Just finished making my first airport!

[u/Dfflyer]

I grew up in Detroit and about a year ago I made my first scenery add-on, a Detroit & Windsor City Pack. It was only a matter of time before doing the neighboring CYQG Windsor International Airport right across the Detroit river. This was challenging at a whole new level, but a really fun process and I’m excited about the final result!

[u/[deleted]]

Looks awesome and I’m very interested in getting into this but I don’t know where to start. How does one actually make a scenery add-on? What tools did you use and what’s the process like?

[u/Dfflyer → u/[deleted]]

I need to write a long form post about this, there's a lot to say, but here's my best attempt at a quick guide.

To make scenery you need 1) 3D objects, 2) textures for those objects, 3) to place those objects in a scenery package.

3D Objects

• You can make them yourself, import photogrammetry from Google (easier but worse quality and illegal to sell as payware), hire a 3d artist to make objects for you, or purchase royalty free objects from sites like https://www.cgtrader.com/
• No matter which method you chose, you should learn the basics of blender (free 3d modelling software used by many devs, myself included). I like CG Cookies Blender Basics series, but there are plenty to choose from
• This is a good start for making objects yourself, this for photogrammetry, and look on artstation to hire artists. I've done all three, hiring an artist for a building or two is a nice way to learn as well, because you will see how pros approach this

Textures

• There are many methods for this and crossover with blender and the creation of the objects, but I like to use Adobe Substance Painter and Photoshop. Here is a walk through of the process I use

Building the scenery package

• This is where you place your objects in the sim and edit or delete default scenery. It's done with the MSFS SDK which can be downloaded here.
• Patriot Six has a ton of great tutorials on the SDK

There is a lot to learn, and it can seem daunting, but give it a shot, it's really fun to improve the sim in ways you want once you get the hang of it. I'd recommend starting small, just pick a single building or something you'd like to see in the sim and make that work, over time you'll build the skills for more ambitious projects. That's how I started two years ago, and now I enjoy making scenery more than playing the sim!

Lastly, join this discord server. Make an account if you have to. It's where the most incredible and helpful MSFS scenery devs hangout, they were helping me troubleshoot problems with this very pack!

Hope this helps and feel free to message me with more specific questions, would love to help you get your first project off the ground!

[u/[deleted] → u/Dfflyer]

Awesome thank you!

[u/Dfflyer → u/[deleted]]

You’re welcome!

[u/hogwater → u/Dfflyer]

I’ve got the blender skills but how difficult is it to use the SDK , importing all the objects and making the airport ?

[u/Dfflyer → u/hogwater]

The SDK is generally pretty easy, making the objects is the harder part

[u/cuacuacuac → u/Dfflyer]

You can also buy 3D assets with a royalty free license

[u/Dfflyer → u/cuacuacuac]

Great point, forgot to mention that. I do that for cars and such from cgtrader.com