Today third-party developers had updates to share about upcoming aircraft add-ons for Microsoft Flight Simulator.
We start with IndiaFoxtEcho, which provided an extensive roadmap for its upcoming products. We get the announcement of a Eurofighter Typhoon.
An F-14D is also in the works, but for now the possibility of its release is not confirmed as IndiaFoxtEcho is using it as an experimental platform for technology.
Other aircraft like TA-4 / A-4 Skyhawk, E-2C Hawkeye, and C-27J Spartan are being considered.
Last, but not least, we get an update on the Sukhoi SU-31 and Aermacchi M-346 Master, which should be released in March and “no sooner than April.”
SUKHOI SU-31 This project took a lot longer than we expected, but it is on short final. We are not super-happy with the flight model – although it should be OK for most players, it is definitely not good enough for any kind of serious training.
We will try to polish it more – possibly with the help of real world pilots. We will provide more information soon.
Expected release date:
MARCH 2022AERMACCHI M-346 We have been working hard on 3D model details and new textures as we felt that our P3D assets were inadequate for MSFS.
We are still struggling with some details and complex animations, and there is some work to be done on the flight model and on the avionics, but we are quite happy with the results so far.
Expected release date: NOT SOONER THAN APRIL 2022
EUROFIGHTER TYPHOON (NEW PROJECT) As many of you have guessed, we are working on a Eurofighter Typhoon project for MSFS. It will NOT be a conversion of our P3D project, as we feel that the 3D assets are not adequate to current standards, instead we will be remaking it from scratch.
We do not have a release date for it, but surely it will not be ready before FALL 2022. We’ll keep you posted.
F-14D SUPER TOMCAT (EXPERIMENTAL PROJECT) We have also been working on an F-14D Super Tomcat. However, this is mostly a “technology test bench”, which we are using to try new techniques and test the capabilities of MSFS.
For one, the project is using an extremely high detail mesh (about 1.3 million polygons) and high resolution textures – which are not yielding great FPS on most systems.
As such, the project has a number of issues for a commercial release – moreover, it has to compete with the various F-14s available on different platforms. So, at the moment it will still be treated as an experimental project.
OTHER PROJECTS FOR MSFS (NO RELEASE DATE):
MB-326 – We had started working on a total remake of our MB-326 project months ago. The progress on this project has been very slow as the F-35 Project took way more resources and time than what we planned. We need to reschedule the activities on this.
M-345 – The project is on-hold waiting for development of the real-world aircraft
TA-4 / A-4 SKYHAWK – We have started reviewing our source material and planning for a Flight Simulator version of these aircraft.
MINI 500 HELICOPTER – When we started tinkering with custom flight models, we had annouced this as an experimental project – however we did not have the resources needed to work on this as much as we wanted. The project is on hold at the moment.
E-2C HAWKEYE – A new version for MSFS is being considered and a feasibility study is in progress.
C-27J SPARTAN – We have started collecting information on this aircraft for a potential new project, but it is not green-lighted yet.