This guide doesn't explain how to make a livery of your favourit plane for MSFS. This guide should explain livery creator how you should made your livery packages "user-friendly".
The way of adding new liveries for a aircraft results into the user have to edit the aircraft.cfg, adds a block of code for the new livery, has to adjust the fltsim.X number and have to edit the layout.json to add all the new files. All-in-all this method is not really user-friendly.
But how? The easiest way for all user is, just to drag'n'drop the livery-package into the community directory. No edit, no adjustment, happy user, happy flying.
Create a folder with the in this kind of pattern "[yourname]-livery-[aircraft-icao-type]-[liveryname]"
In this guide i used the former german airline "AIRBERLIN" and the ASOBO A320neo as example.
Example:
"revyn112-livery-a32n-airberlin-standard".
Nice to know: This is the pattern-rule of Asobo for 3rd parties / content creators in the sdk documentation.
.
+-- layouts.json
+-- manifest.json
+-- SimObjects
| +-- AirPlanes
| | +-- [CREATOR_AIRCRAFT_TYPE_LIVERY_NAME_CREATOR_NAME] (Make sure this name is globally unique)
| | +-- aircraft.cfg
| | | +-- MODEL
| | | +-- MODEL.AI_[YOUR_LIVERY_NAME]
| | | +-- TEXTURE.[YOUR_LIVERY_NAME]
Rename the folder "ASOBO_A320_NEO_CUSTOM_NAME" inside the folder AirPlanes. Be sure that the folder name is unique.
In my example:
"ASOBO_A320_NEO_airberlin_Standard_Revyn112"
Add your custom texture files into the folder TEXTURE.[YOUR_LIVERY_NAME] and rename it.
Be sure to keep the TEXTURE. prefix.
Example:
"TEXTURE.AIRBERLIN_STANDARD"
The final result should be this:
"SimObjects/AirPlanes/ASOBO_A320_NEO_airberlin_Standard_Revyn112/TEXTURE.AIRBERLIN_STANDARD"
Important: Don't change the texture.CGF in the TEXTURE folder.
In this Guide we add also an AI-TRAFFIC model for better performance (low polycount model, no interior). The AI model defintions are in the block FLTSIM.1. You just have to rename MODEL.AI_[YOUR_LIVERY_NAME] to your livery name. No need for more configurations inside the folder and files.
Example:
"MODEL.AI_AIRBERLIN_STANDARD"
Be sure that FLTSIM.0 (for player aircraft) parameters in aircraft.cfg are:
model = ""
isAirTraffic: 0
isUserSelectable = 1
Be sure that FLTSIM.1 (for ai aircraft) parameters in aircraft.cfg are:
model = "AI_AIRBERLIN_STANDARD" ; (The name of the Folder "MODEL.AI_[YOUR_LIVERY_NAME])
isAirTraffic: 1
isUserSelectable = 0
If you don't want to use an seperate AI model remove both model folder and the FLTSIM.1 defintion in the aircraft.cfg.
Adjust/Replace the followering parameters in FLTSIM.0 and FLTSIM.1 defintions:
title: "Airbus A320 Neo airberlin Revyn112 [AI]"
texture: "AIRBERLIN_STANDARD" (The name of the Folder "TEXTURE.[YOUR_LIVERY_NAME])
ui_type: "A320neo airberlin Standard" (Title for the Ingame Texture Selection)
ui_variation: "airberlin Standard" (Name of your custom Design)
ui_createdby: "Revyn112" (Obviously your creator name)
atc_id: "D-ABZI" (Choose a Standard tailnumber)
atc_airline: "airberlin" (Name of the airline)
icao_airline: "BER" (ICAO code of the airlin)
Template of the aircraft.cfg
[VERSION]
major = 1
minor = 0
[VARIATION]
base_container = "..\Asobo_A320_NEO"
;===================== FLTSIM USER DEFINTION =====================
[FLTSIM.0]
title = "Airbus A320 Neo Custom" ; Variation name
model = "" ; model folder
panel = "" ; panel folder
sound = "" ; sound folder
texture = "[YOUR_LIVERY_NAME]" ; texture folder
kb_checklists = "Boeing747-400_check" ; Procedures/Checklist sibling file name
kb_reference = "Boeing747-400_ref" ; Reference information sibling file name
description = "TT:AIRCRAFT.DESCRIPTION" ; Variation description.
wip_indicator = 0 ; know if the variation is good to go or still WIP : -1=Disabled, 0=Rough, 1=1st Pass, 2=Finished
ui_manufacturer = "TT:AIRCRAFT.UI_MANUFACTURER" ; e.g. Boeing, Cessna
ui_type = "A320neo Custom" ; e.g. 747-400, 172
ui_variation = "Custom" ; e.g. World Air, IFR Panel
ui_typerole = "Commercial Airliner" ; e.g. Single Engine Prop, Twin Engine Prop, motorcraft, etc
ui_createdby = "YOUR_NAME" ; e.g. Asobo Studio, Microsoft, FSAddonCompany, etc
ui_thumbnailfile = "" ; app relative path to ThumbNail image file
ui_certified_ceiling = 39800 ; service ceiling / max certified operating altitude (ft)
ui_max_range = 3500 ; max distance the aircraft can fly between take-off and landing in (NM)
ui_autonomy = 7 ; max duration the aircraft can fly between take-off and landing in (Hrs)
ui_fuel_burn_rate = 5300 ; average fuel consumption per hour (lbs/hr) - reminder: fuel density is ~6.7lbs per US gallon
atc_id = "T-TAIL" ; tail number
atc_id_enable = 1 ; enable tail number
atc_airline = "YOUR AIRLINE NAME" ; airline name
atc_flight_number = "" ; flight number
atc_heavy = 1 ; heavy?
atc_parking_types = "GATE,RAMP,CARGO" ; "ANY" / "RAMP" / "CARGO" / "MIL_CARGO" / "MIL_COMBAT" / "GATE" / "DOCK"
atc_parking_codes = "" ; Comma separated and may be as small as one character each
atc_id_color = "" ; color for the tail number : i.e. "#ffff00ff"
atc_id_font = "" ; font for the tail number
icao_airline = "CUS" ; airline icao code
isAirTraffic = 0 ; Is the plane usable for air traffic
isUserSelectable = 1 ; Is the plane selectable by the user
;===================== OPTIONAL FLTSIM AI DEFINTION =====================
[FLTSIM.1]
title = "Airbus A320 Neo Custom AI" ; Variation name
model = "AI_[YOUR_LIVERY_NAME]" ; model folder
panel = "" ; panel folder
sound = "" ; sound folder
texture = "[YOUR_LIVERY_NAME]" ; texture folder
kb_checklists = "Boeing747-400_check" ; Procedures/Checklist sibling file name
kb_reference = "Boeing747-400_ref" ; Reference information sibling file name
description = "TT:AIRCRAFT.DESCRIPTION" ; Variation description.
wip_indicator = 0 ; know if the variation is good to go or still WIP : -1=Disabled, 0=Rough, 1=1st Pass, 2=Finished
ui_manufacturer = "TT:AIRCRAFT.UI_MANUFACTURER" ; e.g. Boeing, Cessna
ui_type = "A320neo Custom AI" ; e.g. 747-400, 172
ui_variation = "Custom" ; e.g. World Air, IFR Panel
ui_typerole = "Commercial Airliner" ; e.g. Single Engine Prop, Twin Engine Prop, motorcraft, etc
ui_createdby = "YOUR_NAME" ; e.g. Asobo Studio, Microsoft, FSAddonCompany, etc
ui_thumbnailfile = "" ; app relative path to ThumbNail image file
ui_certified_ceiling = 39800 ; service ceiling / max certified operating altitude (ft)
ui_max_range = 3500 ; max distance the aircraft can fly between take-off and landing in (NM)
ui_autonomy = 7 ; max duration the aircraft can fly between take-off and landing in (Hrs)
ui_fuel_burn_rate = 5300 ; average fuel consumption per hour (lbs/hr) - reminder: fuel density is ~6.7lbs per US gallon
atc_id = "T-TAIL" ; tail number
atc_id_enable = 1 ; enable tail number
atc_airline = "YOUR AIRLINE NAME" ; airline name
atc_flight_number = "" ; flight number
atc_heavy = 1 ; heavy?
atc_parking_types = "GATE,RAMP,CARGO" ; "ANY" / "RAMP" / "CARGO" / "MIL_CARGO" / "MIL_COMBAT" / "GATE" / "DOCK"
atc_parking_codes = "" ; Comma separated and may be as small as one character each
atc_id_color = "" ; color for the tail number : i.e. "#ffff00ff"
atc_id_font = "" ; font for the tail number
icao_airline = "CUS" ; airline icao code
isAirTraffic = 1 ; Is the plane usable for air traffic
isUserSelectable = 0 ; Is the plane selectable by the user
Adjust/Replace the parameters in the manifest.json inside the root folder.
dependencies => Add package dependencies
content_type => Should be "AIRCRAFT"
title => Your Package Title
manufacturer => Aircraft manufacturer [airbus/boeing/bombardier...]
creator => Your name
package_version => Your package Version
minimum_game_version => The minimum game version your package will work
release_notes => The Release notes for your package (can be empty)
In this example manifest.json will looks like this:
{
"dependencies": [
{
"name": "asobo-aircraft-a320-neo",
"package_version": "0.1.51"
}
],
"content_type": "AIRCRAFT",
"title": "A320neo airberlin Standard",
"manufacturer": "Airbus",
"creator": "Revyn112",
"package_version": "1.0.0",
"minimum_game_version": "1.7.12",
"release_notes": {
"neutral": {
"LastUpdate": "",
"OlderHistory": ""
}
}
}
To create a layouts.json file you should use the JSON Tool of @S3RI0US. You will find the explanation and download here: https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/tool-mfs-2020-auto-json-for-layout-json/245505
Be sure to create an layouts.json, without this file your package won't work properly
That's all - now you have to pack the files into a .zip archive and distribute them on the forum or on the countless hosting sites. The user just have to unpack your archive and drag'n'drop the package into the community folder. Simple... Isn't It?
Drag'n'Drop method found by OzWookiee @ fsdeveloper.com