Microsoft Flight Simulator Alpha 3 patch to be released today, more invitations on the way

After the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator's Alpha 3 a couple of weeks back, nothing of note arrived last Thursday in the weekly update provided by the development team. Today, however, some interesting updates have been unveiled, including news on an upcoming Alpha patch, further Alpha invitations, the Feature Discovery Series, and more.

For starters, a patch for the current release - build 1.3.11.0 - is to be released within the next 24 hours. Containing bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements across various components, the full patch notes read as follows:

• Peripherals and Controls:
  • Fixed loading of the save-buffer size when loading into the XBOX Live Cloud saves – this will fix the issue that was creating new input profiles for peripherals
  • Similarly but not the same, fixed the loading of save-files from the cloud
  • Fixed the issues when setting up peripherals to allow you to validate set up
• Planes:
  • Cockpit plane interiors have been updated on the 747
• UI and Controls:
  • Fixed issue that was preventing users from exiting the Control Settings screen in the UI
• Stability:
  • Fixed the crash after selecting a custom profile when setting up a peripheral

On par with its previous plans, Microsoft is continuing to invite further participants in its Alpha program, so those who have applied should be on the lookout for any such email heading their way.

Moving on, episode 8 of the Feature Discovery Series, titled IFR (instrument flight rules), has finally been released in the Insider Area after numerous delays and even a release switch-around in the past few months. The latest iteration of the Feedback Snapshot can be viewed by Insiders as well, which follows on from version 4.01 that was made generally available at the start of this month.

Heading into next month, three Partnership Series announcements can be expected, with the firms that the Flight Simulator team will be collaborating with already having been unveiled. Alpha 4 should also be released around the same time, before a closed beta kicks off in July.