These are introductory articles for authors and general users.
| Title | Date | Description |
| Getting Started | 12/24/05 | A few starting-points for creating scenery. |
| About the new Global Scenery | 12/24/05 | An overview of what's new in the global scenery. |
| Airport Layouts and Global Scenery | 06/25/08 | Tips on building airport layouts and submitting them for the next global scenery. |
These articles explain various aspects of the scenery system and are intended for authors creating scenery.
| Title | Date | Description |
| Object Overview | 05/11/07 | A semi-technical description of the new OBJ8 object format. |
| Building DSF Meshes | 05/22/06 | Details for programmers on how to build custom DSF meshes. |
| About Overlays | 02/15/06 | A description of the overlay system and its uses. |
| Scenery Package Organization | 02/11/06 | Layout Information for Scenery Packages |
| X-Plane 8 Library System | 11/17/05 | Customizing artwork with the X-Plane 8 Library. |
| Performance Tuning and Scenery | 09/20/05 | How to maximize framerate in a custom scenery package |
| DSF Overview | 09/20/05 | A semi-technical description of the new scenery format. |
| Scenery System Overview | 09/20/05 | A mostly non-technical overview of the entire X-Plane scenery system. |
| Facades Overview | 09/20/05 | A description of facade objects and their role in the new scenery system. |
| X-Plane Image Formats | 12/31/69 | Information on image formats used in X-plane scenery. |
These are detailed specifications of the various X-Plane specific file types used by the X-Plane scenery system. They are intended primarily for programmers, although in some cases authors may need to create these files by hand with a text editor.
| Title | Date | Description |
| .dsf (Low Level Format) | 01/08/07 | Distribution Scenery Format Specification |
| .dsf (Usage by X-Plane) | 12/26/07 | DSF X-Plane Integration Information |
| .fac (building facade) | 07/25/06 | Facade definition specification |
| .for (forest) | 12/26/07 | Forest definition specification |
| .lin (painted line) | 07/24/06 | Painted Line definition specification |
| .net (road network) | 12/26/07 | Road Network definition specification. |
| .obj (Object 8) | 09/28/08 | OBJ Version 8 File Format Specification |
| .pol (draped polygon) | 09/28/08 | Draped Polygon definition specification |
| .str (object string) | 07/25/06 | Object String definition specification |
| .ter (terrain) | 09/28/08 | Terrain definition specification |
| Library (library.txt) | 01/08/07 | Specification of the library.txt file format |
These documents describe the old X-Plane 7 scenery system, and are included for historical reference.
| Title | Date | Description |
| LEGACY: V7 Scenery Packages | 09/20/05 | The version 7 scenery packaging system. |
| LEGACY: Env File Format Specification | 09/20/05 | Explanation of the version 7 ENV file format. |
| LEGACY: V7 Default Scenery Overview | 09/20/05 | An Author's Guide to V7 Default Scenery. |
If you would like to translate a tutorial into another language, please email me to receive the raw source document!