SmartLink takes the lead with flight planning, add-on management, voice control, overlays, routines and sim health — while the EV-97, Skiathos and Houston Hobby go hands-on.
Wednesday began exactly as professionally as planned: the ISP had changed Murph’s public IP, Hue and Lumia Stream were having none of it, the lights were only partially alive and half the studio appeared to have forgotten who it was talking to. What followed was twenty-odd minutes of live troubleshooting, button pressing and increasingly optimistic declarations that everything was fixed.
By 30:29, the studio was sufficiently under control for the actual news to begin. “Welcome to my horror show” may have been the more accurate opening title.
Watch from 4:11Developer Kanzooie joined Murph for the night’s centrepiece: a long-form first look at SmartLink, a free utility currently in beta that tries to pull a surprising amount of the flight-sim workflow into one place.
The demonstration moved from Dispatch and SimBrief planning into a hangar and scenery library, map filters for installed airports and World Update POIs, WingLink group tools, VoiceLink commands, configurable overlays, landing cards, debriefs, app-launch routines and a Sim Health dashboard. SmartLink can also activate and deactivate Community-folder content through its own library workflow and build reusable sets for different kinds of flying.
The clever part is how the pieces connect. A voice phrase can trigger a keyboard shortcut; routines can react to events such as wheels-up, altitude or engine start; a routine can then change a camera, control sim functions, launch software or display information. Kanzooie also showed exportable routines and community-shared aircraft control mappings.
“This replaces AVX for me straight away. This replaces any sort of add-ons linker… I genuinely use this before every single flight.”
Murph’s own testing found the utility extremely light on system resources, while Kanzooie stressed that keeping it lightweight is a core design goal. Sim Health is explicitly opt-in and is intended to make crashes and stutters easier to interpret, including whether other participating users have seen the same crash pattern. SmartLink remains beta software, with feedback and bug reporting built directly into the app.
Watch from 2:00:58
The Route 66 Sky Relay raised $3,197 for the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital. Murph thanked everyone who donated and took part, describing the event as a simple attempt to bring the flight-sim community together for something worthwhile.
Watch from 1:21:14Event page
Animated jetways and pushback tugs are now live for AI traffic, while a shared-radio/crew feature is in development. The concept allows a group to share radio and crew duties through linked clients, with only the host needing an active subscription. Murph also showed the first pass at a reorganised, searchable settings interface and noted the new Japanese V3 voices.
Watch from 1:23:34SayIntentions.AIMK Studios showed more of its upcoming Miami International for MSFS 2024. Murph liked what he saw and singled out Key West as one of his favourite MK Studios sceneries while looking forward to another major Florida hub.
Watch from 30:47Fresh from William P. Hobby, Fly 2 High teased a native MSFS 2024 rebuild of Jacksonville International. Details remain light, but the project revisits the developer’s earlier Jacksonville scenery.
Watch from 35:16Gaia Simulations confirmed Madrid-Barajas is in development for MSFS 2024 while Vienna remains the nearer-term priority. Murph called Madrid a huge and important European hub and praised the early texture work.
Watch from 36:40Microsoft’s AAU6 brings the Dornier Do J Wal, Dornier Do X, Dornier Do 31, Junkers F 13 and Junkers Ju 52 onto the native MSFS 2024 framework, with systems, visuals, handling and water operations among the areas updated. Existing owners receive the upgrade free in MSFS 2024.
Watch from 38:51Microsoft Flight SimulatorFlightSim Studio’s E-Jets continue their long approach to version 1.0. The latest stable work focuses on smoother autopilot behaviour, Direct-To fixes and DES NOW, with the native MSFS 2024 build planned after 1.0 and free to existing customers.
Watch from 44:57FSS updateSimWorks Studios offered a first look at its MSFS 2024 PC-12 work while continuing to update the Kodiak. Murph remains a big fan of the aircraft and is keen to see how the 2024 treatment develops.
Watch from 52:17SWS PC-12Tailwind Studios released Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International, putting another Canadian destination on Murph’s list for a future look.
Watch from 57:55GlassOut’s beta update makes multi-device cockpit setups easier to launch and manage, including assigning displays to individual phones and tablets. Murph called it an excellent option for spare devices and panel pop-outs.
Watch from 1:00:25JFK received a scenery update including multi-jetway support and other fixes. Murph praised iniBuilds for continuing to revisit older catalogue releases as its newer airports raise the visual bar.
Watch from 1:04:32iniBuildsMurph held off on a planned look at PropAir Flight’s Cheyenne III after a rough launch and questions around the separate SkyPass training/credit system. He wants to revisit the aircraft after its first corrective update rather than judge it in the middle of launch turbulence.
Watch from 1:06:12Version 1.0.10 adds the airport moving map and more fixes. After flying it the previous night, Murph said the performance and hand-flying experience were night-and-day better than earlier builds, while noting a few remaining flight-plan quirks.
Watch from 1:15:01Just Flight is recruiting additional testers for its classic A300B4 Professional project, particularly people with real A300 experience or relevant beta-testing background.
Watch from 1:16:33Just FlightiniBuilds previewed Addis Ababa for MSFS 2024, giving its A350 a major African home base at a high-altitude international hub. Murph welcomed more detailed scenery in this part of the world.
Watch from 1:18:10iniBuildsLaminar Research’s latest beta work targets performance, avionics and SDK issues, including a memory-defrag stutter and avionics fixes. Murph described X-Plane’s progress as slow and steady and headed back into the sim the following day.
Watch from 1:19:27X-Plane
Just Flight supplied a pre-release build of Italian Studio Works’ EV-97, a two-seat Czech ultralight built around a Rotax engine. The product page describes a model developed for MSFS 2020 and compatible with 2024, with 4K PBR textures, seven liveries and flight dynamics tested by real EV-97 pilots.
Murph liked the basic handling and the character of the little Eurostar, but the preview also exposed its age: some visual presentation and cockpit elements felt much more like a 2020-era product than a native 2024 aircraft. His verdict was therefore heavily dependent on price and final polish.
“The flight dynamics feel pretty good… it needs a bit more polish, I think, for 2024.”
The famous Greek island airport has all the ingredients: a dramatic beachfront approach, detailed surroundings, animated life and attractive night lighting. At close range Murph found plenty to like.
The problem was aggressive level-of-detail behaviour. Cars and even sizeable buildings were visibly popping into existence at distances that would be noticeable from an aircraft on approach. Murph reproduced the issue repeatedly and said he would report it back to MM Simulations.
“Night lighting is nice. LOD is absolutely shagged… this needs, in my opinion, a dramatic fix.”
Fly 2 High’s William P. Hobby immediately landed better. Murph toured the FBOs, terminal interiors, animated passengers, screens, GA areas and Southwest facilities before switching to night and rain.
The visual density, reflections and night lighting impressed throughout, and the airport also carried a bit of personal nostalgia from FlightSimExpo in Houston. Two imperfections did surface: the terminal lacks ambient sound, and rain was visibly falling inside parts of the interior. Neither stopped this from being the strongest scenery of the night.
“This is probably the best add-on we had a look at… I’m delighted I added this to me library.”
A busy edition ended with a clear hierarchy: SmartLink was the big story, William P. Hobby the strongest hands-on scenery, the EV-97 a likeable ultralight that still needs 2024 polish, and Skiathos a beautiful destination held back by an LOD problem worth waiting to see fixed.
Watch from 3:10:29