Orbx has recently updated its popular Volanta Flight Tracker to v1.13.0, introducing a mix of new features, quality-of-life tweaks, and perhaps some rather unexpected additions.

At the centre of this update is support for MSFS 2024’s walk-around mode, which allows player movement outside of the cockpit to be tracked by Volanta, just like in the air. When stepping out of the cockpit to explore, you will now see your path logged as blue lines, recorded alongside your flights in purple.

A new kind of aerocache has also been introduced, available only in walk-around mode. These hidden collectables are marked by orange circles on the map and, for now, are exclusive to Orbx’s new Jurassic World: Archipelago scenery, off the coast of Costa Rica.

That pack adds nine airfields, 12 helipads, and more than 550 square miles of terrain to explore, and yes, dinosaurs are included. Read more about it here.

Elsewhere, Volanta gains a new map layer for points of interest (POIs), designed to highlight locations worth visiting, with more detailed map data. Flight cards have also been given themed styles, when departing or arriving at Jurassic World airports.

Behind the scenes, Orbx has released an entirely new plugin for MSFS users. The installer has been simplified, bugs such as auto-selecting aircraft have been ironed out, and overall performance impact has been reduced. This plugin supports all the latest features of v.1.13.0, including the new avatar tracking.

For those who would prefer to keep things strictly realistic, the fictional Jurassic content can be disabled via a toggle, available for all Volanta users, as of the latest patch.

You can read the full changelog of v1.13.0 here:

Enhancements

• MSFS24 Avatar mode tracking is now available. Player avatar locations are displayed in Volanta as pins on the ground, locations are tracked with blue lines and become part of your flight record. If you get out of your plane to explore, it's all part of your journey recorded in Volanta.
• A new type of aerocache has been added for Avatar mode, they are visible on the map as orange circles hinting at where they might be located, only collectable when in avatar mode. Currently only added to the Jurassic World Archipelago so you will need to get up close and personal with some Dinosaurs.
• We have added a new map layer called POIs where we will be able to add locations worth visiting and add more details to our map.
• Themed flight list and flight card styles. Complete flights to or from the Jurassic World airports to see unique styles applied to your flight cards.
• An entirely new plugin for MSFS users, the new plugin is easier to install, fixes bugs like auto selecting aircraft, reduced impact on simulator performance, tracking starting in menus and tracking avatar mode.
• Users who do not wish to see the new Fictional content can toggle it off (requires premium)

(As of version 1.13.2, Premium is no longer required to disable fictional content)

Volanta v1.13.0 is available now as a free update. The program can be downloaded free of charge from the Volanta website, supporting virtually every simulator out there, from DCS and Aerofly, to Microsoft Flight Simulator and X-Plane.

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