch. ”Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) already had over two petabytes of data on the cloud. That was the whole world data. We kept adding to that, but we still had planes, airports, meshes, points of interests like castles, and textures that were all installed. That’s the part that kept growing with the marketplace content, which had grown to 2 TB. Now we integrated everything into the cloud, and it is all streamed and kept into a rolling cache on the hardware. You don’t have to install any new World Updates; they’re just streamed seamlessly.”
It’s all highly optimized and tailored to each player’s experience. For example, if you fly over a large international airport, you won’t need to have the highest quality version of the mesh downloaded on your system. The simulator is only going to pull the lowest or medium quality version, leaving the higher quality assets streamed on demand through the cloud for when you’re closer.
Another impressive addition to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 will be its “soft body simulation” for hot air balloons. These balloons will be simulated across 6,400 surfaces giving a realistic reaction to heat density — when you turn on the heater, the air will heat up, and it’s going to inflate the massive balloon.
“You will see the balloon inflated and get lighter. Combustion happens, and the balloon goes up. Banners are physically simulated, so they will flap in the wind, just exactly like tissue with the rope attached,” explains Wloch. “Also, we now have parachutes. For example, the Cirrus Vision Jet, which you can fly, has a parachute system that can be deployed when needed.”
Attention to Detail
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is launching with one of the most largely diverse groups of highly detailed aircraft systems than any flight simulator has ever come with before. It isn’t just how good these aircraft look – and they certainly look fantastic – but also the care and attention that has been given to these systems.
“The reason that we wanted to focus on this experience so much and to build things like flight planning and pre-flight activities into the simulator is because we wanted to make sure everyone had the opportunity to take advantage of those kind of capabilities and those kinds of experiences,” explains Co-Founder of Working Title Simulations Christopher Burnett. “One of the things that has impacted simmers in the past is that flight simulators have often used outside tools to do their flight planning or preflight activities, and those came with some barriers to entry, things like cost or maybe complexity, that kept a lot of them from doing that.”
Now you’ll be able to go through the entire preflight experience, from planning to briefing for things like weather, and then executing that flight on some of the most detailed cockpits and avionics systems that we’ve ever seen in a flight simulator. The new flight planning tool supports anything from small flight plans all the way up to larger, more complicated paths using the same kind of tools that airline dispatchers use for their long commercial flights.
“We’ve also got several commercial aircraft systems that we’re bringing into MSFS 2024,” Burnett explains. “The 737 Max 8 avionics package is one of those. Of course, we’ve got the 787 and 747 8i as well. Then something exciting that we’re working on is the Boeing 747 400 LCF, also known as the Dreamlifter. This is a purpose-built aircraft that Boeing made to help them with the manufacture of the 787. They expanded it and now simmers can use this to fly aircraft parts around. We’ve partnered with Boeing to faithfully recreate this aircraft and the 747 400 avionics package that goes with it. We’ve got a ton of great avionics in the simulator.”
All these enhancements, from addressing install size, entirely new forms of photogrammetry and an unprecedented digital twin of Earth, the enhanced learning system, the vast and innovative Career System, were not the only things that the development team was excited about. They are, as Neumann explains, all the result of carefully listening to the wishes and dreams of Microsoft Flight Simulator’s passionate community. The community feedback was welcomed and embraced by the dev teams and became the guiding principles in the creation of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 “We are making this new simulator for the community, and we are working directly with the community and it is through this fantastic collaboration that MSFS 2024 is able to take flight simulation to the next level,” Neumann shares.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is shaping up to be the most ambitious commercially available flight simulator that has ever been undertaken – and it’s not even close. It’s fun to think about how many decades some of us have been “flying” in front of our PCs now, and it’s impressive to see how Microsoft’s longest-running franchise wasn’t content to just settle for sticking the landing a few years ago – it wants to keep soaring and bring all of us along for the ride. Time to buckle up.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 – available for pre-order today on Steam — will launch in a variety of editions on November 19, 2024, and day one with PC Game Pass. All pre-orders will receive the De Havilland Canada CL-415 firefighting aircraft to use instantly in Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020). The Standard Edition comes with 70 aircraft and 150 upgraded airports; Deluxe Edition will include 10 additional aircraft and five extra airports; the Premium Deluxe will have another 15 aircraft (total of 95); and then there’s the Aviator Edition for those who want everything which comes with all of the above plus the 30 planes that have been released in the Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) Marketplace for a grand total of 125 planes with that edition.
Click here to pre-order on Steam!