VISUAL EFFECTS

Visual effects are an important feature of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 as they can be used to make the world and the SimObjects that inhabit it feel more alive. These effects should always be created using The Visual Effects Editor in the actual simulation, as the editor permits you to have real-time visual feedback on the effects being created. However, it may be necessary to edit an effect after it has been created, or you may wish to simply understand the internal structure of how an effect is created and added to a package, and so these pages can be used to get that information.

 

All visual effects are packaged as part of a VisualEffectsLib, which will contain one *.vfxlib file and then one or more *.xml files. The *.vfxlib file is what tells the simulation what effects are contained in the package and is itself basically a form of XML file that can be edited in any text editor, if required. The format for this file is as follows:

<VisualEffectLibrary Version="1.0.0">
    <VisualEffect File="[filename1].xml"/>
    <VisualEffect File="[filename2].xml"/>
    <!-- etc... -->
</VisualEffectLibrary>

When you are creating your effects, the general folder structure for saving the *.xml and *.vfxlib files would be:

<FSProject_Folder>\PackageSources\VisualEffectLibs\<CompanyName>\

NOTE: Visual effects XML files will be compiled into SPB files when the package is built.

The different XML files listed in the *.vfxlib file are the files for individual effects. The structure of these individual effect files is explained on the following page:

• Visual Effects XML Properties

 

You can also find fully formatted examples from the following page:

• Visual Effects XML Examples

 

To implement the visual effects in your add-ons requires the use of model behaviours and the associated templates. You can find full details of this process on the following page:

• Adding Aircraft VFX