Another weekly development update has been published by Asobo Studio. From brand new screenshots to exciting news regarding the Alpha branch, the developers have made sure we are up-to-date on all of the details about the new simulator. 

To begin, the team confirm that Alpha 4 (build #1.3.2.0) has been released into the wild today with new content, bug fixes and an updated list of known issues. There have been several fixes focusing on the Boeing 747 in the simulator, containing more accurate glass cockpit displays and a more realistic autopilot with improved functionality.

Improvements to the 747 cockpit, the exterior of the airframe and the awe-inspiring visual effects have also been included.

The team has also packed “transversal fixes to improve both commercial aircraft,” the Boeing 747 and the Airbus A320, into the new Alpha branch, along with flight performance, controls and overall predictability during flight. Improvements were also made to the visual representation of the user’s flight plan with more accurate calculations.

Asobo has also confirmed that the TBM 930 has received a “complete pass” based on positive feedback from the community and improvements from their backlog. While the team has fixed “lots and lots of bugs and added further polish across the entire experience,” they are welcome to continued feedback from the community and testers as they recognise that there is room to improve.

Furthermore, universal improvements to the flight model have been released into the Alpha and are ready to test! Available across the entire fleet, changes to the aerodynamics of the vertical and horizontal tail have been made to “make them behave more like wing surfaces and no longer like flat surfaces.”

Asobo has reported that this has been a big change and required “overall readjustment” of all of the airframes available in the simulator. However, they believe that the result is a more realistic elevator and rudder authority curve, and thus more realistic behaviour of the airframe.

The general summary of the above changes can be found below;

• Improved elevator and rudder authority for all planes
• Improved pitch and yaw stability for all planes
• Improved weight and balance for all planes
• Improved stall behaviour of all aircraft

The developers have also included an update to the camera system;

• Added inputs to allow you to control the cockpit camera’s backward and forward translations
• Left/ right arrows: move left/ right
• Up/ down arrows: move forward/ backward
• ALT + up/ down arrows: move up/ down
• Right-Click + Drag now allows you to control freelook

Airport placement and listing has also seen multiple improvements;

• AGY – planes started off-centre on runway 33 – now fixed
• YALF – testers were not able to find YALF in the sim – YALF no longer exists and has been replaced by YMUN
• YALM – was listed incorrectly and is now attributed to Allambie
• YALM – planes started off to the side of the runway – now fixed
• YALP – was listed incorrectly and is not attributed to Alpurrurlam
• YALR – coordinates now correctly correspond to Pine Hill Airport
• YALT – buildings were reported in the runway – now fixed
• YALZ – was listed incorrectly and is now attributes to Balma Airport

Adding to the overall fixes across the entire fleet focused “to improve autopilot user experience,” the developers have included a multitude of fixes to the individual aircraft;

• A320neo

• Tuning of the trim – should be more realistic to the real-world experience and more balanced
• Auto Thrust/Auto Pitch issue fixed that was affecting the user’s ability to maintain speed in strong headwinds – this usually resulted in a stall
• A320 engines will now start when following the checklist “starting engines” procedure

• B747-8i

• It was previously possible to have APU GEN and EXT POWER connected. Now they are exclusive.
• Engine #1 and Engine #2 were reversed – they are now set correctly
• User was unable to continue beyond page 2 of the route pages on the CDU
• Changing the selected altitude while in Vertical Speed mode was not updating the target altitude

• Bonanza G36

• Activating the landing gear and/or flaps on approach no longer turns OFF the battery

• C152

• Corrections to the altimeter

• TBM 930

• Aircraft would rock when following a flight plane with the Auto Pilot ON
• FLC button now activates the FLC mode instead of the ALT mode
• The flight plan now better matches what the user sets on the world map screen
• The TBM930 engine no longer shuts down after a teleport

Asobo also posted a video on their YouTube channel which details how the simulator, partnered with Meteoblue, receives environmental data and high-resolution numerical weather predictions and uses that data to produce a realistic depiction of the current weather. This video seems to be an opening of a “Partnership Series.”

A video from community member ‘speedwoblz’ shows the jaw-dropping clouds and thunder effects of the simulator on short final.

A feedback snapshot has also been added into the update and shows the current most frequently asked questions, most important issues and a wish list from the community. The snapshot can be found below.

New invitations are being sent out to more people today, so make sure to watch your inbox for any emails from them! If you are still not registered for testing, you can do so here.

An exhaustive list of all of the features added or improved, or bugs fixed, can be found in the update. While waiting for next Thursday’s development update, you can also check out our coverage of their last week’s update, which mainly covered more community screenshots.