The X-Plane Airport Scenery Gateway can be found at gateway.x-plane.com
The Gateway provides a method for airport scenery artists to submit new or updated airport sceneries for inclusion into future releases of X-Plane. Submissions are made (by artists from the community) to the Gateway directly from the Laminar Research airport-building tool “World Editor” (WED). Submissions must comprise only Laminar Research scenery library assets.
Instructions for Airport Scenery Artists
Note: This document assumes familiarity with X-Plane World Editor (WED).
Laminar Research thanks all artists for contributing their work to the Airport Scenery Gateway.
Airport submissions are captured by Laminar Research periodically from the Gateway, for inclusion into a future release of X-Plane. Airport submissions that have a status of “Recommended” (by the moderator) at the moment of capture will appear in X-Plane.
Becoming a scenery artist on the Gateway
Register as a new scenery artist here on the Gateway website.
Choosing an airport
Visit gateway.x-plane.com and log in using your artist name.
Select the ‘Airports’ option from the menu.
The ‘Wanted Airports’ button is a great place to start – this feature provides a list of airports that are missing scenery or have old scenery that needs updating.
If you already have an airport in mind, you may search for it by identifier or name. If this airport is found on the Gateway, select it in the grid.
If the airport does not yet exist on the Gateway, you will need to log in and file a New Airport Code Request
Airport Locking
To avoid two or more artists working on the same airport, the Gateway has a ‘lock’ feature. When an airport is ‘locked’, this informs the community that someone is working on it.
Checking the lock-status of an airport
Log in to the Gateway and search for your airport using the identifier or name. If this airport is found on the Gateway, select it in the grid. The lock-status of the airport is shown above the submission history tree. If the airport is currently ‘locked’, the name of the artist and the lock-expiration date are shown.
Locking an airport
If the airport is available, and you are ready to begin developing it, click the ‘Lock this airport to work on it’ button. Be sure to do this only if you are serious about starting work on the project immediately.
Un-locking an airport
You may release your lock on any airport by clicking the ‘Release Lock’ button. Do this ONLY if you are sure there is no further development work to be done. Once you release an airport, you will not be able to lock it again until a grace-period has elapsed.
Importing an airport from the Gateway into WED
On the Gateway – navigate to the page of the airport you intend to work with and check its submissions-history. If one or more submissions exists for this airport already, you will need to import the Recommended submission into WED as your starting point. If no submissions exist already, you may skip this step.
- Start WED and create a new airport project.
- Open the new airport project.
- Select File | Import From Airport Scenery Gateway
- Wait for the list of airports to be populated.
- Input the airport identifier or name into the edit box above the list, and then select the airport in the results that are returned.
- Click ‘Next’.
- Select the ‘Recommended’ submission.
- Click ‘Import Packs’.
Exporting an airport from WED to the Gateway
- Select the airport you want to upload in the hierarchy pane (you may only upload one airport at a time).
- Set the “Target X-Plane Version” in the File menu to “Airport Scenery Gateway.”
- Select File | Validate to check your airport for errors. Validation errors will need corrected for the upload feature to become enabled.
- Select File | Export to Airport Scenery Gateway.
- Input your username, password, and any comments about this work that you wish the moderator and community to see.
- Click “Upload.”
Tracking your airport’s progress on the Gateway
Check back periodically to follow the progress of your airport submission on the Gateway. Airports may have the following status:
- Uploaded (Not yet acknowledged by the moderator.)
- Accepted (This airport submission has been acknowledged by the moderator, but not yet evaluated.)
- Approved (This airport submission has been approved as suitable for inclusion in a future release of X-Plane. “Approved” submissions may be downloaded from the Gateway by X-Plane users. However, if there are multiple approved submissions for the same airport, only the “Recommended” submission is a candidate to appear in a future release of X-Plane.)
- Recommended (Denoted with a star in the adjacent column – this airport submission has been recommended for inclusion in a future release of X-Plane. Airport submissions that are “Recommended” at the moment of capture will appear in the next release of X-Plane.)
- See Comments (This airport submission could not be approved by the moderator. The reason for this can be viewed by clicking the moderator comment that applies to this submission.)
Useful documents
Tips for getting your airport approved on the Gateway
Building Better Gateway Airports
Reporting Bugs
If you encounter any bugs or unexpected issues with WED, the Gateway site, or an airport submission, please report them using the bug reporter on the Gateway site.