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    Aircraft Type ICAO Designator Mod - Model Match Enhancer - Image 1

    Description

    PLEASE NOTE!  SU3 Model Matching is currently having major issues, so this add-on may not work as expected until it gets fixed.

     

    This small Community folder drop-in mod updates the MSFS ICAO Aircraft Designator database to include aircraft types that do not conform to the official ICAO designation standard. This allows you to see a multiplayer aircraft you have installed as the correct model, even if you don’t have the other user’s livery. The mod works in both MSFS 2020 and 2024 and applies to all aircraft types, including warbirds, fighter jets, helicopters, taildraggers, and more.

    For multiplayer model matching, MSFS frst checks the Livery name of the Multiplayer aircraft and looks for a match to a Livery that the user possesses. If this check fails, then it checks against the ICAO aircraft designator for a match.  A large reason why model matching fails within MSFS even if you have the aircraft installed is because the ICAO designator is also checked against an official database of ICAO codes, and a failed check here means a generic model will be shown.  Less than 50% of the aircraft models released for MSFS use an official ICAO designator as provided by the developer, so this explains why you see a generic aircraft in the simulator even if you have the aircraft installed.  This mod adds the unofficial codes to the ICAO code file to prevent this from occurring.

    A PDF file is available in the download zip file which contains most all of the MSFS 2020/2024 aircraft that have been released for the simulator:

    MSFS 2020 2024 Aircraft ICAO Designator List 17-Aug-2025.pdf

    It indicates which aircraft have official (valid) ICAO designators vs. those that aren’t valid.  Note that some aircraft have a blank aircraft ICAO designator, which means this mod will not work at all.  If you still see a generic multiplayer aircraft in the sim for an aircraft you own, it’s likely that its ICAO aircraft designator isn’t in the Aircraft Type Designator ICAO Mod file.

    If you don’t see an aircraft listed, please reach out to the author at  flyingndiving@yahoo.com with your suggested update (including the ICAO code the developer used) and it will be included in a future release.

    Comments(22)

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    5 months ago

    Update pls?

    9 months ago

    Hi. 2024 does not have "Air Traffic" are we supposed to use "Aircraft Traffic Variety"
    flyndiveAuthor

    9 months ago

    Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Yes, SU3 now has introduced Aircraft Traffic Quantity and Aircraft Traffic Variety, each likely playing a role for model matching (although no official description has come out detailing what each does and impacts to multiplayer). Probably a good idea to keep both of these settings on Ultra.
    flyndiveAuthor

    9 months ago

    PLEASE NOTE! SU3 Model Matching is currently having major issues, so this add-on may not work as expected until it gets fixed.

    9 months ago

    Worked really well. The way i fixed people not seeing me in a F18 was to edit the aircraft.cfg file to change the ICAO to F18H. But this mod is really good, precise representation of aircraft types, maybe not liveries, but types for sure!

    9 months ago

    Will this fix how i show up to other players?
    flyndiveAuthor

    9 months ago

    If they have this mod in their community folder and you're in a livery they don't have, it will work for them.

    9 months ago

    nearly all GA real-time online aircraft in MSFS2024 became sailplanes. SU2.
    flyndiveAuthor

    9 months ago

    Apparently you have other issues with model matching. This add-in simply updates the aircraft ICAO file that MSFS utilizes with additional ICAO codes that they don't include. Are you using this with another model matching or injector tool? Aside from that, MSFS2024 continues to have issues with model matching that this add-on, unfortunately, doesn't address.

    9 months ago

    Thank you for this add-on!

    9 months ago

    I did send you email, i am dev of GAmod and investigating if we could tackle some military traffic problem with your mod. So we need military aircraft ICAO designators also.
    flyndiveAuthor

    9 months ago

    Absolutely! I just sent a reply.

    9 months ago

    Thank you flyndive very cool!

    10 months ago

    would you say this is more accurate than fstl model matching for vatsim? I would love to use it if it is bc i hate getting the generic error with vatsim
    flyndiveAuthor

    10 months ago

    This mod is more useful for multiplayer model matching where you're dependent on the built-in MSFS model matching process rather than traffic injection tools such as FSTL. For this mod to work effectively, Traffic Variety (2020) or Air Traffic (2024) needs to be set to "Ultra" , whereas its recommended for FSTL to have these settings set to "Off" to avoid conflicts/overlaps.

    10 months ago

    Massively improved model matching for our group flights. Thanks!
    flyndiveAuthor

    10 months ago

    I've been using this mod for sometime now and finally got around to releasing it ;) Glad to hear its working well for you.

    10 months ago

    Great Mod
    This is huge for group flights
    Every streamer needs this :P
    flyndiveAuthor

    10 months ago

    Thanks EzRyder. Those are my thoughts exactly. You know, if MSFS simply disabled the ICAO check against the "official" ICAO codes, then this mod wouldn't be needed and it would be hugely beneficial to the immersion factor in the sim.

    10 months ago

    Tried this out and it works extremely well for multiplayer group flights! Turning air traffic to ultra and seemed like at least 90% of the multiplayer planes near me showed the proper model.

    MSFS 2020MSFS 2024

    Aircraft Type ICAO Designator Mod - Model Match Enhancer

    This small Community folder drop-in mod updates the MSFS ICAO Aircraft Designator database to include aircraft types that do not conform to the official ICAO designation standard. This allows you to see a multiplayer aircraft you have installed as the correct model, even if you don’t have the other user’s livery. This mod will work for both MSFS2020 and 2024.

    Downloads1K
    Version1.1
    File Size1.79 MB
    Published9 months ago
    Updated9 months ago

    User Reviews

    4.8

    5 reviews

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    More Information

    Simulator
    MSFS2020/24
    Sub-CategoryModel Matching

    Version History

    Changelog o Added additional aircraft o Provided a list of most all of the released aircraft for 2020/2024 indicating valid/invalid codes

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