Mark Payne
Mark Payne
Guest
Asked

Hi everyone,

I’m relatively new to X-Plane 12. I’ve just downloaded a couple of Aerosoft airports along with Orbx True Earth GB South.

I’ve read that the Custom Scenery .ini file is important, and that scenery needs to be in the correct priority order. What’s confusing me is that I have two files in my Custom Scenery folder: one named "Scenery_packs" and another named "scenery packs.ini".

I copied both files below. They’re not the same, so I’m not sure which one X-Plane is actually using or what the correct loading order should be.

"Scenery_packs"

I
1000 Version
SCENERY

SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Orbx_A_GB_South_TrueEarth_Airports/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Airports - LSEZ Zermatt Heliport/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Airports - EGPR Barra/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Airports - TNCS Juancho E Yrausquin/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Airports - TFFJ St Barthelemy/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Airports - KJRB Downtown Manhattan Heliport/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Aerosoft - LFMN Nice Cote d Azur X/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Aerosoft - LPFR Faro/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Airports - KBTV Burlington/
SCENERY PACKS *GLOBAL_AIRPORTS*
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - Berlin and Frankfurt/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - Budapest/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - Chicago/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - Dubai/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - Las Vegas/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - London/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/ Orbx_A_GB_South_TrueEarth_Custom/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/ Orbx_B_GB_South_TrueEarth_Overlay/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/ Orbx_B_GB_South_TrueEarth_Orthos/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - Los Angeles/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - New York/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - Paris/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - Portland/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - Rio De Janeiro/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - Saint Louis/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - Salzburg/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - San Francisco/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - Sydney/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - Washinhton DC/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Orbx_XP12_Library/

"Scenery packs.ini "

I
1000 Version
SCENERY

SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Aerosoft - LFMN Nice Cote d Azur X/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Aerosoft - LPFR Faro/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Airports - EGPR Barra/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Airports - KBTV Burlington/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Airports - KJRB Downtown Manhattan Heliport/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Airports - TFFJ St Barthelemy/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Airports - TNCS Juancho E Yrausquin/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - Berlin and Frankfurt/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - Budapest/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - Chicago/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - Dubai/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - Las Vegas/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - London/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - Los Angeles/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - New York/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - Paris/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - Portland/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - Rio De Janeiro/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - Saint Louis/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - San Francisco/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - Sydney/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/X-Plane Landmarks - Washinhton DC/
SCENERY PACKS *GLOBAL_AIRPORTS*

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. I’m trying to get realistic scenery in X-Plane 12, especially for VFR flying.

Kind regards,
Mark Payne

Answers 1 Answers

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Ian Stephens (ianstephens)
Ian Stephens (ianstephens)
CaptainCaptain
Joined: Feb 22, 2012 Posts: 983
Ian Stephens is an expert on this topic. Read his bio here.
Expert Answered

Hi Mark,

X-Plane only *loads one file* for scenery priority, and that’s:

Custom Scenery/scenery_packs.ini

That filename is *exact* (all one word, underscore, lowercase, and it must end in .ini). Anything else sitting in the folder (like a file named just “Scenery_packs” with no .ini extension, or a differently-spaced name like “scenery packs.ini”) is not the one X-Plane is using for ordering.

Why you ended up with two
Usually it’s one of these:

  • Windows file extensions are hidden, so a file can look like “scenery_packs” but actually be “scenery_packs.ini” (or vice-versa).
  • Something (installer, unzip tool, or manual edit) created a “copy” with a slightly different name.
  • You accidentally created a second file when editing/saving in Notepad.

Step-by-step: confirm which file X-Plane is reading
1) In Windows Explorer, turn on file extensions:

  • View -> Show -> File name extensions

2) Go to:
X-Plane 12\Custom Scenery\

3) You should see exactly one active file named:
scenery_packs.ini

If you truly have:

  • Scenery_packs (no extension), and
  • scenery packs.ini (with a space)

…then X-Plane will ignore both of those names and will generate a fresh scenery_packs.ini the next time it runs (which can make it feel like your ordering “doesn’t stick”).

What to do right now
I’d do this (safe and reversible):
1) Close X-Plane.
2) Rename both of your “extra” files so you don’t lose them, for example:
Scenery_packs.BAK
scenery packs.ini.BAK
3) Start X-Plane once, let it rebuild its proper file, then quit.
4) Open the newly created:
Custom Scenery\scenery_packs.ini
…and put your desired ordering there.

Basic priority order for what you have
For Orbx TrueEarth + payware airports, the usual logic is:

  • Payware airports / custom airports (top)
  • X-Plane Landmarks (generally above overlays)
  • GLOBAL_AIRPORTS (below your custom airports so they win)
  • Orbx overlays (their “Overlay” layer)
  • Orbx orthos / base mesh (their “Orthos” layer) near the bottom
  • Libraries can usually go anywhere, but I tend to keep them toward the bottom (they don’t “draw” like scenery does)

From your list, the biggest red flags are the two Orbx entries that have a leading space in the path, for example:
Custom Scenery/ Orbx_A_GB_South_TrueEarth_Custom/
That leading space after the slash can prevent X-Plane from matching the actual folder name. Your folder will almost certainly be:
Custom Scenery/Orbx_A_GB_South_TrueEarth_Custom/
(no space). Worth fixing in the .ini.

A couple quick questions so I don’t steer you wrong
1) In your Custom Scenery folder, what is the exact filename X-Plane creates after you run it once (including capitalization and underscores)?
2) Can you paste the relevant section of your Log.txt where it lists “Loading scenery packages…” (just that section)? That will confirm which .ini it’s using and whether any entries are being skipped.

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