Description
YPDN Darwin Airport Enhancement
Full reconstruction of the airport and its perimeter. All aprons and surfaces have been updated with a mixture of high-fidelity custom and Asobo materials, complete with custom decals and stencils realistic to the airport. Includes full AI support and the latest taxiway additions that are not present in the default scenery. MSFS 2024 native with an older MSFS 2020 build available.
Disclaimer: I'm not local to Darwin, so some features may not be fully correct. If you have high-quality, up-to-date references, you can DM me to help out with the project.
Version 1.06 (MSFS 2020) / 1.14 (MSFS 2024) includes:
- Up-to-date layout (2026)
- Custom-placed buildings and assets using Asobo Libraries
- Custom Hi-Definition round markings and decals to match the real airport better
- Custom objects, bollards (2024 ONLY)
- Generic taxiway signs (MSFS 2020)
- Custom-placed taxiway signs (2024 ONLY)
- Generic night lighting (MSFS 2020)
- Darwin-specific night lighting (2024 ONLY)
- Custom terraforming around the airport perimeter
- Aprons and runways resurfaced according to aerial imagery
- Extra dirt and grime on surfaces (2024 ONLY)
- Custom-made parking positions for all the important stands
- Custom ILS, PAPI, HIRL
- Fully custom AI routes
Planned for future updates:
- More custom 3D assets
- GSX-profile (if no one decides to do one before me)
Please note that updates for MSFS 2024 are prioritized over MSFS 2020.
Enjoy flying in NT :)
Dependencies
Comments(21)
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Log InM
28 days ago
Great airport mod, thanks a lot :)
C
2 months ago
Completely freezes FS2024 when trying to load into the airport. Every. Single. Time. Could not solve this even after emptying community folder. Had to bin it and buy payware.
E
EcrufeelsAuthor
2 months ago
This is the first report I've heard of this happening. Confirm you're not using any SU betas? And have you tried disabling photogrammetry? Both can cause issues.
B
6 months ago
Tested latest MSFS2020 version. Issues I mentioned are fixed. Gladly changed my review score. Btw one thing which I need to test further, but I had good winds favoring runway 11 for landing and next day for take off, but BATC forced me to use runway 29 even with tailwind and I could not ask to change the runway. Sometimes it signals some "atc" issues with the airport.
B
8 months ago
Any more updates coming my good man
E
EcrufeelsAuthor
8 months ago
https://flightsim.to/activities/post/163823/08-2025-ypdn-development-preview
There will most likely be a version before 1.2 that will have all other improvements outside of custom models. MSFS 2020 will also get a hotfix someday that will fix some bugs. Note that MSFS 2020 is a mostly EOL product.
There will most likely be a version before 1.2 that will have all other improvements outside of custom models. MSFS 2020 will also get a hotfix someday that will fix some bugs. Note that MSFS 2020 is a mostly EOL product.
B
9 months ago
Hello. Tested 1.02. Progress has been made on the terrain side of things. Still if possible fix list: 1) I have some Z texture fighting (grass texture), 2) some texture flickering (the metal building), 3) jetways are disconnected and if possible it would be really cool to 4) use some library to cover the flat "items" like aircraft which are baked into the satelite image. Cover it with static aircraft or helicopter or cover it with some rectangular texture of grass, dirt or apshalt.
Also please if you make new version use the manifest.json file and change the line "package_version": "1.0.0",
so it matches your version here i.e. 1.0.2.
Thanks.
Also please if you make new version use the manifest.json file and change the line "package_version": "1.0.0",
so it matches your version here i.e. 1.0.2.
Thanks.
E
EcrufeelsAuthor
9 months ago
Thanks for the continued feedback. You're using an outdated version (latest is 1.11) which fully fixes jetways (actually this time, since I didn't remove Asobo default override option on 1.02) and has a ton of new upgrades. I don't support MSFS 2020 anymore as my simulator fails to load after changing my PC. MSFS 2024 is becoming ever more popular by the day and is more economical to develop for. If I have some patience to redownload 2020 in the future, I will only fix jetways and nothing else.
As for the grass texture, I could remove it, but that would reveal an old taxiway that has been removed. Bing aerial imagery is years out of date and still has old taxiways that I had to fill with this grass texture. The downside is clipping, but at least the scene looks more convincing. I'm trying to source a replacement one, but imagery is expensive and difficult to obtain legally. It's the same thing for static aircraft. I don't want to be dependent on addons that are not mine. I'm currently making custom assets which I plan to add in version 1.2. No timeframes. Building clipping will be fixed in following updates.
Hopefully you understand my thought process.
As for the grass texture, I could remove it, but that would reveal an old taxiway that has been removed. Bing aerial imagery is years out of date and still has old taxiways that I had to fill with this grass texture. The downside is clipping, but at least the scene looks more convincing. I'm trying to source a replacement one, but imagery is expensive and difficult to obtain legally. It's the same thing for static aircraft. I don't want to be dependent on addons that are not mine. I'm currently making custom assets which I plan to add in version 1.2. No timeframes. Building clipping will be fixed in following updates.
Hopefully you understand my thought process.
J
about 1 year ago
Great enhancement, can't wait to see it improved further.
B
about 1 year ago
Just FYI. Last update changed the structure of folders in the .rar file. There is/are 1-2 extra folders before the airport folder. Some less experienced users could drag and drop the ypdn-enhancement folder into community folder instead of the airport folder which is 2 levels "deep" from the main folder. It works in both cases for me I just tested it (using addon linker), but the path is longer by these two folders.
I hope I described it well enough :D
Common path airport folder ecrufeels-airport-ypdn-darwin/manifest.json
right now it is YPDN-Enehancement/packagecontent/ecrufeels-airport-ypdn-darwin/manifest.json
I hope I described it well enough :D
Common path airport folder ecrufeels-airport-ypdn-darwin/manifest.json
right now it is YPDN-Enehancement/packagecontent/ecrufeels-airport-ypdn-darwin/manifest.json
E
EcrufeelsAuthor
about 1 year ago
Good catch! Fixed with 1.02
B
about 1 year ago
Review edited. Airport creator did the fixes. 12/2025
I hope this review doesn't offend you in any way, but I try to be honest in my reviews, I try to give the creators constructive feedback so they can improve their addon. At the moment, the airport has two major problems and several smaller ones. The biggest problem of the current airport is the uneven terrain - in many places there is a ramp between the taxiway and the runway 11/29 and between taxiway and apron at the terminal, in some places this ramp/stair is so large that a Boeing 737 scrapes the engines off the ground. The second problem is related to taxiways - some are not connected, he airport lacks taxiway names (problems with traffic AI with fsltl injector or taxi instructions with BATC) , some taxiway lines are not connected and some are missaligned. I parked at gate 5 and the jetway worked, the ILS system worked (runway 11) - the other jetways are bad and disconnected in several parts. I hope you will have the time and desire to improve your addon. I think there is great potential in this project and I know it is not an easy task to improve the basic poor quality airport in MSFS with the SDK. I wish you good luck and I will be happy to revisit this airport again in the future and edit the review.
I hope this review doesn't offend you in any way, but I try to be honest in my reviews, I try to give the creators constructive feedback so they can improve their addon. At the moment, the airport has two major problems and several smaller ones. The biggest problem of the current airport is the uneven terrain - in many places there is a ramp between the taxiway and the runway 11/29 and between taxiway and apron at the terminal, in some places this ramp/stair is so large that a Boeing 737 scrapes the engines off the ground. The second problem is related to taxiways - some are not connected, he airport lacks taxiway names (problems with traffic AI with fsltl injector or taxi instructions with BATC) , some taxiway lines are not connected and some are missaligned. I parked at gate 5 and the jetway worked, the ILS system worked (runway 11) - the other jetways are bad and disconnected in several parts. I hope you will have the time and desire to improve your addon. I think there is great potential in this project and I know it is not an easy task to improve the basic poor quality airport in MSFS with the SDK. I wish you good luck and I will be happy to revisit this airport again in the future and edit the review.
E
EcrufeelsAuthor
about 1 year ago
Thank you for the feedback. These are all things that were already noted as issues with the product before I released it and are *very clearly* listed on the product page as incomplete. You agreed to download an alpha product, therefore, you will receive an alpha product.
I plan to fix these things very soon as they are the only thing keeping me from releasing 1.0. I guess now I have some extra motivation to do so :)
I plan to fix these things very soon as they are the only thing keeping me from releasing 1.0. I guess now I have some extra motivation to do so :)
E
EcrufeelsAuthor
about 1 year ago
Update: terraforming and jetways fixed with alpha 3
E
EcrufeelsAuthor
about 1 year ago
Update 2: Version 1.0 fixes AI routes.
B
about 1 year ago
@Ecrufeels Thank you for your work. I was not able to fly lately that much in Australia. I havent tested both updates yet. It is definitely in my to do list :)
MSFS 2020MSFS 2024
YPDN Darwin Airport Enhancement
Full reconstruction of Darwin International Airport with custom markings and up-to-date apron layout. MSFS 2020 and MSFS 2024 (Native)
Downloads4K
Version1.06
File Size2.08 MB
Published1 year ago
Updated5 months ago
User Reviews
5.0
5 reviews
5
100%
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Version History
- Added custom light sprites (centerline, edge light, LAHSO, hold-short &wigwags) to match with Australian specifications - Replaced RAAF grass moussa with better looking filler - Adjusted a few textures - Bug fixes MSFS 2024 ONLY.
7 days ago