Stop bars Takeoff Hold Lights THL Follow the Greens FTG
Lit on the ground, the moment the controller sets them.
XPGuard shows controlled stop bars on the ground in MSFS 2020, MSFS 2024 and X-Plane 12 — automatically at every airport in the sim. When you're held short, the bar glows red. When you're cleared, the lights go off — right on the hold-short markings. Automatic Takeoff Hold Lights warn a lined-up crew when the runway ahead isn't safe for takeoff. And Follow the Greens lights your cleared taxi route with green centerline lights that lead you to the runway. One controller plugin drives every simulator. Completely free.
See it in action.
Airports tuned to the scenery you fly.
Stop bars and THL work at every airport by default, for both X-Plane and MSFS. Some sceneries place the holding positions differently from the real-world data, so those airports get a stop bar map of their own, thanks to the contributors — add-ons, and MSFS’s own built-in airports where they needed correcting too. Below is the list of handcrafted, moderator-reviewed maps. XPGuard matches the scenery you are using automatically — nothing to install.
Flying an add-on that isn't listed? Map it in the editor — it pairs with your simulator, and a moderator reviews it before it goes live.
From the scope to your taxiway.
Three steps, scope to ground. A controller sets it in EuroScope or vatSys, XPGuard syncs, and the lights appear on the ground in front of you — stop bars, automatic takeoff hold lights, and Follow-the-Greens taxi guidance.
Set on the scope
A controller running an XPGuard plugin — EuroScope or vatSys — claims their runways and clicks the stop bars on the ground radar to set or clear them.
EuroScope · vatSysSynced in real time
Every claim and click relays through XPGuard to every pilot connected at that airport, the same moment it happens.
Live networkLit on the ground
The XPGuard plugin draws stopbars exactly on the hold-short markings, lights takeoff hold lights down the runway ahead, and traces your cleared taxi route in moving green centerline lights — red to hold, off to roll, greens to follow.
MSFS · X-Plane 12Built to feel like the real ground.
No lag, no reload
Set or drop a bar and pilots see it the same moment. The ground stays in sync with the controller.
Exactly where it belongs
Stop bars sit on the real hold-short positions, mapped straight onto the runways.
Drawn the light way
Lights are drawn natively by the sim, so your frame rate doesn't notice they're there.
MSFS & X-Plane
One controller plugin drives MSFS 2020, MSFS 2024 and X-Plane 12 alike — stopbars derived automatically from each sim's airport data, at every airport.
The real language
A lit red bar holds you short. Cleared, the lights go off. The same logic as the stop bars on a real taxiway.
No per-airport setup
Nothing to add or configure. The bars are already at every airport — contributors only fine-tune the rare ones that sit a little off.
Takeoff hold lights
Lined up to depart? A double row of red centerline lights warns you when the runway ahead isn't clear, then goes dark once it is. Automatic — driven by the live traffic, not switched bar-by-bar.
Green taxi guidance
A controller draws your cleared taxi route in EuroScope; XPGuard lights it as green centerline lights that move with you and hold short of red bars — you taxi by following the greens, in MSFS and X-Plane alike. Available at airports with a published taxi network.
For the pilot, and for the controller.
Hold short like the real world
Install the plugin, fly online, and watch stop bars light up wherever the controller is working.
- Works in MSFS 2020, MSFS 2024 and X-Plane 12
- Bars are already at every airport, out of the box
- Automatic Takeoff Hold Lights warn you before an unsafe takeoff roll
- Follow the Greens lights your cleared taxi route — taxi by following the greens
- A control panel for settings and contribution
Run the ground from EuroScope or vatSys
Load an XPGuard controller plugin — EuroScope or vatSys — claim the runways you're working, and click the stop bars to set or clear them. No scenery edits, no coordination needed.
- Claim your runways
- Click a bar to set it red; click again to clear it
- Arm Takeoff Hold Lights per runway — XPGuard lights them from the live traffic
- Guide pilots with Follow-the-Greens — draw the taxi route on the ground radar (EuroScope)
- Pilots see it instantly across the network
Works at every airport. (Stop bars & THL)
XPGuard derives hold-short stop bars automatically from the sim's global airport database — every airport, in MSFS 2020, MSFS 2024 and X-Plane 12 alike, tens of thousands of airports. No adding airports, no per-airport setup; it just works everywhere, out of the box.
Spot a bar that sits wrong at an airport? Fine-tune it in the web editor.
FTG capable airports.
Stop bars and Takeoff Hold Lights work everywhere. Follow the Greens needs a published taxi network for the airport — mapped by moderators & vACCs, per simulator and, where an add-on paints its taxiways differently, per publisher. These airports are ready today; the list grows as networks are published.
Your home airport missing? See how Follow the Greens works — taxi networks are mapped by moderators & vACCs in the web editor.
Built by the people who fly it.
The stop bars are automatic, but a few sit a little off. XPGuard gets sharper when pilots and controllers fix the bars at their home airports. Here's how to pitch in.
Fine-tune an airport
Sign in, open the airport by ICAO in the web map editor, nudge the auto-detected stop bars onto the right markings, and submit a correction — an admin reviews the diff and publishes.
See it in the sim
Contribution mode shows your in-progress fixes on the ground in the sim, so you can check every bar before you submit.
Test on VATSIM
Fly in VATSIM, find what's off, and tell us where a bar sits wrong.
Ready to hold short?
Download XPGuard, connect to VATSIM and fly — controlled stopbars, automatic takeoff hold lights and Follow-the-Greens taxi guidance. Free to use.