This just in (for anyone who is interested)



With the release of the Alaska Wilderness Expansion DLC on the horizon, we’d like to share some of the changes we’ve made to core elements of Microsoft Flight, as well as some bug fixes.

NEW FEATURES AND FUNCTIONALITY:

New hardware-related functionality:
-Added support for TrackIR
-Added support for axis-based brake control devices
-Added settings specific to Intel Ivy Bridge graphics hardware

New Hangar Marketplace UI:
-Added details page for Marketplace items
-Improved user experience for downloading multiple pieces of DLC
-Added locked/unlocked livery sorting

Map improvements
-Added globe icon to Main Menu for region selection
-Adjusted map displays for areas with high airport concentration
-Added region-based filtering for Aerocaches

Improved error reporting
-Added features which allow for more robust error reports from end users

New UI Features
-Added “Glance” command; when R key is pressed and held, allows player to look toward the closest Point of Interest Marker

New Environment Features and Improvements
-Added two new weather themes: Heavy Weather and Mixed Weather
-Added new in-cloud effects
-Adjusted coloration of clouds at higher densities to be more realistic
-Adjusted cloud randomization

BUG FIXES:

Reduced load times across the board

Adjusted “Skip to Waypoint” feature: players no longer spawn
inside intervening terrain pieces

Fixed issues with double-byte languages (Korean, Japanese & Chinese)
-Fixed issue causing in-cockpit tooltips to display incorrectly
-Fixed issue preventing planes from appearing in Hangar after selecting a job from the Job Board

Fixed graphics issues
-Fixed issues in fog layer and cirrus cloud rendering
-Adjusted reflections to be more realistic (no more giant plane reflections)
-Fixed vegetation flickering issues
-Fixed banyan tree rendering
-Fixed crash that occurred for some users when changing graphics settings during cut scenes
-Improved in-flight terrain textures for users with Vertical Sync enabled

Addressed multiple Games for Windows – LIVE related issues which can cause Microsoft Flight to crash

Addressed multiple issues causing Windows Vista users to experience a crash after completing a mission or challenge

Fixed multiplayer issues
-Reduced bandwidth consumed during multiplayer sessions
-Fixed error experienced by final users to join multiplayer sessions
-Fixed multiple crashes that occur during multiplayer sessions
-Reduced choppiness in rendering other users’ planes during multiplayer

having dumped FSX MS finds itself in the stupid position of re-inventing the wheel and being in awe of having devised the most childish gameplay for a flight sim ever.

-Added support for TrackIR
-Added support for axis-based brake control devices

Those two are great.

The rest - lipstick on a pig... The Alaska gameplay had better be something special (at least on par with FSX) for it to stand a chance..

Yes, and even with the first two there's nothing that says Reinstall. Yet.

FLIGHT is a 'severely' stupid game ...

I hope MS stops making cockpitless planes and start doing something like the Stearman, Maule, Otherwise TrackIR is almost useless.
Definitely these two features seem to be a very good addition.

Yes. A real Maule with real working instruments would be nice. I'd really like to see a detailed Caravan or something with the Alaska DLC.

Knowing the Flight track record we'll probably get a IL-2 with no cockpit to fly around Alaska..

Wonder if they might do a tie-in with someone like Buffalo? That'd be the right aircraft in the right environment.


Edit - no scratch that. This is MS Flight were discussing. Beach is on the right lines.

I haven't been able to find any time frame as to when this content might be released. I thought it was gonna be 'Spring 2012', but we're pretty much in Summer now, yeah?

The Maule in Flight has working instruments, autopilot is the only one not functional.