This is a tutorial concerned with the installation of third party X-Plane files and add-ons from the FlightSim.Com file library. We all have to start somewhere, and so this tutorial is aimed at new users, and will tackle the installation from the ground up. When I first began taking an interest in flight simulation, I met many patient individuals who were willing to help a 'frustrated me', get on track; so in a way, this is a 'not so frustrated me', giving something back!

Common Ground

When you download add-ons from FlightSim.Com, you'll notice that they are all zip files.

So what exactly does this file do? Well, the zip file is a way of combining all the files in a particular add-on and then compressing them down into a smaller size, therefore saving you both download time and bandwidth.

The way I like to think of zip files, is like packing your clothes for a holiday, or for those of you across the pond...vacation!

We would never carry a bundle of clothes (files) around with us, so we compress them into our suitcase (zip file). By doing this, we are ready to go, and have a convenient holder for all of our items. Depending on which zip program you use, things may look slightly different, but the basic principle is still the same. When we have downloaded the required zip file, we do the opposite of compressing it - we uncompress it (unzip). This creates a newly unzipped folder which we can then use. The original downloaded zip file can then be deleted at this point if no longer required.

Before we being discussing the ins and outs of X-Plane's plethora of add-ons, we first need to locate our main X-Plane directory. Some people choose to install it on their desktop, but others will install it to a more suitable location, such as their main drive and then create a shortcut on their desktop. The thing about X-Plane, is that you can install it pretty wherever you like. When you have located it (usually named 'X-Plane'), we are good to proceed.

Add-on Types

We will now look at the different types of add-ons you'll find in the file library and how to use them.

Repaints

Additional repaints/liveries are a great way of making your existing fleet of aircraft more varied, so this is a good place to start.

To match the repaint with your aircraft, you'll have to look at the title or main description of the download (this will tell you which aircraft it is for).

Download the appropriate repaint which will be a zip file as previously covered and unzip it. Now we need to know where to place the repaint.

Compared to MSFS, the folder structure in X-Plane is very easy to use and so ALL items associated with a particular aircraft are kept in their own unique folder.

The Liveries folder for an aircraft can be found in the following manner:

Main X-Plane Folder > Aircraft Folder > Type Of Aircraft > Aircraft > Liveries

Note: On some earlier aircraft, a Liveries folder might not be present. If this is the case, simply create a new folder and name it 'Liveries'. You'll encounter this situation with mostly X-Plane 8 and earlier converted aircraft.

Tip: Making a desktop shortcut to a particular aircraft liveries folder saves navigating your way through multiple folders each time you install a new livery.

Once the Liveries folder is opened, you will see all the existing paint schemes for that aircraft. Simply drop your newly unzipped folder into the Liveries folder and you are good to go!

Aircraft

With all the many quality freeware aircraft available for X-Plane, you'll be eager to download them (I don't blame you).

Installation of an aircraft in X-Plane is simplicity itself. After downloading and unzipping the aircraft, simply place it in its appropriate aircraft category:

For X-Plane 10:

Main X-Plane Folder > Aircraft Folder > Type Of Aircraft

For X-Plane 11:

Main X-Plane Folder > Aircraft Folder > Add-on Aircraft

Regarding the main Aircraft folder in X-Plane, you can create extra sub folders so as to be more accurate with aircraft placement - for example, 'Microlights'. With the release of X-Plane 11 however, the sim does a great job of searching for a particular aircraft type and then placing it in predefined categories.

Sceneries

We will now look at an extremely popular and important element of X-Plane - add-on sceneries.

X-Plane divides the world into equally sized tiles, each of which contains the following: airports, roads, railways and geographical features.

Even though many X-Plane airports are now populated with 3D buildings, there are still quite a large number where there is nothing but a flat representation. This is where the scenery developer comes in and adds additional objects so as to make it more authentic. It is then packaged up and added to the file library. When downloaded and unzipped, it is then placed in X-Plane's Custom Scenery directory:

Main X-Plane Folder > Custom Scenery

One very important thing to remember when adding a new scenery to X-Plane, is to make sure you have all the library objects required by that scenery. Failure to have these installed, will result in an error message, informing you that a certain object cannot be found.

To deal with this issue, developers use one of two different ways of obtaining the required objects for their scenery packages...

1) Many scenery developers simply include the required objects within the actual scenery package:

Main X-Plane Folder > Custom Scenery > Our Scenery > Objects

One advantage of this method, is that the package is usually fully contained and requires no other third part dependencies. Also, apart from moving the package to X-Plane's Custom Scenery directory, no other action is required of the user. One disadvantage though, is that packages tend to be a lot larger in size.

2) If third party library objects are not included, the scenery developer will list them in the file description. These are in turn hyperlinked for easy access. You will however, need to keep your object libraries up to date. For example, if a library developer, such as Stuart McGregor (author of The Handy Object Library), adds additional objects, you will need to update it. If you don't, you may encounter errors with later sceneries.

Libraries are also located in:

Main X-Plane Folder > Custom Scenery

Plugins

Our final category of add-on types in this guide is 'plugins'. A plugin allows a developer to enhance X-Plane's capabilities, but to do this, he or she must first write the instructions for X-Plane to perform.

Plugins provide a smart way of achieving many new and exciting features, such as additional weather effects, moving vehicles and even seasons (yes you heard me right...seasons).

Plugins are installed in the following location:

Main X-Plane Folder > Resources > Plugins

You should be able to simply unzip the new plugin into the location. It should create a new folder and install the plugin contents into it. all ready to go.

So, in this short tutorial, we've covered the three main types of third party add-ons you'll encounter in X-Plane. We've looked at where they live and how to install them. All that is needed now is for you to go get them!

I hope this tutorial has been of help. Any questions, please leave a comment below and I will endeavor to answer it.