All Aircraft in MSFS 2024 now Encrypted?

[MSFS 2024] Questions & Community Discussions Aircraft
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41

It was for all 3rd Party content, but maybe you are thinking of another CFG?

Best regards,

Eric / Asobo

42

Can you please clarify is it already happened, or we can expect it in the future?
To make question specific - I am 3rd party developer and want to create gyrocopter aircraft. I wish to re-use model exterior.xml and interior.xml of existing gyrocopter so it will save my time with animations and instruments configure. But when I check bluemesh_magni_m24 aircraft folder in Projector these files can not be opened. Can we expect all XML, CFG and GLTF files of FS2024 default edition aircraft will be unlocked, or just some of them?

43

I think you’ll find that many people disagree with this, as does the law. That’s like saying that since music is written by everyone with the same rules, that it’s not copywriteable. Let’s appreciate what Microsoft and Asobo have given us and leave it at that.

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44

I’ll explain:
For more than 20 years, Microsoft flight simulator has been unofficially used by flight instructors and flight schools.
In all those versions, starting with FS2000 and even earlier, it was possible to edit the flight dynamics of the aircraft, their behavior.

Without this, the simulator could not be used for training.

Personally, as a flight instructor, I have made such edits to dozens of aircraft in Microsoft flight simulator and also in Xplane over the decades, because most of the time, the flight dynamics are not accurate to how the specific aircraft reacts in the air and also some kinds of parameters need to be adjusted to the hardware equipment used.

I have also built add-ons for the simulator. The real protect should be for the visual model, not for the flight model
 at least not in Microsoft models.

I guess if Apple will release flight simulator, all will be protected :slight_smile:

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45

So the real protect should be for the videos, not the music?
I understand what’s been going on with the tacit permission of Microsoft, but, you do understand the ramifications of what you’re saying?

I mean, if the authors involved allow it, all the power to you, but you’re not entitled to anything here just because it was allowed in the past. But, it’s not up to me to be responding here.

You can still write your own flight models without access to their files.

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46

I agree with this 100%.

Must I add, I personally value my time in this life. And I value my work.

As an aircraft developer myself, it’s very easy to copy someone else’s flightmodel and alter it and claim you did it, this applies to many other files, etc.

The sad part is that most of the community aren’t speaking about this and bypass the acknowledgement of the hard work some of us who do this for a living have to endure in order for someone else to dive in and benefit on our xml’s, cfg’s files.

We have the tools to make planes fly. Let’s use them.

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47

Then again, if your flight mode is PERFECT, then anyone modding it is only going to make it imperfect.

However, of someone copies your flight model, and mods it, improving it, then as the original copyright owner, you probably have the right to incorporated their mods back into your flight model, and EVERYONE wins, including you, the original designer, as someone did that work to improve the flight model (for YOU) effectively for FREE.

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48

I personally do not believe in free services from a group of individuals who have probably never flown a real aircraft in their life but i get what you mean.

Nevertheless, I 100% disagree with you. The fact that the mod was “improved” and i can use it for “Free” isn’t motivational.

That’s like someone assuming they know you based on what they’ve seen of you in social media and they can “fix” you.

There’s more layers to this.

BUT IF the modders are real-world pilots with thousands of hours of real world experience and they reach out to the internet explaining in specific details and video footage as to why they’re mod is superior to the one I worked with hand-in-hand with other real world pilots, then MAYBE we can let things roll.

49

You can always create your own flight model for a plane. You know that. We aren’t entitled to use people’s work to start with. If they offer it, thank you.
Plenty of authors do. Which is great. Open source is a wonderful thing. But I’ve got nothing against people who’d rather not share their work. Lots of good reasons for that.

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50

So what you’re saying is that they use MSFS as a commercial training tool?

I think those CFI’s need to re-read the EULA.

51

In a bottom line, at least for me,
FS2020 Cessna 172 flies more like reallife than the FS2024 C172.
Both in terms of aircraft performance and controls responses.
The reason is also that the simulator itself has undergone a certain evolution in addition to the fixes I made to the aircraft.
Now in FS2024 when everything is encrypted, I will have to wait for the goodwill of Microsoft or Asobo to fix the aircraft and that can take time.

Also xplane, fsx, fs2004, p3d the aircrafts were not accurate but can be fixed

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52

Oh, we get why you want to modify them

That was never a question.

53

The amount of damage that it would cause to the sim and community if they kept everything encrypted would be horrendous. Modders, and people in our community love to help and make things better, because at the end of the day it benefits EVERYONE. If this doesn’t happen I may be on 2020 full time. Please unlock everything for us!

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54

@FlyingsCool
Your tone comes across as arrogant and dismissive, implying that anyone who dares to question Microsoft and Asobo’s decisions is somehow ungrateful. Critical thinking and constructive criticism are essential for improvement, and blindly accepting everything without question is not only unhealthy but also stagnates progress.

‘Let’s appreciate what Microsoft and Asobo have given us and leave it at that,’. By that logic we should never question anything in the world, and simply accept the status quo without striving for better. That’s not how innovation works, and it’s certainly not how a community-driven platform like a flight simulator should operate. Furthermore, your analogy to music copyrights is a stretch. the fact that music is protected by copyright doesn’t mean that it can’t be remixed, sampled, or covered – in fact, these practices are common and often lead to new and innovative creations. This isn’t just about flight models, It’s impossible for livery creators to create high quality liveries as they used to be able to in every version of Flightsim and X-Plane, You can’t even customize something so simple as the camera.cfg file as that’s encrypted as well!

You also seem to be ignoring the fact that every previous version of Microsoft Flight Simulator has been moddable, and that this community has thrived on the ability to customize and improve the game. It’s only with this new version that Asobo has decided to lock down the simulator to an extent we haven’t seen before, and it’s puzzling that you’re defending this decision so vehemently.

It’s clear that you’re more interested in defending Microsoft and Asobo’s decisions than in engaging in a constructive discussion about the future of the flight simulator community. I hope that in the future, you’ll be more open to listening to the concerns and ideas of others, rather than simply dismissing them with a condescending tone.

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55

I’m sure the Microsoft and Asobo teams think I come across that way, too. Sorry about that

sigh

You might, however, want to read through all of my posts. The central theme being, yes, I want FS to be moddable, too.

But, if you’re questioning my comments regarding the legality of copyrights, sorry, I’m going to stand with the developers. If they want to share the code they wrote, great! But if not, I fully support that.

As several developers have shown in 2020, it’s entirely possible to mod a plane that’s encrypted, and create a whole new flight model for the plane. Asking Microsoft to break their legal contracts with developers for some people to get a head start is just
 lazy.

If you think that’s an arrogant point of view
 sorry.

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57

sigh the theatrics are noted, though hardly convincing. It seems my comments about your dismissive tone struck a nerve, didn’t they? Sorry about that


I’ve read through your posts don’t worry maybe you should try doing the same with mine :slight_smile:

Regarding the legality of copyrights, no one is questioning the developers’ right to protect their intellectual property. However, we are questioning the decision to lock down the simulator to the extent that it stifles creativity and innovation. The fact that developers have managed to mod encrypted planes is not a justification for the current state of affairs; it’s a testament to the community’s ingenuity and determination.

As i’ve already said in my previous comment, basic things such as creating high quality liveries are not possible in the current state of the Sim. The best you can do is work with the LOD1 model instead of the LOD0 which is sub-optimal and leads to a lot of Problems. You can’t even edit the camera.cfg to change your views. Something so simple which causes no harm to anybody.

Asking Microsoft to provide a more open and moddable platform is not about getting a ‘head start’ or being ‘lazy.’ It’s about creating a thriving community that can contribute to the simulator’s growth and improvement. By dismissing these concerns and labeling them as ‘lazy,’ you’re ignoring the very real impact that the current restrictions are having on the community.

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58

I found the cause.

FS2020 could load files even if the file size in layout.json was different from the actual file size.

MSFS2024 cannot display files if the file sizes do not match. Also, in v1.2.7, MSFS2024 cannot start due to a difference in the file size description in layout.json.

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59

Yeah that gets kinda annoying

60

It should be noted that much of the ingenuity and determination, of encrypted Model Mods, is due to the technical skills of the Modder, completely designing and writing their own designed version of those unreadable encrypted files, based on examples of non-encrypted planes, and the SDK.

In effect, those new files are original created work, written by the Modder, and obvious NOT a copyright infringed copy, edit of files, that could not be read in any case, as they were encrypted.

Those sections of the Mod, overwriting the encrypted files, were created like one would for any new , original created plane.

So in effect , a MOD of an encrypted plane, contain more original created files, and less “Copyright infringement” than that of non-encrypted plane mods, that has its files modified, based on their original “Copyrighted ?” files.

IN any case, most 3rd party planes and Mods are based on legitimate Examples planes & the SDK – copying other developer’s created files just leads to the propagation of badly and incorrectly;y designed content – far better, if you want the job done RIGHT – to do it yourself !! - especially if you intend to supply any technical support for what you are putting out
 !! :slightly_smiling_face:

61

Does not take Brain Surgery to “re-Build” the Jason files, to list the correct sizes for all the files in the package. There are Tools that do this for you , that take mere seconds to run !! – you just have to make the small effort to run them when you are finished your changes, before you “publish / Release” your “work of art”