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Microsoft Flight Simulator Sim Update 7 & Martha’s Vineyard Airport Released; Tupolev Tu-134 Gets New Screenshots

Today Microsoft released a new update for Microsoft Flight Simulator, while third-party developers also had news to share.

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Today Microsoft released a new update for Microsoft Flight Simulator, while third-party developers also had news to share.

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The update is Sim Update 7, also numbered 1.21.18.0. It focuses only on fixing issues and you can read the patch notes below.

It has been in beta for a few weeks, but now everyone is required to download it.

Stability

  • Several crashes have been fixed across the title

Weather

  • Improved management of high proximity METARs to avoid hard weather transitions 
  • Fixed abnormal temperatures above FL450 
  • Fixed custom weather preset save data
  • Live Weather clouds on ground should now be displayed as fog 
  • Rain and fog now correctly receive shadows from clouds above
  • Fixed “10SM” metar visibility 
  • Fixed live weather refering to AMSL instead of AGL 

VR

  • Fixed the issue that prevented interactions with the toolbar in VR 
  • Added some of the VR controller specific controls (e.g. switch between proxi and raycast modes) that were not available in the binding menu
  • Fixed the rotate and drag buttons that did not respond well with WMR VR controllers
  • VR controllers are now working when using Legacy cockpit interaction system

Peripherals

  • TrackIR support has been fixed 
  • Fixed unable to pan / drag WorldMap using a custom mouse profile. Add a slot in Control Menu 

Planes

  • Fixed HUD shader support for for 3rd party planes
  • Fixed Reverse Throttle
  • Fixed livery overriding mechanism for WASM modules
  • Fixed glass cockpit remains off when starting from cold & dark for the Volocity
  • Fixed white rendering of the Copilot HUD in the Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner

World

  • Fixed an issue where roads could blink
  • Fixed color banding introduced in Sim update 5 

Reno

  • Performance optimization for Reno multiplayer races
  • Reno stands are no longer misplaced during RTC
  • Fixed “Too high” notification when starting a time trial

UI

  • Assistances preferences should no longer be set to Easy without user’s input 
  • Localization update across all supported languages

SDK

  • Fixed crash when loading a project
  • Fixed aircraft no longer compiles because of glTF errors
  • Fixed game crashing when trying to add a PaintedHatchedArea in the Scenery editor
  • Changed “Parking not linked to the main graph” to warning
  • Fixed disabled interactions with the sim when Aircraft Editor is open
  • Ignore null-size flags file (avoids invalid materials)
  • Fixed newly created project XML file path in PackageBuilder

Navigation

  • New AIRAC cycle 2113 is now available

Next is a release from Burning Blue Design, which launched Martha’s Vineyard Airport (KMVY) in Massachusetts, United States.

It can be purchased on the developer’s own store for £12.95.

  • Over 100 custom 3D objects have been used in Martha’s Vineyard Airport, each with full Physical Based Rendering (PBR) allowing for far more realistic textures and all airport buildings have been created using high resolution photos provided by Martha’s Vineyard Airport.
  • Over ten thousand carefully placed stock assets have been across the airport and surrounding area, every fence, shrub, light and tree has been placed in it’s correct location bringing life to Martha’s Vineyard airport and the surrounding area.
  • An assortment of ground workers, passengers and vehicles have been around ensuring an atmosphere of a working airport.
  • High resolution colour corrected ground textures taken from Bing maps and manipulated for consistency and realism which far surpasses the quality of the stock Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 ground texture.
  • As with all Burning Blue Design Products new custom working Windsocks have been created and accurately placed around the airport.
  • Full night lighting placed across the airport and within and around the hangars and buildings.
  • Correct AI pattern procedures and accurate taxiway and runway placement have been incorporated into the release.
  • Many custom vehicles placed around the airport:
    • MVY OshKosh Striker 4×4 Airport Firetruck.
    • Martha’s Vineyard Transit Authority Busses.
    • Gulfstream G650
    • Bombardier Challenger 350
Microsoft Flight Simulator

We then get a few new screenshots of the Tupolev Tu-134 by Kai31 showcasing the flight deck lighting in different stages of dimming.

About the author

Giuseppe Nelva

Proud weeb hailing from sunny (not as much as people think) Italy and long-standing gamer since the age of Mattel Intellivision and Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Definitely a multi-platform gamer, he still holds the old dear PC nearest to his heart, while not disregarding any console on the market. RPGs (of any nationality), MMORPGs, and visual novels are his daily bread, but he enjoys almost every other genre, prominently racing simulators, action and sandbox games. He is also one of the few surviving fans on Earth of the flight simulator genre.

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