GSX Manual MSFS

FsDreamTeam GSX Pro - Ground Services for MSFS - page 1
PRO
Version 3.0 Pro Credits

Programming, Couatl™ Engine Massimiliano Rossi, Alberto Barbati
November 6th, 2022
Design Umberto Colapicchioni, Alberto Barbati
for Microsoft Flight Simulator Texturing FsDreamteam
3D Modeling FsDreamteam
Product Developed and Published by: VIRTUALI Sagl. http://www.fsdreamteam.com Airport Customization Umberto Colapicchioni
Manual/Installer Umberto Colapicchioni / Virtuali Sagl.
Copyright © 2012-2022 VIRTUALI Sagl. All rights reserved. Microsoft, MS-DOS, Windows, Windows®, Windows® 10
Windows® 11 are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or
other countries. All trademarks and brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective owners. Testers:
Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part
of VIRTUALI Sagl. The software described in this document is furnished under a license agreement. It is against the 12bpilot, calzoom, Captain Kevin, cartayna, cdnavi8r, CX 747-400, Dave_YVR,
law to copy the software on any medium except as specifically allowed in the license agreement. The manual, docu- fnx_aamir, FNX_Brandon, FNX_Dave, Hanse, harpsi, iniBuilds, Machtwo, rsm50.
mentation, video images, software, and all the related materials are copyrighted and can not be copied, photocopied,
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previous written consent of VIRTUALI. THE SOFTWARE IS FURNISHED «AS IS» AND IT DOES NOT COME FURNISHED System Requirements
WITH ANY GUARANTEE IMPLICIT OR EXPRESS. THE AUTHOR DECLINES EVERY RESPONSIBILITY FOR CONTINGENT
MALFUNCTIONS, DECELERATION, AND ANY DRAWBACK THAT SHOULD ARISE, USING THIS SOFTWARE. In order to run GSX without any problems your system will have to meet the fol-
lowing minimum requirements:
Couatl engine™ is based on the Python programming language, Copyright (c) 2001-2008 Python Software Founda-
tion and includes code from the wxWindows Library, Copyright (c) 1998-2005 Julian Smart, Robert Roebling et al. • Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 1500X or better
• 10 GB free space on your hard disk

FSDT Universal Installer
• 16GB RAM
• 3D video card with at least 8GB MB
• Microsoft Flight Simulator, 2020 edition
• Windows 10 or 11
• The MSFS Content should be installed on a drive formatted in NTFS.
• Adobe Acrobat® Reader 8 or later version, available as a free download at: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/
readstep2.html
Technical Support
Support for this product is provided on the forum: http://www.fsdreamteam.com/
forum
We have found that the most efficient way to provide customer assistance is through
the forum, because a solution to an issue posted in public could benefit many us-
ers at time. For this reason, all questions should be posted on the forum. Please
DO NOT send messages via email requesting question about use of the product or
submit bugs. You should email support only in case you need a reactivation. The
forum is also open for general discussions so feel free to post any request, sug-
gestion or comment. You can read all messages on the forum; however you must
register as a user to post messages.
We suggest you install our products on fully updated Operating Systems. If you are
experiencing problems during the installation or the activation, ensure you have all
the Windows hot fixes and updates before contacting Technical Support.
Installation
GSX Pro for MSFS is installed through the FSDT Universal Installer, which is the This is the FSDT Universal Installer Main screen, which shows several products
standard install application that can be used to manage all your FSDT products. installed and activated, and GSX Pro ready to be Installed.
Through the Universal Installer, you can do all the following tasks:
GSX Trial options and License
• Install an add-on for MSFS from scratch.
• Uninstall or just “Unlink” a product from the Community folder. To install GSX, you need to purchase a License first. However, there’s no need to
• Keep all FSDT products updated. buy a license to use GSX on any FSDT airport, it’s completely free to use with all its
• Activate a license or Deactivate a license. features, with no limitations. Buying GSX will allow you to use it on any airport,
• Access to the Self-help site to retrieve your product keys. both default or 3rd party.
• Read the product documentation Because of this, and a license would be normally required to Install GSX, the “In-
This means there’s no GSX “installer”, only the FSDT Universal Installer, which you stall” button will be available as long as you have at least one FSDT airport active
might already have from other FSDT products, and it can be downloaded freely so you can install GSX without a license, and use it on FSDT airports. Without a
from our site, at any time license, the program will work on 3 additional airports, KSFO, LIMC and EDDM.
Activation
Activation happens just before Installing a product that has never been installed
on the system before.
To install GSX, just press the “Install” button.
If you have at least one FSDT product active, the following screenshot will appear,
If you don’t have a license, and you don’t have any FSDT airport active, it will ask allowing to install GSX without a license, so it can work on any FSDT airports:
for your Activation Key, the code you found in your purchase receipt which starts
with an “A”. The key will be activated on your system, and the installer will then
proceed to download the GSX installation files, which will be linked to your MSFS
Community folder.
IMPORTANT
We don’t install anything in the Community folder! All FSDT products, regardless
if they are for FSX, P3D or MSFS, will be installed in the FSDT “Addon Manager”
folder.
While there’s no “Addon Manager” program for MSFS, we kept this folder structure
to make updates easier, because the FSDT Universal Installer will only operate on
the “Addon Manager” folder, doing installs or updates, and nothing is copied in
your simulator Community folder, other than a Symbolic Link. Through the Universal
Installer you can even momentarily disable an add-on from the Community folder, If you don’t have any FSDT product installed, an activation key will be asked instead,
but keep it installed so you won’t have to reinstall it again. so you must insert it in the text area below, and click the Activate button.
Please do not move any FSDT product from its location.
While you have complete freedom where to install FSDT (the location of the Ad-
don Manager can be chosen freely on the first install), they MUST stay together,
because in many cases they assume a specific folder structure between each other,
and this is especially true with GSX, which shares lots of program logic with the FSX/
P3D version, even if the graphic and the models are completely unique to MSFS.
Also, please do not copy an FSDT package in the Community folder manually. While
this might appear to “work”, doing this will prevent the add-on from getting any
updates, because the update process only works on the “Addon Manager” folder,
not the Community directly.
All FSDT products for MSFS can be found in the “Addon Manager\MSFS” folder,
and they must stay there, linked to the Community, which is done automatically Activation requires a working internet connection. An alternate off-line activation
by the Installer. procedure is also available, in case the activation server can’t be reached for any
reason
The installer will download the latest product files from the internet, ensuring you’ll question will ask if you want to Unlink the product:
always get the very latest version when installing a product.
At the end of the install process, the Installer screen will look like this:
In this example, the license reads “not Active” in red, and the “Activate” button is
enabled because we installed it due to having at least another FSDT airport active,
so the license is still waiting to be activated ( but you can already use GSX at FSDT
airports and 3 Trial airports ).
If you installed it without having any FSDT airport active, the activation key would
have been already activated before the installation, so the license would read
“Active” in green, and the button would show “Deactivate” instead, indicating Choosing the Unlink option will show the next question, asking if you want to
your license is active, but can be deactivated, when switching to another PC and Uninstall as well, which will remove all files from the system:
reclaim the license.
Uninstalling
The “Uninstall” button can be used in two ways:
Uninstall a product, removing it from your PC entirely
This will NOT remove its license! You can Uninstall/Reinstall an unlimited number
of times on the same PC without ever worrying of a reactivation. If you Uninstall
completely, installing again on the same PC will NOT ask for any key, and the license
will be already Active.
A reactivation is only required in these cases: If you select YES here, the product will be removed entirely, which means you’ll
• A major hardware change that would involve upgrading the mainboard or the have to download it again (the Universal Installer will do that) to reinstall it so, be
CPU or the disk Windows boots from. Upgrading the video card or the system careful when Uninstalling, especially if your Internet connection is not very fast, since
memory doesn’t usually trigger a reactivation. the program files are large, and the download might take some time. The installer
• When reinstalling Windows from scratch. will tell you how much space the installation packages will take on your local disk.
Temporarily disable the add-on. IMPORTANT
Which basically removes only the Symbolic link to the Community folder, leaving Installing GSX requires the MSFS Community folder to be on a drive formatted in
the product full installed, so it can be reactivated very quickly. Both functions will NTFS, if you use an External drive formatted as ExFat, this file-system doesn’t sup-
port creation of Symbolic Links, so it must be reformatted in NTFS to work
be performed by the Uninstall button, which is a two step procedure, the first
What is GSX Here’s an example of different jetway models at different gates, at KSFO:
GSX is a comprehensive enhancement of everything related to Ground Services

and activities in MSFS, which improves every airport, both default and 3rd party,
by both enhancing existing services, but also adding entirely new services not avail-
able in the simulator, with an extensive set of customization features and airport
enhancements.
Two products in one: GSX Pro and GSX World
GSX Pro is really two products in one, which are sold together under the same
license, but are separated into two packages, so we could offer a “lite” version
to XBOX users, since GSX requires an external .EXE module to work, and those
are not allowed on the XBOX. This “lite” version is called GSX World, and is not
sold separately, except on the MS Marketplace. It’s included with any GSX Pro
installation, and offers the following features:
Worldwide replacement of default Jetway models.
By default, MSFS has only one jetway model, which looks the same all over the
world. GSX will replace the default model with 3 different variations (Smooth panels,
Corrugated Panels and Glass panels), each one available in more than 300 different
logos of many airports/operators all around the world, and different color variations. In Europe, the Glass model is more common, here how they look like at EDDM:
These jetways will perform exactly like the default one, since they are not con-
trolled by GSX logic. They will just look better and offer better visual quality than
the default one. In addition to that, we replaced also the default Bridge models
(called “Jetway links” in MSFS parlance), to match the look of the replaced Jetway
they are associated with.
While products that replaced default Jetways are not new in MSFS, they always
had the same limitation of being able to install only one model at a time, because
they just replaced the default “Asobo” jetway model itself, meaning even if the
jetways were different, they will still look all the same.
GSX goes away with this limitation, because it doesn’t replace the Asobo model.
Instead, it comes with a set of replacement .BGLs for all airports that have jetways
in the real world (about 900), which contains only the replaced jetways, so we can
have different jetways models on every airport and possibly even on every different
gate, each one with their matching operator logos.
These .BGL files are included with GSX and have been created offline by FSDT, by
applying the same “rules” which are normally used to select operators, and with
this method, we can also replace the jetway bridges with a matching style, without
having to run any configuration utilities, since all different models are installed at
the same time.
Worldwide replacement of default Ground services.

By installing GSX, many default Ground Vehicles will be replaced with better looking
models and, most importantly, with colors and liveries appropriate for each airport.
Regions and Airports Services
In order to understand better what GSX does to enhance default Ground Services,
and why it does it better than other replacement products, it’s important to have
some grasp how the default Ground Services work, which are divided in two main
categories:
Living World vehicles
These are the vehicles that wanders around on the airport, and are created au- We are at Milan Malpensa airport, and the Service vehicles have been replaced
tomatically by MSFS to populate an airport, but are not performing any kind of with an airport-specific operator livery, while the Living World vehicles are coming
Services, either on your airplane, or any AI airplane. from the Region definition, which in this case was Region N ( South-West Europe ).
At this time, those vehicles can only be customized by region, not by airport. The Below, an image showing how Regions are divided in the simulator:
world is divided in 24 regions, each one identified with a letter so, for example, the
US are mostly in region B, but some areas are region C and others region P or S.
These divisions are more related to climatic areas rather than countries, and when
applied to Living World Vehicles and operators, there are some compromises to
accept. Case in point, region B contains most of the northern part of the US and
Canada, which means you’ll see Living World vehicles with US logos in Canada
and Canadian operators in the US. There’s no way around this, and every product
that replaces default ground vehicles has the same limitations.
However, it’s important to note this applies only to vehicles that “wanders around”,
and here is where GSX does way better than other replacement products: the
Airport Services vehicles are, instead, customized by airport, because GSX comes
with a complete set of about 15000 Airport Services files, that allow to specify for
each airport and each Gate class the precise vehicle model, overriding the region
definition, and getting away with the limitation of the Living World vehicle.
In the following image, we can see an example:
Configuring Jetway replacement in airports To enable an airport for jetway replacement, double-click on its name in the
“Disabled” list, which will move it to the “Enabled” list, or click the button with
GSX comes with a set of Jetway replacement .BGLs that are designed to replace the < sign.
jetways at all airports that comes with default Jetways, based on their positions in
the default scenery. There’s a separate .BGL for each ICAO code that has at least The >>> button will place ALL airports in the Disabled list. This will effectively
one Jetway in the default scenery. disable Jetway replacement altogether, reverting the whole world to the single
default model.
Jetway Replacements and 3rd party airports
The <<< button will place ALL airports in the Enabled list. This will replace Jetways
Since GSX doesn’t change the default Asobo model, it won’t affect 3rd party air- at every airport, worldwide. This is equivalent to the “Reset Defaults” button.
ports, regardless if they use the default model or a custom model.
The “Exclude 3rd party” button will automatically move all the installed 3rd party
HOWEVER, the Jetway replacement .BGL from FSDT will likely get an higher pri- airport in the “Disabled” list, it’s typically used after installing a new scenery. In
ority over other sceneries, so if you want to prevent GSX Jetways to show at 3rd order to be successfully recognized, airport packages must use the standard MSFS
party airports, the Config option in the FSDT Installer has a page that allows you
to Exclude specific airports from the replacement set. naming convention developer-airport-icao-name. Also, please note that airports
from Asobo and Microsoft won’t be automatically disabled, because considering
they all use the default Jetway model, we assumed you’d want to have those Jet-
ways replaced by GSX, so Asobo/Microsoft airports are not automatically added
for Jetway replacement, but they be selected manually.
Jetway replacements and Encrypted Airports
Airports belonging to the Premium packages are Encrypted, which means GSX can’t
read those, and since the Jetway replacement .BGL supplied with GSX is based on
the Jetway positions from the default airport (the standard non-encrypted version),
it’s possible, depending on the airport, that positioning of GSX replacement jetways
might not look as good as it could be, if we could read the Premium encrypted
version of the airport.
The page presents two lists, “Enabled” on the left, and “Disabled” on the right, This might be another reason why you might want to exclude an airport from
showing which airports are active for Jetway replacement and which are Disabled, Jetway replacement, even if it’s not 3rd party.
showing the Jetway the airport originally came with.
By default, when installing GSX, it will recognize any FSDT scenery you already had
Airport Services
installed, and will place them in the “Disabled” list automatically.
In addition to about 900 airport .BGLs that replace Jetways, GSX also come with
You can scroll the list, or just search for an ICAO, by typing something in the “Search more than 14000 “Airport Services” file, which are file all named “Services.spb”,
Pattern” text field, to quickly find a specific airport in the list of 900+ that have each one in a separate folder with the airport ICAO code. These files achieve the
Jetways in the default database. result of being able to control precisely which operators will be present at each
airport, without being restricted “by region”, which would be the case if we “just”
To disable an airport, double-click on its name in the “Enabled” list, which will modeled Ground vehicles to replace the default ones.
move it to the “Disabled” list, or click the button with the > sign.
Please note that, Airport Services will only be a factor when using GSX World,
which is the mode of operation when you use the default ATC menu to call Ground 3rd party Airport Services which changed the vehicles start positions, or
Services, or when Ground Vehicles are servicing AI airplanes. their choice, based on the Parking Type
Normally, default Ground Services (regardless if their models have been replaced by We used a custom Airport Service file in our scenery for KSDF Louisville, which due
GSX, visually ) are defined “by region”, as we discussed earlier, which are only 24, to its unique configuration of Cargo Loading Stands, all located on the Left side
and not nearly detailed enough to represent various national operators worldwide. of the airplane, would have cause trouble with the default starting position of the
default Pushback Trucks. Our custom Airport Service file for KSDF simply changed
With the use of custom Airport Service files, instead, Ground Vehicles can be speci- the default start position for the Pushback to be the opposite of default, on the right,
fied more precisely, airport by airport, following the same GSX rules when GSX is so the default Pushback wouldn’t be generated on top of the loading platforms.
used in its Full capacity to service the user airplane through its menu, which is the
“GSX Pro” part of the product. In this case, having the GSX Airport Service replacement file would have caused
the vehicles shown to be more appropriate for the airport (all UPS, most likely),
Another thing to note, is that Airport Services are a different thing than “Living but the Pushback (the ones from default Ground Services) would revert to appear
World” vehicles. The Living World vehicles are those that are automatically generated the Left side. Disabling the GSX Airport Service would result in the Airport Service
by the simulator wandering around the airport to give some extra ambience, but file from FSDT KSDF taking over, so you’ll still see GSX vehicles, but those would
are not really performing any kind of service related to the various parking spots. come from the GSX Living World file so, they would be chosen by Region, instead
by Airport. This would probably be the best compromise, so we suggest disabling
We know this is somewhat confusing, considering the vehicles you’ll see are in fact the GSX Airport Services at KSDF, if you have the FSDT version installed.
the same, but their capabilities and their choice change quite a bit depending if they
are Living World, Airport Services or full GSX. Below, a table that might help clarify 3rd party Airport Services which changed the vehicles models
things a bit, and also more easily recognize the different types of Ground Services:
What to do in this cases really depends on your personal preference, depending
Living World Airport Services GSX if you like more the custom models which came with the airport scenery, or the
By ICAO, multiple choices
ones from GSX.
Operator By REGION By ICAO
and user customization.
At parking spots, position Activated from the GSX
Disable GSX Airport Services
Initial At Parking spots, ran- and types depending on the menu, starting positions can
Placement domly activate Airport Services are Disabled in the same way as Jetways are, from the bottom
Parking Type be customized by users.
Service only the user part of the GSX “Config” page. You can still search by ICAO, and move back and
Behavior Wander around the Service the user plane from airplane, when called from forth the selected .SPB files to Disable or Enable GSX Airport Service at that ICAO.
airport. the ATC menu, or AI planes. the GSX menu, with custom
behavior.
Default Asobo/Micro- Default Asobo/Microsoft
Pilots soft pilots pilots GSX Pilots
Single .SPB in the About 15000 .SPB files in Created programmatically by

LivingWorld_Config
Files folder of the GSX World the AirportServices folder of GSX with its custom code,
the GSX World package using Simconnect
package
There might be some cases where you might need to DISABLE the “Airport Ser-
vices” for specific ICAOs, usually because a 3rd party airport already comes with
them. It’s difficult to give a general suggestion when you need to disable the GSX
Airport Services, and it really depends what the 3rd party airport used an Airport
Service file for.
Configuring GSX Menu Hot-key However, even in case of a key conflict, it won’t affect the simulation if the GSX
Toolbar Icon is Inactive, since no key interception can happen in that state.
By default, the Hot-key is assigned to the following key combination:
CTRL + Shift + F12
Which has been the default Hot-key used by previous versions of GSX, and by
default it’s not assigned to any other function, so it should work on most cases.
Extra Ground Clutter
By Default, the GSX Jetway replacement files contains extra objects around Jetways
to increase Detail, like Towbars, FOD Bins and Traffic Cones. This will increase the
number of Simobjects in the scene. If you notice that in certain situations, espe-
cially with lots of AI Traffic airplanes, objects in scenery or even GSX vehicles start
to disappear, it’s possible you have reached the maximum number of Simobjects
With this option, it’s possible to configure an Hot-key to call the GSX menu without that can be visible at any given time.
having to use the Toolbar menu icon.
By disabling this option, and running the Updater again, GSX will install a Light-
VERY IMPORTANT: weight version of the Jetways replacement files which contains only Jetways and
nothing else, so the overall number of objects in the scene would be the same as
The menu Hot-key will only work if the GSX Toolbar icon is Active ( icon is White it would have been using the default scenery Jetways.
), because for performance reasons, all Javascript code in toolbar add-ons doesn’t
run when their Toolbar icon is Inactive ( icon is Darkened ), which means when
you start a Flight, you must first open GSX from the Toolbar icon using the mouse,
making the toolbar icon Active, which from now on will respond to the Hot-key
until the end of the Flight.
If you close GSX using the Toolbar icon, making the Icon Inactive again, you’ll have
to open it again from the Toolbar before the Hot-key can be reactivated.
We suggest opening the menu from the Toolbar icon when starting Ground opera-
tions, and closing it before Takeoff, since you will likely not need Ground services
until landing. This way, you can save a bit of performances, because when closing
the menu from the Toolbar icon, the menu code execution is immediately stopped.
Possible Key conflicts
It’s your responsibility to choose a combination that hasn’t been assigned to another
function in Flight Simulator. The Control panel can’t check this, so be careful not
to reuse a key that is used in the simulation, or by another add-on
Using GSX with other 3rd party Ground Service products matching Jetway Bridges, with hundreds of custom operator logo and multiple
colors and, because their are generated by the GSX add-on Airport files, you will
There are other Ground replacement products available, some free, some com- always see the GSX Jetways. Unless, of course, you disable the airport from Jetway
mercial, replacing different things and/or in different Regions of the world. Replacement with the GSX “Config” page, which will revert to either the default
Asobo model, or whichever Jetway replacement product you had before GSX
Installing GSX will have the following effects on those, depending on what the 3rd
party product was supposed to improve or replace.
Products enhancing default Ground Services behaviors
Products replacing Ground Vehicles visual models These products don’t have custom visual models, but they change/enhance how
default Ground Services behave. The most widely known example of these kind
Most of them worked by providing various replacements for default Ground Ser- of products is Ambitious Pilot “Pushback Toolbar” add-on
vices vehicles using a custom Living World file. Those might be sold in Regions,
with separate Living World files defining specific regions. When you install GSX, you can still use all these products exactly as before, just
instead of the default Ground Services, you’ll see the GSX Vehicles, which will
Some examples are Latin VFR “AREX”, or Simultech “My Replacement Assistance operate with the added capabilities of the add-on.
Trucks”
This because several GSX vehicles such as the Towbarless Pushback Truck, the
Living World files are additive, which means the simulator will load multiple Living Catering trucks, the simpler Fuel Trucks without a platform, the GPUs, the Passen-
World files at once, but if two custom Living World define the same vehicle cat- ger Stairs and the Baggage Loaders (with no crew) have been designed to act as
egory, the one used by the simulator will be taken from the Living World file that stand-in replacements for default Ground Vehicles, but at the same time change
has an higher priority in the simulator, which means the one that got loaded last. their capabilities when driven from the full GSX Pro. Because of this, any 3rd party
product that changes/enhance any default Ground Vehicles behavior, can use these
The priority order depends on the package location: the ones in the Community vehicles from GSX with no issues.
folder will get an higher priority (will be loaded after) the ones in the Official folder,
and in that folder, the priority will then be alphabetical by package name. All the same previous considerations about which vehicles you’ll see, depending
if you have other 3rd party vehicle replacement product that has been discussed
in the previous two paragraphs, still applies if you also have an add-on improving
However, this only applies to Living World vehicles. Vehicles that perform services their behavior: they all work together, and you can control what GSX is replacing
(using the default Ground Services ATC option, not GSX), either to the user air- and where, from the GSX Config page.
plane or to AI, would always be the ones defined by GSX, because of its custom
Airport Service files. Unless, of course, you disable the GSX Airport Service file for
that particular airport, which will then “fallback” to choose vehicles “By Region”, We’ll stress again this only matters when you use the “GSX World” part of the
hence showing vehicles coming from both products. product, that is GSX working in its simplest mode of operation, which is no much
different than other Ground Service replacement products which were already
Products replacing the Jetway models available before GSX.
Those products usually override the default (single) Asobo model, with their own When you use GSX from its menu, none of that previous considerations about Liv-
(single) model, since that kind of replacement can only be one jetway at a time, ing World or Airport Services are still valid: GSX will be then in full control, making
globally. the same vehicle and services working in a completely different way, with the full
range of GSX capabilities and its extensive range of user customization options,
Some examples are Simultech “My (replacement) Jetways” and Latin VFR “Airport getting away entirely from many limitations of the default Ground Services system.
Jetway Pro”
It’s the full GSX Experience we’ll discuss during the rest of this manual, and it’s
GSX gets away with this limitation, offering you different models of Jetways and what we call GSX Pro
GSX Pro Here we are at the default

Milan Malpensa airport,
LIMC, we are located on
The “full” GSX experience Runway 35R, so the GSX
menu shows the other
Up to this point, this manual only described what GSX offers as a simple default runways as possible des-
Ground Services replacement product, not using any extra software, so the vehicles, tinations, and the parking
although generally better looking, with lots of variety in their usage of real world spots, grouped by category,
ground and catering operators, behave exactly like the default ones, with all their so we have 30 Gates avail-
quirks and limitations. able and 78 Parking spots.
You can still use them from the default Ground Services menu in the ATC menu Selecting an option here will
of the sim, and they will still service AI airplanes, but what makes GSX unique, is either select a gate (or a Runway ) but will also allow you to “Warp” there, that is
when you call those services from the GSX menu. just moving the plane, without doing any service.
This is the full GSX experience, which we call GSX Pro, which completely change If we select a Gate, the following menu will appear, listing all available parking spots:
the logic of the basic Ground Services, and adds entirely new services as well, like
Follow Me cars, Deicing vehicles, visible animated Passengers and Crew and several The list will show which
models of VGDS Docking systems. gates are available on that
group ( the “Gate” group,
It offers extensive customization features, to adapt any 3rd party airplanes and air- airports might have more
ports, and with a GSX custom profile, any airport can be enhanced and transformed. than one group, like “Gate
A”, “Gate B”, etc. ), in addi-
The GSX Toolbar menu tion to an indication if there
is a Jetway, the /J sign, if
the are some special park-
ing assistance systems, like
the Safedock we added to
Gates 30 and 31 as a test,
and if the parking is already
occupied by an AI airplane.
GSX is started from a single button in the standard MSFS Toolbar menu. It can be Also, if the parking is too
called either when Parked, with engines off and Parking Brakes set, but also at any small for your aircraft, it will
time in the flight, either on ground or even in flight. be indicated as such.
When calling GSX on ground, outside a parking spot, it can be used to either select Note for existing GSX users
a Gate for service, which will be prepared with GSX vehicles, which will wait for
you to taxi there. This is usually done soon after landing, since one of the option GSX will warn you if a parking spot is either “too small for your aircraft”, or is
there is to call a Follow Me car, to guide you to the chosen parking position. already taken by an AI. However, a big change from previous versions is that will
allow you to use it anyway. If it’s already taken by an AI, but you still want to use
The following image shows what the GSX menu will look like when calling GSX it, when you select the spot, GSX will just...remove the AI!
when you are outside a parking spot.
When selecting a parking spot, the final menu will appear, allowing to select the A Follow Me car can help you reaching the assigned destination ( a Parking spot,
gate for servicing, optionally call a Follow Me car, or “just” WARP there. but also a Runway ) more easily, if you are not familiar with the airport, don’t have
updated charts, or your charts might be updated but your scenery might not.
The GSX Follow Me car will use data from the airport itself, so it will know where
all the Taxiways, Parking spots and Runways are located.
When first called, the Follow Me will arrive from a parking spot of the “Vehicle”
type. Depending where you are located when you call it and how the airport is made
and how large it is, it might take from few seconds to some minutes for it to arrive.
After landing, we suggest calling it as soon as you vacated the runway, and wait
for it until it will circle around your airplane, with the “Follow Me” indication lit.
Slowly accelerate, and the car will start. Try to Follow it from some distance because,
if you get too close, the car will try to escape from you. The car will use both the
information panel and its own turn indicators to indicate turning. It WILL slow
The “Just warp me there” option won’t activate any service at the selected posi- down while turning, so be prepared to slow down as well, in order not to crash
tion, and will simply move your airplane instantly there. This is way more convenient into it. If you get really too close, the Follow Me will just “flee” away, terminating
than having to go back to the MSFS Main Menu, just to select a different starting the service. This kind of behavior can also be optionally Enabled/Disabled in the
position. The Warp me feature can also be used when parked on a Gate, to jump GSX Settings page.
to another gate (or a Runway), or to automatically reposition the airplane in the
best place to get services, in case it wasn’t parked very well.
Follow Me indications
The Follow Me car This is the normal status the light will be when you are follow-
ing the car.
Slow down will be shown if you are taxiing too fast compared
to the Follow Me car speed.
Left or Right arrows will point to the direction for the next turn
on a taxiway.
STOP will flash when you are arrived at the destination parking
spot, ready to be assisted by a Marshaller or a Docking system.
This means you were too slow and were left behind, so the Fol-
low Me has stopped, waiting for you to catch up.
Follow Me Settings
Some settings related to the Follow Me car, like the taxi speed, or the “flee” be-
havior, can be configured in the GSX Settings page.
Parking Assistance Signal Description

Normal stop
Marshallers
Fully extend arms and wands at a 90-degree angle to sides and slowly move to above head
In case the airport doesn’t feature an advanced Docking system, the most common until wands cross.
form of parking assistance is the Marshaller, and it’s the default choice for almost
all airports. He’ll will guide you to the parking spot with standard gestures, to help Emergency stop
align the airplane with it along both the lateral and longitudinal axes.
By default, the Marshaller will try to guide the airplane in the parking spot center Abruptly extend arms and wands to top of head, crossing wands.
position, with the reference point of the airplane (the red cross you can see in the
Top View) placed in the center of the parking spot, as defined in the airport .BGL.
Cut engines
The following it’s a list of gestures supported by the Marshaller:
Extend arm with wand forward of body at shoulder level; move hand and wand to top
of left shoulder and draw wand to top of right shoulder in a slicing motion across throat.
Signal Description
Wingwalker/guide Slow down
Raise right hand above head level with wand pointing up; move left-hand wand pointing Move extended arms downwards in a “patting” gesture, moving wands up and down
down toward body. Note: This signal provides an indication by a person positioned at the from waist to knees.
aircraft wing tip, to the pilot/ marshaller/push-back operator, that the aircraft movement
on/off a parking position would be unobstructed.
Identify gate The Marshaller will use these standard gestures to guide you to the parking position,
you’ll have to keep a steady and slow speed during the approach, the Marshaller
Raise fully extended arms straight above head with wands pointing up. will issue a “Slow Down” command in case you exceed 5 knots.
During the final phase, in the “Normal Stop” gesture, the Marshallers arms will
Straight ahead slowly move above the head, proportionally to the distance left to park. As soon
as you see its wands crossing, stop the airplane immediately. If you went too far,
Bend extended arms at elbows and move wands up and down from chest height to head.
you’ll see the “Emergency Stop” gesture.
Once you reached the parking position, the Marshaller will signal to “Cut Engines”,
Turn left (from pilot’s point of view) and you’ll have to set your Parking Brake and turn your engines off, which will
With right arm and wand extended at a 90-degree angle to body, make “come ahead” conclude the Marshalling operation.
signal with left hand. The rate of signal motion indicates to pilot the rate of aircraft turn.
Parking Evaluation
Turn right(from pilot’s point of view)
After you are parked with engines off and Parking Brakes on, you’ll get an evalua-
With left arm and wand extended at a 90-degree angle to body, make “come ahead” tion of the parking accuracy, with an information text that will appear in the upper
signal with right hand. The rate of signal motion indicates to pilot the rate of aircraft turn. part of the screen.
Changing or Revoking a service after having selected it. GSX Parking Services
There might be some occasions where you might want to change the assigned park- Most of the GSX activities are performed when the airplane is Parked, with engines
ing after you selected it, perhaps because you have been assigned a new parking off and Parking brakes set, allowing a variety of Ground Services. If you are inside
from the ATC (possible, during online flight with human controllers), or you just a parking, and open the GSX menu there, a message with an audio alert will sug-
want to use a different parking spot, even after a Follow Me might be on route. gest to turn off the engines and set the Parking Brakes, if you haven’t already, so
you can call GSX Ground Services.
This can be done at any time when you are still outside the Parking spot. If a park-
ing has been already selected for service, opening the GSX Toolbar menu will offer Note: Some 3rd party airplanes have been customized internally to allow GSX to
the following choices: recognize their own custom Wheel Chocks as an alternative to the actual Parking
Brake, since it’s common practice, especially while loading/unloading, to have the
airplane on Chocks with no parking brakes, to prevent unnecessary wear on the
brakes due to the plane movement caused by changes in weight during ground
operations. When using such planes, GSX will tell you to use either the Parking
Brakes OR the Wheel Chocks.
GSX Menu when Parked
When the airplane is parked correctly, the GSX menu will look like this:
Option #1, “Change Parking facility”, will allow you to select a new Parking
Spot (or Runway start position), and redirect all services there. The ground vehicles
which were created on the original parking spot will be removed, and a new set
will spawn on the new parking.
Option #2, “Request FollowMe”, will allow you to keep the currently selected
destination, but add a FollowMe car to it, useful if you need some help locating
the parking spot or the runway.
Option #3, “Revoke parking services”, will just stop all services on the selected
parking, both the vehicles at the gate, but also an eventual FollowMe car which
might have been requested.
Option #4, “Just warp me there”, will immediately jump to the destination,
canceling an eventual FollowMe car which might have been requested.
Deboarding Deboarding Passengers without a Jetway
In this case, selecting Deboarding will result in the following actions:

With this option, GSX will start to disembark Passengers and/or Cargo/Luggage. The
procedure will be slightly different depending on the Parking type ( Gate or Parking • Passenger Stairs will be used.
), due to the availability of a Jetway, if the airplane is flagged as Passenger or Cargo, • Loaders ( Belt or Cargo/ULD, depending on the airplane ) will approach the
and the kind of loaders which are used in the airplane customization option, which airplane and will start unloading luggage or ULD containers.
might be of the “Belt Loader” kind, unloading luggage, or the “Cargo Loader” • A Passenger Bus will be called, arriving from another vehicle parking.
kind, unloading ULDs or Pallet/Containers when used on the Main Cargo door.
• As soon the Passenger bus arrives, GSX will open the aircraft doors automatically
Deboarding Passengers with a Jetway • Passengers will exit the airplane using the Staircases, and will walk to the bus
until its capacity will be reached.
In this case, selecting Deboarding will result in the following actions:
• GSX will operate the Jetway automatically, if it’s not already docked.
• Loaders ( Belt or Cargo/ULD, depending on the airplane ) will approach the
airplane and will start unloading luggage or ULD containers.
• GSX will open the aircraft doors automatically
• After a short while, Passengers will exit the airplane, passing the Jetway and
its Bridge, if present.
Passengers Number
GSX will estimate the number of passengers on board based on the weight of
all stations in the [weight_and_balance] section of the aircraft.cfg of the airplane
in use, divided by 220 lbs, an industry standard to calculate how much a single
passenger + luggage weights, in average. For example, the default A320 has a
maximum payload of about 60.300 lbs, equaling to 274 passengers, this difference
is due to the inability to know exactly which payload station is cargo and which
is people, the simulator doesn’t support it, so GSX can only do a rough estimate.
For a better precision 3rd party airplane developers can set a variable to commu-
nicate to GSX the passenger number they have setup in the plane or, even better
and new to this version, if you plan your flight with SimBrief, GSX can read the
actual passenger number from your current dispatch on SimBrief
Multiple Passenger Bus Belt Loaders
If the total number of Passengers exceeds the maximum capacity of the Bus with
the highest capacity available, which is 90 passengers, another Bus will be used,
which will depart from a nearby vehicle gate to board the remaining passengers.
If you want to shorten up things, it’s possible to control this, with the “Multiple
Trips” option in the GSX Settings page. By default is enabled, since it’s the most
realistic one, but you can disable it, and the Bus will be assumed to have an “infinite”
capacity, always boarding everybody, no matter how many people are boarded.
One of the most common methods to load luggage on a plane, are Belt Loaders,
which pulls bags out of the airplane using a Conveyor Belt, where a ground crew
picks up the luggage and place them on various types of Baggage Carts, some
covered, some opened, some with railings.
Compared to the default stock Baggage Loader service, we added a human crew,
animated with motion capture, a visible moving conveyor belt which starts and
stops depending on the situation, and the Baggage carts open/close when they
are being loaded.
Waiting times for vehicles like Catering, Bus or Refueling trucks
All GSX vehicles that comes from away, by default are spawned from other Parking
spots of the “Vehicle” kind, with the Fuel Truck starting from the “Fuel” Parking
types instead. They try to use taxiway paths of the “Vehicle” type, which in real
life are also used to provide safe paths for service vehicles without affecting air-
plane traffic. The “vehicle” paths are given an higher weight in the pathfinding
algorithm, so even if the route is longer, GSX vehicles will try to use the proper
paths, if possible, and there’s no other route, they’ll use regular taxiways or even
runways, when no other route is available to reach your parking spot.
This might result in some waiting time, depending how the airport is made, large
airports usually have several areas with many vehicle parking spots each, but air-
ports in the MSFS world are not always well designed, when ground services are
concerned.
ULD Loaders Catering service

Many airplanes use ULD standard container to load luggage or cargo, this can be
customized with the airplane customization options. This kind of service vehicle is The 2nd menu option can be used to call a Catering Service Vehicle. They usually
only available with the full GSX Pro, so it only works on the user airplane. attach to the service doors on the right hand side of the airplane. Depending on
the airplane kind, vehicles in different sizes will arrive, and if the doors are low
enough, as in smaller and GA airplanes, instead of a truck with platform, a smaller
mini van will come close to the airplane.
If the airplane has a service door on the rear right, two Catering vehicles will appear.
Catering vehicles don’t appear at the parking spot, but drive from the terminal,
following the airport vehicle paths (when possible), so it might take a few moments
for them to arrive, after they have been called. Every catering vehicle is available
in many liveries of different catering operators around the world, and are selected
by airport.
Using the GSX Airplane customization page, it’s possible to select the type of ULD
more appropriate for the airplane in use. GSX comes with several airplane models
already customized, but it’s quite easy to change these option, and it can be done
without having to restart the simulator.
In the “Airplane customization” section of this manual, all different ULD types will
be listed, and can be assigned to the various Cargo doors.
As explained in the “GSX World” product description, the Catering Trucks that
wanders randomly in the airport, or service the AI planes, have operators customized
by Region, while the one you call from GSX to service your airplane, are following
the GSX airport assignment rules. Compared to the default Catering Service, GSX
supports two vehicles at the same time. However, because of how default ground
vehicles work, most of default airplanes in MSFS only have one catering door that
opens. You can still add it in GSX as a supported door, but it won’t open and the
crew will pass through it.
Refueling Parking Spots with a Jetway, by default will use the “Hydrant” truck, with under-
ground refueling, while parking spots in the open will use a Tanker, available in
With the 3rd menu option, Refueling, you can ask for a Fuel truck to come and various sizes.
allow you to refuel your airplane. The Fuel truck will arrive preferably from a park-
ing spot of the “Fuel” type, or from any other parking spot, if the airport hasn’t As soon as it reaches the airplane, the Truck will position under the wing, on the
any dedicated Fuel parking spots. Fuel point position, as specified in the GSX Airplane configuration editor.
As with other service vehicles, it might take a while for the Fuel truck to come, since IMPORTANT
it will drive the path from its parking to your current location.
There’s a minimum height the Fuel Truck with an extending platform can use, which
GSX changes its behavior depending on the airplane, and this can be customized is about 3.00 meters from ground for the Tanker and 3.40 for the Hydrant. If the
by users, with the “Show MSFS Fuel and Cargo during refueling” setting in the airplane refuel point is lower than this value, a different vehicle will be called, one
GSX airplane customization page. without a raising platform or a crew with a cable animation.
Calling the Fuel Truck The Refueling procedure
As soon as you request Refueling from the GSX menu, a message will indicate that a The actual refueling procedure works differently, depending if the airplane used
Fuel truck is coming. is configured to use the default fuel page or not. This is controlled by the “Show
the MSFS Fuel and Cargo page” option in the GSX airplane customization page.
The kind of truck selected depends on the airplane Total Fuel Capacity. For most
airliners, a large Truck + Tanker trailer will be used, but smaller planes will call for Airplanes configured to use the default refueling system
a smaller truck.
In this case, GSX will work in Active mode, and will actually change the fuel
quantity, by progressively refilling tanks using realistic timings, according to real-
life capacities of the vehicle fuel pumps in GPM (Gallons Per Minute). A complete
refueling for a fully loaded 747, for example, will take multiple trips of the 10K
gallons truck and about 45 minutes, but you can accelerate the simulation, using
the Fuel Time Acceleration in the GSX Settings->Timings page, which will let you
control the speed of the progressive refueling, without requiring to use the default
“Time Acceleration” feature, so you can do other tasks at a realistic speed, and
accelerate just the refueling process. After the Fuel Truck goes to its position, the
next screen will ask how much quantity
After the Fuel Truck goes to its position, the next screen will ask how much quan- Airplanes using custom refueling systems
tity to load. There are some presets, and the last option “Custom Refueling”, will
open the default “Fuel and Load” page. When choosing one of preset levels, the Some 3rd party airplanes have their own progressive fuel simulations. GSX can
refueling will be made by setting an equal amount of fuel in all tanks, but filling be easily configured to integrate with such systems, working in Passive mode: the
the external tanks first, and starting to fill the central tanks only when the external refueling system in the airplane will control the actual refilling of the tanks, but the
ones are full. GSX truck and the crew animations will adapt to it, working as a visual enhance-
ment to the plane-supplied refueling simulation.
Next, the fuel crew will attach the fuel hose under the configured refueling point.
Within this category of 3rd party airplanes with a custom fuel system, there might
be two different sub-cases:
• Airplanes using custom fuel systems with no “Progressive refuel” simulation

• Airplanes using custom fuel system with a “Progressive refuel” simulation.
GSX can handle both cases, and will offer options to control its behavior as desired.
Usually, planes with a progressive refuel simulation, will allow you to set the desired
fuel quantity immediately too, for example when using the “Load Instant” function
on some planes. When using this option, the plane will operate like a plane with
no progressive simulation, but still using its own fuel system, which GSX won’t
interfere with.
Here’s two common usage scenarios, covering both modes of operations:

A 3rd party airplane without a Progressive Refueling simulation.
• Start by selecting an initial Fuel Quantity, using any means provided by the
airplane, usually from the FMC or an EFB. This will immediately set an initial
Finally, the refueling process will start, with a visual indication on the fuel truck gallon Fuel Quantity to start with.
counter and a progress message to indicate the estimate time to end the process. • Call the GSX Refuel service now.
• When the Fuel Truck arrives, it will wait for you to act on the Fuel menu in the
• FMC/EFB, to set a desired quantity. GSX will display the “Please use the refuel-
ing system of your airplane to refuel” message”, to remind you it’s waiting
for your action.
• As soon as you change the Fuel quantity, the airplane system will load the fuel
instantly, and the GSX refuel truck will show it counter simulating the fuel
loading visually.
The (simulated) refueling speed will be controlled by GSX, according to the “Always
Refuel Progressively” setting in the GSX Simulation Settings page.
If the setting is Disabled, the refueling speed will be very fast, just to give some
visual feedback of the procedure. If the setting is Enabled, the speed will be the
realistic one, calculated from the actual performances of the fuel truck pump, pos-
sibly using Multiple trucks (if the “Multiple Trips” option is enabled ).
How to refuel the PMDG 737

The Refueling Bill
• Start by selecting an initial Fuel Quantity, using the “FUEL” option in the “FS
ACTIONS” menu on the FMC. This will set an initial Fuel Quantity to start with. When refueling is complete, Fuel trucks with a Fuel display will show a scrolling
• Call the GSX Fuel Truck. display, indicating how much you owe to the Fuel operator. The Fuel price per gal-
• Do not change the Fuel quantity until the GSX Truck will be in position lon is updated online from the US Energy Information Administration, taking the
• After the GSX Truck it’s in position, go back to the FMC, and click the desired daily price for Jet A1 aviation fuel.
Fuel quantity If the EIA website doesn’t respond for any reason, a default price of 3.5$ / Gallon
• If the new quantity you selected it’s greater than the quantity you had when will be used, which in 2022 roughly matches the worldwide average.
you called the Truck, the airplane will refuel itself instantly.
Always remember to pay your Fuel bills, and fly efficiently, to keep them as low
The (simulated) refueling speed will be controlled by GSX, according to the “Always as possible!
Refuel Progressively” setting in the GSX Simulation Settings page.
If the setting is Disabled, the refueling speed will be very fast, just to give some
visual feedback of the procedure. If the setting is Enabled, the speed will be the
realistic one, calculated from the actual performances of the fuel truck pump, pos-
sibly using Multiple trucks (if the “Multiple Trips” option is enabled ).
Pushback Pushback directions definitions:
Before departure, you can ask for Pushback, and a tow truck will push you out The most common choice for Pushback are LEFT or RIGHT, which for clarity are
from your parking spot. labeled, by default, “Nose Right/Tail Left” and “Nose Left/Tail Right”.
The Pushback feature in GSX is way more powerful and realistic than the default “Nose Right/Tail Left” means the airplane will be pushed in a Lower Left “quad-
MSFS Pushback, because it recognizes the airport layout, and will push following rant”, when seeing the airplane from above, so the nose of the airplane will point
taxi lines automatically, you will only have to choose the Pushback direction (usu- to the Right at the end of the procedure.
ally Left or Right) if the parking spot used has been programmed to allow Both
choices, otherwise it will just use the only direction available. “Nose Left/Tail Right” means the airplane will be pushed in a Lower Right “quad-
rant”, when seeing the airplane from above, so the nose of the airplane will point
to the Left at the end of the procedure.
Pushback Sequence of operations
In order to start Pushback, you need to start at the parking place with engines off
and parking brakes on. All ground connections like auxiliary power units, air units,
wheel chocks and similar must be removed too. GSX is able to recognise some of
these features from the most popular 3rd party airplane products, and will not allow
starting push if any of such ground connections are still attached to the airplane.
In addition to that, you will be asked to close any passenger or cargo doors that
might still be open, and all service vehicles that are still attached to the plane, will
end their service and leave.
Right Pushback
Left Pushback
When you are ready, the Pushback crew will first reach to your airplane, contacting The first two, “Nose Right/Tail Left (LEFT)” and “Nose Left/Tail Right (RIGHT)”
you via headset, and will remove the airplane Bypass Pin. are the most common ones, and indicate a completely automatic Pushback pro-
cedure, based on the nearby taxiway paths and nodes, and is able to handle the
most common situations with no user intervention.
QuickEdit Pushback
This option allows to Pre-Plan a customized Pushback route, letting you specify
precisely where you want to end, and the path taken by the tow truck, with mul-
tiple waypoints.
Once you performed a Quick Edit procedure on a certain gate of a certain airport,
it’s automatically saved in the GSX airport profile. If you haven’t created one, a
new one will be started automatically, containing all the airport options, including
all pre-planned Pushback procedures.
If you already had a QuickEdit route saved for that gate/airport, it will presented here
The Tow truck will then approach the airplane and, if it uses a Towbar, the crew in the Pushback menu as an additional option named “Use autosaved QuickEdit
will attach it to the Nose gear. Tow trucks of the Towbardless kind, will close their
clamps to the gear instead. Pushback”
After the truck is attached, you’ll be asked about the kind of Pushback you want In addition to that, through the airport customization page, you can set multiple
to be performed: additional Pushback “slots”, performing all kind of different routes and procedures,
with no limit how many slots can be added to each gate. You can give a friendly
name to each one, and they will all be listed as extra menu entries, in addition to
the default ones.
We’ll cover the Pushback pre-planning features in more detail in the “Airport
Customization” section of this manual.
Straight Pushback
This option is always available regardless of the parking Pushback preference.
Using this option, the Pushback procedure will start normally, and the airplane will
be towed directly backwards, until you open the GSX menu again, which will give
you the ability to Stop the Pushback in that place and complete the procedure
normally, or Abort abruptly.
At the end of the Pushback route, the airplane will usually be aligned to the closest
taxiway line, ready to start taxiing on its own.
Wingwalker
During Pushback, the ground crew will walk alongside the airplane and the tow Upon arrival at the final Pushback point, the crew will ask you to confirm the en-
truck, monitoring the procedure. During this time, engines are usually started. gines started correctly before removing the truck. It will wait for your confirmation,
prompting with a message and an audio cue.
To confirm a Good engine start, open the GSX menu, and select one of the avail-
able options:
Option #1 confirms a good engine start, continuing the Pushback procedure normally.
Option #2 completes the procedure without waiting for the engines.
Option #3 will Abort the service, removing both crew and vehicles without waiting. Before going away and whishing you a good trip, the ground crew will step back
a bit in order to be seen from the cockpit, waving the Bypass Pin flag, to confirm
you now have full authority on the Nose Gear.
The Pushback will complete with the Truck going away (if it has a Towbar, it will
be removed first by the crew), and the ground crew removing the Bypass Pin as
the last step.
De-Icing As soon as you select the “Prepare for Departure and Push-back” menu entry,
if Icing conditions has been detected, you’ll be given an option to call De-Icing
before departure.
De-Icing vehicles will arrive from a nearby Vehicle parking spot. After they approach
the airplane, they’ll confirm to be ready from treatment, and will ask the kind of
anti-icing fluid and its concentration:
Fluid type by default is always Type I, but you can change it. It’s only a cosmetic ef-
fect, and will affect the color if the liquid (yellow-ish is Type I, green is other Types).
Concentration is suggested by GSX as a function of the external temperature, the

lower the temperature, the higher concentrations will be used. This also result in
a slight visual effect change, affecting the saturation of the fluid normal color, due
to its dilution with hot water.
De-Icing is part of the Departure procedure, which means there’s no separate menu
entry for De-Icing in GSX. Instead, Deicers are offered as an option, if there a risk
of icing on Departure.
The deicers will operate on the airplane wings, following the path indicated by the
De-icing IN and OUT points specified in the Airplane configuration editor.
At the end of the procedure, a text/audio message from the deicing crew will
confirm the “deicing code”, that is the fluid type used and its concentration, as a
Icing conditions detection reminder to the pilot.
• If the standard “SURFACE CONDITION” variable in MSFS reports either “Icy” NOTE:
or “Snow” conditions, icing conditions are detected
• If the outside temperature is lower than 0 C°, icing conditions are detected Since it’s not currently to programmatically affect the icing simulation in MSFS,
• If the outside temperature is lower than 8 C°, but it’s either raining or snowing, what deicers really do, other than offering a nice procedure to look at, is turning
icing conditions are detected. on the standard deicing systems on the airplane. It’s possible that in future versions
of MSFS, if 3rd party apps will eventually get access and influence the weather, we
might update GSX to directly affect the icing effects in the simulator.
GSX Settings GSX Settings are divided in 4 major areas:
The GSX Settings page can be used to customize a large variety of preferences
affecting the program itself on a global scale, in all airports.
Further customization is possible through the Airport Customization Editor and the
Aircraft Configuration Editor, which are applied to specific airports and airplanes,
and will be discussed later on in the manual.
Simulation
Follow-Me Car speed
This slider controls the speed of the Follow Me car, from 5 to 40 knots, with a
default of 18 knots.
Parking “Slow Down” speed
This slider controls the threshold speed after which a parking system such a Mar-
shaller or a Docking system, will issue a “Slow Down” warning. It goes from 5 to
10 knots in increments of 1/4th of a knot, with a default to 7.5 knots. Controlling
this setting might be useful to fine tune GSX in relationship with the ground speed
friction of the airplane you use most.
Straight Pushback Distance
Some sceneries have all their parking positions Pushback preference set to “None”.
Even in this case, GSX will always offer at least one choice of a “Straight Pushback”
distance, which is the distance the Pushback truck will go back to, if you don’t stop
it earlier manually. This setting is used to set the default distance.
Multiple Trips
Some GSX services might need more than a trip to complete their task, for ex-
ample a Refuel Truck with a 7000 gallons tanker, won’t be able to refuel the plane
completely, if the amount of fuel requested is larger than what the tank contains, Auto mode ignore doors
requiring multiple trips. This option can be turned off, if you prefer a faster turn-
around. In this case, the tanker will act as if it were of an “Infinite” capacity, and By default, even in Auto mode, services will still wait for you to open doors. By
will always refuel with a single trip. The setting is also used by the Passengers Bus: enabling this option, all GSX vehicles will always ignore the door status. This will
if Multiple Trips are enabled, several buses will came, each one carrying up to its of course result in service crew or baggage/cargo passing through the airplane
realistic capacity, otherwise there will be a single Bus, with an infinite passenger bulkheads (if doors are still closed when the service starts), but might be useful
capacity. for users that don’t mind looking at the airplane exteriors, and prefer to focus on
the cockpit without being interrupted by GSX requests for doors. NOTE that, in
Estimate passengers number ( FSX/P3D only ) MSFS, some airplanes supports the Automatic door opening, making this feature
not relevant.
This option is only relevant to FSX/P3D. In MSFS, the default is to always Estimate
the passengers number, because we added Simbrief integration, for a more realistic Enable In-game cameras ( P3D 4.5+ only )
and precise set of the passenger number.
This option works only with P3D 4.5/5x, and it uses the P3D Camera API to set
If this option is disabled, GSX will always ask confirmation from the user about the custom camera views over vehicles.
number of passengers onboard. If the option is enabled, GSX will estimate the pas-
senger number automatically, without asking confirmation. By default, the option Enable Editor cameras
is enabled, which mimics the standard behavior GSX always had until this version.
Same as above, to enable additional custom camera views in P3D 4.5/5.x specific
Always Refuel Progressively to editing mode, to make editing easier. In MSFS, all Editors use the “Showcase”
or “Drone” camera view, so these option are not really required here.
This option allows to control the GSX refueling speed when using a 3rd party air-
plane with a custom refuel system. If it’s Enabled, the speed will always be simulated Enable Airport Walkers
realistically accordingly to the pump performance (but can be accelerated with the
Fuel acceleration slider in the Timings). If it’s Disabled, if the airplane custom fuel Airport Walkers are Passengers that walk inside terminals independently from an
system has loaded the fuel instantly, the GSX refueling vehicle will perform a very actual Deboarding or Boarding service performed by GSX, they are just like ambi-
fast count of the fuel quantity loaded. ent traffic, to populate interiors.
Detect custom aircraft system refueling Until very recently, those Walkers were an exclusive of selected FSDT airports, like
Chicago O’Hare or Basel, but we GSX Pro, we added the ability for users to create
This option allows GSX to detect automatically when a 3rd party custom refuel- their own Airport Walkers paths on any airport, default or 3rd party (as long as it has
ing system is starting to refuel, which will result in the GSX fuel truck being called visible terminal interiors), and this option control their overall visualization globally.
automatically. By default this option is Disabled, since it might cause problems with
some 3rd party planes. Good Engine Start confirmation
Assistance Services “Auto” mode This setting control if you want to perform the extra step of having to confirm a
good engine start before completing the Pushback. By default is enabled, but you
This option makes GSX running on Autopilot, activating all its services in sequence, might want to disable it here, to save some time.
automatically. If you start from Deboarding or Boarding, the autopilot will call Cargo/
Baggages services first, then Refueling and Catering at the same time. It will still Ignore Wingspan when parking
be your responsibility to call Boarding when needed.
This option will disable the “Parking Too Small” warning. Note that, with this ver-
sion, GSX will always allow to use a parking, even if it says it’s too small but, with
this option, you can also disable the warning.
Always ask for Pushback Sound Volume
This option will enabled Pushback, globally, even if the Pushback preference in any This slider controls the volume of sounds related to warning/informational mes-
specific airport has been set to “None”, and will always assume “Both” directions sages, like beeps and other sounds related to the user interface. It’s a separate
are always available from the audio Volume for GSX Ground Vehicles, which is controlled instead from
the Sound Settings page.
FollowMe Disable “FLEE”
Marshaller Distance Readout
By default, the FollowMe Car detects your distance, your speed and your accelera-
tion, and will try to prevent being overrun by the airplane, if it has detected that, By default, every type of Parking System, be it a Marshaller or a VGDS, has an extra
considering all the above factors, there’s a risk of collision. numeric readout of the lateral and longitudinal distance from the ideal parking
position, that appears as large numbers over the Parking System object.
In this situation, the FollowMe Car will “Flee”, with a message on screen saying
that FollowMe has been aborted for security reasons. This option can be used to Enable or Disable this extra readout.
This behavior is Enabled by default, but you can disable it using this option.
SimBrief username
Virtual Airlines Override
In this editing field, you can insert your SimBrief username, to enable SimBrief
This option can be used to configure a “Global override” of the airlines codes speci- integration for various operations in GSX, like setting the Passenger Number au-
fied by parking. If you enable the option, and add some airline codes here, they will tomatically, controlling the Refueling quantity, and have extra indication about the
take precedence everywhere. The codes specified here will always be used, at any flight on the advanced VGDS systems, which support SimBrief integration.
parking of every airports, regardless of all the other settings and scoring system. It
can be used by Virtual Airlines, to quickly specify to always use their own custom The username you must type here is what is referenced in the SimBrief Account
liveries for GSX vehicles, regardless of the location. as the ALIAS.
User Interface It cannot contain spaces. While if your Alias was created a while ago, so it might
contain spaces, SimBrief doesn’t allow to create an Alias containing spaces any-
more, so GSX conforms to this standard. If your existing SimBrief Alias contains
spaces, you need to edit on SimBrief account page to replace spaces with another
character, for example an Underscore.
Profiles Creator Nickname
In this editing field, you can insert a Nickname that will be included in any custom
profile you create. This Nickname is not related to any actual “account”, so it can
Message verbosity be anything. If you share your custom profile, your Nickname will be shown in the
“Details” page of the Airport Customization dialog.
This slider controls the frequency of textual message that appears during the vari-
ous GSX operations. If you modified a GSX profile made by somebody else, the Details page will show
both the Nickname of the original creator, and an indication “Modified by xxxx”
with your Nickname appended, to remind you it was a profile made by somebody
else which you have modified.
Interval between “Waiting for your action” messages
Timings Some messages in GSX are periodic, and repeats forever, indicating GSX is waiting
for some action or reminding you of some situation. For example the “Waiting for
your action: open Exit 1”, or the various request to release or set Parking Brakes.
With this option, you can set the time interval between each repeating messages,
in seconds. By default is set to 15.0 seconds but, if you find it to be too nagging,
you can raise it.
We don’t suggest setting it to more than a few minutes in any case, because you
might miss some important feedback, and assume GSX might be stuck.
Audio Settings
Passengers Density
The time required to board passengers will be a combination of their walking speed The audio page allows to set the preferred audio device used by GSX sounds. This
and their density. Each passenger has its own walking speed, which depends by its can be useful if you have multiple audio cards, or different output options on the
animation and walking style, but it’s possible to control the passenger Density, which same audio card (for example, digital or analog out).
will affect the number of animated passengers visible on screen at any given time.
With higher settings of the Passenger Density slider, there will be more impact
on fps, and Boarding/Deboarding will take less time, because passengers will be
clustered closer to each other.
At lower Density settings, there will be less impact on fps, and Boarding/Deboarding
will take more time, because passengers will be more spaced apart from each other.
Audio Device
Refueling Time Acceleration
Sets the preferred audio device used by GSX sounds. When applied, it will restart
This setting is specific to the refueling process, and it’s added to the default simula- the Couatl scripting engine, so it might take a few seconds for GSX to be avail-
tor Time acceleration, if used. For example, if you are using 2x Time Acceleration able again.
in the sim, and set this parameter to 4x, the actual time to do refueling will be 8x
shorter than in real life. This setting is useful if you don’t want to use the Time Volume
acceleration in the sim, but you prefer a faster refueling time. Note that, it won’t
affect the characters animations speed as the regular Time acceleration would, just
the fuel pump performance. Sets the Volume for the GSX sounds. This setting is completely separate from the
standard Audio settings in the simulator, because GSX runs its own separate sound
engine independently.
GSX Audio uses the standard OpenAL audio library. If your device doesn’t appear Restarting Couatl
here, check if the drivers supports OpenAL. If you connect an audio device after
GSX started, you must restart the Couatl engine before it can be selected. Usually, when an error happens, you are given a chance to Restart the Couatl en-
gine, or open the log file to look at the last error. Please note that, if you choose
Audio Cues to “Restart Couatl”, your last log that contained the error will be overwritten by
a new one made by restarting. When reporting a problem to support, it’s best to
This option is used to Enable or Disable the Voice cues during various operations, choose NO to the request to Restart Couatl, so you can provide a meaningful log,
like starting Boarding/Deboarding or entering/exiting from the Editors. which should contain the error from the last session.
Enable logging when GSX can’t even start
There might be cases where a problem is preventing GSX from starting, so you
Troubleshooting Settings can’t access its interface to enable the Log file that can be sent to support to
troubleshoot the issue.
In these cases, the Logging feature can be enabled by editing the following file:
This page is used to enable Logging, which is very useful to identify problems with
GSX. When asking for support, always provide with a log file, which is invaluable %APPDATA%\virtuali\COUATL _ MSFS.INI
for us to understand what’s going on with the program.
Or, if you are in FSX or P3D, same path, with a different name:
%APPDATA%\virtuali\COUATL.INI
The file should contain a single line, like this:
logFile=”couatl.log”
Please note the keyword “logFile”, which MUST be written exactly like this, all in
lower caps, with JUST the middle F capitalized. logFile, that is.
There’s no need to include a full path, we suggest using the default name “couatl.
log”, which will place the log file in the same folder under %APPDATA%\virtuali
Diagnostic Log
When contacting support or posting a problem on the forum, once you have a
This is the full diagnostic log, which logs many things happening in GSX, not just log and reproduced the error, exit the simulator, go to the log folder and ZIP the
errors. That’s why is not enabled by default, since it might grow quite large during couatl.log file, which is required to post it on the FSDT support forum.
long flight sessions, even when nothing “wrong” happened. But it includes lots
of extra info that can help support identify issues. ZIP-ing the file, in addition to save space, will ensure the file won’t be changed,
for example by the email software or the forum software, which sometimes do
Panic Log funny things, like converting 8) in smiley faces, which for a diagnostic log could
be a problem.
This is a very short log, only indicating the actual error, and it’s always active.
Airport Customization This the main Airport Customization page, which contains two tabs, the “Parking”
tab, with all options related to the parking itself, and the “Pushback” tab, where
all Pushback “slots” are listed for the selected parking spot.
GSX works normally on any airport, by reading airport data directly from the scenery,
and this should normally enough to operate with all its basic functions.
However, through airport customization, you can really unleash the full GSX capa-
bilities, adding extra data not normally supported in the simulator airport database,
to achieve better realism on specific airports.
Some examples of things that can be added with Airport Customization are: mul-
tiple Custom Pushback routes for each gate, VGDS Docking Systems, custom start
positions for GSX vehicles to better adapt to the scenery, custom Stop position to
control the exact stopping place on ground, but also choosing the ground handlers
or the catering company, on a gate-by-gate basis.
Customizing an airport will result in the creation of a GSX Profile for that airport,
which is a small .INI file that can be shared with other users. Even if you are not
into airport customization yourself, chances are somebody might have created a
GSX profile for an airports, and shared online.
Airport developers can also offer a custom GSX profile with their scenery, so GSX
users can enjoy the airport even more.
Airport Customization is started in two ways: if you are parked, using the “Custom-
ize this parking Position” option in the GSX Service menu, or from any place in
the airport, clicking the “Customize Airport positions” button in the main menu.
Airport Customization interface
The Airport Customization page allows Multiple Selection, with CTRL-Left-Click

on individual Parking spots on the “tree” view on the left of the window, which
adds single parking to a selection, and with CTRL+Shift+Left-Click, which can be
used to add a range of Parking spots.
When multiple parking spots are selected, the window will indicate “Multiple
positions”, followed by a number indicating how many parking positions are cur-
rently selected.
This means that, any change made to any of the options on the right side of the
window will apply to all currently selected parking positions.
This is very useful to apply some generic rules to the airport as a whole first, then
going down to specify options common to a certain terminal, and finally selected
individual parking spots to customize the parking specific options.
For example, if on a certain airport the passenger back stairs are never used if there’s
a jetway, we might start selecting the whole Airport, and disable that option on all
parking spots at once, without having to repeat it for each parking.
If a certain terminal has a specific type of VGDS Docking System or a specific ground
handler, it’s best to select the whole terminal first, and set those options in a single
click, and then eventually decide what might be different on specific parking spots.
Parking Type
This option can be used to override the Parking
Type specified in the scenery.
In this example, 9 parking spots have been selected, by clicking Parking 1 first,
and then CTRL+Shift-Left-click on Parking 9, thus creating a selection range very GSX uses this information to display different
quickly. The parking name label will how show “Multiple positions (9)” to indicate types of service vehicles (ex. Cargo or not Cargo),
there are 9 currently selected parking spot, so each change to any of the following so if they are not set correctly in the scenery,
options will affect those 9 at the same time. changing the Parking Type here will make GSX
working better, without affecting the scenery in
Multi-selection works in a hierarchical way: since all parking spots are grouped by any way, since all changes in the GSX customiza-
Parking name, meaning all spots belonging to “Parking” or “Gate A” or “Gate” tion page will only affect the GSX Profile .INI for
are presented as a separate section, clicking on a parent element, like “Gate A”, the airport, not the actual scenery files.
will automatically select all parking positions in that section.
Clicking on the top “root” node, named “Airport”, will select all parking position Parking System
in the airport at the same time, as in the following screen: This option controls which kind of assistance to
parking is available at this position. By default,
GSX will always place a Marshaller, if nothing else
is specified.
GSX comes with a large variety of VGDS aids,

from the simplest ones using just lights or paral-
lax effects, to the more complex ones, with smart
displays, with airplane recognition and extra infor-
mations about the flight, with some even including
SimBrief integration.
The “No Parking System” option is used when

the scenery already comes with its own system,
so you can use this if you prefer to use that one,
and not have GSX create any kind of parking as-
sistance there.
Jetways(s) Max Marshaller distance
This option is used to tell GSX if a parking spot has a Jetway. Normally, GSX will
detect them automatically, but in some cases, for example static jetways, they can- By default, the Marshaller distance it’s a function of the Parking radius specified
not be detected so, changing this option will prevent GSX to generate the wrong in the airport .BGL file, and the eyepoint position in the cockpit: the higher the
vehicle types when the presence of a Jetway would affect their choice, for example eyepoint, the farther away the Marshaller will be placed. The distance is lowered
the Passenger Stairs. if there’s a jetway, on the assumption that Gate usually a wall behind, so the Mar-
shaller might be easily hidden behind it. Sometimes, it’s possible this calculation
This option won’t change the appearance of the scenery so, for example, setting can’t fit any situation. By setting this value to a number of meters (start with about
it to” No Jetway” won’t make an existing Jetway to disappear. 20 meters) you can fix situations were the Marshaller can’t be seen because he’s
inside a building.
Airport Walkers Waypoints
Max Allowed Wingspan
Airport Walkers are Passengers that walk inside terminals independently from an
actual Deboarding or Boarding service performed by GSX, they are just like ambi-
ent traffic, to populate interiors. This option allows to override the parking radius in the airport .BGL, used to verify
if a parking is too small to fit a certain parking. Sometimes, it’s possible a scenery
Until very recently, those Walkers were an exclusive of selected FSDT airports, like has actual space available around a parking spot, but the scenery designer has
Chicago O’Hare or Basel, but we GSX Pro, we added the ability for users to create specified a smaller radius for that parking spot, maybe for AI flow reasons, or to
their own Airport Walkers paths on any airport, default or 3rd party (as long as it fix problems with default ground vehicles, or simply because of an oversight.
has visible terminal interiors), and this option can be used to create these paths on
the selected parking position. If any walker waypoints are already set for the cur- A too small parking spot radius in the .BGL, might result in GSX not offering its ser-
rent parking spot, the button will show how many waypoints the path is made of. vices at that place, even if the physical layout of it might have allowed that airplane.
The Dustbin icon is used to Delete a custom path on the selected Parking Position.
You can customize this setting, and override what’s in the scenery airport file. You
Pax Waypoints can directly put a number in meters of the highest Wingspan allowed (so, it’s not
a Radius, it’s double that amount) or you can simply click the Airplane button next
to the input field, and this will read the Wingspan of the airplane which is currently
loaded, and put it into the input field.
The Pax Waypoints are used when Passenger Deboard or Board the airplane without So, without worrying about numbers, you can just load the airplane that used to
using a Bus. The button is normally greyed out, and becomes active by disabling not fit a parking according to GSX, go to that parking, click the Airplane Button
and save, this will open that parking for that airplane type (and all the ones with
the Passenger Bus first. The “Disable pax barriers” option is used to prevent GSX smaller wingspans, of course). Don’t forget you can do this for multiple parking
from creating barriers (or “stanchions”) over the path, useful in case the scenery spots at once, by pressing the CTRL key while selecting parking spots, so all your
already contains some form of visual guidance for passenger to walk to. The Dustbin selected changes will apply to all the currently selected positions.
icon is used to Delete a custom path on the selected Parking Position.
Parking Radius
Disable Passenger Bus
Vehicles at a parking, by default, are positioned based on the parking radius, ac- This option disables the Passenger Bus on a parking position without a Jetway (if
cording to this scheme: there’s a Jetway, the option is not relevant). Disabling the Passenger Bus is required
to allow editing of Pax Waypoints, which will define the path Passengers will un-
dertake from the end of the Passenger Stairs to the gate entrance.
Disable Staircases
This option disables the rear Passenger Stairs on a parking spot with a Jetway.
GSX will never use the rear stair for passengers, if there’s a jetway available, these
stairs are normally used by the airplane cleaning crew, and can be disabled here,
if required.
Ignore aircraft preferred exit
By default, GSX will calculate the optimal Stop position based on the position of
the airplane “Preferred Exit”, as specified in the Airplane customization page. This
is option can be enabled to force to ignore the Preferred Exit on a specific parking
spot, and always use the first passenger door instead.
Underground refueling
By default, GSX will assume Underground refueling to be always available on Gates

with Jetways, and not available everywhere else. The availability of Underground
refueling will affect the choice of refueling vehicles used, and with this option, it’s
possible to override the default GSX behavior, allowing, as an example, Under-
ground refueling even on Apron parking spots with no jetways, if the real world
Vehicles on the left-hand side are affected by the LEFT radius, and vehicles on the situation demands it.
right-hand side by the RIGHT radius. Changing the Left/Right radius can be useful to
fix conflicts between airport buildings or other static vehicles placed by the scenery. For example, at KMEM international, almost all FedEx parking stands have Under-
ground refueling, even if, being Cargo Stands, don’t have Jetways.
NOTE, the Radius parameters are used only to give a starting point for service
vehicles. It’s not used to decide if an airplane fits into a parking spot!
Airline Codes Front and Rear Loaders
Airline codes in the airport .BGL file affects GSX choice of ground handlers. This will The choice of loaders ( Conveyor Belt or ULD Loader ) is normally decided by the
be explained later in the manual, when operators “rules” and the scoring system Airplane Configuration, which sets the kind of loader used by each Cargo door.
will be discussed but, in brief, the presence of airline codes will “break ties” when One of the options in the Airplane Configuration is to set the loader to “Auto”. In
multiple operators are possible candidates to be chosen on a particular airport, so this case, the loader selection will be affected by this setting here, because in some
they’ll get a better score if their airline code matches. cases the parking might be too small to accept a specific loader, or an airplane that
is normally configured to use Front and Back loaders, might be parking on a space
By default, the field will contain the airline codes read from the scenery airport too small for both to manoeuver correctly.
.BGL file (or it will be empty, if there are none), but they can be overridden here.
NOTE This option only affects planes with the loader selection set to “Auto”. If
Codes must be in a list, separated by spaces, for example: you need to change the airplane loader type used everywhere, it must be done
from the Airplane Configuration editor, not here.
AAL UA DLH
Customizing Pushback
Indicates American Airlines, United Airlines and Lufthansa will get a boost in their
scoring on the selected parking position. GSX offers many customization options for Pushback. Each parking position can
include the following:
Handling and Catering operators
The two Drop-down boxes here allow you to specify the Ground Handling operator • Two Custom Pushback routes for each one of the default Left/Right slots.
and the Catering operator for the currently selected parking spot.
• An unlimited number of Custom Pushback slots, each one containing a route.
GSX comes with a large selection of operators all around the world, which are
normally selected to the airport according to a set of “rules” and a scoring system • A single slot for the last used QuickEdit pushback.
which will be explained later.
The Pushback Tab of the Airport customization page can be used to arrange the
The operators specified here, will take complete precedence over all the rules system. slots used, give them friendly names that will be used in the Pushback menu, Copy
& Paste between slots or Add new slot and/or Remove existing ones.
Pushback Slots Snap
Regardless of their usage (Left, Right, Quickedit or Custom), all Pushback Slots
have the same capabilities. Left/Right here is only meaningful in the fully automatic
Pushback, which doesn’t involve any customization but, once a slot is customized, The “Snap” pushback option can be considered a legacy feature from earlier ver-
it’s just another slot, regardless if it started as a Left or a Right slot. sions of GSX, where “Snap” was the only option available. Today, it’s much better
to use the full-blown Custom Pushback editor in non-Snap mode, so we suggest
not enabling the Snap option, because it’s less intuitive to use.
We’ll explain it here in any case for completeness’ sake.

Managing Pushback Slots
GSX Automatic Pushback, the one without any customization made, is in fact a
Here follows a description of all the options available on every Pushback slot: “Snapped” Pushback, which means GSX will search the airport node graph of
taxiway Points, trying to estimate which one to use to exit the parking spot, with
Name and Label its search strategy driven by the initial Left or Right choice.
Here’s an example how GSX might search for nodes when doing an Automatic
Here a custom name can be set for the Pushback slot being edited. The name can Left/Right Pushback, at Gate 63 at KSFO International.
be any descriptive text that will help you choosing the Pushback route later on,
during normal use. When starting editing one of the two Left/Right slots, it defaults
to its existing name (Left or Right), but you can name it in any way you like.
Automatic Labeling
Clicking on the “Label” button, will automatically name the slot, based on the final
position and heading of the airplane that has been set at the end of the Pushback
route. The data is read from the airport scenery .BGL file, and GSX will try to match
the final position, and providing a description that might look like this:
“On Taxiway A, facing S”
In this example, GSX realized the final position of the plane was on Taxiway A, and
used the final heading to indicate the direction the airplane will face at the end.
Here, we can see the only meaningful difference between a Left/Right slot compared
to any other slot: when Auto-labeling a custom Pushback which started by editing
the Left/Right slots, Left or Right will be added to the automatically generated Label.
Final Position The two Left/Right nodes are existing Taxiway Points in the scenery GSX would
have found to perform an automatic Left/Right Pushback. Snap, in this case,
means even the coordinates of a custom Pushback would still relate to an exist-
ing Taxiway Point, since they would “Snap” to the closest one.
These text boxes will show the Lat/Lon/Heading of the final Pushback position.
Snap vs Custom Pushback Paste Mirrored
We explained the “Snap” option, which is still available to use, but we strongly This option will copy data from the Clipboard to a new slot, but mirror-
suggest using the much flexible and easier to use fully Custom Pushback, which ing the result, and it’s commonly used to create Left/Right pairs with less
is more suited to create Custom Pre-planned pushback routes, so this option effort.
should normally stay disabled, we only covered it to give a better understanding
how GSX works, instead, in “Automatic” mode, always “snapping” to an exist- Paste Mirrored example
ing Taxiway Point in the scenery.
Custom Pushback
The “Customize” button will start the Custom Pushback editor, which is fully in-
teractive and works directly in the MSFS actual scenery. We’ll cover this in detail
later in the manual, where the various 3D Editing modes are discussed.
Copy & Paste
It’s quite common in some airports, with very long terminals and many parking
spots all lined up, to have lots of very similar pushback routes so, to speed work
when customizing these airports, several features are provided.
Copy The image on the Left shows a Custom Pushback created manually, while the
image on the right shows the same pushback, created automatically by copying
The Copy button will make a copy of the current Pushback slot in the the first one, and use the “Paste Mirrored” function to duplicate it into another
Clipboard, allowing to Paste it, either on another slot, but also on a dif- Slot as a mirrored procedure. This way, it’s quicker to create both directions,
ferent parking position of the same airport. since only minor adjustments (if any) would be required to the mirrored version,
instead of having to redo it from scratch.
Paste
Delete Slot
The Paste button can be used to copy data from the Clipboard to a dif-
ferent Slot or a even a different Parking position. To Paste on a different Clicking on the Dustbin icon will remove the slot. If the Slot was one of
parking position, first Copy the source slot, then select the new parking the Custom ones, it will be removed. If it’s a Left/Right slot, it will revert
position from the tree-like list on the left, then click the Paste button and to its default of automatic pushback with a Left/Right search strategy,
select one of the following options:
Add Slot
“Translate” will offset the original data to
the new parking position, “Translate and To add a new Custom Pushback slot, click the “Add Slot” button. There’s no
Mirror” will translate and mirror the data, limit how many Custom Pushback slots each parking can have.
and “Keep original” will just copy the data.
Custom Profile Details Filter Jetways

The Details button next to the This button can be used to select
airport name open a Dialog all Parking Spots with a Jetway,
box to set some additional in- in order to quickly apply com-
formation about a GSX Profile mon settings to all of them, with
that might have been supplied a single click, for example if you
by the profile creator. want to disable the Rear Staircase
for all Parking Spots that have a
Jetway.
Creator: This field is automatically filled depending on the Creator Nickname
in the Settings page. If you modified a profile made by somebody else, the text
will show the original Creator, followed by a “modified by” text, showing your The button works within the
nickname. airport groups hierarchy:
Scenario: This field should be used to indicate which scenery the profile is sup- For example, if the airport has a hierarchy of some Spots in the “GATE” group,
posed to be used with. This information is more useful when the SU10 Navdata like in the above picture, the button will read “Select parking w/J in Gate”,
API is enabled, since GSX can’t automatically select profiles based on the “load- which means “select all parking spots in the “Gate” group that have the attri-
ed BGL”, since no .BGL is ever loaded in that case, so you need to be sure the bute /J”.
GSX profile you are using is the one that is supposed to be used with a specific
scenery. As a result, all Parking Spots in the GATE group that have a Jetway will be se-
lected, but Parking Spots in other groups won’t, because the currently selected
Notes: In this text area, the profile creator might include any comments or spe- spot was part of the “Gate” group.
cial instructions to use the profile.
If you want to select All Jetways in the whole airport, you’ll need to go up to
the top “Airport” node, which will automatically select ALL Parking Spots of the
Airport at once. Now, the button will read “Filter parkings with no Jetways”,
which will remove all Parking Spots that have no jetways from the current
selection. Since the current selection, when clicking the root “Airport” node is
extended to ALL Parking Spots of the airport, removing the ones with no Jet-
ways from this selection will result in having all Parking Spots of the airport with
Jetways selected.
In other words, clicking this button when a single parking is selected, will select
all Parking spots with a Jetway in the current group, while selecting it after click-
ing the “Airport” root node, will first select all Parking spots in the airport, then
will subtract the ones without a Jetway from the selection, resulting in all Park-
ing spots with a Jetway being selected with a single click.
Graphical Scenery editor All vehicles will be placed in their default starting positions, with a pointer on each
object. The currently selected object is highlighted in Orange, the others are Light
Blue. You will cycle through objects using the F1/F4 keys, until you find the one
you need to adjust, then use the NumPad 1/3 keys to rotate the object, and the
Cursor Keys to move the object in the direction of its facing. To move the object
faster, use Shift+Cursor keys, to rotate it faster, use the F7/F8 keys.
Resetting vehicle positions
If you press the F9 key, the currently selected vehicle will return to its default position.
Note the exclamation mark on top of the object pointer: if there’s one, it means
the object is not in its default position anymore, which will be also confirmed by
the green text line on top, stating that object is in a (customized) position. If there’s
no exclamation mark, that object is in its default starting position, and the green
text line will say (default).
NOTE: With “Default starting positions” we indicate whatever source of original

information has been used to calculate the default starting position. On a default
The GSX scenery customization feature adds an interactive Graphical Editor, to airport that has no other customization in place, it’s controlled by the Left/Right
edit the vehicles starting position precisely, for each parking spot of any airport. radius parameters, derived from the scenery .BGL file. On a fully-customized
scenery, like those that are supplied with GSX (all FSDT airports, for example) the
This will allow you to better integrate GSX with any scenery, both default and 3rd “Default position” means the one that was indicated in the scenery customization
party, and to overcome potential conflicts between the GSX service vehicles and file supplied with GSX.
the scenery objects, either static or dynamic. The Graphical Scenery Editor is very
fast and easy to use, and doesn’t require any text input: everything is done inside Changing parking spot
MSFS, using the “Showcase” or “Drone” camera view. The results of your custom-
ization are automatically saved in the airport .INI profile discussed in the previous Using the NumPad 7/9, you can quickly switch to the next/previous parking of the
sections, which you can share with other users. airport. You will “Warp” there immediately, ready to edit the new parking. Reach-
ing the last parking spot of the airport, will start back with the first one.
Accessing the Graphical Scenery Editor
Automatic Saving
Pressing any of the following buttons will result entering the Graphical Editor:
There’s no “Save” option, all your modifications are automatically saved as soon
• “Customize Parking” as you act on the objects controls, this allows for an easier and faster work
• “Customize Parking System” Exiting from the Editor
To Exit from the GSX Editor mode, press the Enter Key on the NumPad. The Park-
• “Customize vehicle locations” ing Customization Dialog will appear again, allowing to set other options for the
parking spot, or to go back to flying, by closing the dialog with the “X” window
When the editor starts, the Camera view will switch automatically to the “Showcase/ close gadget on the top-right.
Drone” camera, so all normal controls in this mode will work as usual, like moving
the Camera with a joypad, zooming the view, changing the camera speed, etc.
Parking editor keys in MSFS Editing the Parking position and size
Editor Function Default Key
Cycle next object F4
Cycle previous object F1
Decrease Parking Size F5
Increase Parking Size F6
Decrease object height Z (+Shift = Fast)
Increase object height Q (+Shift = Fast)
Cycle prev Parking system F2
Cycle next Parking system F3
Move object Forward Up arrow (+Shift = Fast)
Move object Backward Down arrow (+Shift = Fast)
Move object Left Left arrow (+Shift = Fast)
Move object Right Righ arrow (+Shift = Fast)
Rotate object Left NumPad 1
Rotate object Right NumPad 3 GSX allows users to edit the Position, Heading and Size of a parking, visually. This
Rotate object Left Fast F7 can be very useful to fix issues with wrong parking positions, headings not precise
(which affects the Marshaller/Docking system accuracy) and problem caused by
Rotate object Right Fast F8 a wrong radius set in the scenery, which would affect the default placement of
Reset object position F9 vehicles and the parking spot availability, depending on the plane type.
Go to Next Parking NumPad 9
All your changes will be saved in the GSX parking customization .INI file, without
Go to Prev Parking NumPad 7 touching the original scenery .BGL file. Note that, this also means that all these
Exit from Editor Enter changes will only influence GSX operations. You will not be able to affect, for
example, the assignment of AI airplanes or the placement when you start a flight
All normal Drone Camera controls are active as well. We suggest doing the fol- by clicking on a parking spot from the MSFS Main Menu.
lowing changes, and remove key mapping for the following features: The “Parking” can be edited just like any other GSX vehicle, moved and rotated
using the same keys to move/rotate vehicles. However, a new pair of keys ( F5/F6
Toggle Drone Auto Focus: F4 by default ) is available when editing a Parking, which allows to resize it, visually.
Decrease Drone Rotation Speed: F3
Decrease Drone Translation Speed: F1 Once you exit the Parking editor, any changes to the position/heading/size of a
Decrease Drone Depth of Field: F2 parking, will affect the GSX “Warp me here” menu, the GSX radius that controls
the default starting position for vehicles (unless you customized that one too) and
the availability of a parking compared against the airplane Wingspan, and the
behavior of the GSX Marshaller and the Docking Systems.
Editing the Parking System Editing the Stop Position
Editing the Stop position is important to achieve a more precise and realistic
positioning of various airplane types, no matter which one has been used to edit
the parking position.
Understanding the Stop Position
The editor and the parking system (Marshaller/Docking System) take into account
the main Passengers Door so, regardless of which airplane you used to custom-
Select and position any Parking assistance system, whether it’s a Marshaller, or ize a parking position while editing, every airplane type using that parking will be
any kind of Visual Docking System. You can now select any of the available FSDT guided to have its own Passenger Door in the same place. The parking editor now
Visual Docking System, and place them on any scenery, either default or 3rd party. has a marker to indicate the location of the door that extends a bit outside, to be
used as a reference to align the door to the rest of the scenery, usually to a jetway
The Parking system can be edited like any other GSX vehicle, and several new keys
are available when editing a Parking system: Assuming the 737 was used to customize the parking, if the same parking will then
be used by a 747 (assuming the parking size is large enough for both planes), due
to the different distance between the Nose Gear and the Passenger Door 1 of the
• F2/F3 Cycle between different kind of Parking Systems, from the Mar- 747 compared to the 737, the Stop position calculated by GSX for the 747, will
shaller, to the various Visual Docking System types. result in the Nose Gear being a bit ahead than the 737 one. The 747 Passenger
Door 1 which will then end up in exactly the same position as the one of the 737
• Q/Z Increase/Decrease the object height from ground. This will be used which was used to customize the parking originally.
to adjust the height from ground for several types of Visual Docking System
types, which are wall-mounted. This method, in addition to be more realistic and allowing for an easier alignment
with an eventual jetway, will allow users to customize a parking position that is
not dependent on the airplane type. If the same parking was customized when a
747 was the active plane, the same principle would work in reverse: a 737 using
the parking would end up with its Passenger Door 1 in the same place as the one
of the 747 that was used to customize the parking, so the final result will be the
same, regardless which airplane was used to customize the Stop Position.
The following diagram clarifies this: Usage without a Jetway

Nose Gear Preferred Exit
It’s important to note that the usage of the Preferred Exit to calculate the Stop
B737-800 Position, will work only in parking spots with a Jetway. If there’s no Jetway, the
Door used as a reference, will always be the most farther ahead longitudinally,
usually Pax 1.
Stop Position Special Cases

Sometimes, it might be desirable to always use the Pax 1 door to calculate the Stop
position. The Ignore Preferred Exit option in the parking customization dialog, can
B747-400 be used in this case.
Preferred Exit = Pax 1
Custom Pushback
Editing a Custom Pushback works very differently, depending if the “Snap“option
Stop Position
enabled or not. With the option Enabled, the Pushback will be constrained by the
underlying airport .BGL structure, and with the option Disabled, it will work in
“Free” mode.
B747-400 Both modes have their utility, depending on the kind of Pushback required, but
Preferred Exit = Pax 2
due to recent additions, we suggest using the non-Snap option, which it’s easier
to use and also allow more flexibility.
If you need to do a long pushback, which will end far from the original parking
Stop Position and will pass through several apron/taxi lines, it’s best to enable the “Snap” option,
because this will ensure the pushback won’t pass through any airport buildings
Preferred Exit not on the first door and will always stay on lines. However, this mode is affected by the underlying
airport .BGL nodes, and might not always work as expected, depending how the
Some airplanes might have been configured to have the Preferred Exit to be the scenery is made.
2nd Passenger Door. In this case, GSX will calculate the Stop Position in order to
align that door to the original Stop Position. Following the previous example, a If you need to exit from a tight parking, and end fairly close to your starting parking
747 configured with the 2nd Passenger Door as Preferred Exit which will use the spot, it’s usually best to use the Free Mode, by disabling the “Snap” option. The
parking, will stop with the Nose Gear much further ahead, in order to have the 2nd advantage of this mode, is the Pushback will no longer bound by the underlying
door aligned with the Stop Position ( and thus the Jetway ). This configuration is nodes, but nothing will prevent the pushback route to pass through other scenery
quite common, which explains why in many parking spots the 747 stop markings objects, or stay over the lines: it will be your responsibility to check for that.
on ground are usually the closest to the Marshaller/Docking System.
The 3D customization mode has two additional items, called “Custom Pushback
1” and “Custom Pushback 2”, which can be cycled with F1/F4 like all the other
Vehicles starting points, Stop Position, Parking, etc. If you just cycle over the Cus-
tom Pushback points, it would be as if you never customized them. But as soon
as you stop there and start to move the Custom Pushback point, GSX will know
you are now explicitly setting a Custom Pushback for that position, so it will turn
off its automatic default mode, and will respect your customized Pushback points.
Please note that, when a Pushback point is customized, “Left” or “Right” will likely
lose their meaning. You can leave them as they are, and just customize a left or
right pushback route, but this is not enforced: you can set a pushback route that
ends with the airplane tail to the Left (what GSX by default calls “Left”) on the
Right slot, and vice-versa. The two labels, when the pushback position is custom-
ized, will become just labels you can freely modify, and the Left/Right indication
matters only if that parking doesn’t have a custom pushback, so GSX will work
with its default strategy, where Left/Right matters. To put it in other words:
When the Pushback is not customized:
Left = “GSX will search a node that will result in the airplane tail pointed to the Left”
Right = “GSX will search a node that will result in the airplane tail pointed to the Right”
When the Pushback is customized:
Left = “GSX will use the node you set, change the Left label to match the end result”
Right = “GSX will use the node you set, change the Right label to match the end result” The airplane symbol represents the Position and Heading the airplane will be at
the end of the pushback procedure.
Custom Pushback/Quick Edit Pre-planning
You can now use the Arrow Keys to move the airplane end position. Pressing
This will be the most common and most powerful feature to customize any kind Shift+Arrow Keys, will move the pointer faster.
of Pushback route. Its usage is exactly the same, regardless if it’s called from the
Airport Customization page, when editing a Pushback Slot, or from the QuickEdit Press NumPad1/3 to rotate the pointer and Shift to rotate faster. Pressing F7/F8
mode, which is accessed while performing a Pushback, to create a custom route will also rotate the pointer, and will SNAP the rotation to 15° steps, aligned with
“on the fly”, which is automatically saved in the QuickEdit slot, and later recalled,
but also copied to other slots, and assigned a custom friendly name. the Parking Heading, which is very useful to quickly setup an end point perpen-
dicular to the Parking heading.
To access the full Custom Pushback from the Airport Customization page, be sure This is how the airplane end position
the “Snap” option is DISABLED, which is the default setting. might look like after rotating it per-
pendicular to the Parking Heading,
When accessing the Custom Pushback in QuickEdit mode, during the pushback and placed over the yellow apron
procedure, the editing method is always considered to be non-Snap. line.
The small green dots will indicate
When the Custom Pushback editor starts, if the selected slot for the current parking the actual path undertaken during
position has never been customized before, it will start as the following screenshot, pushback. Note that, this visualiza-
with just the Airplane symbol placed on a default position, ready to be moved. tion uses exactly the same algorithm
used by the pushback, so it’s very
accurate, since it’s running a simula-
tion of it, just without moving the
airplane.
Custom Pushback Waypoints Editing Pushback Waypoints
A Custom Pushback route might work in the simplest cases like the one depicted When editing a Custom Pushback route, the following keys are the one in use:
before, with just the end point set, but you can achieve complete control over the
Pushback path by adding Waypoints to it. A Custom Pushback route can have Arrow Keys Move the selected object. Keep Shift pressed to move it faster.
up to 9 Waypoints, and they work as “Control Points” of a Spline curve, so fairly NumPad 1/3 Rotate the selected object. Keep Shift pressed to rotate it faster.
complex (and smooth) curves can be obtained, even with a few points, by simply
F5 Remove the selected waypoint.
controlling the location and Heading of each Waypoint. Usually, no more than 2-3
Waypoints will be needed, and even the most complex path don’t usually need F6 Insert a waypoint
more than 5 Waypoints. F7/F8 Rotate the selected fast, snapped with the Parking Heading.
F1/F4 Cycle selection between pushback end point and all waypoints.
The easiest way to start, is to press the NumPad-5 key while editing the Pushback
route, which will automatically place TWO waypoints to get you started, one ex-
tending from the airplane tail, another from the pushback point nose, as in the
following picture:
When a waypoint is selected, its pointer will be highlighted this way. Waypoints
can be moved but, most importantly, can also be rotated. A waypoint heading
controls the shape of the path before and after itself.
These two waypoints achieve the result of straighten up the curve at start and
towards the end, so the tow truck will initially push straight back for a little while,
and will end up lined with airplane at the end as well. For a simple Pushback like
this, the two automatically placed waypoints are just fine for a perfect result, so
you might press Enter to exit the editor, since this route looks good.
If Waypoint #1 is selected, pressing F6 will create a new Waypoint #1 between the

Some examples how changing just the waypoint heading affects the path shape. airplane start position (can be considered as waypoint #0) and the original waypoint
#1, which will not become waypoint #2.
Removing a Waypoint
Below, another example of a more complex path, using 4 Waypoints.
To remove a Waypoint, cycle to the desired Waypoint with F1/F4, then press F5,
to remove the selected Waypoint. The Pushback end position, indicated by the
airplane pointer, cannot be removed.
Inserting a Waypoint
To insert a new Waypoint, cycle to the desired insertion point, and press F6, to
create a new Waypoint mid-way before the currently selected one. For example:
If Waypoint #2 is selected, pressing F6 will create a new Waypoint #2 mid-way The Waypoint editor is not used just for Pushback routes: it works in a very similar
between #1 and the original #2, which will now become #3 way to edit Passenger waypoints, just with the addition of the 3rd dimension.
Airport Walkers Waypoints Editing Pax Waypoints
Walkers are passengers that wanders around in a loop inside airport terminals, To allow creation of a new Pax Waypoints path, you must first disable the Pas-
independently from an actual Boarding/Deboarding procedure in GSX. They ap- senger Bus, otherwise the button will not be active.
pear after entering the airport, and will be removed on exit. They can be optionally
turned On/Off globally using the “Enable Airport Walkers” in the GSX Settings page.
Pax Waypoints
Also, the “Disable passenger bus” option itself is only available if the parking spot
Pax Waypoints are used by passengers during GSX Boarding/Deboarding, and are doesn’t have a Jetway. If there’s a jetway, is always possible to add Pax Waypoints.
used when the Passenger Bus is disabled on a specific parking spot, because the
distance from the parking position to the terminal entrance is short enough to If both conditions are satisfied, you can click the “Customize pax Waypoints” but-
walk directly. ton to enter the Waypoint Editor.
GSX Airport Customization allows to create both kind of paths, using the editor All keys used in the Custom Pushback/QuickEdit mode are still valid here. Please
in a mode that is very similar to the Pushback route editor. The main difference refer to the explanations about editing Pushback Waypoints in the previous pages.
is that when editing Passenger waypoints, it will be possible to work in the 3rd v
dimension, with each waypoint possibly having its own height from ground, al-
lowing passengers to climb scenery elements like fixed or moving stairs, outside There are two new keys used in this mode, Q and Z, which are used to Raise (Q) or
or inside terminal buildings. Lower (Z) the currently selected Waypoint, to allow path creations in the 3d space.
The two Passenger Waypoint editors are started with the following two buttons When the editor starts and there’s no path already defined, it will start like this:
in the Airport Customization page:
In this example, the small (5) in parenthesis over the “Customize pax Waypoints”
button, indicates this parking has already been customized before, and the path
contains 5 waypoints. The other button doesn’t have a number, meaning no path
has been created, in this case for the “Walker waypoints”.
The Trashcan icon can be used to remove an existing path, so it’s only enabled on
the 2nd button, which has a path assigned to.
As with everything in this page, the options are saved for each parking spot, meaning
a parking spot can have one path for the Airport Walkers and one for Passengers.
The “Disable pax barriers” option is used to prevent GSX from displaying its own
passengers barriers (or “stanchions”), so they won’t conflict with existing scenery
elements that might already represent the same thing.
Clicking either button will activate the relevant Waypoint editor, which differs The active pointer will show the “Pax Gate” object selected, which represents the
slightly depending if you are editing Airport Walker or Passenger paths. terminal Entrance. This will be either the Final destinations for Passengers, during
Deboarding, or their starting point during Boarding. It’s usually placed just behind GSX will automatically place two rows of Barriers/Stanchions. Those are available
some door depiction in the scenery, for example: in a few color variations, which can be cycled by pressing the F2/F3 keys.
We can now continue to add and move waypoints, to create a path that passengers
can walk to from the Pax Gate entrance to the airplane stairs, avoiding vehicles
and other scenery objects.
Remember you can change the starting position for every GSX vehicle on each
gate, so use both options to create a good walking path for Passengers.
After adding the waypoints, the completed path will look like this:
We need at least one waypoint for the path to be usable so, just like the Pushback
editor, pressing F6 will insert a new waypoint somewhere half-way between the
Pax Gate and the Parking spot itself.
It’s best to have the last part of the path to be perpendicular to the entrance, so
we can reposition the 1st waypoint like this:
It’s not required for the last waypoint to reach exactly the airplane exit. In fact, it’s
best to place it a bit earlier, to allow some space for the staircase vehicle. As stan-
dard with any Editor, you can press the Enter key to exit the editor and have your
modifications automatically saved in the GSX profile for the airport.
This is the simplest kind of path, which doesn’t change elevation, because all way-
points are on ground. In the next pages will discuss how to edit waypoints in the
3d space, to allow passengers climbing/descending over existing scenery elements.
Editing Pax Waypoints in 3D
Sometimes, you want to create custom paths for Passengers so they can walk
through scenery elements that might not be “real” jetways, or climb over stairs.
GSX customization can do that, by allowing to set an height from ground to each
waypoint.
To better explain how it works, we’ll use the 3rd party scenery for LIPZ ( Venice )
from Beautiful Models of the World.
When a waypoint has a custom height from ground, the pointer will display the
height, so you can check at a first glance which waypoints has been raised from
ground. To help figuring out the correct height better, pay attention to the small
square in the center of the blue pointer: if it’s visible, it means the object is above
ground so, your objective should be placing it exactly before it disappears, so it
stays slightly over ground so it won’t flicker, but barely, so it won’t look too high.
This bridge is curved, so it requires several waypoints placed at the correct height,
so passengers will follow it precisely. This is the final result during Deboarding, with
This gate has a custom MSFS Jetway, which continues in the green-colored glassed passengers going through the jetways and crossing over the bridge:
bridge behind it.
Normally, GSX passengers would stop at the end of the jetway but, since the bridge
is transparent, it would be nice if we could see passengers passing through it,
which wouldn’t be normally possible, since the bridge element can’t be detected
by GSX like a jetway could.
As usual, the editor starts by placing the Pax Gate object on the apron. The first
thing to do would be moving the Pax Gate at the end of the green bridge, at the
correct height.
We first move the gate using the cursor keys, then we can raise the object by press-
ing the Q key multiple times, until the required height is reached.
Reset the .INI file together with the other .BGL files in the your scenery folder. This is as
simple as copying the .INI in the “Package” folder of your MSFS project. The build
system won’t affect it, and since the .INI file won’t be used by the simulator, it’s
not required to add it in the layout.json file for the package.
The “Reset” button in the lower part of the Customization page has two different
modes of operation: When a GSX .INI profile is distributed in the main scenery folder this way, it will be
labeled with “file is designer-provided and won’t be modified in-place”, which
• When a single parking spot is selected, it will Reset to default all settings for tells users the scenery came with a custom GSX profile supplied with it and will be
that parking spot only.
• When multiple parking spots are selected, they will be all Reset to default settings. opened in “read-only” mode. This means if users open the GSX editor to make
• If the “Airport” top-most root node is selected, pressing Reset will reset all some changes, a NEW GSX .INI profile for that airport will be created in %APPDATA%\
parking positions of the airport to default, and will also remove your GSX .INI Virtuali\GSX\MSFS and this file will be based on the one supplied with the scenery,
and in case of a Reset, it will revert to the designer-provided file, so users can make
profile. their own changes, but won’t have to start from scratch.
Saving and Sharing your Airport Customization Customization files Priority
There’s nothing special to do to save your edits: as soon as you press the Apply GSX follows a general priority rule, which is also valid for all Airplane customization
button, the settings are saved as they are in the customization dialog, and they options that user-made content will always take precedence over internal data or
are in effect immediately without having to restart MSFS or the Couatl program. developer-supplied data. Airport customization are loaded according to the fol-
To verify your new settings, just ask for service, and all the parameters used for lowing priority rules:
the parking spot will be those you just modified. Airport customization files are
saved in the following folder: • A possible GSX internal customization for a scenery. They usually come with
FSDT airports, but not always, since GSX might come with some specific adjust-
%APPDATA%\Virtuali\GSX\MSFS ment for popular 3rd party sceneries as well. These settings are loaded first, so
they have the lowest priority.
Each file will be named as its ICAO code, with an .INI extension, they are plain
standard .INI files, with a general section and multiple sections for each parking • If an airport scenery comes with its own GSX .INI profile placed in the scenery
that has been customized. own folder, together with the other .BGLs that makes the airport, this file will
take precedence over any GSX internal data, adding to it.
The .INI file remembers which airport .BGL file was active when it was created. If
you start customizing an airport, and a different .BGL is now in use, a NEW .INI file • When users start to modify settings, the GSX .INI profile automatically created
will be created from scratch, named as the ICAO code plus some random letters. in %APPDATA%\Virtuali\GSX\MSFS will get the highest possible priority, allow-
This means you might have different customization files for the same airport. The ing users to further customize a scenery which was already customized by the
one active is the one matching the .BGL in use at any time. You are encouraged to original developer.
share your customization files with other users. Just be aware that we might use data
contained in files you uploaded on the net, to include them in future GSX updates. The name of the .BGL used to customize the scenery is listed in the [GENERAL]
section of the GSX .INI profile. It will include the complete path valid for your syste
mbut, don’t worry, there’s no need to edit it out before sharing your work, since
Note for scenery developers:
GSX will only use the .BGL filename, and will ignore the full path altogether, it
You can use the integrated GSX editor to make your airport more compliant with has been designed like this exactly to facilitate sharing of GSX .INI profiles without
GSX, and feel free to include the .INI file together with your scenery package. There’s worrying about different paths. As long the currently active .BGL matches the
name referenced in the .INI file, the .INI will be loaded by GSX, no matter the path.
no need to install the .INI file into the %APPDATA% folder, you can just distribute
Customizing “Premium” Airports or MS Marketplace airports. Separate .BGL files for GSX use
Airports belonging to the “Premium” or “Premium Deluxe” MSFS versions pose To overcome this problem, GSX has the ability to load a separate .BGL that is
a specific challenge to a product like GSX, which needs to read airport data like completely separated from the simulator. This .BGL should be placed in the same
parking spots, taxiways, runways, etc, to work correctly. folder used to store GSX custom .INI profiles:
They are encrypted, so any utility product like GSX, but also Flight planning utilities, %APPDATA%\Virtuali\GSX\MSFS
ATC utilities or any other similar add-on that might need to read the airport data
for any reason, won’t be able to read it. Since this folder is outside the normal “Official” or “Community” folders, MSFS
will not see it in any way, and it won’t affect any operation in the sim, which will
This issue might possibly be solved in the future, since Microsoft has hinted a continue to use the encrypted version for things like AI operations or ATC.
proper API to read airport data might appear in the SDK in the future, and GSX
will surely use it as soon it will came out but, for the time being, we need to use Only GSX will make use of this file, since the above folder will act as an extra loca-
some workarounds. tion with the highest possible priority, and 3rd party developers that sells airports
on the MS Marketplace can simply offer an unencrypted version of the airport
Premium Airports .BGL file to their users, so the scenery can be used by GSX, even if it’s encrypted.
These are usually less of an issue because, even if the Premium-handcrafted airport This option is completely safe for 3rd party developers, since GSX only needs the
is not readable by GSX, there’s another version of the same airport which GSX will base airport file which contains the airport data, not the rest of the .BGL or any
load instead, and they are usually based on the same data, at least data that matters texture, so they can freely distribute it without any fear or piracy, since the airport
to GSX operations, like parking spots, taxiways, runways and Jetways. .BGL alone is not really usable without its libraries of models and textures.
Jetways might be a bigger problem, because the enhanced airport might feature After installing GSX Pro, a DRM-free version of the airport file for every FSDT airport
different jetway positioning, or custom jetways. Depending on the case, you might found in the “Official” folder will be placed in the above location, so you can use
want to Exclude the airport from the Jetways substitution. This is done quite easily your FSDT sceneries bought on the MS Marketplace immediately, with no issues.
from the FSDT Universal Installer, using the “Config” option for GSX Pro, which has We suggest contacting other developers asking them to make such file available for
been discussed earlier in this manual. While 3rd party airports are all automatically download in a similar way, to the benefit of other GSX users that bought airports
excluded from Jetway substitution (but you can always enable them, if you want), on the MS Marketplace.
airports made by Microsoft/Asobo are not, because the end result is different for
each one, so we decided to leave this decision to users. This feature has also another possible usage, even when an airport is not encrypted,
because you can take advantage of it, to create a GSX-specific .BGL.
MS Marketplace airports.
Sometimes, airports might be designed in some way because of AI-related issues,
These are more of a problem, because they are usually more different compared to which might not always play nice with GSX. They might lack enough Vehicle or
default, likely with completely different parking spots naming and taxiway layouts Fuel parking types, or they might not be well connected to the taxiway layout,
and in some cases different runways as well. Having GSX have to work with data resulting in longer wait times for services to arrive, because GSX use these parking
from a default airport over a 3rd party airport will create issues with non matching and taxiway types by preference.
parking spots and possibly vehicle movement issues, since the taxiway layout might
be very different from default. It will be very likely jetways won’t be detected, so Using the separate .BGL option, might allow users to create their own GSX-specific
passengers will use a Bus when they shouldn’t. The solution is to ask the scenery .BGL file (we suggest using ADE for MSFS to do that), and developers can also de-
developer to provide you with just the airport .BGL file not encrypted, to be placed cide to offer GSX-optimized .BGLs, which might improve how GSX work, without
in the %APPDATA%\Virtuali\GSX\MSFS folder, like we do with all our sceneries having to change anything in the .BGL used in the simulator, which might have
done in a specific way for other reasons.
Airplane Customization
A very important feature in GSX, is the ability to customize any airplane for proper
GSX usage, indicating things like the number, type and location of all doors, if the
airplane is Passenger or Cargo, if it has a custom fuel system, etc.
GSX comes with several default airplane already included in its internal database,
and it also includes several 3rd party add-ons but, the Airplane customization fea-
ture allow users to add any existing or future airplane to GSX. 3rd party developers
can also supply their airplanes with a custom GSX profile, so it will be ready to use
with no work required.
The Airplane Customization Editor is started from the GSX main menu, with the
“Customize Airplane” button. The option is not available while a GSX service is
being performed, for example you can’t customize an airplane while Boarding it.
Like the Airport customization page, the Airplane customization page has two
modes of operation: the initial dialog, where some option can be set, and the 3d
Editor, which works using the Showcase/Drone camera view in the sim, which can
be used to place doors and other important points interactively, by looking at the
airplane.
When first opening the Airplane customization page, the editor will start with the
Airplane Dialog, indicating the name of the airplane loaded, and the various options.
Please note, the airplane image in the diagram is just a reference to how doors are
usually placed, and it changes only depending if the airplane is 1, 2 or 4 engines.
The only thing that matters are the actual coordinates of each door, not its posi-
tion in the diagram.
For example, an airplane with its only passenger door on the back, such as the
Lockheed Constellation, should be configured with the Pax 1 door only, by set-
ting the correct coordinates, regardless if this will still be shown in the front of the
airplane in that diagram, which is just an example.
Airplane Customization options The User customization data source is a file named GSX.CFG, located in the fol-
lowing folder:
The topmost part of the Airplane Customization dialog will give some information
about where GSX is taking data for the currently loaded airplane from. %APPDATA%\Virtuali\Airplanes\AIRPLANE
This file will be automatically created when changing any option with the GSX
Airplane Customization editor, and will take the highest priority, allowing to further
customize any airplane, regardless if it was already included in GSX or had a GSX
custom profile supplied by the developer.
IMPORTANT
The first lines labeled “Aircraft data available from these sources” will list all valid Having an airplane already included in the GSX Internal database is not required
to allow a full customization, with almost all GSX features working.
data sources found for this airplane, and the next line, labeled “Aircraft data used
by GSX” will tell which, of the various data sources available, is used by GSX right However, some of the more advanced options can only be achieved with special
now. support in the GSX Internal database, since they use custom coding that cannot
be easily represented with an user interface.
Like Airport Customization files, Airplane data sources also use a priority system, Doors can be configured
as follows: by clicking on the small
colored rectangles, which
• Simconnect allow doors to be enabled
• Internal GSX database or disabled, in addition to
• Developer-provided custom profile several options available for
• User-made custom profile. the selected door.
Those are loaded in this order, with data loaded last taking an higher priority over Other points in the airplane,
data loaded first. like the engines, or the fuel
point or the deicing points,
Data from Simconnect is used when the airplane is “unknown” to GSX, so it’s have less options and can
the most basic, but it’s usually enough to get you started and improve on it with also be configured here,
the GSX editor. GSX will use any information about the airplane using Simconnect or interactively, using the
and standard SimVars. 3D editor.
The Internal GSX database indicates this particular airplane has been included
in GSX, so it’s usually ready to use without any further changes, but of course it
can be user customized too.
The developer provided data is a file named GSX.CFG, located in the airplane
own main folder, the one that contains the aircraft.cfg file so, in a typical MSFS
standard Package, is placed in the SimObjects\Airplanes\AIRPLANE _ NAME folder
of the Package. Data here will augment and integrate with data from the GSX
internal database, with an higher priority.
When clicking over any door or other Airplanes using Standard door variables.
point, the following pop-up dialog will
appear over the selected door/point. Doors in MSFS are more generically referred as “Interactive Points”, which include
not just doors, but also other points like the Fuel Hose connection, the GPU con-
To exit from this additional dialog, click nection, etc.
on an empty space in the airplane dialog
behind it. Their values usually go from 1 to 16, although the internal MSFS Simulation Vari-
able, named INTERACTIVE POINT OPEN:n has n going from 0 to 15, while the key
event GSX will send to open the door:
n (>K:TOGGLE _ AIRCRAFT _ EXIT)
Will have n going from 1 to 16. Interactive Points are controlled by the Airplane
“Behavior” XML file in its model folder so, for example, the default Asobo A320
The first line indicates the Door type, and it might be labeled in Blue with a small NEO behavior XML is located here:
Star symbol, which means the door is the “Preferred Exit”. The Preferred Exit is Official\OneStore\asobo-aircraft-a320-neo\SimObjects\AirPlanes\Asobo _ A320 _ NEO\model\
used to calculate the Parking Stop position, as explained in the previous chapter A320 _ NEO.XML
“Understanding the Stop Position”
Has a following line:
<Component ID=”INTERACTIVE _ POINTS”>

The next drop-down list is used to tell GSX which variable controls the door’s open/ Which starts a definition of various contact points and, checking them, we can
closed status. gather useful informations to configure the airplane correctly for GSX (it’s already
“No door at this position” is used included in the default GSX database, this is just an example):
to tell GSX this airplane doesn’t have
that kind of door. <ID>5</ID>
<ANIM _ NAME>door _ cargo</ANIM _ NAME>
“Door without open/close checks”will
instruct GSX to ignore the door, and From this line, we can see the cargo door has an <ID> of 5. IDs in the behavior XML
proceed with the service without wait- file match the internal MSFS variable INTERACTIVE POINT OPEN:5, so we’ll need to
ing if it’s open or closed.
set this Door in GSX as “Door with open/close checks as Standard Door #6”. We
must set 6 here, because 6 will be the value of the Key Event GSX will sent to the
“ Door with custom open/close door to open it, while the variable to check will be 5.
checks” is used to enter a custom
XML expression to check the door However, you don’t have to do all of this, because there’s a feature in GSX that
status, for airplanes that don’t use the allows you to TEST DOORS, visually, with the button below.
standard MSFS door variables.
The “Open Door” button is very useful in both these situations:

It’s functionally identical to having selected the option to use a Standard Door #6
• While configuring a new airplane for the first time, to figure it out which num- in the drop-down list, because this expression will evaluate to True if that variable
ber controls which door (assuming the airplane does use Standard Variables), has a value other than 0, indicating the door is open.
without having to peek inside the various XML behavior files.
• After the airplane is configured, to simply open the door. 3rd party airplanes will likely use custom L: variable, for example:
To test the door, just go into an outside view, so you can see the airplane from the (L:MyExitRear, number)
outside, open the GSX Airplane Configuration page, select the door and click the
“Open Door” button, and see if the doors opens. You might see another doors Would indicate an hypothetical 3rd party airplane with some custom code handling
opens instead, there are 15 possible values, with a few tries, it should be possible doors, that has set an L: variable named MyExitRear, so its door is not linked to
to figure it out all the various codes required by GSX. the standard Simulation variable ( those are A: variable types ), but rather a custom
After all doors codes are set correctly, GSX will be able to open/close them auto- L: variable created by this airplane.
matically. However, the option to open a door manually will always be available
because, if GSX failed to open a door automatically for any reason (usually because Please note that in this case, GSX will not open the door automatically, and the
the code selected is not correct or not set), it will just display a message saying it’s “Open Button” won’t work either, because under no circumstances, GSX will ever
waiting for your action. touch 3rd party variables defined by the airplane code!
Airplane using Custom Variables for doors To understand why, it’s important to know the difference between Variables and
Events. A variable usually controls the bare animation of some visible part, but
Not all airplanes in MSFS will use the Standard Interactive Points system, some of what really triggered the animation is always some kind of Event happened in the
them might use their own custom system, which are usually linked to some L: airplane code, which might be a standard one, or not.
variables, which are global variables defined by the airplane code. To use one of
these airplanes, select the relevant door and choose the “Door with Custom open/ Even with airplanes using Standard Variables (where GSX can open doors), GSX
close checks” option: will never, ever, touch the variable but, instead, it will fire the matching standard
K: Event, which will cause the variable to change its value, driving the animation.
If GSX tried, for example, to act directly on the variable, it might “kind of” work,
but it will likely have to “fight” against either the standard simulator or, even
worse, some custom code in the airplane that is also setting the variable with its
own events, causing visual issues like flickering animations or, in the worse case,
loss of synch between what the airplane expects its own simulation to be, and the
visible animations in the airplane.
That’s why, when a door is set to have Custom open/close check, so there’s no sure
A new editing field will appear, labeled as “Custom Check”. Type here an XML way to know which event is triggering it (which might be entirely custom), GSX
expression, which evaluates to a boolean value, which can help GSX knowing if the will never try to open the door by itself, relying on whatever method the airplane
door is open or closed. In this case, we followed on the previous example of the already has in place to open its own custom doors.
Cargo Door of the default Asobo A320 NEO, which has its cargo door controlled However, this is not always necessarily true in all cases. Some specific 3rd party
airplanes might have been configured in the GSX database to use custom code,
by the standard INTERACTIVE POINT OPEN:5 SimVar. The expression we wrote here:
(A:INTERACTIVE POINT OPEN:5, number) this is called the “Airplane Handler” feature, which will be explained later.
Cargo Doors options IATA ICAO Dimensions Description

Cargo Doors have additional options AKC LD1 156/234 × 153 × 163 Contoured, half width, used for 747
cm
available, which are used to indicate the
Loader Type and the kind of containers DPE LD2 119/156 × 153 × 163 Contoured, half width, used by the 767
cm
used on that door.
AKE LD3 156/201 × 153 × 163 Contoured, half width, used by B77, A330/340, MD11
cm
AKH LD3-45 114 × 153 × 163 cm 45” height for loading on Airbus A320 family
ALF LD6 406 x 153 x 163 cm Full-width lower hold container with angled ends
The default loader type is the “Belt” Loader, a baggage loader with a Conveyor ALP LD11 317 x 223 x 163 cm Full-width lower hold container. Canvas Door.
Belt used to load luggage, with a person manually moving bags from the airplane AMP M1 317 x 243 x 243 cm Main-deck container. Door is canvas with built-in net door straps.
to a Baggage Loading Cart and vice-versa.
DQF LD8 243 x 153 x 163 cm Full-width lower hold container angled at both ends. Canvas door with
built-in door straps.
If one of the various ULD codes is used, the Belt Loader will be replaced by a “Cargo
Loader”, which has two moving platforms with ball bearings to move containers Below, a table of which ULDs are used in the most common airplane types:
automatically from the Cargo Doors to the Loader and then to a Cargo Cart.
Aircraft IATA ULD ICAO ULD
ULD for the Lower Deck Cargo doors are used for both luggage and other cargo,
while ULD specific to the Upper Deck and Pallets are used on the Main Cargo door, B747 LD1 AKC
usually on the Left side of the airplane. B767 LD2 DPE
On wide-body airplanes, it’s more efficient to load Cargo (Baggage and Mail), using B777 LD3 AKE
loaders that move standard containers, named Unit Load Device or ULD for short. B787 LD3 AKE
Their type and measurement is fairly strict, since they must adapt to the fuselage
shape and size, and the cargo door size too. There are several containers type used A300 LD3 AKE
for different airplane types, and GSX supports the most popular ones which are A310 LD3 AKE
used on the Lower Cargo bay.
A319 LD3-45 AKH
A unit load device (ULD), is a pallet or container used to load luggage, freight, A320 LD3-45 AKH
and mail on wide-body aircraft and specific narrow-body aircraft. It allows a large
quantity of cargo to be bundled into a single unit. Since this leads to fewer units A321 LD3-45 AKH
to load, it saves ground crews time and effort and helps prevent delayed flights. A330 LD3 AKE
Each ULD has its own packing list (or manifest) so that its contents can be tracked.
A340 LD3 AKE
All ULDs are identified by their ULD number. A three-letter prefix identifies its type, A380 LD3 AKE
followed by a 4 or 5 digit serial number to uniquely identify it from others of the MD-11 LD3 AKE
same type, and ending with a two character (alpha-numerical) suffix identifying
the ULD’s owner (if an airline, often the same as IATA designator codes). L-1011 LD3 AKE
IL-86 LD3 AKE
GSX supports the most widely used ULDs, listed in the table on the following table:
IL-96 LD3 AKE
IATA ULD Code: AKC Contoured Container IATA ULD code: ALP rectangular container
Also known as: AVC, AVD, AVK, AVJ Also known as: ALD, AW2, AWB, AWD, AWZ, DLP,
AKC Forkable: AVY DWB, and MWB. Refrigerated version: RWB, RWD,
and RWZ.
Classification: LD-1
Rate Class: Type 8
ALP Rate class: Type 6
Suitable for: B747, B767, B777, MD-11 Description: Full-width lower hold container. Door
LD1 Internal volume: 4.8 cu. m (169.5 cu. ft) is canvas. Center post swings clear for loading. Re-
frigerated version has solid door.
Maximum gross weight: 1588 kg (3501 lb LD11 Suitable for: 747, 777, 787, DC-10, MD-11 lower hold
Door opening: 120 x 61-in (305 x 155-cm)
IATA ULD Code: AKE Contoured Container Maximum gross weight: 3,176 kg (7,002 lb)
Also known as: AKE, AVA, AVB, AVC, AVK, DVA, Tare weight: 185 kg (408 lb)
DVE, DVP, XKS, XKG
AKE Forkable: AKN, AVN, DKN, DVN, XKN IATA ULD code: AMA rectangular container on P6P
Classification: LD-3 base Rate class: Type 2
Rate Class: Type 8
Suitable for: A300, A310, A330, A340, B747, B767,
AMP Also known as: AMF, AMG, AMK, AMP, AQA, AQD,
and AQ6 Description: Main-deck container. Door is
LD3 B777, DC-10, MD-11, L1011 canvas with built-in net door straps.
Internal volume: 4.3 cu. m (152 cu. ft) Suitable for: 747F, 747 Combi
Maximum gross weight: 1588 kg (3500 lb) M1 777F center loading only
Maximum gross weight: 6,804 cm (15,000 lb) Tare
Dimensions LxWxH: 156cm x 153cm x 163cm weight: 350 kg (772 lb),
(61.5”/47” x 60.4” x 64”)
DPE IATA Code: LD2
The choice to decide which method of cargo loading will be used (Conveyor Belt
Type Code: DPE
Also known as: DPA, APA, DPN (Forkable) or Cargo Loader), varies depending how the airplane is recognized by GSX:
Tare Weight: 92 kg* / 203 lb*
LD2 Weight Limitation: 1’225 kg / 2’700 lb If the airplane is recognized by GSX internal database, we already set up the correct
Aircraft: B767 ULD type for each supported airplane.
Dimension LxWxH: 244cm X 153cm X 117cm
(96”/61.5” X 60.4” X 46”) If the airplane is not included in the GSX internal database, the choice will be made
AKH IATA Code: LD3-45 (LD45) depending on the Cargo door height: if it’s less than 2 meters, a Conveyor Belt
Type Code: AKH loader will be used, otherwise the loader will a Cargo loader.
Also known as: DKH
Tare Weight: 82 kg* / 180 lb*
LD3-45 Weight Limitation: 1’588 kg / 3’500 lb This is controlled by the “Auto” option, which means GSX will choose the
Aircraft: A319, A320, A321 Loader Type depending on the door’s height.
IATA ULD code: ALF contoured container ULD Multiple Selection

Also known as: AWA, AWF, and forkable AWC
ALF Rate class: Type 6W
Description: Full-width lower hold container with You can select multiple usable ULDs, by CTRL+Clicking on the ULD list.
angled ends. Door is canvas with built-in door straps.
Suitable for: 747, 777, 787, DC-10, MD-11 lower hold
LD6 Door opening: 120 x 60-in (305 x 152-cm) For example, since a 747 can use both AKC, AKE, ALF and ALP ULDs on its Lower
Maximum gross weight: 3,175 kg (7,000 lb) Deck Cargo, you can CTRL+Click to select them all, resulting in the actual con-
Tare weight: 230 kg (507 lb) tainer being randomly selected amongst all the allowed ones.
Embedded Staircases Conditional Embedded Staircases
It’s possible to specify a passenger door to have an Embedded Staircase, which is Some airplanes don’t have passenger stairs embedded in the doors but, instead,
useful for certain airplane types, which have a Staircase as part of the passenger have a separate retractable stair that comes out from the plane fuselage just be-
door, like Learjets, CRJs, ERJs. The embedded Staircase can also be flagged as low the door. The use of such stairs is then optional, depending on the Captain/
“Conditional”, used by airplanes that can either use regular passenger stairs pro- Airline preference.
vided by the airport (GSX), or use their own retractable stairs, at the pilot’s choice,
like some 737 models. Since this is not a standard system offered by the simulator, it’s only available in
3rd party airplanes, for example the PMDG 737-800 has an option to enable such
GSX comes with some of these airplane models already pre-configured with stairs. To handle these cases, GSX has the ability to specify a “Conditional Embed-
Embedded staircases, and it’s also possible to customize them in the airplane ded Stair”, which is defined as a standard XML expression, with the same form as
configuration editor. the custom open/door check condition used for the doors.
To add an Embedded staircase, check the box labeled “Embedded Stair” in the There might be other airplanes, which come with their own passenger stair, which
Door editing dialog (the embedded staircase it’s part of a passenger door), and might be similar to the GSX one, usually controlled by switches in the cockpit.
enter the 3D editor in 3D mode, to configure the Embedded staircase start/end
positions. The Embedded Stair coordinates are required by GSX to calculate a proper For example, the Lockheed L049 “Constellation”, supplied with Prepar3D, has an
path for the climbing/descending passengers. optional passenger stair that can be enabled with a switch located in the Flight
Engineer panel. By defining it as a Conditional Embedded stair, it’s possible to
choose between the GSX stair and the one provided by the airplane.
A Conditional Embedded stair is defined just like a normal Embedded stair, but
with an added XML expression, which describes the condition.
If the result of the XML expression is True, GSX will use the Embedded Stair, oth-
erwise it will ignore it, and will call the standard GSX staircase vehicles, which will
work normally on the passenger door.
Same as the custom XML open/close check conditions, in order to set up a Condi-
tional Embedded stair, the most important thing to know, is the name of the custom
L: variable the airplane developer has used to animated the optional Embedded
stair in the airplane. Here’s an example of some XML expressions
(L:AirStairs, bool) PMDG 737-800

(L:fwd _ stair _ MD, bool) Leonardo MD-80
(L:figginghell,bool) Lockheed L049 Constellation (default P3D)
The Start position is best set on the outer edge of the first, highest step, and the
End position is best set on the outer edge of the last, lowest step
Airplane Customization 3D Editor A pointer with the 3 axes will appear at the door position, as currently known by
GSX. The 3 axes are color coded as follows:
Although you can edit the doors positions by inserting the numerical values di- • Green - Longitudinal axis, relative to the door’s heading, which correspond
rectly while in Dialog Mode, is surely much easier to place them interactively in 3D to the Lateral (Left/Right) distance relative to the Airplane fuselage, since the
graphics mode. door is perpendicular to it.
• Red - Lateral axis, relative to the door’s heading, which correspond to the
To access the 3D Editor Mode, simply select a door, and click the “Customize in Longitudinal (Forward/Back) distance relative to the Airplane fuselage.
3D Editor” button. This will leave the Dialog mode and will go back to graphics • Blue - Vertical axis, which represents the door’s height from ground.
mode, with the currently selected door ready to be edited interactively, as in the
following picture: The arrows indicates the positive direction of the axes, which means, when values
increase, the door will move in the direction pointed by the arrow. Over the vertical
arrow, a label indicates the door designation, for an easy recognition.
Over the door’s name, a numerical readout indicates Lateral/Longitudinal/Vertical

offsets, in meters, from the airplane Reference point, with the altitude relative to
Ground. Also, an image will be shown as a reminder of the keys used in this mode.
Calling the 3D Airplane Editor will switch the view to the Showcase/Drone camera, F1/F4 Lower/Raise a door/point
so you can orbit around the airplane to check each door position very easily.
F2 Make the selected door a Preferred Exit
By default, the door selected will be the one which was selected when you clicked NumPad 7/9 Cycle to the previous/next door or contact point
the door in the Airplane dialog, but once inside the 3D editor, it’s possible to cycle NumPad 1/3 Rotate a door
through all available doors and other contact points using the NumPad 7/9 keys. Arrow keys Move a door. Press Shift to move faster
NumPad 5 Enter Precision mode, which moves in smaller increments.
Enter Apply Changes and Exit from the 3D Editor
Precision Mode Contact Points other than Doors

When editing airplane doors and other contact points, it’s best to be as precise as There are many other points that can be configured on the Airplane that are not
possible, to get the best results like Passengers walking nicely from the cabin to Doors.
the staircase, or having Cargo or Catering platforms to be as flush as possible to
the cabin or cargo floors. Deicers In/Out Points
To achieve this, use a combination of the Precision mode, which is activated by
pressing NumPad 5 in the editor and the Showcase/Drone camera view to go as
close as possible to check the point accuracy from a better angle, and keep the
door open (possibly using the “Open Door” button in the editor), which makes
it easier to judge the alignment between the editor pointer and the door’s base.
The small Orange “sphere” on the pointer can be used to help being as accurate These are two points over the wing used by the De-Icing vehicle to know the wings
as possible to figure it out the best door position in the 3d space: positions and angle and the coverage area to spray on
GPU
GPU Attach Point. If the airplane comes with an

embedded power cable (most default MSFS planes
do), it will be some point in the air where the cable
normally ends.
Water and Lavatory Engines
One for each engine, these points should be placed in the 3d center of the Engine
itself, and are used by GSX to place Safety Cones when the airplane is parked.
Nosegear
These two services are not currently included in GSX, but the editor allows to specify
them, so airplanes will be ready when these service will be eventually featured in
a future update.
Bypass Pin
The location on the Gear strut

where the Bypass pin will be
inserted during Pushback.
The position of the Nosegear, used by the Pushback. It’s not usually required to edit
this, since the value taken from Simconnect it’s normally accurate, but it can still be
edited, possibly to fix minor errors. In this case, only forward/backward movement
is possible, indicated by the pointer with only the Green axes visible.
Other Airplane Configuration options of the normal Flight Attendants, it will Board/Deboard the Loadmaster, which is a
person with a notebook in hand, overseeing the Cargo Loading/Unloading process.
There are other options available to customize the airplane and how it works with Also, on Cargo Airplanes, instead of the regular Passenger Stairs, Cargo Stairs with
GSX in the main Airplane configuration Dialog: a more “industrial” look will be used to board/deboard the Crew.
Use GSX Traffic Cones
When this option is Enabled, GSX will create Safety Traffic Cones around the
airplane engines and wing-tips. Since some 3rd party airplanes might come with
their own Traffic Cones, the option can be Disabled so they won’t both show up
at the same time.
Engines Start before Pushback
If this option is Enabled, GSX will wait for at least one Engine to start before start-
ing Pushback. It’s normally used only with airplanes without an APU.
Show MSFS “Fuel and Cargo” dialog during refueling
When this option is Enabled, GSX will show a menu with the requested Fuel quantity Battery
when the Fuel truck approaches the airplane, and it will actually refuel the airplane, This option is used to have GSX charge the Battery when a Jetway with a Power
acting on the standard Fuel Tanks variables of the airplane. The refueling speed will Unity is connected. Is not currently used in MSFS, because it’s not currently pos-
be a combination of the GSX Fuel pump performances (which is not the same for sible to write over the electrical systems variables that control the battery recharge.
all Fuel truck vehicles), and the “Fuel Time acceleration” slider in the GSX Settings.
Some airplanes might use non-standard Fuel systems or might exhibit issues if an Pushback Raise
external program changes the Fuel quantity and, by disabling this option, when the
Fuel Truck connects, GSX will just ask you to use any Fuel loading option provided When the option is enabled, GSX will try to simulate raising the Nosegear during
by the airplane itself (like a loader, an EFB or FMC menu), and will wait for the Fuel Pushback, if the Towbarless truck is used.
quantity to change. When a change is detected, GSX will continue with its fuel
and crew animation, but it won’t actually touch the airplane Fuel Tanks variables, Pushback Dummy Events
it will just adapt its animation to the airplane own refueling process.
Some 3rd party events have systems that turns off themselves during Pushback,
The refueling speed, in this case, will be controlled by the airplane, if the airplane but they only detect the standard Pushback events. When this option is Enabled,
has a “Progressive Refuel” simulation. If, instead, the airplane loaded the fuel GSX will send a standard Pushback event when starting push, so the airplane will
instantly, the refueling speed will be very fast in GSX but, if the “Always refuel detect the start of a Pushback, turning off any system it’s supposed to, even when
the custom GSX Pushback is used.
progressively” option is enabled in the GSX Settings, GSX will perform its anima-
tions as if it was refueling itself, using its own Fuel pumps performance data, even This option can sometime have side effects, so we suggest talking with the airplane
if it won’t still actually refuel the airplane, which has already refueled itself. developer, and use the GSX published variables that are in place for 3rd party de-
velopers to detect the GSX Pushback.
Cargo Airplane
When this option is Enabled, it flags the airplane as being a Cargo airplane. In this
case, instead of Passengers, GSX will Board/Deboard only the Pilots and, instead
Airframe specific Configuration [cargo2]

pos = 0.61 -9.23 -0.81 0.00
There might be some cases where you might want to have different Airplane Con- code = 5
figurations for the same basic Airplane model, with different options depending name = AFT Cargo
on the airframe. embeddedStair = 0
A common reason for doing this, is to be able to specify different loaders types uldcode = AKH
used by different airlines on the same airplane, like one variation using Belt Loaders
and another one ULD Loaders. The parameter that matters is uldcode = AKH, which indicates GSX will normally
use an ULD Loader for both Cargo Doors, loading only AKH ULDs.
To use this feature, you must manually create a copy of an existing GSX.CFG file,
and name it by adding a dash and the airplane registration to it. Assuming we have an EasyJet livery variant called G-EZTA, which is correctly flagged
to have this atc _ id in its own aircraft.cfg file, like this:
If you haven’t customized that airplane before, there will be no custom profile
folder for it, and no GSX.CFG file. In this case, just make a very small modification atc _ id = G-EZTA
in the Airplane Configuration editor, like moving a door by 1 cm and then Save the
changes, to trigger the creation of a new folder in the airplane profile containing We should copy the default GSX.CFG file to one named GSX-G-EZTA.CFG, in the
the GSX.CFG file with all default options, which can be copied and edited. same folder, and edit it the new file as follows:
EXAMPLE: [cargo1]
pos = 0.61 5.27 -0.78 0.00
To create an airframe-specific file for the Fenix A320 EasyJet G-EZTA, make a copy code = 6
of an existing GSX.CFG for that plane in the %APPDATA%\Virtuali\Airplanes\FNX320 name = FWD Cargo
folder, and name it GSX-G-EZTA.CFG. embeddedStair = 0
uldcode = Belt
This will be used instead of the standard GSX.CFG file when that particular airframe
is loaded. The airplane registration code is the same of the ATC _ ID parameter of
[cargo2]
the aircraft.cfg file and is read through Simconnect when the airplane loads.
pos = 0.61 -9.23 -0.81 0.00
Let’s assume we want to change the loaders used by EasyJet to be the Belt Con- code = 5
veyors, while keeping the standard A320 AKH ULD loader for other A320s. name = AFT Cargo
embeddedStair = 0
The %APPDATA%\Virtuali\Airplanes\FNX320\GSX.CFG file, which is the default for uldcode = Belt
all Fenix A320s, will contains these lines for the two Cargo Doors:
Since our goal was to change only the loaders for both Cargo Doors, we can leave
[cargo1] all the other lines as they were.
pos = 0.61 5.27 -0.78 0.00
code = 6 In the simulator, if the airframe for the EasyJet variant named G-ETZA is loaded,
name = FWD Cargo GSX will use the GSX-G-EZTA.CFG file, otherwise it will use the standard GSX.CFG.
embeddedStair = 0
uldcode = AKH
Other Configuration options To fix this, the line added to the [GSX] section of the CouatlAddons.INI file would
look like this:
It’s possible to customize certain aspect of GSX to suit your preferences and flying
habits, by editing the following text file: airport _ visibility _ KMRZ = 0
%APPDATA%\Virtuali\Couatladdons.ini This will prevent GSX to use KMRZ, and prefer the larger airport instead, which is
the most common case.
For example, if you want to disable GSX at Frankfurt and Denver airports, you will
set the following line: An “Airport inside an Airport”
disable _ on _ airports = EDDF KDEN There might be some cases where you might want to use BOTH the “large” and
the “small” airport together, and be service by GSX in both, depending on your
actual positions.
Airports Visibility
For example, you have a military area, with a separate .BGL and its own ICAO code,
Auxiliary airports/helipads/seaplane bases and a civil area with the normal ICAO code.
To recognized the airport, GSX by default checks in the airport database for the First, for an airport .BGL to be considered usable by GSX, it must contain at least
closest airport in a 3NM radius from your current position. While this covers most a parking and at least some taxiway nodes connected to it. If your smaller airbase
of the normal cases, there might be special cases when this automatic detection only has parking spots, but not taxiways, it cannot be used by GSX.
won’t work, such as:
Assuming the airport meets the requirements to be used by GSX, whether this
• Small auxiliary airports very close or even inside a larger airport, with their own configuration would work, depends on the Airport Reference Point, as indicated
ICAO code, usually made by 3rd party developers using fictional ICAO codes in the scenery file. The auxiliary scenery should be programmed with its Airport
• Helipads, Seaplane bases, etc. Reference Point coordinates ideally centered in the center point of ITS OWN area.
If the auxiliary airport shares the same coordinates as the main one, using both at
By editing the CouatlAddons.INI file, you can specify a custom visibility for such the same time with GSX might not work correctly, and it would be better to just
cases, so GSX won’t be confused by those small airports and will use the correct exclude the smaller one, by setting its visibility to zero.
(normally the larger airport) instead.
Assuming even this additional requirement is satisfied, you can configure both air-
The format for the airport visibility command is as follows: ports to work together with GSX, by setting a smaller (less than the default 3NM)
visibility for the smaller airport, but different than zero.
airport _ visibility _ XXXX = Y
For example, assume you have a (fictional) military base called Z401 inside a larger
Where XXXX is the ICAO of the airport you want to set visibility for, and Y is the airport, for example KLAS (this is just an example, KLAS doesn’t have this issue in
visibility range in NM, or 0 to exclude it. Note that, “visibility” here only means either FSX default scenery or FSDT’s KLAS), you would set the line in the CouatlAd-
“visibility by GSX”, it doesn’t have any effect to the actual visual scenery in the dons.INI file as follows:
simulator.
airport _ visibility _ Z401 = 0.4
A real world example of this might be OrbX’s Monterrey Regional Airport - KRMY,
which comes with an auxiliary .BGL with an added code for the (fictional) KMRZ This will instruct GSX to use Z401 if you are inside a 0.4 NM ( 740 mt. ) radius from
airport. By default, GSX might find the fictional KMRZ is closer to your position, and its own Airport Reference Point, otherwise it will use KLAS, which would be the
use that one instead of the main KMRY, which is probably what you wanted to use. closest airport once you are outside this 0.4 NM range from Z401. This way, both
airfields will be serviceable by GSX, automatically.
SimBrief Integration SimBrief data used by GSX
GSX has several features to integrate itself with SimBrief, a very popular Flight GSX will use data from SimBrief while Boarding/Deboarding passengers, to have
Planning service offered by Navigraph. the Passengers Number match the value indicated on SimBrief. For veteran GSX
users, this will override the “Estimate Passenger” number option, which is not very
To configure it, just add your SimBrief “Alias” in the GSX Settings page. The Alias precise to begin with, since the calculation is based only on the Payload, which
can be found by selecting the “My Account” section of the SimBrief website. doesn’t have any type differentiation in the sim, so it cannot account for the ratio
between cargo and luggage, which result in not very accurate calculation, especially
Flightplan activation for planes in a “Combi” configuration, that loads a significant amount of extra
Cargo not related to the Passengers count.
In order for GSX to detect an SimBrief Flightplan, it must have been generated
first, using the “GENERATE FLIGHT” option in SimBrief. This will create an active Since for technical reasons related to the way keyboard input events are handled in
dispatched flight which can be seen in the “MY BRIEFING” section. Please note MSFS, GSX in MSFS doesn’t ask for the Passenger number anymore during Board-
GSX will only use the last generated briefing, not previously made ones. ing/Deboarding, using SimBrief is both the most realistic and accurate choice to
set the correct number of Passengers.
There’s nothing special to do in GSX to let it detect an active SimBrief dispatch, it
will be done automatically, according to the following rules: SimBrief while Refueling
• If you created or loaded a standard MSFS Flight plan, by setting both a Departure GSX will also use data from the current SimBrief Dispatch to offer an Extra option
and a Destination airport from the MSFS Word Map in the Main Menu, GSX while Refueling (provided the airplane has the “Show MSFS “Fuel and Cargo”),
which will be added to the standard preset quantities (50%, 60%, 75%, etc.) in
will check on Simbrief, and will load the Dispatch only if both the Departure the GSX Refueling menu, and it will be the option to load the Exact fuel quantity
and the Destination airports on SimBrief match the Departure and Destination as specified in the SimBrief Dispatch.
set on the MSFS Flight Plan. If there’s no MSFS Flight Plan active, GSX will check
on SimBrief and will load the Dispatch if the Departure airport matches the
Departure airport set in the simulator, regardless of the destination. Integration with VGDS Docking Systems
• The Estimated Departure Time must be at some time in the future, meaning
the MSFS time of the day should be earlier than the Depart time indicated in The most advanced Docking System types (SafeGate TS-24 and TS-42), which
the SimBrief dispatch. The date doesn’t matter, we assumed your flight is daily feature a larger display, will show several additional informations if a SimBrief Dis-
so, as long the Departure airport is the same and the ETD hasn’t passed, the patch is active. The VGDS screen will show the Destination airport, the ETD and
Dispatch is considered to be good. a Countdown clock showing the time remaining before the planned departure.
• The airplane type loaded in MSFS must be the same as the one indicated on
Simbrief’s Dispatch. GSX will use the standard ICAO type designator to match These information are used in real life both by the pilots, but mostly by the ground
crew, as a reminder how much time they have to complete their services.
the airplane type, as specified in the icao _ type _ designator in the aicraft.
cfg file, which must match the “Aircraft” field on Simbrief. Pay particular at-
tention to the default Asobo A320: its icao type designator is A20N, not A320,
which is correct according to real life specifications
GSX will check on SimBrief the moment you are parked with engines off and brakes
set, and open the GSX menu for the first time. Basically, at the same time you see
the GSX Traffic Cones appearing.
DEVELOPERS - Interfacing with GSX This variable can be set from a gauge code, and GSX will use it in place of its own
calculation, to set the correct number of passengers to match the airplane.
Here’s some informations useful to developers wanting to interface their airplanes
or utilities with GSX. Most of the information can be retrieved using L: variables, L:FSDT _ GSX _ NUMPASSENGERS _ BOARDING
which can be read very easily from an XML gauge code, but also in a C/C++ gauge, L:FSDT _ GSX _ NUMPASSENGERS _ DEBOARDING
using the register _ var _ by _ name(), get _ named _ variable _ value() API
calls from the Panels interface. The airplane code can read these two variables to stay in sync with the GSX board-
ing/deboarding process and update their own internal status.
Reading the current status of GSX operations:
L:FSDT _ GSX _ NUMPASSENGERS _ BOARDING _ TOTAL
Each GSX service has an associated L: variable: L:FSDT _ GSX _ NUMPASSENGERS _ DEBOARDING _ TOTAL
L:FSDT _ GSX _ DEBOARDING _ STATE The above two variables are similar to the previous ones, with a difference: when
L:FSDT _ GSX _ CATERING _ STATE more than a Passenger Bus is used (if the “Multiple Trips” setting is enabled” ),
L:FSDT _ GSX _ REFUELING _ STATE the FSDT_GSX_NUMPASSENGERS_BOARDING/DEBOARDING variables will Reset
to 0 for each new Bus. The FSDT_GSX_NUMPASSENGERS_BOARDING/DEBOARD-
L:FSDT _ GSX _ BOARDING _ STATE ING_TOTAL, instead, will keep a running count of passengers across multiple Buses.
L:FSDT _ GSX _ DEPARTURE _ STATE
L:FSDT _ GSX _ DEICING _ STATE Interfacing with the Cargo loading process
With a status being a numeric value, indicates the following: L:FSDT _ GSX _ BOARDING _ CARGO
L:FSDT _ GSX _ DEBOARDING _ CARGO
1 = service can be called
2 = service is not available These variables will be set to 1, if GSX is in the process of loading luggage/cargo,
3 = services has been bypassed otherwise they’ll be set at 0. This can be useful if the airplane code requires to syn-
4 = service has been requested chronize its own progressive cargo load simulation with the GSX visual animations.
5 = service is being performed
6 = service has been completed L:FSDT _ GSX _ BOARDING _ CARGO _ PERCENT
L:FSDT _ GSX _ DEBOARDING _ CARGO _ PERCENT
Reading the Deicing Fluid Type
These variables will have a value ranging from 0 to 100, indicating the overall
progress of the GSX cargo loading/unloading process. The value is expressed as
L:FSDT _ GSX _ DEICING _ TYPE an Average of the progress of all the different loaders. For example, if the front
loader has loaded 1 of its 4 carts ( 25%), and the rear loader has loaded 2 of 4
With a value ranging from 1 to 4, to indicate the Fluid Type requested by the carts (50%), the boarding variable will read as 37.5%, the average of 25% and
user to the Deicing crew. Airplane developers might want to use this to simulate 50%. This way, when the loading/unloading process ends, the relevant variable
holdover times. will read 100.
Controlling Pilots and Crew

Interfacing with the Passengers simulation
If you set these variables to a number other than 0, you can control the number
L:FSDT _ GSX _ NUMPASSENGERS of pilots and the number of crew members that will Board/Deboard the airplane.
They must be set before Boarding or Deboarding, usually together with the
FSDT _ GSX _ NUMPASSENGERS. Please don’t set them to 0 to stop the crew/pilots L:FSDT _ GSX _ AIRCRAFT _ CARGO _ 1 _ TOGGLE Cargo Door 1
from boarding, there’s another variable for that. 0 it’s just the default value, which L:FSDT _ GSX _ AIRCRAFT _ CARGO _ 2 _ TOGGLE Cargo Door 2
means “let GSX decide” so, right now, it will result in always 2 Pilots and 4 Crew L:FSDT _ GSX _ AIRCRAFT _ MAINCARGO _ TOGGLE Cargo Main Door
members on a passenger airplane, and 2 Pilots and 1 Crew member (the loadmas-
ter) on a Cargo airplane.
Checking the Pushback status
L:FSDT _ GSX _ PILOTS _ NOT _ DEBOARDING When GSX is Pushing the airplane, it sends a “Freeze” command through Simcon-
L:FSDT _ GSX _ CREW _ NOT _ DEBOARDING nect, so the plane will not move while being pushed. The plane is set to its normal
status when the Pushback Truck is removed. This might cause issues if you use a
L:FSDT _ GSX _ PILOTS _ NOT _ BOARDING custom flight model, for example, which should be notified of the freezing, as a
L:FSDT _ GSX _ CREW _ NOT _ BOARDING standard plane would. To check the precise moment GSX has frozen the airplane,
you can poll the L:FSDT _ VAR _ Frozen variable, which is set to 1 when the Push-
If you set these variables to 1, you are telling GSX that either the Pilots or the Crew back starts pushing, and reset to 0 when it’s done.
(or both) should NOT board/deboard the airplane. This way, you can simulate short
turnarounds, when the pilots/crew stay on board for the next flight. The standard SimVars affected by the GSX “Freeze” command are:
Note that, if either the Crew or the Pilots are not prevented from boarding, their A:IS LATITUDE LONGITUDE FREEZE ON
Van will be come anyway, carrying just the Crew or just the Pilots. If you set both A:IS ALTITUDE FREEZE ON
variables to 1, the Van wouldn’t come (since there’s nobody to carry), and the A:IS ATTITUDE FREEZE ON
Boarding/Deboarding will just handle passengers with their own Bus.
Interfacing with Jetways Those will be all set to 1 ( Airplane frozen ) before pushback, and then back to
0 when pushback ends. If you have coded extra systems that might be affected
Checking the doors status by the status of the airplane and might be mislead by GSX the airplane is flying
(maybe it’s just slightly pitched up by the GSX Towbarless Truck), checking these
The following variables can be checked to know if GSX is waiting for a door to variables in addition to the GSX own L:FSDT _ VAR _ Frozen custom variable, will
be opened. Checking them might be useful for airplane developers to create an be useful to know when to temporarily disable such systems or alarms, if they
automatic open/close door function which will interact with GSX. We believe were normally supposed to used during the transition from being on ground to
opening and closing doors is something best left to the airplane code, especially flying and vice-versa.
if the simulation is quite complex and might involved other systems, like electrical
or hydraulic systems. This is why GSX doesn’t try to open/close doors automati-
cally, but only waits for them to be in the correct status before proceeding with L:FSDT _ GSX _ DISABLE _ DOORS _ MSG
an operation. All these variables will be set to 1 when GSX is waiting for that door
to be either opened or closed (displaying the “waiting for your actions” message This variable can be SET by the airplane code, and if it’s set to any value different
with the beep sound), otherwise they’ll be set at 0: than 0 ( we suggest setting it to 1), GSX will stop displaying all the “Waiting for
your action...” messages, usually related to GSX waiting for your to open or close
some door.
L:FSDT _ GSX _ AIRCRAFT _ EXIT _ 1 _ TOGGLE Passenger Exit 1
L:FSDT _ GSX _ AIRCRAFT _ EXIT _ 2 _ TOGGLE Passenger Exit 2 Airplane developers might find useful setting this variable, when adding features like
L:FSDT _ GSX _ AIRCRAFT _ EXIT _ 3 _ TOGGLE Passenger Exit 3 automatic door handling in the airplane, so users won’t see unnecessary messages,
L:FSDT _ GSX _ AIRCRAFT _ EXIT _ 4 _ TOGGLE Passenger Exit 4 since the airplane code would be supposed to open/close all doors automatically
in that case.
L:FSDT _ GSX _ AIRCRAFT _ SERVICE _ 1 _ TOGGLE Service Door 1 (catering)
The variable will reset to 0 when the user switches to a different airplane, or when
L:FSDT _ GSX _ AIRCRAFT _ SERVICE _ 2 _ TOGGLE Service Door 2 (catering) manually Restarting Couatl.
L:FSDT _ GSX _ DISABLE _ DETECT _ REFUELING L: FSDT _ GSX _ PASSENGERGATE
This variable can be SET by the airplane code, and if it’s set to any value different It’s normally 0, but will be set to 1 by GSX as soon Deboarding/Boarding starts,
than 0 ( we suggest setting it to 1), GSX will ignore the “Detect Refueling” option and will go back to 0 when the process ends. It’s just a single variable, so if you
in the settings for that airplane. This can be useful if the automatic refueling detec- have multiple gates using this method, all their doors will open/close together, but
tion in GSX would conflict in some way with custom refueling systems. it’s surely best than having them stay close and have passengers going through
it. This results in a simpler coding, without a complex way to indicate each gate.
The variable will reset to 0 when the user switches to a different airplane, or when
manually Restarting Couatl. Some tips on using L: variables from C/C++
The Refueling system Here’s some advice we found useful while developing the various GSX interface,
together with some very well respected airplane developers:
Several variables are available to interact with the GSX Refueling system:
Be sure to always check the variable ID before using it
L:FSDT _ GSX _ FUEL _ PRICE
Since L: Variables are first created by Couatl (strictly speaking, it’s the Addon
Returns the last price per US Gallon reported online. Manager that creates them, on Couatl’s behalf, since only an in-process .DLL can
create L: variables), and Couatl can be restarted either manually by users, but also
L:FSDT _ GSX _ FUELHOSE _ CONNECTED automatically when switching to a different airplane, the variable ID will likely
change between those sessions, and using a variable ID that is no longer valid,
Returns 1 if the Hydrant Fuel hose is connected to the airplane. will probably crash the sim, or cause unexpected results. The solution is to always
check the ID before using the variable.
L:FSDT _ GSX _ FUEL _ COUNTER Here’s a C/C++ example code to read an L: variable safely:
Returns the current value of the Fuel counter on Tankers and Hydrants
// Panels will be filled at start by PANELS.DLL
L:FSDT _ GSX _ FUEL _ COUNTER _ MAX EXTERN _ C PANELS *Panels = NULL;
Returns the maximum value of the Fuel counter on Tankers and Hydrants, after if (Panels)
which the vehicle ( If the “Multiple Trips” option is Enabled ) will go away, to be {
replaced by another one. int idVar = -1;
FLOAT64 value = 0;
Passenger Walk-in Gates
If you are a scenery developer wanting to add better integration with GSX, if your // check if the variable exists
airport has terminals with doors and possibly interiors, and if some of these gates idVar = Panels->check _ named _ variable(“FSDT _ GSX _ CATERING _ STATE”);
required passengers to walk from the airplane to the terminal entrance, in addition
to just making a custom GSX profile to create Passenger Waypoints, you might // read the value only if registration succeeded.
want to consider adding animated doors that automatically synchronize to the
GSX Boarding/Deboarding process, so they’ll normally stay closed, but will open if (idVar != -1)
automatically when required, if the gate also has some passenger waypoints. It will value = Panels->get _ named _ variable _ value(idVar);
be enough to link all doors that need to be opened to this variable: }
Most of the GSX variables will only be read, so the previous sample should work
in almost all situations. Technical Background

There are cases when you’ll have to write to a GSX variable, for example to set the In this chapter, we’ll discuss some technical background about GSX, which might
Number of Passengers, or to disable some features like the door messages, or the clarify and help users better understand how it works and how it’s integrated with
automatic refueling detection. the MSFS Flight Simulator.
Here’s a C/C++ example code to write an L: variable safely: The Couatl Scripting Engine
// Panels will be filled at start by PANELS.DLL GSX program code is written almost entirely in Python. It uses a variant of the Py-
EXTERN _ C PANELS *Panels = NULL;
thon language named “Stackless Python”, which has been designed to be used as
a scripting language for simulation games, that usually need to represent multiple
if (Panels) “actors” performing actions, usually in parallel, requiring some kind of messaging
{v system to communicate between the various tasks.
int idVar = -1;
Python it’s a powerful Object-oriented language that, due to its interpreted nature,
allows for fast development and troubleshooting cycles, and it’s highly dynamic by
// will set the passengers number at 123 nature, with an elegant and easy to read syntax. Some example of popular games
FLOAT64 value = 123.0; using Python for game logic includes Sid Meier’s Civilization, Battlefield 2, The Sims
const char FSDT _ PAX _ NUM = “FSDT _ GSX _ NUMPASSENGERS”; 4, World Of Tanks, and Eve Online.
What makes GSX works, is the Couatl Scripting Engine, which is a custom-made
// check if the variable exists Stackless Python interpreter, designed to act as a bridge between the GSX code
logic and the simulator itself. We have separate versions of the interpreter, a 32
idVar = Panels->check _ named _ variable(FSDT _ PAX _ NUM); bit version for FSX and P3D1-3, a 64 bit version for P3D V4, another 64 version for
P3D V5, and the latest version is the new 64 bit version for MSFS.
// register the variable if it doesn’t They are all Simconnect client applications, and they only differs in the Simconnect
if (idVar == -1) version used to communicate with the simulator, the way they read scenery files
idVar = Panels->register _ named _ variable(FSDT _ PAX _ NUM); to cover differences in the .BGL format, and some minor behavior changes, but
the main goal is to allow as much cross-compatibility as possible with the actual
// set the value only if registration succeeded. Python programs that makes the core of GSX.
if (idVar != -1)
Why we need an external .EXE application ?
Panels->set _ named _ variable _ value(idVar, value);
A product as complex as GSX couldn’t possibly run without the help of an external
.EXE application.
For starters, in order to work over any scenery, it needs to read all the installed
scenery files, recognize airports, and open the file to read information about park-
ing spaces, taxiways, runways, nodes, etc. Not only there’s no way to retrieve this
kind of data using the standard MSFS SDK, but the only “official” kind of execut-
able allowed in MSFS, which are WASM (Web-assembly) modules, are not able to
access any files outside their own package folder, making it impossible to obtain
the information required for GSX to work.
It’s possible that future upgrades in the MSFS SDK might allow getting this data in issues. In fact, considering you might not need to use GSX after takeoff, it might
other ways, without having to open the relevant .BGL files, but at the time of this even be a good idea to just Exit from it shortly after takeoff, and restart it before
writing ( August 2022 ), this new API hasn’t been released yet, and it’s not clear or shortly after landing, when you need it. To make this process easier, we added
if it will ever allow access to the complete airport data required by GSX to work. a Tray-bar Icon for it, and the installer placed a Shortcut to start it more easily.
More informations about this will follow later.
We’ll surely keep in touch the availability of this future API and we plan to integrate
it in GSX, because it will also ease the issue of accessing data from encrypted scenery
files sold in the MSFS Marketplace but as of today, the inability to read the airport Performances
data in all installed packages is the main reason why an external .EXE is mandatory.
While there have been many advancements in technologies like WASM and Ja-
Another important tasks managed by the Couatl Scripting Engine is SOUND, us- vascript, and for lots of tasks they run fairly close to native code, nothing really
ing the industry-standard OpenAL sound engine. This allows for positional audio, compares to the speed of a real C++ not managed executable. There is a reason
supporting multi-channel audio hardware and, in the most common implementa- why all game engines are still written in C++, and this unlikely to change in the
tion, it stays on top of DirectSound (part of DirectX), so it will use any standard near future. The Couatl Scripting engine it’s a native C++ Win64 application, not
audio interface that has standard Windows drivers. However, some advanced using managed code or .NET. It’s the fastest possible code that can run on any
audio cards, like the Soundblaster X-Fi series, might offer extra capabilities, like system, other than full Assembly.
hardware accelerated Reverb, audio occlusions and other audio FX, or extra ram
to cache audio waves on board, and these features will automatically be used by Yes, most of the GSX code is written in Python, which is way slower than a com-
GSX, thanks to the usage of OpenAL. It wouldn’t have been possible to call OpenAL piled language but, what this code does is not time critical and, most importantly,
from a standard WASM module, since they don’t have any access to any standard it won’t slow down the simulator. As an example, the optimal Pushback path is
Windows API. The only APIs a WASM module can use are the ones provided in calculated in Python but, it won’t really matter to users if it took 1/100th of a
the MSFS SDK, that is Simconnect, and the various Gauge APIs for retrieving data second or 1/10th of a second, since nobody will notice if Pushback started 90
and draw gauges on screen. milliseconds later (that is 3 frames at 30 fps), the important thing is it won’t slow
down the simulator in the process.
The requirement of an .EXE application to run GSX, is the main reason why the
full GSX will never appear on the XBOX, or be sold in the MS Marketplace. While Multithreading
it might be possible that, in the future, .EXE apps might be eventually be accepted
in the MS Marketplace, we are fairly sure they’ll be PC-only at best. That’s the main performance advantage, and the main reason why GSX won’t
slow down the simulator with its logic: since it runs entirely on a separate .EXE,
That’s why, for MS Marketplace and XBOX users, we have the smaller and cheaper the Couatl engine, in addition to run in a separate memory space, it will also create
“GSX World” product available for sale there, offering only the features that don’t its own threads, which will be assigned by the Windows OS to spare cores of the
require the Couatl Scripting Engine. CPU, and none of them will hammer the MSFS Main Thread, which is the biggest
reason for slowdowns in the simulator, assuming its being used with a capable GPU.
Advantages of using an external .EXE
Creating a multi-threaded applications is not easy, and some tasks simply cannot
While having to use a separate .EXE might have some shortcomings, it also offers run in parallel, since one task might need to wait the results of another. However,
many advantages: modern CPUs are getting more and more cores, which are not used as much as
they could, unless you have lots of external .EXE running together.
Safety. An external .EXE cannot basically crash the simulator, since it doesn’t The more external .EXEs you have running at the same time, the better your CPU
have any access to its memory space, and cannot corrupt its data area. The Couatl cores will be used, and having an external .EXE is a way to help maximize your
Engine .EXE might crash on its own, but this won’t affect the running simulator hardware resources, without risking to impact the MSFS Main Thread, which is
or disrupt the flight. Also, we made lots of changes in the MSFS version, which what would have happened, if we could hypothetically run the whole GSX in a
has been designed to be restarted, exited and re-entered multiple times with no WASM module, aided by lots of Javascript code.
The WASM module
In addition to the Couatl scripting engine, which does all the main work of running
the whole GSX code, we also have an auxiliary WASM helper module.
This is a very small and lightweight module, that does only one thing: provide ac-
cess to some functions in the Gauges API, which are not directly available through
Simconnect. The main usage in GSX for these function are the creation of custom
L: variables that can be read by developers to facilitate integration between GSX
and airplanes and other utilities, and the handling of Events, which allow the new
HTML/JS Menu to work.
The GSX Toolbar Menu
The MSFS SDK is missing a very important feature which was available since FSX
and later P3D: the creation of in-game menus and text prompts, which were previ-
ously available as standard Simconnect calls.
GSX is designed around the concept of menus that might appear in different
situations, with different entries that will change dynamically depending on data
coming from the airport (like parking spots, operators, etc), but this doesn’t play
well with how the MSFS user interface generally work, with Toolbar panels usually The GSX Menu has been made using a fairly complex coordination between all
fixed in functions, which are typically opened by the user, and closed when not the involved actors:
needed anymore.
• At any given time, GSX’s code, which is a Python script, needs to display a menu.
This might have been fixed fairly easily if we used a separate window overlaid over • The menu system, which uses the HTML/JS framework, is monitoring those
the main MSFS window. Many 3rd party applications use this approach, which gives request, which are sent using special events, and will send back the choice made
lots of freedom in the way the UI looks and works, but they all come with an huge by the user, or if no choice happened in a certain time, leading to a time-out,
shortcoming: they can’t be used in VR. with the menu disappearing automatically.
• The WASM module, which monitors those requests and sends back events to
GSX also use these kind of separate overlaid windows, but ONLY when it would the Couatl scripting engine, which will inform the original Python script about
be very unpractical to be in VR mode doing tasks like editing the parking custom- the choice made, so the GSX logic can continue based on that.
ization options, or creating a configuration for a new airplane. But for the main
The way the HTML/Javascript system works results in some quirks and/or things
in-game operations, the regular GSX usage, we wanted to be as fully integrated that need to be noticed to use GSX as efficiently as possible. The main issues are,
as possible in the standard MSFS UI system, that’s why we created a Toolbar menu because the SDK doesn’t allow direct communication between Simconnect and
system, which mimics the existing Simconnect menu from FSX and P3D which is the HTML/JS framework (and the Coherent framework that is behind it), we need
not available anymore. to use extra custom variables and events. Also, for performance reasons, the Javas-
cript code that runs in a Toolbar menu will stop to be executed as soon the toolbar
button is used to close the menu. Although there are some ways to prevent this, Active
they have a cost in performances, because an always running Javascript code will
have an impact on the MSFS Main Thread, which was the main reason why, after
Sim Update 5, it was decided to just stop executing any code from the Toolbar
menus after they are closed. This broke compatibility with several 3rd party apps,
but it was necessary to achieve the required performance boost which was the
main design goal for Sim Update 5.
This has the following effects on GSX, which are not really a problem, but it’s best When the GSX Toolbar Icon is Active, the GSX code can perform these functions:
to be aware of them, to understand why things work they way they do.
• Open the GSX menu automatically without user intervention
GSX Toolbar icon Active/Inactive Status • Showing informational messages in the top-left side of the screen
• Respond to the GSX Hot-Key, specified in the Installer Config Panel
The GSX Toolbar icon, like any similar Toolbar menu item, can have two states, Ac-
tive or Inactive. The Active state is when the icon is highlighted, and also means Please note, this doesn’t have any relationship with the visibility of the menu itself.
the underlying Javascript of the menu itself is fully running and capable of getting
all notifications from GSX. Even if you don’t have the menu currently opened on screen, the GSX Toolbar icon
might still be Active, and the menu can be opened or closed using the GSX Hotkey.
Inactive
Closing the menu with the X icon will not deactivate the toolbar menu either.
Also, most menus in GSX have a Timeout: if you don’t any choice, the menu will
close itself after a while ( the time varies depending on the menu ), but even in
this case, the Toolbar icon will still stay Active, allowing the menu to be reopened
at any time with the Hot-key.
When the GSX Toolbar icon is Inactive:
This is now your normal workflow should be:
• It won’t be able to open the menu automatically when needed.
• No text messages will be shown on screen. • Open the GSX menu from the Toolbar icon when first starting Ground services .
• The GSX Hot-key won’t work. • Don’t close it from the Toolbar while Ground services are performed, always
use the Hot-key or the X icon to close the menu.
If you close GSX using the Toolbar icon, making the Icon Inactive again, you’ll have • Close the menu using the Toolbar icon when you are done with Ground ser-
to open it again from the Toolbar before the Hot-key can be reactivated. vices, usually before take-off.
When starting a Flight, the Toolbar icon is Inactive, which means you need to use In brief, the Toolbar Icon should always be left Active while Ground services are
the Toolbar menu to open GSX when first requesting Ground Services, so the icon required.
will activate, and will not able to respond to the Hot-key and display menus and
text alerts.
The Couatl Tray Icon Troubleshooting

For veteran GSX users, this is a big change from previous versions: before, since Antivirus and Firewalls
the Couatl engine had to connect to the Addon Manager .DLL, which was a full-
blown in-process .DLL that ran into the simulator own memory space, while it was The single and most common source of problems are too intrusive Antivirus products,
possible to “Restart” Couatl during flight, it wasn’t possible to just Exit freely or which sometimes trust their own heuristics more than industry standard practices
start it at any time, for example after the simulator started. to prevent False Positives, which we use in full, but can only hope antivirus vendors
will follow.
The Addon Manager .DLL is not used in MSFS anymore, since it has been replaced
by the lightweight WASM module, which works very differently and now the To prevent False Positives, we implemented the following methods:
Couatl Engine is more independent, and has been designed with the ability to be
Started and Restarted and any time. • The standard Windows Authenticode Digital Signature. This ensures users the
program executable hasn’t been tampered with, and it’s exactly the version we
To ease this, we added a Tray Icon for it: distributed. Also, it makes certain who made the executable and when. It’s the
first and foremost suggestion by Microsoft to prevent False Positives
• Another secondary Digital Signature called “Software Taggant”, which is an
IEEE standard designed by antivirus vendors precisely to prevent false positives.
The program will normally start automatically with the simulator, because it has Unfortunately, regardless of all best practices we followed to prevent false detec-
been added to the EXE.XML file, like other similar modules from other developers. tion of threats, some antivirus might still mistakenly flag our executable as threats,
And, when exiting from the simulator, the Couatl engine will close it automatically sometimes “just” because they do “suspicious” things like downloading files from
so, it’s not a Windows background program! Once you are done with MSFS, it the internet, which is the main feature of our Live Update, it couldn’t possibly
won’t stay loaded. work without it. In the worse case, executable programs are wrongly penalized
for being updated “too often”, so they failed to get enough “reputation score”
Closing and opening on demand is even encouraged. If, for any reason, it didn’t simply because they are new. This is a really questionable practice, since not only
start with the sim (possibly because of issues with the EXE.XML file), just start it penalize smaller companies, but it prevents users from getting timely updates,
since developers are scared of releasing updates that might be seen as suspicious
manually. We added two shortcuts for it, named “Start Couatl for MSFS” one on “just” because they are new.
the Desktop, another one in the “Fsdreamteam” Program Group in the Windows
Start button. To defend yourself against a too intrusive antivirus that ignored all the industry
standard measures we used to prevent False Positives, be sure you do as follows:
The Couatl Tray icon has a contextual menu, which can be accessed by Right-
clicking on it:
• Add the complete “Addon Manager” folder to the Antivirus Exclusions.
Please don’t just disable the antivirus: we experienced first-hand antivirus that
still blocked executables, even if they appeared to be turned off, because their
low-level service was still running in the background. Never disable the antivirus
but, instead, keep it active normally, but add the complete Addon Manager
folder, which is the one you installed FSDT into, to the Antivirus EXCLUSIONS.
• Be sure the Firewall is not blocking the two FSDT Live Update execut-
The options are very simple, basically “Restart” and “Exit”. “Restart” can be used ables, named Couatl_Updater.exe and Couatl_Updater2.exe. If these cannot
in case GSX seems to be “stuck” on some operation, and Exit can be used when download from the internet, you might not be able to get all versions of all
you don’t need GSX anymore, for example after takeoff, so you can be sure it will files, and a mixup of new and outdated files will almost surely cause problems.
never affect the flight in any way, since the program is just not there anymore.
Windows System libraries In order to work correctly on any airport, GSX reads the airport file directly, to know
about position and names of taxiways, runways, parking spots, the vehicle path
The Couatl scripting engine requires the Visual C++ Universal Redistributables, types and all their connection. This is what makes possible for GSX to automatically
which are a single version that supports several VC++ releases (2015, 2017, 2019 calculate Pushback routes, FollowMe cars routes, type of services available (Jetway
and 2022) in a single runtime. This make it less likely you’ll ever need to update it or not makes a big difference, as Cargo/Not Cargo parking spots), and without
yourself, because our installer installs it only if it’s missing, and Windows will keep access to this data, GSX can’t work properly.
it updated automatically. In any case, this a link to download it, should be needed
for troubleshooting reasons: It will still work, though, since when an airport is encrypted, GSX will usually read
data from the base default airport. Sometimes this might be good enough, for
example for encrypted airports made by Microsoft/Asobo, which are usually based
https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/vc_redist.x64.exe on the same data of the default, just better modeled. Differences in this case are
not usually a problem.
.NET 4.8
But with 3rd party airports, they might differ a lot from the default airport, parking
The Couatl Scripting engine is not a .NET application, so it’s not usually affected by spots position would have likely changed, their names too. There might be entirely
issues with outdated .NET libraries. However, is used both by the FSDT Universal new parking areas which weren’t there in the default position, or the opposite,
Installer and by the QLM/Soraco licensing system, which are both .NET apps. the add-on scenery might have removed spots which were present in the default
or moved to a different location, maybe ending up with the same name/number,
.NET 4.8 was released in 2019, it’s automatically delivered with the Windows 10 representing something else entirely. Jetways, which needs a precise association
Update version 1903, it’s included by default in Windows 11, and can be optionally with their gate, might be in different positions, and this would affect GSX ability
downloaded with previous versions of Windows. However, the minimum require- to detect if a parking has a Jetway or not, which will drive its choice of service
ments for MSFS are a fully updated Windows 10 version, it’s highly unlikely you’ll available, how to handle passengers (Jetways or Stairs/Bus), the Fuel availability
ever need to reinstall .NET 4.8 manually. (Underground or Tanker) and several other things related to ground vehicles place-
ment and movement.
FSDT Universal Installer
While in theory you might be able to fix some of these issues with the GSX cus-
If you have issues with the FSDT Universal Installer, sometimes they can be fixed tomization editor, it would be a long process, because it would require you to
by download it again, and Reboot Windows after the installation, in case it might specify again something the GSX would have detected automatically, if it could
need to update/register some libraries. Here’s its direct download link: read the airport file.
The best possible solution would be asking the original scenery developer to provide
https://www.virtualisoftware.com/update/FSDT_Universal_Installer.exe you with only the airport file (useless without the whole scenery, so shouldn’t be
The FSDT Universal Installer will be the one and only way to Install, Activate, De- any worries about copyrights), which can be placed in %APPDATA%\Virtuali\GSX\
activate and Update FSDT Products in MSFS. Separate installers for airports will MSFS, for GSX use only, just like the custom GSX profile for that airport. The simula-
be eventually phased out, so we suggest stop using them, and use only the FSDT tor will ignore it, but GSX will use it in place of the encrypted version it can’t read.
Universal Installer, which is constantly maintained.
SU10 Navdata API Update:
3rd party airports in the MS Marketplace
With the GSX October 17th 2022 Update, we are introducing support for the
new Navdata API that has been added to the MSFS SDK with the SU10 Update,
We discussed this issue already, but we thought it deserves a special treatment which will change significantly how GSX will work, enabling compatibility with
here, because lots of the consequences of using a scenery bought on the MS Mar- encrypted Marketplace airports out of the box. The following chapter will explain
ketplace might look like GSX bugs, when they are the result of the scenery being how this will affect GSX.
encrypted, thus not readable by GSX.
The SU10 Navdata API Update reading the airport .BGL, is to search for ALL objects in the scene, and use some
kind of heuristic based on the object “Title” to recognize which ones are Jetways.
With the SU10 SDK, a new API has been added to Simconnect, allowing add-ons
to obtain data on airports without having to open the airport .BGL file. Currently, any object that contains the following text anywhere in its title is con-
sidered to be a Jetway: “FSDT_WOJ”, “JETWAY” and “JW”.
This will have profound effects on the way GSX works, since GSX will now work in
full on encrypted airports bought on the MS Marketplace, with no need to obtain We found lots of 3rd party Jetways usually match one of these naming conven-
an alternative .BGL from the scenery developers anymore. tion but, if you have an airport with different names for the jetways, or you are a
scenery Developer who made custom Jetways using different names, please let us
From a reliability and usability point of view, there wouldn’t be any need to create know, so we can add their pattern to GSX recognition code.
and maintain the “Airport Cache” anymore, which required GSX scanning all files
in the Community folder, and detect any changes to it. We suggested to MSFS developers to add the Jetway position to the Navdata API,
which will make Jetway detection more reliable, and not depending on their names
Also, having to read files in both the Community and Official folders sometimes anymore, if the Navdata API will be eventually improved with the missing data,
might result in issues with permissions, possible interference from other software we’ll surely release an update to support it.
(like antivirus slowing down the airport cache generation) and while the airport
cache was being created, GSX couldn’t be used and with many sceneries, this GSX Custom Profiles
process could last up to several minutes, also depending by the speed of the hard
drive the Community folder was located on. Until now, GSX tied a custom airport profile to the .BGL which was in use when
the profile was made. But since we don’t read the .BGL anymore, now the only
In addition to that, some users configure the simulator to temporarily disable thing that ties a custom .INI profile to a certain airport, is the ICAO code, that is
unused areas before each flight, and this would have caused the Airport Cache the first letters of the .INI file name.
being regenerated every time.
It also means GSX Custom profiles will ONLY work from this folder:
Using the SU10 Navdata API, all of these issues will be gone, since GSX won’t use
an Airport Cache anymore, making it way more reliable and easier to use, with
a faster startup time, and with many problems associated to reading the airport %APPDATA%\Virtuali\GSX\MSFS
.BGL file completely solved.
Custom profiles which were previously distributed by a scenery developer in the
scenery package itself won’t be used anymore, since GSX won’t even know from
Navdata API side-effects which package or file the airport data is coming from.
There are some side-effects that needs to be taken into account, which affect With the October 2022 release, we are releasing the SU10 Navdata API as a “Public
Jetway detection and GSX Airport Profiles. Beta”, and by Default the feature is DISABLED, until we’ll obtain enough feedback
to consider it Final, and make it the new Default.
Jetway detection
In the Final version, if there are multiple .INI profiles for the SAME ICAO code in
At the time of this writing ( October 2022 ), the SU10 Navdata API doesn’t provide your custom profiles folder, we’ll have an interface allowing to manually choose
any informations about Jetways other than telling if a Parking Spot has a Jetway which one to load, with some additional information about how many parking
associated to it or not. In order to create walking path for Passengers, GSX requires spots in the .INI match the parking spots in the simulator, making more obvious to
the Jetway Lat/Lon position, and while this information was available in the airport recognize if a certain .INI file is correct for the airport currently installed. But until
.BGL, when using the Navdata API the airport .BGL is not read anymore, so GSX
needs to “find” Jetways in the scene, by looking at all the objects in the airport the update is still considered Beta, it will be your responsibility to ensure you have
and, since Jetways don’t have their own specific category like Airplanes, Ground the correct .INI file for the airport you installed, since GSX will only look at the
Vehicles, Helicopters, Boats, Humans, Animals, the only way to find Jetways without ICAO in its name, loading the first .INI that matches the airport code.
Enabling the SU10 Navdata API Operators Assignment Rules

The SU Navdata API is not enabled by Default, if you don’t enable it, GSX will GSX uses a multi-layered scoring system to decide which operator should be assigned
still use the Airport Cache, and will work exactly as before. Since its introduction to a specific combination of Airport and Parking Spot. This chapter explains which
changes many things the way GSX works, we would like to obtain some extra rules are used to control the operator, and how these can be customized by users.
Feedback before making the option standard.
GSX Rules-based Operators are:
To Enable it, open the GSX Config panel in the FSDT Installer, and check the
relevant option, named “Use SU10 Navdata API” • Ground Handlers
• Catering Operators
• Fuel Trucks
Each one has its own set of rules, which are controlled by the following files:
At the end of the Beta period, the Navdata API will be used by Default, but we’ll
keep the ability to eventually disable it, should the need ever arise. \Addon Manager\texture\rules _ handling.cfg
\Addon Manager\texture\rules _ catering.cfg
For example if you need to use a custom .BGL that has been designed for GSX \Addon Manager\texture\rules _ fueltruck.cfg
use, the Navdata API must be disabled, in order for GSX to revert to the original
method of reading data from .BGL files. While it is possible to edit these files, we strongly suggest not to, because every
GSX update will overwrite your changes. There’s a better way to alter those rules,
using localized rules in the following folder:
Note for SU11 BETA users:
%APPDATA%\Virtuali\GSX\texture
The first SU11 Beta caused arrow keys in the Editor stop working, which required
to add the msfs_beta = 1 line to the Couatladdons.ini file. Like most everything else in GSX, any custom rules defined here will take prece-
dence over the stock ones, allowing for easy user customization.
This problem has been fixed in the 1.29.5.0 Beta build, so it’s no longer required to
edit the file anymore, but you need to have the Oct. 21st 2022 GSX Update installed.
The Airline YOU are flying doesn’t matter
This is the most important thing to clarify, which seems to confuse lots of users: the
Airline YOU are flying doesn’t have ANY effect on the choice of the ground opera-
tor chosen by GSX. As in real life, operators are based on airports so, if GSX chose
the operator based on your own Airline, it would result an unrealistic situation of
your “home crew” always be available, everywhere. Just because you are flying for
Lufthansa or British Airways, it’s not reasonable to expect having a Lufthansa or a
British Airways ground crew when you land in an airport on a different continent.
That’s why, the only things that affects GSX choice of a Ground operator are, in
this order:
• The ICAO of the Airport and how it matches the GSX internal scoring system.
• The presence of Airline Codes in the airport .BGL or in the GSX custom profile.
• Operators Explicitly selected in a GSX custom profiles.
The Airport Scoring System Airlines will have to compete against any other operators there with a score of 1
but, if we are calling GSX in one of those airports, American Airline will get a base
The rules files controls a scoring system that will be calculated for the airport and score of 4, so it will have a much higher chance of being selected there.
the Parking Spot you are currently located to decide which Ground Handling and
Catering operators will be available there. If we are on any airport outside the US, American Airlines will have NO CHANCE
to be selected, since operators with zero points will never be used. Why we say
The scoring is calculated by counting how many characters in the Rules file match “a chance to be selected” ?
the ICAO of the current airport, eventually adding extra points if the operator is
matched by any of the Airline Codes in the scenery for that specific Parking Spot. Because of the other rule, the couatl.atc _ parking _ codes, that might be used
to give extra points to operators that have their code matching the Airline Codes
This is an example of a section of the rules_handling.cfg file, for the AA ( American in the airport scenery, which can also be overridden in the GSX Airport Customiza-
Airlines ) Ground Handler: tion profile. When more than one operator is available on an airport, the Airline
Codes can act as “tie-breakers”, for example to allow having a specific operator
[AA] only on selected Parking Spots.
couatl.atc _ parking _ codes = AAL,AALX,LOF
couatl.icaoprefixes = K KDFW KJFK KLAX KMIA KORD KBOS KSFO KDEN KMCO To better understand the selection process, let’s consider another operator, United
Airlines:
KDCA KTPA KPHX KPHL KMCI KMEM KCLT KSDF
couatl.basecolor = blue [UA]
couatl.regions = B C P couatl.atc _ parking _ codes = UAL,UALX,UAC,BLR,UEJ,COA
couatl.plate = US _ TX couatl.icaoprefixes = K KDEN KEWR KIAD KJFK KLAS KLAX KOMA KORD KSFO
KSDF KTPA P PG
The name of the Section, inside the square brackets, is the name of the operator Assuming we only had those two operators in the rules file, we can notice the
as known to GSX. In some cases this is the operator IATA or ICAO code but, in following:
case of Ground Handlers that are not Airlines, so they don’t have any IATA/ICAO
codes, their actual name or abbreviation is used. This is also the name of the Texture On any random US airport other than the ones listed here for UA or AA, both
folder for that operator Livery. would have an equal score of 1, meaning when calling GSX, the Handler menu
will show both UA and AA as possible choices.
Some parameters ( basecolor, regions and plate ) are not used by GSX at runtime,
they are only used during our build process, to associate a color theme, a Living Calling GSX at KDEN, KJFK, KLAX, KORD or KSFO, where both have the highest
World region and a License plate, but changing any of these won’t have any effect, score, we’ll also see the same choice menu with UA and AA, since the tied score.
so we’ll focus only on the ones that are used at runtime:
However, at KBOS, KDFW and KMIA, we’ll see only AA (since UA will lose to AA
couatl.atc _ parking _ codes = AAL,AALX,LOF there, having only a score of 1 because of its K), while at KEWR, KIAD, KLAS,
couatl.icaoprefixes = K KBOS KDEN KDFW KJFK KLAX KMIA KMCO KORD KSFO KOMA, KSDF, KTAP or any airport in the Pacific, we’ll only see UA, because of its
maximum score there, beating AA default 1 due to its own K code.
The most important rule is the couatl.icaoprefixes, this is what allows any opera-
tor to be taken into account as a candidate for possible selection against others. Now, assuming we are calling GSX at KDEN, where both American and United are
tied for the highest score, if we are on a Parking spot that has only AAL or AALX
In this example, American Airlines has a basic score of 1 for all airports in the US, codes, we’ll see only AA there, because both codes belongs to AA, so they will be
because of the first “K” in the rule. This means, if we are on any airport in the added to AA score, which will “win” against UA so, even UA is available on the
US that is not one of those that has been specifically listed after the K, American Airport, it won’t be shown at those specific Parking spots that only have AA codes.
It’s important to note that, when we say “codes belonging to AA”, it’s because Texture folder instead. Here follows an example of a couple of section of a cus-
GSX has an internal database that matches the operator to multiple Airline Codes tomized rules file for Ground Handlers, which shows some modifications to the
found in sceneries that would all associate the same GSX operator. default rules for American Airlines and United Airlines:
That’s why, in this case, since the rule listed AAL (American Airlines), AALX (Ameri- %APPDATA%\Virtuali\GSX\texture\rules _ handling.cfg
can Eagle) and LOF (American Connection) as possible parking codes, they work
with the GSX AA operator: their association happens in the internal GSX database. [AA]
couatl.atc _ parking _ codes = AAL,AALX,LOF
A GSX Custom profile always takes precedence
couatl.icaoprefixes = K KDFW KJFK KLAX KMIA KBOS KSFO KDEN KMCO KDCA
If a Ground Handling operator or a Catering operator has been explicitly selected KTPA KPHX KPHL KMCI KMEM KCLT KSDF KSEA
from the drop down list in the Parking Customization page, and has been assigned couatl.basecolor = blue
to one or more Parking spots on an airport, it will always “win” against any rules couatl.regions = B C P
that has been set by GSX, and it will be the one and only choice for the affected couatl.plate = US _ TX
parking spots. This is the only way to select an operator that, according to GSX
own rules files, might not be otherwise available on an airport.
[AA _ white]
No Menu when there’s only one choice couatl.atc _ parking _ codes = AALW
couatl.icaoprefixes = K KDFW KJFK KLAX KMIA KBOS KSFO KDEN KMCO KDCA
In all situations where there’s only ONE possible choice for an operator, GSX will KTPA KPHX KPHL KMCI KMEM KCLT KSDF KSEA
just Skip the operator selection menu. What would be the point of presenting a couatl.basecolor = full _ blue
menu with only one possible choice ? That’s why, if an operator has been assigned
to any given Parking spot using the drop-down list in the Parking Customization couatl.regions = B C P
page, the operator choice menu will never shown, since it’s another case where couatl.plate = US _ TX
only one choice is possible, which will disable the menu.
[UA]
Rules Customization couatl.atc _ parking _ codes = UAL,UALX,UAC,BLR,UEJ,COA
couatl.icaoprefixes = K KDEN KLAX KORD KSFO KIAD KTPA KOMA KLAS KEWR
Like with many other things in GSX, even Operator assignment rules can be cus- KJFK P PG
tomized by users. With custom Rules files, you can control on a more global level couatl.basecolor = blue
which operators go where, without having to customize specific airport in detail.
couatl.regions = B C P
To create a custom rules file, you need to create a new empty file named as fol- couatl.plate = US _ NY
lows (depending which operator kind you want to create new rules for), in your
GSX local profile folder: [UA _ white]
couatl.atc _ parking _ codes = UAL,UALX,UAC,BLR,UEJ,COA
%APPDATA%\Virtuali\GSX\texture\rules _ handling.cfg couatl.icaoprefixes = K KDEN KLAX KORD KSFO KIAD KTPA KOMA KLAS KEWR
%APPDATA%\Virtuali\GSX\texture\rules _ catering.cfg KJFK P PG
%APPDATA%\Virtuali\GSX\texture\rules _ fueltruck.cfg couatl.basecolor = blue
It’s not required to include rules for all operators in GSX in a custom rules file, but couatl.regions = B C P
only the ones you want to change their rule: if an operator is not included in your couatl.plate = US _ NY
custom rules file, its rules will be taken from the stock file in the \Addon Manager\
In the previous example, we have two operators for each of AA and UA, named
as follows:
[AA]
[AA _ white]
[UA]
[UA _ white]
We have two sections, because GSX comes with two liveries for both, a default
one using a dark font over a usually white/light grey vehicle paint, named [AA] and
[UA], and an alternate one using a white font, used on a darker base paint. They
are effectively two separate operators so, if we want to alter their rules, they must
be both overridden in a custom rules file.
In the previous example, we removed KORD from both AA operators, and added
KSEA, and removed KSDF from both UA operators.
The result will be that, if we called GSX at KORD, American Airlines won’t appear
anymore, and United will appear, unless there are other operators at equal score
there, possibly even in the stock rules file.
At KSEA, American Airlines should appear, either as the only possible choice, or
together with other operators that might have been assigned there, possibly in
the stock rules files.
At KSDF, even if we unassigned it to UA, it might still appear because, if there are
no other operators with a better score there, even in the stock rules files, there’s
always the first K giving it a base score of 1, so now both AA and UA will be select-
able, because AA also have a basic score of 1, due to its own K.
If you prefer to reason from an “airport point of view”, be sure you check the stock
rules file for all ICAO codes that might match an operator, and if you want to make
any changes, include all operators that matched the airport in your customized
rules files, and alter the rules for all of them there.

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GSX Manual MSFS

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FsDreamTeam GSX Pro - Ground Services for MSFS - page 1

Version 3.0 Pro Credits

• 10 GB free space on your hard disk

Please do not move any FSDT product from its location.

Uninstall a product, removing it from your PC entirely

Temporarily disable the add-on. IMPORTANT

GSX is a comprehensive enhancement of everything related to Ground Services

Two products in one: GSX Pro and GSX World

Worldwide replacement of default Jetway models.

Worldwide replacement of default Ground services.

Regions and Airports Services

Living World vehicles

Jetway replacements and Encrypted Airports

Single .SPB in the About 15000 .SPB files in Created programmatically by

By default, the Hot-key is assigned to the following key combination:

CTRL + Shift + F12

Extra Ground Clutter

Possible Key conflicts

GSX Pro Here we are at the default

Parking Assistance Signal Description

GSX Menu when Parked

Deboarding Deboarding Passengers without a Jetway

In this case, selecting Deboarding will result in the following actions:

Multiple Passenger Bus Belt Loaders

Waiting times for vehicles like Catering, Bus or Refueling trucks

ULD Loaders Catering service

Calling the Fuel Truck The Refueling procedure

• Airplanes using custom fuel systems with no “Progressive refuel” simulation

Here’s two common usage scenarios, covering both modes of operations:

How to refuel the PMDG 737

Pushback Pushback directions definitions:

Pushback Sequence of operations

This option is always available regardless of the parking Pushback preference.

Option #2 completes the procedure without waiting for the engines.

Concentration is suggested by GSX as a function of the external temperature, the

GSX Settings GSX Settings are divided in 4 major areas:

Follow-Me Car speed

Parking “Slow Down” speed

Straight Pushback Distance

Always ask for Pushback Sound Volume

Profiles Creator Nickname

Interval between “Waiting for your action” messages

Enable logging when GSX can’t even start

The file should contain a single line, like this:

Airport Customization interface

The Airport Customization page allows Multiple Selection, with CTRL-Left-Click

GSX comes with a large variety of VGDS aids,

The “No Parking System” option is used when

Jetways(s) Max Marshaller distance

Disable Passenger Bus

Ignore aircraft preferred exit

By default, GSX will assume Underground refueling to be always available on Gates

Airline Codes Front and Rear Loaders

Pushback Slots Snap

We’ll explain it here in any case for completeness’ sake.

“On Taxiway A, facing S”

Snap vs Custom Pushback Paste Mirrored

Copy & Paste

Custom Profile Details Filter Jetways

Resetting vehicle positions

NOTE: With “Default starting positions” we indicate whatever source of original

• “Customize Parking System” Exiting from the Editor

Editing the Parking System Editing the Stop Position