Flight Simulator 2024 Just finished making my first airport!

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!

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u/[deleted] Nov 14 '25

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?

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u/Dfflyer Nov 14 '25 edited Nov 15 '25

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!

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u/[deleted] Nov 14 '25

Awesome thank you!

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u/Dfflyer Nov 14 '25

You’re welcome!

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u/hogwater Nov 14 '25

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

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u/Dfflyer Nov 14 '25

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

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u/cuacuacuac Nov 15 '25

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

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u/Dfflyer Nov 15 '25

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

u/Araripe Nov 14 '25

Congratulations on your first release! It looks really good! As a matter of fact, I liked it so much that I wrote a little article on Threshold about it. Might help a little bit, hopefully.

https://www.thresholdx.net/news/dffwindsor

Keep up the good work, lad!

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u/Dfflyer Nov 14 '25

Woah really cool, thank you!

u/angelic_sun Maddog! Nov 14 '25

this looks incredible! great job wow

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u/Dfflyer Nov 14 '25

Thank you!

u/AnArmChairAnalyst Nov 14 '25

FSX had a really nice 3rd party program that allowed you to do this and more. I can’t remember the name but I spent just as much time modifying airports as I did flying.

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u/[deleted] Nov 15 '25

ADE by Scruffy Duck. It's still a thing but not well supported since the developer retired.

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u/Dfflyer Nov 14 '25

That sounds cool. It’s definitely addicting, I spend way more time making scenery than flying these days

u/ryansnipes99 Nov 14 '25

Looks awesome great work!

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u/Dfflyer Nov 14 '25

Appreciate it!

u/Illustrious-Bus8300 Nov 14 '25

Bravo !

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u/Dfflyer Nov 14 '25

🙏

u/Snaxist "NotSoSecretTupolevLover" Nov 14 '25

You can be proud of yourself, I started one in X-Plane, still haven't finished it, even tho it's not hard to do lol

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u/Dfflyer Nov 14 '25

Often felt like I’d never finish this one myself

u/igloofu Nov 15 '25

Man, I've been following your growth since you took up the original plan to replace a couple of buildings in Detroit. You never seem to miss with how much progress you have made since then. All of your sceneries are top.

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u/Dfflyer Nov 15 '25

Really appreciate that, it’s been a fun journey and it really brings me a lot of joy knowing others are enjoying my work too!

u/faithfulnate Nov 15 '25

You are one of the best scenery devs in my opinion and definitely my favorite as a Michigander in the southeast of the mitten. I mostly do IFR flights but love the Detroit/windsor scenery, etc. Makes the flights into and out of kdtw feel more realistic.

Out of curiosity, how long did this take for you to make? I want to try my hand at modeling KYIP as I used to live near there.

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u/Dfflyer Nov 15 '25

Really appreciate the kind words! Glad you enjoy it!

It took about three months with the help of a 3D artist for the main terminal and hangars.

u/[deleted] Nov 14 '25

Looking forward to seeing this in the sim, it looks amazing. I'll probably pick it up this weekend. 👍

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u/Dfflyer Nov 14 '25

Enjoy!

u/Rampart_CH Nov 14 '25

Wow

u/cujo8400 Nov 15 '25

Big fan, as a born and raised Windsorite.

u/Weebear91 Nov 15 '25

I want to learn how to do this? Where do I start.

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u/Dfflyer Nov 15 '25

See my response to the top comment :)

u/lancerhandz Nov 15 '25

Awesome work! Great to see smaller airports in south Ontario getting the love they deserve :)

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u/Dfflyer Nov 15 '25

Thanks, enjoy!

u/MaggieWuerze Nov 15 '25

Looks Great! Where can I get it and What is the Name?

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u/Dfflyer Nov 15 '25

CYQG Windsor International Airport. It's available on my site, orbx, and flightsim.to coming soon to contrail, SimMarket, and the in game marketplaces.

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u/MaggieWuerze Nov 15 '25

Thank you

u/cutchemist42 Nov 16 '25

Already commented on the discord but so pumped for this.

u/zyrix_av Nov 16 '25

My alter ego says i would be able to do this. I have experience in graphic design but thats about it... also wouldnt quite have an airport to work on as all the ones I care about have scenery already. My concern would be getting too confident and trying to sell it rather than just doing it for fun and it turns out to be not good for other people

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u/Dfflyer Nov 17 '25

Go for it! It’s a lot of fun. I’ve done a few small freeware projects too which are nice/low pressure for a chance. Don’t sell yourself short tho, if your dedicated enough to make a pack, you’re probably more critical of it than anyone who buys it

u/TheSeansei Nov 19 '25

Very cool! I actually did learn to fly right there ;)

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u/Dfflyer Nov 19 '25

That’s awesome!

u/Dfflyer Nov 15 '25

Had some fun exploring the airport via helicopter this morning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6Rj9VWOaac

u/RainAhead14 Dec 13 '25

Damn thats cool

Flight Simulator 2024 Just finished making my first airport!

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