Map an airport in MSFS

Contribution mode

If bars sit wrong, or there is no map for your add-on yet, you can fix it from inside the sim. Click Contribution Mode ▾ on the status card:

• BAR · LEAD-ON · REL - map this airport’s stop bars, lead-on lights and runway entrance lights. It pairs a browser editor with your running sim and mirrors your edits live. It needs a detected add-on scenery, or it maps the built-in airport as its own MSFS · Stock map (from either sim). The Base map is edited from the web editor.
• Taxi Network - the Follow-the-Greens editor. Moderators with the FTG grant only.

If several add-ons cover the airport - or your Publisher pick is not what is loaded - a Which scenery? dialog asks which one you are mapping before the session starts.

MSFS moves your aircraft

In MSFS, contribution mode teleports your aircraft to each bar you inspect. Do it parked on the ground, not mid-flight, and disconnected from VATSIM. Leaving contribution mode returns you to normal.

While a session runs, a BAR / LEAD-ON / REL row appears on the status card. It picks which part of the map you are editing and mirrors the browser editor’s tabs - switch in either place.

XPGuard MSFS Contribution

Show exclusion zone checkbox previews the light suppression area.

While mapping, nudge a bar’s shape with global hotkeys that work while the MSFS window has focus:

Key	Action
Ctrl + Shift + ↑ ↓ ← →	Move the selected node 0.5 m. Up/Down along the facing direction, Left/Right along the bar.
Ctrl + Shift + N	Jump to the next node.
Ctrl + Alt + ← →	Move the IHP lights center position (Stop bar + IHP and IHP only bar types only).
Ctrl + Shift + E	Toggle exclusion zone editing mode. Use Ctrl + Shift + ↑ ↓ ← → to expand the exclusion zone. Use Ctrl + Alt + Shift + ↑ ↓ ← → to shrink it.

More tips:

• Click a bar in the app’s Stopbars list to zoom the editor to it.
• Click a bar in the editor to teleport ~15 m in front of it, facing it.
• Add or remove whole bars in the browser.

For the full walkthrough, see Contributing.