Anyone able to install other planes yet?

[TeiscoDelRay]

Found some of the files but would like to know if anyone has been able to put their favorite plane in yet?

[Snaker]

Found some of the files but would like to know if anyone has been able to put their favorite plane in yet?

There is some info here: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php/120740

[centuryseries]

There is some info here: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php/12074

I don't think thats the right link - but look down the forum for legacy aircraft, myself and a few others have been tinkering away. Its not an easy or quick job.

[Snaker]

Edited my post with correct link. Thanks for catching that.

[Mach3DS]

It was supposed to be "Plug and play" for any XML coded legacy FSX aircraft. It is definitely NOT. I'm really looking forward to the A-12 David!

[Javis]

It was supposed to be "Plug and play" for any XML coded legacy FSX aircraft. It is definitely NOT. I'm really looking forward to the A-12 David!


Why ??... You can shoot real life photos from a Cessna now, you know. :playful:

[Mach3DS]

haha yes indeed.

[centuryseries]

It was supposed to be "Plug and play" for any XML coded legacy FSX aircraft. It is definitely NOT. I'm really looking forward to the A-12 David!

Hopefully better legacy support will come in the next few updates, at the moment there are a few things not working with FSX mdls, and I'm afraid right now, nothing is of releasable quality. For example, nose gear stuck down, 3D attitude gauges not functioning, odd texture anomalies etc.

Managed with the help of DC Designs to get engines working but only if the jet starts in the sky not on the ground!

Hopefully these things will be ironed out!

[Alan_A]

It was supposed to be "Plug and play" for any XML coded legacy FSX aircraft. It is definitely NOT. I'm really looking forward to the A-12 David!

I'm not sure that's correct. Flight models will work if you switch to legacy mode, but as I understand it, the models need conversion. Maybe someone more qualified than I am can confirm or deny.

[lagaffe]

Hi,
with the help of the official forum and a test program made klasbj (planeconverter), I managed to carry a dozen of planes that I have created or are in the process of creation.
The link of the discussion where you can find "planeconverter" link : https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/fsx-import-showcase/165910/7

Some pictures:
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=78542&stc=1

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=78543&stc=1

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=78544&stc=1

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=78545&stc=1

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=78546&stc=1

Theses planes fly with a certain fluidity and do not seem to penalize the graphics engine

On the other hand it is necessary to use simple aircraft, without DLLs and no 2D gauges, only 3D gauges are accepted. The P-51 Racer of Microsoft is a good sample to try a convert.

[warchild]

Any uploads?? Some of us are a little on the slow and old side you see..

[centuryseries]

Hi,
with the help of the official forum and a test program made klasbj (planeconverter), I managed to carry a dozen of planes that I have created or are in the process of creation.
The link of the discussion where you can find "planeconverter" link : https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/fsx-import-showcase/165910/7

Some pictures:
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=78542&stc=1

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=78543&stc=1

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=78544&stc=1

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=78545&stc=1

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=78546&stc=1

Theses planes fly with a certain fluidity and do not seem to penalize the graphics engine

On the other hand it is necessary to use simple aircraft, without DLLs and no 2D gauges, only 3D gauges are accepted. The P-51 Racer of Microsoft is a good sample to try a convert.

I find that the FSX mdl actually improves my FPS - but this is likely down to not having PBR and all the other fancy features and having a lower poly count.

[TeiscoDelRay]

Not so sure about the MSFS 2020 community yet....I ask for a guide or even a clue and all these guys posting pictures of how they put an aircraft into this sim just want to send me to a link...post a guide please.

[centuryseries]

Not so sure about the MSFS 2020 community yet....I ask for a guide or even a clue and all these guys posting pictures of how they put an aircraft into this sim just want to send me to a link...post a guide please.

In the MSFS SDK forum I left a short how to for someone in the FSX import showcase thread if that helps.

[Penzoil3]

Any uploads?? Some of us are a little on the slow and old side you see..
Me too Pam. I have the converter program, and the SDK, but theres no exe ?
WTF... how about a link centuryseries ?

[DennyA]

The author didn't supply an EXE. I guess he only wanted really technically savvy users to use it since there's some risk to your file system if there's a bug.

You have to compile it yourself.

[crashaz]

If ever there was FSX compiled aircraft begging to be converted.... has to be the Warbirdsim Mustangs! I am having a look at the process. Where ya at John? :wavey:

[Bomber_12th]

Thank you CrashAZ, I appreciate it! I would be afraid to see how bad they look in this new sim, knowing they weren't ever the greatest to begin with. I personally am not interested in doing flight sim dev work for the time being and much prefer to simply sit back and enjoy the sim and the stock aircraft, which look, sound and feel incredible. If I do bring a Mustang into this sim it will be brand new from the ground up and released independently, starting with a P-51A (as well as my B-25J). I've got a side-gig of sorts now working for Warbird Digest magazine, and I will also be going back to work full time again with my para job at the school district, just over a week from now (for the first time since the beginning of March when COVID hit), so available time will be a limiting factor.

[FlyingsCool]

Thank you CrashAZ, I appreciate it! I would be afraid to see how bad they look in this new sim, knowing they weren't ever the greatest to begin with. I personally am not interested in doing flight sim dev work for the time being and much prefer to simply sit back and enjoy the sim and the stock aircraft, which look, sound and feel incredible. If I do bring a Mustang into this sim it will be brand new from the ground up and released independently, starting with a P-51A (as well as my B-25J). I've got a side-gig of sorts now working for Warbird Digest magazine, and I will also be going back to work full time again with my para job at the school district, just over a week from now (for the first time since the beginning of March when COVID hit), so available time will be a limiting factor.

While I'm sure they would not meet the quality of your own expectations, I for one would LOVE to be able to fly them here. #justsayin
Not asking you to, but I'm sure I'd be blown away.

[Sundog]

Thank you CrashAZ, I appreciate it! I would be afraid to see how bad they look in this new sim, knowing they weren't ever the greatest to begin with. I personally am not interested in doing flight sim dev work for the time being and much prefer to simply sit back and enjoy the sim and the stock aircraft, which look, sound and feel incredible. If I do bring a Mustang into this sim it will be brand new from the ground up and released independently, starting with a P-51A (as well as my B-25J). I've got a side-gig of sorts now working for Warbird Digest magazine, and I will also be going back to work full time again with my para job at the school district, just over a week from now (for the first time since the beginning of March when COVID hit), so available time will be a limiting factor.

I would love a P-51A for MSFS. Also, Warbird Digest is one of the few magazines I still subscribe to. :encouragement:

[lagaffe]

Not so sure about the MSFS 2020 community yet....I ask for a guide or even a clue and all these guys posting pictures of how they put an aircraft into this sim just want to send me to a link...post a guide please.

A HOWTO in order to use simple FSX aircraft under MSFS, tested and validated.

Reference: https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/fsx-import-showcase/165910


Prerequisite
You need to know how to use an IDE and compile under VS 2019, it's essential!

I advise you to read the SDK at least once to understand the philosophy of this new simulator. This reading allows you to better understand how the conversions work.


You must download:
- the sources of the program PlaneConverter written by klasbj ( source file of the converter (https://github.com/klasbj/planeconverter) )

- a Visual Studio 2019, the personal version is very suitable

- .NET Core 3.1 SDK on https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/install/windows?tabs=netcore31 to choose according to your x86 or x64 architecture, the last version of August.



To compile PlaneConverter, start the IDE, load the project data (the file *.sln from the downloaded sources) and run a Build to generate both the executable and the standalone package.
Sorry but the author doesn't provide a binary, just the sources. I don't feel I have the right to distribute his generated package.
On the other hand in the klasbj's sources, the path where is generated the plane converted is hard-coded : D:\MSFS\Packages\Community so if it does not correspond to your installation, you will have to modify it before the convert step.
The generated package is a directory with the 4 or 5 essential files, it doesn't need to be installed, it's a portable application, just place it where you want and launch the executable.


For a conversion, first choose the aircraft to be packaged: a piston FSX aircraft with 2 MDLs (outside and inside model 3D) if possible with DDS textures, 3D gauges only and no DLL.
This is the state of my knowledge at the moment, it may evolve.


So we copy the directory of this plane in a temporary directory, and remove the superfluous if necessary. Only the essential is kept.
A good test that works for sure is the P-51D Racer from FSX. So if it doesn't work for you, it's a pale one! so check its copy again.
This said, it is a Microsoft plane so it cannot be re-distributed. You can only distribute your own planes or those of people who gave you the green light!


For the P-51, we keep:
- the header directory named P51_Racer
|_ the file aircraft.cfg and the air file match, it's all at the first level
|_ the Model directory with the 2 MDLs and the model.cfg
|_ the Panel directory with the panel.cfg and the CAB files (*)
|_ the Sound directory with wav and sound.cfg
|_ the texture directory with the DDS files and the texture.cfg if there is one
|_ the Texture.1 directory with the DDS files and the texture.cfg if there is one
and the aircraft.cfg file is cleaned of textures that will not be used (Texture.2, etc).
The goal is to make an aircraft reduced to a livery and without embellishments. The soundai directory is not kept!


Once the tree structure is cleaned up, we launch the PlaneConverter executable:
The window that appears has two tabs, each with a button to be used.


- A first tab Update layout.json to generate the layout.json file after filling in the input field with the full path to your working directory:
e.g. T:\P51_Racer


- A second tab Copy and package SimObject to generate the final package and fill the intermediate json files.
In this one, there are several fields to fill:
- Source SimObject the path of your source directory
- Target: the path in which you want to have the generated package (it is now auto-filled with D:\MSFS\Packages\Community)
- Package name : a description of the gender package
- Title: a title like P51D Racer
- Manufacturer : Microsoft in this case but you can put whatever you want
- Creator: here I think it's explicit, your name
- Version: Version to follow the evolutions ....
Finally we click on Convert and we wait a little ... about thirty seconds if the plane is not too big.


In the text fields, avoid _ and accents, no frills, no frills in the text fields.


You can now retrieve a directory in D:\MSFS\Packages\Community that will contain everything you need.
This directory under Community will have to be copied into your MSFS Community directory, then you will have to test it.


Better keep the work tree (the one in T:\) to be able to come back and modify in case of problem and repeat the test.


This program automatically generates the manifest.json and layout.json files (see SDK).
For the scenes, the generated tree structure is not the same but I think we can make a fork and by modifying the sources, we should be able to make a SceneryConverter ...
I will see that in the coming days.


I remind, this program is the work of klasbj from the forum https://forums.flightsimulator.com and not mine.
It is only a user manual not a tutorial, there are still things to improve, even defects but in 1 afternoon it allowed me to generate 8 planes of mine which can fly under MSFS.


================================
For sceneries, and to create automaticly layout.json file, I have write this little script Python to make the job.
I can run with Python 3.8.5. Tested on my last airplan ported from FSX.
Just copy and past in a text file, rename the extension in *.py and run it with IDLE (Python Editor)




import os
import json
import sys


def check_prerequisites():
if sys.version_info[0] < 3 or sys.version_info[1] < 6:
raise Exception("Must be using Python 3.6 or later")


def build_layout(project_dir):
layout_entries = []
for root, _, files in os.walk(project_dir):
for filename in files:
filepath = os.path.join(root, filename)
if not filepath.endswith(".json") and not filepath.endswith(".py"):
rel_dir = os.path.relpath(root)
rel_file = str(os.path.join(rel_dir, filename))
if rel_file[0] == '.':
rel_file = rel_file[2:]
print(" -- Processing " + rel_file)
entry = {}
entry["path"] = rel_file.replace('\\', '/')
entry["size"] = os.path.getsize(filepath)
entry["date"] = "132402817714110148"
layout_entries.append(entry)
layout_entries.sort(key=lambda e: e["path"])
return layout_entries


if __name__ == "__main__":
check_prerequisites()
cwd = os.getcwd()
layout_content = build_layout(cwd)
layout_json = {
"content": layout_content
}
with open("layout.json", "w") as outfile:
json.dump(layout_json, outfile, indent=4)


Good luck ! :wavey:

[keithb77]

Nice comprehensive instructions :)
I don't think you need to keep the .air file - this is obsolete in MSFS.
Also I'm told we should split the aircraft.cfg file up, but I've never done that apart from making engines.cfg to fix an issue with planes not moving.
----
Though there is another way that doesn't require Visual Studio and which I've used very successfully, some people may prefer:

"first go here and download the build.py file: https://github.com/wpine215/msfs-a320neo
then make sure you have python 3.6 or newer to run that .py file

then go into your MSFS Community folder and make a new folder for the plane you want to bring over from FSX, something like manfredjahn-c47 for example
then drop all the FSX add-on files inside this new folder as if it was FSX's main directory, make sure the folders look something like SimObjects/Airplanes/your plane, then drop the build.py and some random manifest.json from another default plane in the main folder

run the build.py to create the layout.json file
edit the manifest.json file to match the plane" - name and maker

Cheers
Keith

[XLR8]

This sounds sweet getting more aircraft in fs2020. With that said, will we see addon aircraft be installed similar like in fsx/p3d?

[Bomber_12th]

It's a whole lot simpler/less messy for the end-user to install an aircraft into MSFS than either FSX or P3D. With MSFS, a single airplane should be able to be packaged in its own unique folder (all required files/folders (models/textures/sounds/gauges/effects) contained in one master folder) and just placed within the "Community" folder in your MSFS installation, never touching the official files or having to do anything else. Of course it is different/more complex on the developer-side.

[odourboy]

Nice comprehensive instructions :)
I don't think you need to keep the .air file - this is obsolete in MSFS.
Also I'm told we should split the aircraft.cfg file up, but I've never done that apart from making engines.cfg to fix an issue with planes not moving.
----
Though there is another way that doesn't require Visual Studio and which I've used very successfully, some people may prefer:

"first go here and download the build.py file: https://github.com/wpine215/msfs-a320neo
then make sure you have python 3.6 or newer to run that .py file

then go into your MSFS Community folder and make a new folder for the plane you want to bring over from FSX, something like manfredjahn-c47 for example
then drop all the FSX add-on files inside this new folder as if it was FSX's main directory, make sure the folders look something like SimObjects/Airplanes/your plane, then drop the build.py and some random manifest.json from another default plane in the main folder

run the build.py to create the layout.json file
edit the manifest.json file to match the plane" - name and maker

Cheers
Keith
YES!

This worked like a charm. I've ported my first aircraft into MSFS. Suffering from similar issues to other jets, but that's not the fault of this tool. Thanks buddy!

Teaser:

https://youtu.be/UrJBjPnOOoo

[Penzoil3]

Keith build.py runs, but I don't have a layout.json file. Where should it be ?

[odourboy]

Place the build.py in the top folder of you aircraft/project. Run it. It should create the layout.json in the same folder.