MSFS 2024 SDK Tutorial - Add Custom Objects with Blender

[@JuanQuijanoAbad]

Again and again: Thank you soooooooooooooo much!!

[@hansenc10]

Amazing Federico, always frontrunner and showing us the way forward in our FS business !!! Thanks for sharing a complete Blender setup save us a lot of time. Now I (we) just need to figure out the aggressive LOD system in 2024, tried one of your older videos but can't figure it out to get it to work even on simple buildings 🤔

[@fat696]

Madonna, grazie!! Con i tuoi tutorial mi hai fatto risparmiare un sacco di tempo. Un grazie in nome di tutta la community slovena

[@brianbuckley6713]

Excellent!

[@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS]

@@brianbuckley6713 thanks Brian!

[@VincVeg4]

OMG Thank you so much!!!!

[@dvlourie1]

Outstanding…live asset is a game changer and time saver….just started creating objects in Blender today for use in a new scenery for 24. Thanks again for all you do for the community and also being kind and patient….

[@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS]

@@dvlourie1 thank you! I wasn't really aware that the functionality was active by default (read it back in the dev alpha and forget about), than saw the game icon blinking and realised that something was being compiled under the hood 😊

[@stevenbeeckman3019]

Is there a specific reason why we shouldn’t install the SDK on another drive?

[@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS]

@stevenbeeckman3019 there have been reports of issues doing so (SDK not finding itself in updates). There is a lot more indeed in the SDK core than Blender 's plugin, when installed it register itself as environmental variable for coding/visual studio applications Has anyway a so little footprint that I don't care about moving it 🙂

[@makamodell]

thank you very much for all your tutorials and the time invested. As always very well explained, it is a great help for creating sceneries🙏

[@fedexcoex]

I didn't realize we should solidify all the objects. Great video 👍🏽

[@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS]

@@fedexcoex eheeh solidify is just simple modelling trick, you can achieve tickness with extrusion or creating new faces. Of course the hangar interior without the solidify would have been transparent because the cube normals are pointed in the exterior. Any modifiier that adds geometry is indeed useful in the Lod creation process, because you can simple disable them (modifiers are non destructive by design)

[@JuanCarlos-dn6wo]

Thx Mamu..nice job again 🎉

[@henfre6845]

Great tutorial again Frederico. I hope you will make some more in depth videos about airport creation and also show us your modeling/texturing skills.

[@MSFS.2020]

Hello Spritz 😍 and by the way, THX Mamu for this one more excellent tutorial.

[@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS]

@@MSFS.2020 poor cat 🐈 waiting for me to finish starring at monitor talking alone Thank you 😅

[@MSFS.2020]

thanks for your ALL in ONE portable file 🤩

[@bonnoteriiteporouarai7097]

Thank you so much for this tutorial, it's very helpful. I used to use Sketchup to make sceneries on MSFS but with MSFS 24 is not really supported anymore

[@antonioiozzi9171]

Tanks! Could you do a tutorial for creating UV map for the new airplanes? Happy to se that you mention the right version of Blender to install. Thumbs up.

[@benjaminrc78]

Excelent. Can you do a tutorial to do a C172 custom Livery? Thanks

[@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS]

@@benjaminrc78 I'm not into livery creation, I'm sorry!

[@benjaminrc78]

​@@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALSNo problem. I think Blender is used to open the plane in 3D and then UV mapping is done, so it could be interesting 😉

[@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS]

@benjaminrc78 at the moment the VFS projector functionality is not working, and at the moment we don't have the ability to download packages (not streaming them) Of course this is limiting a ton modding default assets. It is anyway a very nice piracy system!

Excellent, thanks for the tutorial! If you could do another tutorial where you convert FS2020 blender files and project to FS2024? How would you do that? For example if you have a 2020 gltf object which works fine in 2024 can you use it in the 2024 package? I mean in the object library can you have mixed origin of gltf's?

[@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS]

Yep will do! You can't mix really mix models (compiling in 2024 require the texture .XML that 2020 don't have, 2020 models has also wrong lights so I would really do the conversion -part of it is made by clicking on the MSFS 2024 new button in blender menu

@@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS It means if we want to convert an entire project we need to re-export all of the objects with the new plugin. Let's hope we have all the source files still available....

[@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS]

The idea of converting an entire project seems quite overwhelming, especially if you don't keep your sources Better to have two packages as explained in my previous video, one with 2020 models and the other one with 2024 related ones

@@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS That might work for projects in the coomunity folder, but not with Marketplace content...

[@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS]

If you are a commercial developer keeping track of your sources should be paramount importance In any case, you may try putting in the Marketplace package compiled 2020 stuff alongside the 2024 amending the layout.json (Or maybe using a copy assetgroup)

[@Stefano_SPGamer]

Great tutorial as usual. Is it possible to add the new first person interaction with objects feature to the hangar so you can have a button to push on foot to open the doors? Could you do a tutorial for that?

[@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS]

@@Stefano_SPGamer thanks Stefano It is not possible unfortunately, so no tutorial. Interaction in allowed only with user "airplane"

[@Stefano_SPGamer]

@@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS that's a bummer, we could do so many thing..😭

[@Perserverancescenerydevelopers]

Brilliant work inly issue I am currently having is objects from sketchfab and 3d warehouse does not generate a bin file or textures But If I do my own 3d model and export it the same way it works. Can you please make a video on exporting a 3d object from 3d warehouse and sketchfab please

[@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS]

thanks, can you point me to a specific model to I can have a look and repro your experience?

[@Perserverancescenerydevelopers]

@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS I have tried many models all have the same outcome you get an empty texture folder with another folder containing the gltf and xml but not a bin file

[@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS]

@Perserverancescenerydevelopers a link to a model please?

[@Perserverancescenerydevelopers]

​@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS Can we arrange a date and time to discuss the issues that you may be able to help and I form the community I can live stream it on discord if you need to

[@feeble6997]

Do you recommend exporting with the AUTOLOD option that Blender has?

[@VoyagerSimProject]

✅ ☑ 🏁

[@cabibbochris]

Can you make a tutorial to make own liverys?

[@bruhitsmoh]

Hey sir may you Please Create FLKK Lusaka International Airport, will really appreciate, with real taxiways, jetways and parking stands

[@stigarvetogstad2875]

How about lights? I'm trying to generate a 3D model with lightpoints, but the blender MSFS2024 Exporter plugin does not look like it used to for the MSFS2020 plugin. (I cannot select Day/night for example, and I don't see any lights in the sim when I export.) I've tried both Blender 3.3 and 3.6 with only the MSFS2024 plugin installed.

[@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS]

@@stigarvetogstad2875 with the new plug-in you have to select the new 2024 fast/advanced Lights (bottom of the Blender add object) and set the cd intensity value at proper wattage ( or maybe 10 times more) So a 2020 light intensity of 30 will turn into a 3000 intensity for 2024 lights Night/day is still there iirc

[@stigarvetogstad2875]

@@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS Ah...I see that now. So if you were so stupid to actually start converting your MSFS2020 scenery to MSFS2024 you need to replace all your lights with the new type?

[@_dante_.]

@@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS Excellent tutorial! Do we have to duplicate the light for each LOD collection? Do we put lights outside the collections?

[@pilot-maia]

Hello Federico. Show. Like 138. Where can I find the msfs 2024 addon blender?

[@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS]

@@pilot-maia ehm It well explained in the video: download the SDK Core from the game(help menu) Install it That the Blender add-ons will be available in the SDK folder, and must be copied to the Blender/script/add-ons folder and activated via Blender preferences

[@pilot-maia]

@@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS Thank you very much. I'm from Brazil and I don't understand English, even with the automatic translation it's difficult sometimes. But yes, I've been rewatching your video and I understand it better, I found the Blender addon, and I even modeled a hangar with 3 levels of lods. It works well, but I don't think I'll have the patience to adapt all my objects, lol. I believe the developers will have more work now and the price of the scenery packs will be more expensive :( Hugs.

[@danilosilva4802]

I can open the aircraft LOD in Blender using MSFS20. Can you import the aircraft from MSFS24 into Blender?

[@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS]

@@danilosilva4802 at the moment all default content is encrypted Maybe with patch 3 we may hope to see something, but the sentiment is that it would be a lot more complicated that in 2020

[@SuperGoldenv]

My textures are not exporting using the 2024 addon. Just xml, bin and gltf.

[@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS]

@@SuperGoldenv wouldn't you mind trying with the provided Blender from the Drive? Open it, the appen your collection from existing one Also the new addon can't export textures if they are packed into the Blender file

[@SuperGoldenv]

@ thanks, not too sure what you mean with the first sentence. I know I don’t have the textures packed in the blend file. Also no spaces in the address. I did notice that the title of the addon was different to the one in your installation. Although it’s the same version (1.3.1). My 2020 projects don’t display emissive textures in 2024 hence trying to redo them with the msfs2024/blender plugin. Any help would save my sanity 😂

[@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS]

@@SuperGoldenv hi! In the video it is showcased the 0.3.6 version of the Asobo plugin (not current 1.3.1) In the video description, a working Blender installation including the plug-in correctly configured is provided. Trying with that reduce a lot potential configuration fixes. Current 1.3.1 has issues so I don't recommend it now (although it has no problems exporting texture) Truly recommend anyways to join Discord to enhance the troubleshooting experience

[@SuperGoldenv]

@@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS Thanks again for the help! I tried your blender download but it is the same. If I untick - Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 in the settings the textures save I'll jon the discord channel

[@SuperGoldenv]

@@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS I just sussed it out!. Was because the textures needed to be on the same harddrive as the export location.

[@Vtrontv]

Wont it work with Blender 4.3??

[@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS]

@@Vtrontv it is supported only in blender 3.3 and 3.6

[@Vtrontv]

@@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS Thanks so much! I have already modeled my airport in 4.3. Ill try shifting to 3.6.!

[@Vtrontv]

@@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS Installed 3.6. Still blender is not detecting MSFS sdk addon. Tried importing to blender as you've done here also tried microsoft install instructions. Only shows rainmask addon not the gltf addon.. Any ideas?

[@Vtrontv]

@@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS Got it working thanks!

[@MSFS-SDK-TUTORIALS]

@@Vtrontv rainmask? Maybe you copied the wrong one from SDK Strongly suggest to use the Drive version linked in the description for the moment