After a hiatus from announcements while he's been devoting all his energies to focus on new development, here's Black Square's Nick Cyganski to provide an update on the forthcoming Caravan Professional for MSFS 2020/2024. Stay tuned for an update on all his other projects and a new aircraft announcement soon!
(Click on the screenshots below for a larger version.)
Thank you for being patient with me while awaiting the Caravan Professional. I know it's been a while since it was announced, but sometimes the delays of finding an aircraft of the correct model and vintage to photograph and record audio from can be unpredictable. Luckily, I've been hard at work on my other projects in the meantime. Expect an update on all those projects soon, along with a new and previously unannounced aircraft.
For those of you who might not have seen the previous announcement and screenshots regarding the Caravan Professional, it is much like the Baron Professional and Bonanza Professional in that it is a complete overhaul of my MSFS 2020 Analog Caravan, including all the most current Black Square features, representing over 1,000 hours of work and roughly a doubling of code complexity. If you enjoy the Baron and Bonanza Professional, you can expect the same quality and feature set from the Caravan Professional.
To recap, the Caravan Professional comprises two separate, and independent titles, each with two variants of the aircraft. The Passenger edition contains just the base model Grand Caravan with seating for 12 passengers, both with and without the optional cargo pod. The Amphibian & Cargo edition includes the Caravan Amphibian and Cargomaster variants. This means that users will be able to only purchase the airframes they are interested in, or purchase all four as a significantly discounted Bundle. Existing owners of the Analog Caravan will be provided with discount codes for these new titles.
While most users might first notice the completely new exterior models, improved materials and custom sound set by Boris Audio Works, recorded from the real aircraft, others might be excited for the enhanced simulation features, bringing the Caravan up to date with Black Square's current standards.
From the turbine engine simulation and beta range, to FOD damage and gyroscope physics, all your favourite features are here, including the tablet interface and system visualisers. The number of hot-swapping radio options has also been increased to include the KLN-90B and GTN/GTNxi 650, bringing the total of possible configurations to twelve.
For a complete list of all the new and improved features, see the illustrated 'What's new since the Analog Caravan?' PDF.
Notably absent from the 'What's new?' document are the twelve paint schemes and five interior packages since developed for the Caravan Professional. The paint schemes and interiors represent several different eras of Caravan operation, and many are available 'cross-variant', so you can fly with your favourite livery on wheels, on floats, with/without cargo pod, or with pallets full of cargo. This also means that you can create your own airframe, livery and interior configurations with only the knowledge required to make livery packages for MSFS.
For a complete list of features, the Caravan Professional In Development pages are now live, including my favourite screenshots. More screenshots will be added as the release date approaches, as well as the usual preview videos.
While you are on the In Development pages, don't miss the preview manual! It's over twice the length of the Analog Caravan's manual, with more systems descriptions, performance information and guides for learning your Caravan Professional. I know many of you enjoy reading the manuals before the aircraft is even released, which is a shared ritual that I’ve become quite fond of. Enjoy!
There are always more Black Square projects under way, and I will be excited to share news with you about these new aircraft soon. It brings me great pleasure to see the excitement for my projects, and I thank you all for your suggestions and contributions, as always. I can’t wait to see what international adventures you have with this workhorse of the sky. Talk to you again soon!
