We will soon be rolling out the much awaited end of year update that will bring a few brand new aircraft to the Infinite Flight Fleet, great new features, as well as many bug fixes and improvements.
This is our first major update since we released “Global” a couple months ago. It will start rolling out on Android over the next few hours while we go through Apple Store certification process. If all goes well it will be available for iOS in the next few days.
Without further ado, here is the changelist for this update:
- Added MD-11/MD-11 Freighter, DC-10, DC-10 Freighter and KC-10 refueling tanker featuring many animated elements and HD textures
- Greatly improved network code for smoother animations and more realistic formation flights
- Added aerial refueling capabilities for fighter jets, several of the C-130s, VC-25, and tankers.
- Added autopilot to fighter jets
- Improved support for iPhone X
- Many squashed bugs and small performance improvements
Be advised that this update requires updated servers so they might look a bit less busy while everyone transition to them.
Continue reading for more info about what changed.
New Aircraft
The new aircraft will be available to Pro subscribers only for the time being. If you have a valid Pro subscription you will be able to download all the new aircraft free of charge. This is a way for us to thank you for believing in our simulator and continuing to support its development by subscribing.
Network code
Our network code has been greatly improved in order to provide a much smoother experience when flying in formation even at high speeds. This is even more important when air refueling.
With pilots scattered all over the world, it becomes very hard to ensure that each aircraft is where it is supposed to be when you see it: by the time you receive the position of another pilot’s aircraft, his position already changed and could already 100 meters away depending on your speed and his. This causes issues when trying to synchronise a formation flight since you might see that you are very close to your wingman while he sees far away.
This update attempts to improve those cases which makes the multiplayer experience much more enjoyable.
iPhone X support
The iPhone X introduced a new form factor that caused some issues with our current UI.
There are actually 3 issues:
- The screen now has rounded corners (much like the Galaxy S8)
- The home button is replaced by a bar at the bottom of the sceen that you can swipe up
- The aspect ratio is higher
Rounded corners caused issues with elements that are located in the corner of the screen. We had to implement a system where interactive elements are constrained to a “safe zone” so they do not get truncated by the edges of the devices.
The home bar at the bottom was dealt in a similar fashion where we constrained interactive elements to be at a certain distance from the bottom edge of the device.
New aspect ratio forced us to make some additional tweaks to our UI layout.
There are still a few issues that we will need to address in a future update and we haven’t had the time to apply those changes to the Galaxy S8 which can also benefits from this “safe zone” (the S8 has rounded corners), but for now it should greatly improve the experience on the new iPhone X and will allow us to better support future devices.
We hope you will enjoy the hard work our team put in this update.
Happy landings!