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Microsoft Flight Simulator Developer Resources

Here in this section of the Microsoft ESP Developer Center, you can read the latest news and articles aimed at the Microsoft Flight Simulator developer community.

Then, explore how you can take your Flight Simulator add-on development to the next level by targeting the Microsoft ESP serious games simulation platform.

More Mission Building in FSX

PC Pilot magazine has published parts three and four in a series on FSX mission building.

Download the full article here.

Mission Building in FSX

PC Pilot magazine has published two parts in a series on FSX mission building.

Download the full article here.

Here is an excerpt from the introduction to the article: Microsoft’s Flight Simulator X introduced a lot of new and exciting features to this long-standing franchise, but perhaps the most innovative of these new elements and the one that has rightly attracted a large amount of attention is the Missions engine. However, the team at Aces Studio not only introduced Missions, but also provided the tools for the users to create their own. So, PC Pilot is pleased to present the start of a new series in which we will examine how you go about creating your very own Missions in Microsoft’s Flight Simulator X. In so doing, you will learn to appreciate the versatility of this excellent feature and we will hopefully get you through some of the more demanding aspects! However, be warned, once you start on this path, it is a downward spiral to 'Mission addiction'!

Converting 3DSMax Models to GMax

This article contributed by Phil Taylor explains a method for converting 3DS Max model content for use with the GMax 3D package.

GMax

There is also a DC-3 model available to accompany the article.

Third-Party Mission Editor Released

Making missions for Flight Simulator X using the “Object Placement Tool” included in the Software Development Kit is easier than editing XML by hand, but we’re the first to admit that it’s not an intuitive tool to use. A more robust third-party mission editor is available that makes mission development and testing easier for developers.

FSX Mission Editor

“FSX Mission Editor” was created by Jim Keir and is published by FSAddon Publishing. Some of the most useful features of the tool are a visual interface, full error checking, and synthetic voices for creating placeholder dialog. There are three versions available: freeware, payware (with even more features), and a version licensed for the creation of missions to be sold commercially.

Whether you already develop missions for FSX, or have been curious but hesitant to get started, the process just got a lot easier!

You can learn more about “FSX Mission Editor” and download it at SimMarket.

Autogen Guides Available

A dedicated member of the Flight Simulator development community, Luis Féliz-Tirado, was kind enough to provide us with a How-to article about the Autogen Annotator.

Configuring the Flight Simulator SDK

Unsure which version of the SDK to develop with? Having problems with the Tools menu?

Check out our article about choosing the right SDK version.

There's also a nice article about configuring the SDK at FSDeveloper.com.

Tutorials and GMax Sample Available

Some tutorials and a GMax sample aircraft are available at FreeFlightDesign to help add-on developers who use GMax get a better idea of how to build 3D aircraft models.

Building SimConnect Applications on a Native 64 bit OS

Developers compiling SimConnect Add-ons on a native 64 bit OS have reported the following error when attempting to compile their program:

"BadImageFormatException loading the Microsoft.FlightSimulator.SimConnect library"

This is caused by the default compilation configuration settings on Visual Studio products when installed on an x64 OS.

Here is a good blog entry with a table outlining compatibility between platforms. FSX is configured as a 32 bit application (x86) – so any consumer of SimConnect.dll has to be compiled with x86.

The workaround is to use "x86" in the configuration manager instead of "anycpu" or "x64" when compiling a SimConnect Add-on. The x86 version of Visual Studio Express 2005 should work fine on any 64 bit OS.

It is a bit undiscoverable as by default the configuration manager does not show up in Visual Studio C# Express - here is how to change from "AnyCPU" or "x64" to "x86" configuration (from VS Express Support Site):

1. Open Tools->Options
2. Check “Show all settings”
3. Check “Project and Solution->Show Advanced Build Configurations”
4. Open Build->Configuration Manager
5. Select the combo box under the “Platform” column for the project you want to target x86
6. Choose “NEW…”
7. Under “New Platform” select x86
8. Click OK, then Close
9. Note that the Toolbar combobox for Platform Configuration now lists both "x86" and "AnyCPU" and has x86 selected
10. Building, running and debugging will now build x86-only binaries. You can switch back to the "AnyCPU" configuration to change this if necessary.

This should also work on native applications as well, though this behavior is not confirmed.

About Frame Rates and Visuals

Our Technical Art Lead Adrian Woods has a great post on his blog about frame rates and visuals - check out Performance Art.

Tutorials Available at FS2X.com

The Tutorials page at FS2X.com has some great development information.

Gear Compression

This Dev Tip article has some good information on landing gear compression.

Emissive Textures and Virtual Cockpits

The article "FSX Emissive Textures and How They Relate to Virtual Cockpit Lighting" was submitted by Bill Leaming of Eaglesoft fame. Bill's paper has been through review by our internal team, and is intended to help other developers understand our virtual cockpit lighting technology. We encourage you to read this article if you are at all interested in adding lighting effects to your virtual cockpit.

Flight Simulator X SDK SP1A

In an effort to better support our customers and our community, we're releasing an update to Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Service Pack 1 (SP1). We had three main goals in developing this update:

Improve performance
Fix bugs blocking third-party add-ons
Fix egregious bugs

In addition to updating the run-time FSX executable for performance and general bug fixing, we've also made some significant changes to the Software Development Kit (SDK) and related run-time components for improving the third party extensibility mechanisms.

Download SDK SP1A itself here.

Terrain Secrets

Adam Szofran, our resident expert on developing the terrain system inside FSX, has put together a very comprehensive (and technical) article about how we manage to allow the generation of a world-wide virtual reality in real-time.

Not for the faint of heart, some of the concepts here assume a relatively deep understanding of coordinate systems, graphics technology and the use of spatial systems!

Aircraft Simulation Techniques

This paper, written with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), describes how we model the 6-Degrees of Freedom (6-DOF) required for simulating aircraft motion in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

We continue to make improvements from version to version of Flight Simulator, but the underlying concepts and algorithms persist. It is important for our customers (especially developers) to understand that we use the same, high fidelity equations of motion to simulate aircraft behavior that is universally employed throughout the commercial aviation industry. Further, we employ some interesting techniques to improve real-time performance, and to simplify the number of flight model definition parameters that are required.

Three Methods of Gauge Development

This article contributed by Peter Turcan describes the three ways to develop guages using the Flight Simulator X SDK:

Use the ACE tool to develop an XML-based gauge
Develop a guage entirely using C++
Use the XML system to handle the appearance and user interaction of the gauge, while using C++ to handle the processing

Mission Building Advice from FSX Lead Game Designer

Learn to create better missions from Flight Simulator X Lead Game Designer Paul Lange.

Introductory SimConnect Article

Read a short introduction to the SimConnect element of the Flight Simulator X SDK.