Map lead-on and lead-off lines

Mapping lead-on lines

The Lead-On tab: a bar's lines, one per way out of it - here one onto 34L and one crossing the runway, each in its own color.

Lead-on lights are the green centerline beyond a stop bar. They light when a controller clears that bar, for the aircraft that was cleared. You author them in the same editor, on the Lead-On tab - the Bar | Lead-On | Rel strip at the top of the sidebar.

Map only what is painted on the ground

If the scenery has green lights where the real airport has none, choose Exclusion only. This hides the scenery lights without creating a guidance route.

Drawing lines

1. Click a stop bar on the map.
2. Click + Add line. Draw one line per way out of the bar - a bar with a left and a right exit gets two lines. The scope picks by the aircraft’s departure runway.
3. End the line where the scenery’s green centerline ends. The lights and the exclusion follow the line exactly as drawn; the controller’s end sensor sits where the line meets the runway centerline, so lights drawn past it go out when the aircraft crosses the centerline. A Cross line goes all the way to the far side.

For each line, set Leads onto:

Choice	Meaning
A runway end - 34R, not 16L/34R	The line leads onto that runway for departure.
Cross	The line crosses the runway to the far side. It lights for traffic that is not departing here.
Exclusion only	No lights. The line only covers the scenery’s own greens on a leg that is not a route - see scenery lights.

• Notes - free text, shown in the controller’s menu. Use it where two lines out of one bar are not obviously different (“via G4”, “full length”).
• Default - when two lines lead onto the same end, mark one as default. With none marked, neither lights. The list flags this with a ☆ star.
• N/A for this add-on - on a scenery variant map: the line exists in the real world, but this add-on has no taxiway line for it. Pilots on it never see the line.

Shaping a line

A new line starts straight. Pull it onto the painted centerline:

• Shift+click adds a shape point · Del removes the selected one · drag moves it.
• Add shape points… - click along the line to drop points. Fewer is better: use only the points needed to follow the painted curve.
• Add handle - a bezier arm on the selected point. Drag it to bend the curve; the sim lights the same curve.
• Straighten - back to the straight auto line.
• Snap - a magnet on dragged and inserted points. Click to cycle the source: off → Sim traces → Scenery lines → X-Plane paint. It starts on Sim traces in a paired MSFS session or where the map has traces, otherwise Scenery lines. One setting, shared with the Rel tab.
• Trace sim - fit the line to a trace you drove in the sim with Ctrl+Shift+T, same as REL tracing. The button reads Trace MSFS or Trace X-Plane when paired.
• Trace Scenery Lines - fit it to the lines the map is drawing: the add-on’s own lines in a paired MSFS session, X-Plane’s paint otherwise.

Lines are shaped in the browser. The sim is for tracing and checking.

Choose green or green and amber

A lit lead-on line in a paired session - green, alternating with amber where it crosses the ILS critical area.

Green + amber (ILS critical area) is the default: the stretch alternates green/amber, and the first light at the bar stays green. That matches most runway entrances. Pick plain Green only where the real field has it.

Use the same path for lead-off

Draw one path for both directions. The same lights also show steady green or green+amber in the opposite direction - a lead-off for an aircraft that has just landed and is vacating.

• Has lead-off is on by default for runway lines. Untick it if you do not want lead-off lights.
• Lead-off for landing runway - leave it on Auto (the opposite end of Leads onto) unless the exit serves another runway.

Share and copy

• Share with… - two bars facing each other over the same taxiway. Draw one line, share it with the far bar, and each bar switches its own direction. Use it for nearly every Cross line - so you do not have to draw for the opposite side.
• Copy from CAT II/III bar… - the CAT I bar’s line is the tail of the CAT II/III one. Copy it so the shared stretch keeps the same light positions.

Tracing in a paired sim

The most accurate way to shape a line in MSFS is to drive the path yourself and fit the line to your track. It is the same trace flow the FTG editor uses.

1. Open the editor from the app in a paired session, so the sim and the browser share a cursor.
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+T to start recording a breadcrumb trace. Press it again to stop. (X-Plane: bind the XPGuard/ftg_trace_toggle command to a key.)
3. Taxi from the taxiway centerline at the stop bar until the end of the taxiway centerline leading to the runway or until the stop bar in the far side for “Cross” lead-on lines.

Slew, a joystick, and a small aircraft

• Fly a small, light aircraft (a Cessna-class single). Its reference point sits close to the ground and to the centerline, so the trace lands where the lights should - a widebody’s reference point is meters off.
• Use the sim’s slew mode and steer with a joystick, not the keyboard. Slew glides the aircraft smoothly and precisely along the pavement. Keyboard nudges leave a stair-stepped trace.
• Take it slowly through the split and the runway entrance - that is the part the fit cares about most.

Check it in the sim

• All ON / All OFF light every line; Lights: ON/OFF toggles the selected one.
• Clicking a row also puts the aircraft behind its start node, facing along it.

Check copied lines marked VERIFY

A line copied or synced from another map arrives as a two-point sketch with a VERIFY chip. The shape belongs to the other scenery, and nothing lights until you fit it here. Drag a node, add a point, or trace it - the chip clears.

Never keep another map’s shape

A line drawn on one scenery sits meters off on another. Trace or drag every VERIFY line onto the pavement you are mapping before you submit. The same rule applies to REL rows - a copied row shows VERIFY and gets a fresh straight line to reshape when you select it.