Caravan Professional changelog - v1.1 released 30.03.26
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v1.1 - New Features, Early Bug Fixes & Sound Improvement
New Features:
• Significant improvements to engine sounds, from startup to shutdown, with new references and simulated behavior, including… Reworked startup, bassier lightoff, secondary injectors, combustor rumble, fuel introduction, new bassier turbine spooling with different whine layers, rebalanced interior propeller noise, including entirely new beta sounds and transition. Read below for some of the specific new features, and the bugs that led to suboptimal sound in v1.0.
• Added the full suite of MSFS 2024 water effects to the Caravan Amphibian, including prop wash, float splashes and spray, 3D bow waves, and water rudder trails. Also added new parameter to increase effective water depth, so the floats will not collide with the subsea topography in heavier seas.
• Found an undocumented feature that can be used to improve the appearance of external lighting in MSFS 2024, making them more visible in daylight. Finally!
• Added secondary injector feedback and new sounds to make use of the existing engine variables in all Black Square turbine aircraft. Watch ITT and Ng accelerate when the secondary injector ring activates on the engine visualizer around 35% Ng.
• Added bleed air heating sounds when opening the bleed air valve and increasing the temperature select knob, based on video from a contributing Caravan pilot.
• Improved the cabin temperature logic and behavior based on operator feedback regarding the cabin mixing air pull handle functionality, and the heating ability of the bleed air in various modes of operation.
• Reduced ITT by a constant factor, based on operator indication that Caravan POH maximum cruise power tables are not defined by the ITT limit, but a suggested derated value for engine longevity. This should allow for more energetic climbs at previously ITT limiting altitudes.
• Added tiling normal map, fixed UV’s, and changed scratched plastic texture to improve the appearance of the glareshield material, upon user request.
• New fuel pump sound. The previous fuel pump sound was mistakenly included from another aircraft. The new sound better represents the start-stop behavior of the pump in the NORM switch position before the engine’s mechanical pump is maintaining pressure.
• New engine sound samples and behavior for starting with the window or doors open.
• Improved condition lever low/high idle behavior, with improved sounds. The condition lever will now only affect the minimum idle gas generator speed, and not also the maximum, and the difference in idle Ng speed is clearly audible.
• The generator will now automatically activate when disengaging the starter after a successful engine start.
• The KAP 140’s default vertical navigation mode is now vertical speed when the autopilot is first engaged.
• Improved KAP 140 mode annunciation to ensure that no modes are displayed when the autopilot disengaged.
• Increased stall warning sensitivity very slightly, to provide just another 1-2 knots of stall anticipation.
• Increased starter motor spooling rate based on contributing Caravan pilot feedback.
• The fuel flow needle will now indicate exactly zero when the instrument is powered, and “OFF” otherwise.Bug Fixes:
• Removed MSFS engine torque “assistance”, adjusted engine thrust angle (an often unknown feature of real aircraft), and propeller torque effect to increase left-turning tendency. This also means that more trim will be required for power changes in cruise, as per contributing Caravan pilots. This was confused by drastically different behavior in MSFS 2024 compared to 2020 due to a seemingly undocumented flight model change.
• FlightFX has found a solution to missing/altered sounds in Black Square aircraft for users of their P.180 Avanti. An update to the P.180 can be expected soon.
• Overhauled beta range behavior to match performance (and aid sound) of other Black Square turbine aircraft. RPM drop after beta activation is now only momentary, and beta activation sounds are more aggressive, as a result. The beta range sound itself has also been improved with new recordings.
• Fixed possible spontaneous engine failure in MSFS 2024 due to a configuration parameter being used by the MSFS 2024 native “wear & tear” system in an undocumented way.
• The water rudder may have invisibly failed to extend or retract due to an undocumented change in MSFS 2024. Previously, users may have experienced a perceived lack of water rudder authority, or perceived abundance of aerodynamic rudder authority, depending on how the aircraft was loaded.
• Investigated battery overheating. This resulted from low propeller RPM with the previous propeller beta behavior, as MSFS incorrectly associates generator output with propeller RPM in free turbine aircraft, as opposed to gas generator RPM. As a result, this will no longer be a factor with the improved beta behavior in v1.1.
• Fixed state saving options on the Cargomaster due to sequential numbering error.
• The cabin heat mixing valve visualization was reversed on the tablet visualizer.
• A single character error caused unexpected electrical behavior when toggling the pitot heat and stall heat. This may have prevented the pitot heat from functioning when both were activated, causing stuck airspeed indications.
• Due to the very high stance of the aircraft, a high-pass filter was always slightly applied to the sounds while the aircraft was on the ground, reducing the dynamic range of all engine sounds.
• Possible fix for a possible issue where some users reported one float sitting lower in the water than the other for the Caravan Amphibian. This appears to have been caused by one of the gear remaining invisibly extended and able to interact with the subsea topology, despite all gear parameters appearing as retracted in the debugger. This should also prevent the aircraft from jumping or “standing up” when the gear are extended while afloat.
• Restored variable that drives some sound changes due to voltage drop or increased battery internal resistance, such as during cold weather operations.
• Removed autopilot rudder PID constants to disable erroneous rudder control by the native autopilot during certain lateral control modes.
• Fixed copilot door not affecting engine sound leaking in from the exterior.
• Adjusted per-angle flap drag coefficients to help slow the aircraft at less-than-full flap settings.
• The STBY ELEC PWR INOP annunciator light failed to illuminate for some conditions, notably when the standby alternator switch was off during startup. Also, added the standby alternator to the start-of-flight sequence so that it is on when loading on a runway or in flight.
• Previously, placing the starter switch in the off position would de-energize the engine ignition, even if the ignition switch was in the on position.
• A small code error meant that emergency power lever maximum fuel flow was limited to ~70% of the actual maximum.
• Air conditioning fans could run at low speed when the ventilation switch was in the off position, if the air conditioning fan switches were in the HIGH position.
• Previously, the hot battery bus bar did not appear to be powered on the live schematic page of the tablet visualizer, unless the battery master switch was on. This has been fixed, along with some other hot battery bus live schematic behavior.
• Fixed a sound loop that may have caused a spool-up sound to repeat during very cold operations at low gas generator RPM.
• Fixed flap degree text not changing in the MSFS 2024 HUD, due to incorrect parameters automatically inserted by the MSFS 2024 compiler.
• Fixed continuous stall warning horn activation when a pitot blockage failure was triggered. This resulted from the custom CAS injection in the Caravan Professional.
• Fixed a few typos in the manual, and in the cockpit decals. -
Fantastic!!!
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Lots of nice stuff!
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Thanks so much for the great update! Time to fly the beautiful bird up the Alaskan Panhandle.
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Amazing update! Thank you for this. I’m now able to climb out of aspen fully loaded without destroying my engine with high ITT OR stalling out.
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Can’t wait to fly it later today! It’s my first properly realistic GA addon and it’s been nothing but exciting so far!
BTW, since you’re already correcting typos here and there - in the EFB on the ELEC page, it says „altOrnator bus”
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Kudos @Black-Square
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@ironlemon Good! You had me worried there for a moment, haha.
Thanks, guys! As I've said before, these updates can feel like a thankless task, so your thanks always go a long way towards assuaging that feeling. I saw someone on the official forums last week assume that I only work weekdays 9-5, which amused me greatly
Thank you all so much, and most of all, I hope you enjoy the update this week!
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The sounds! OMG! I'm surprised I managed to start it without blowing the engine. Epic!
Fortunately it's different enough to my other favorites (all Beechcraft's - of course) that it won't tread on their toes!
Now... if I could get those sounds in the TBM...
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The sounds! OMG! I'm surprised I managed to start it without blowing the engine. Epic!
Fortunately it's different enough to my other favorites (all Beechcraft's - of course) that it won't tread on their toes!
Now... if I could get those sounds in the TBM...
@stuart11n said in Caravan Professional changelog - v1.1 released 30.03.26:
Now... if I could get those sounds in the TBM...
Nick can't keep avoiding us forever! There are dozens of us, dozens!
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@stuart11n said in Caravan Professional changelog - v1.1 released 30.03.26:
Now... if I could get those sounds in the TBM...
Nick can't keep avoiding us forever! There are dozens of us, dozens!
@jmarkows said in Caravan Professional changelog - v1.1 released 30.03.26:
There are dozens of us, dozens!
Haha, there might not be many of you, but I think about you often! I actually had an idea about that this week, so there might finally be some progress in that direction.
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@jmarkows said in Caravan Professional changelog - v1.1 released 30.03.26:
There are dozens of us, dozens!
Haha, there might not be many of you, but I think about you often! I actually had an idea about that this week, so there might finally be some progress in that direction.
@Black-Square said in Caravan Professional changelog - v1.1 released 30.03.26:
@jmarkows said in Caravan Professional changelog - v1.1 released 30.03.26:
There are dozens of us, dozens!
Haha, there might not be many of you, but I think about you often! I actually had an idea about that this week, so there might finally be some progress in that direction.
If you don't mind my asking, what's stopped it from being a reality already? You've had a working relationship with Boris since you moved away from using stock models and sounds, are you just keeping him that busy with the various upcoming irons in the fire?
I, personally, don't mind the current TBM sound pack (but I was also fine with the original Maddog sounds and can't carry a tune, so), but I do miss the noise dampening headphones you've spread throughout the fleet.
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@Black-Square said in Caravan Professional changelog - v1.1 released 30.03.26:
@jmarkows said in Caravan Professional changelog - v1.1 released 30.03.26:
There are dozens of us, dozens!
Haha, there might not be many of you, but I think about you often! I actually had an idea about that this week, so there might finally be some progress in that direction.
If you don't mind my asking, what's stopped it from being a reality already? You've had a working relationship with Boris since you moved away from using stock models and sounds, are you just keeping him that busy with the various upcoming irons in the fire?
I, personally, don't mind the current TBM sound pack (but I was also fine with the original Maddog sounds and can't carry a tune, so), but I do miss the noise dampening headphones you've spread throughout the fleet.
@jmarkows said in Caravan Professional changelog - v1.1 released 30.03.26:
are you just keeping him that busy with the various upcoming irons in the fire?
You've hit the nail on the head. Boris and I have talked about it, and he knows that it's something I want to do eventually, but I also recognize that I would rather continue working with Boris than overwhelm him by trying to work on too many things at once.
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Thanks to Nick and Boris for what is obviously very hard work over the last week. I really like the new adjustments to the sounds for beta, etc. But for one thing... there's a new "wvvvrrrrwvrrvvrrrrrw" prop buzz sound in the interior that...I absolutely HATE.
Sorry for being so emphatic, but it's a really grating and annoying sound that I DO NOT want to hear while cruising along. The turbine Bonanza has the same thing and, TBH...IT SUCKS. That sound was not there in Caravan 1.0, so I assume this was the result of user feedback?
I have endured two ~30 min flights IRL in the back of a Caravan (BFI-FHR with Kenmore, and HNL-JHM on Mokulele) without earplugs, so per my recollection, that's just not a sound you can hear. I remember mostly high-pitch sounds. Lots of wind noise--hissing--because the Caravan's unpressurized, but also another high frequency that I attributed to the internal sound of the engine. I could feel the vibration from the propeller in the airframe, and through my body... but there was never a "wrrrvrrwvrrr" drone in my ears. I really liked the V1.0 sounds, the beta/reverse stuff was really the only issue (FS2020).
FWIW, I just don't see the need to add the airplane's outside noises to the inside of the airplane when there are vents and things that are implemented in the sound system where a user could choose to incorporate those sounds on their own.
