Microsoft Flight Simulator Modding on OpenMods

Asobo's officially modded flight sim

Microsoft Flight Simulator (the 2020 release, sometimes called MSFS 2020 to distinguish from the 2024 release) is Asobo Studio's flight simulator. Microsoft's longstanding commitment to flight-sim modding carries through, there's an official SDK, the Microsoft Flight Simulator Marketplace for paid add-ons, and a long tradition of community freeware sites (flightsim.to, FSCloud, fsnordic) hosting free add-ons.

The mod ecosystem is unusually professional. Many "mods" are full aircraft from third-party developers (PMDG, Fenix, Just Flight), paid commercial products. Free community mods sit alongside as airport scenery, livery packs, and smaller utilities.

The toolchain

• MSFS SDK: Asobo's official authoring tool. Free download. Includes the aircraft and scenery development environments.
• Marketplace: paid add-on distribution, integrated into the launcher.
• flightsim.to: the largest free community add-on hub.
• Community/ folder: drop add-ons here. MSFS detects them on launch.

What you'll find on OpenMods

MSFS add-ons are split between the Marketplace (paid), flightsim.to (freeware), and developer-direct distribution. GitHub hosts some freeware projects, especially scenery and improvement mods. OpenMods catalogues GitHub-published MSFS mods.

Practical notes

• MSFS 2020 vs MSFS 2024. Asobo shipped MSFS 2024 as a separate release. Some add-ons support both; many are specific to one. Check compatibility carefully.
• Marketplace vs Community folder. Paid Marketplace add-ons install through the launcher. Free downloads (.zip files) extract into your Community/ folder.
• Update breakage is common. Asobo's sim-update cadence is high; major updates frequently invalidate older add-ons. Most popular freeware is updated; some abandoned.
• Performance scales aggressively with installed scenery. Each enabled scenery add-on adds to load time and frame rate cost in the relevant region.