SR-71 add-on not showing up in FSX Gold Edition (Windows 7)

Hi Ollie,

If the files are sitting in the folders but the aircraft never appears in the FSX aircraft selection list, it’s usually one of three things: (1) the plane isn’t actually installed in the right “SimObjects” path FSX is using, (2) the aircraft.cfg entries aren’t being read (bad/duplicate [fltsim.x] numbering, missing key lines, etc.), or (3) it’s installed as an AI-only model (no “flyable” panel/model).

Here’s how I’d tackle it in a clean, step-by-step way.

1) Confirm you installed into the correct FSX folder
FSX Gold/Deluxe + Acceleration still has one active FSX root folder. The most common mistake is installing into a second FSX folder, or into the DVD/cab “setup” directory, or into the wrong Program Files path.

Check that your SR-71 folder is here (or equivalent):

...\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\SimObjects\Airplanes\

You should see something like:

...\SimObjects\Airplanes\SR-71 (or similar)\aircraft.cfg

If the SR-71 folder is somewhere else (Desktop, Downloads, Documents, etc.), FSX won’t see it unless you deliberately added a simobjects path (more on that below).

2) Check the aircraft.cfg is valid and has at least one flyable [fltsim.x]
Go into the SR-71 folder and open:

aircraft.cfg

Things to check:

• There should be at least one section like [fltsim.0]
• The numbering must be continuous: [fltsim.0], [fltsim.1], [fltsim.2] etc. (no duplicates, no skipping a number)
• Each [fltsim.x] should have at minimum: title=, sim=, model=, texture=

Also: if you see ui_manufacturer=, ui_type=, ui_variation= missing, FSX can still load the aircraft, but it can make it harder to find in the menu. It may show up under “Unknown” or blank manufacturer.

3) Make sure it wasn’t installed as AI-only (no panel)
In the SR-71 aircraft folder, check you have these folders:

• model
• panel
• sound
• texture (one or more)

If there’s no panel folder at all, it may be an AI traffic model that won’t appear (or won’t be usable) as a flyable aircraft unless it’s been set up for that.

4) Try locating it properly in the FSX aircraft selection screen
In FSX Free Flight, make sure you’re not filtering it out:

• In the aircraft selection, tick Show all variations (if available)
• Try sorting by Manufacturer and also look under anything like “SR”, “Lockheed”, “Blackbird”, “Other”, or “Unknown”

5) If it’s installed outside the default SimObjects folder, add the SimObjects path
Only if you intentionally put it somewhere custom (example: a separate “Add-on Aircraft” folder). FSX won’t scan random folders unless you add them in the simobjects config.

That file is normally here:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX\SimObjects.cfg

But before we go down that road, I’d like to confirm where you installed it, because most of the time it’s simply in the wrong place.

A few quick questions so I can point you to the right fix:

• Where exactly is your FSX installed (full folder path)?
• Where exactly did you place the SR-71 folder (full folder path)?
• Does the SR-71 aircraft folder contain aircraft.cfg and a panel folder?
• Which SR-71 add-on is it (who made it / where you got it)? Some packages are AI-only.

If you paste the first ~30 lines of the aircraft.cfg (especially the [fltsim.0] section), I can usually spot the issue immediately.