Hey everyone,
Big QOL update this time — here's what's new.
🌩️ Weather System Overhaul
Four weather modes to choose from: OFF, WIND, NORMAL and STORM. Thunderstorm cells now build, mature and decay realistically, and in STORM mode full squall lines of 60–180 NM sweep across multiple sectors. Pilots will request weather deviations when CBs are ahead, and you have a two-minute grace period to issue a vector before any penalty kicks in. AI traffic also routes around storms automatically with a 15 NM lookahead.
📻 Radio Status Badges
TX/RX indicators next to your active frequency. RX lights up green for the entire duration of a pilot transmission, TX flashes orange when you issue a command and stays lit while holding Ctrl as push-to-talk (not yet working). Small addition, but it makes it much easier to keep track of who's talking.
🏷️ Labels & UI Improvements
Aircraft on a vectored heading now show a purple HDG badge on both the radar label and the flight strip — visible across all states. The radio log is scrollable through the last 50 transmissions via mouse wheel, and system messages are hidden during normal sessions so you only see actual radio traffic.
📋 Detachable Flight Strips
If you have a second monitor, you can pop out the strip panel into its own window. It remembers position and size across sessions and validates against connected displays, so unplugging a monitor won't break anything. Dock it back anytime with one click or Ctrl+Shift+D.
📏 Measurement Tools
Working DIST button in the toolbar — click and drag to measure distances in NM directly on the radar (hotkey D). The measurement stays visible after mouse-up so you can reference it while issuing vectors. The vector tool (VEC) now also has a hotkey (V), and both tools got improved label readability with solid background boxes in all color schemes.
🗺️ Map: Airport Overlay
New APT toggle shows the top 30 German airports — civilian (star) and military (crossed square) — with ICAO labels. On top of that, the 50 busiest European airports near the German border are rendered slightly dimmer for orientation without cluttering the home airspace.
✈️ More Traffic
Roughly 15% more traffic has been added, especially in the Munich and Stuttgart sectors. This should make those areas feel noticeably busier and more challenging during peak hours.
🔧 Extended Floor Option
The sector picker now offers a toggle to lower the sector floor from FL280 down to FL200, adding roughly 8,000 ft of playable airspace. Great for those who want a more demanding session with traffic spanning a wider altitude range.
💡 Tooltips
All HUD buttons now have English tooltips with hotkey hints — hover delay has been reduced from 3 seconds to 600 ms so they actually feel responsive. Can be toggled off entirely in Settings → Display.
🐛 Bug Fixes
DIST tool no longer drifts when zooming or panning
Strip request badges renamed to RQ↑/RQ↓ for clarity
Command-line no longer captures keyboard when clicking the radar
Pilots no longer request flight levels above their aircraft's service ceiling
Strip panel clicks now select the correct flight
Weather debug cell no longer spawns on every session start
What's coming next
I'm already building the next sectors to expand the playable airspace. The Cargo & Night Haul update is progressing well — expect cargo flights through the major freight hubs and a realistic late-night traffic pattern.
Looking further ahead, a USA/Canada update is now officially on the roadmap. This one is more complex since it requires full FAA phraseology instead of ICAO, but it's happening.
As always — if something feels off or you have ideas, let me know in the Discussions or on Discord.
Happy controlling!