Learn what Orbx offers for flight simulation: scenery, airports, aircraft and tools, plus how Orbx Central works and what to check before buying.
Orbx is a commercial flight-simulation add-on developer, publisher and distribution platform. It is best known for detailed airports, regional scenery, landmarks, city enhancements and terrain products, while its catalogue also includes aircraft and utilities from Orbx and partner developers for MSFS, X-Plane, Prepar3D and older simulators.
Orbx is not a simulator or one universal scenery package. The name covers Orbx’s own products, third-party add-ons sold through its store and the Orbx Central installation system. Our comparison of established MSFS scenery developers explains where Orbx fits among more specialised airport and city-scene studios.
What does Orbx actually sell?
Orbx sells individual add-ons ranging from one airport to scenery covering an entire region.
| Product type | What it changes | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|
| Airport scenery | Custom terminals, aprons, ground materials, signs, lighting and surrounding objects at a named airport. | Regular operations at a favourite airport, especially when the simulator’s default version is inaccurate or sparse. |
| Regional scenery | Broad-area upgrades such as landclass, textures, autogen, roads and water in older simulators, or curated objects and local detail in newer ones. | Low-level VFR flying across a whole area rather than visits to one field. |
| Landmarks and cities | Recognisable buildings, bridges, towers, industrial sites and skyline features. | VFR navigation, helicopter flying and improving cities that lack detailed default objects. |
| Terrain, mesh and aerial scenery | Elevation data, coastlines or photographic ground imagery, depending on the product. | Mountainous areas and locations where terrain shape or ground imagery matters more than airport detail. |
| Aircraft and utilities | Selected aircraft, companion applications and simulator tools developed by Orbx or publishing partners. | Simmers who want more than scenery from the same distribution platform. |
In FSX and Prepar3D, Orbx became particularly well known for the FTX range, including global base products, regional packages and compatible airports. In MSFS, its scenery normally replaces or overlays a defined part of the streamed world rather than rebuilding the entire simulator. Our explanation of photographic imagery versus default scenery covers the visual, storage and performance trade-offs behind these approaches.
Which flight simulators does Orbx support?
Orbx supports several simulator families, but compatibility is specified separately for every product.
- Microsoft Flight Simulator: products may support MSFS 2020, MSFS 2024 or both. Do not assume that a listing for one version includes support or licensing for the other.
- X-Plane: compatibility may be limited to X-Plane 11, X-Plane 12 or particular operating systems. Large aerial packages also require substantial storage.
- Prepar3D and FSX: legacy products can depend on a particular simulator edition, Orbx region or scenery-library arrangement. FSX Steam Edition support should be checked explicitly.
A common mistake is treating the Orbx brand as a compatibility guarantee. An FSX product does not become an MSFS product simply because both versions share the same airport name, and an X-Plane 11 package should not be assumed to work correctly in X-Plane 12.
On Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 versions of MSFS, add-ons must be distributed through the simulator’s in-game Marketplace for that console. Orbx Central cannot install a PC package onto a console, and availability may differ by platform.
How does Orbx Central work?
Orbx Central is the desktop application used to download, install, update and verify compatible products attached to an OrbxDirect account.
- Confirm the product version: check the simulator, edition, operating system and any required base package before purchasing.
- Select the installation target: Central can install to the supported simulator location or an Orbx library where the product permits it.
- Let Central manage declared dependencies: shared object libraries and updates are normally identified through the product record.
- Keep one delivery method: avoid installing both an Orbx Central copy and an in-simulator Marketplace copy of the same scenery.
Purchases made through an in-simulator Marketplace are generally installed and updated through that simulator, not through Orbx Central. Ownership and upgrades do not necessarily transfer between stores, PC and console, so choose the delivery method you intend to keep using.
Do Orbx add-ons require other Orbx products?
Some Orbx add-ons are standalone, while others require a shared library, base product or matching regional package.
This distinction matters most with older FTX-era scenery. An airport designed for an Orbx region may show missing objects, mismatched ground textures or poor blending without that region. For example, this freeware Tofino scenery extending the Orbx Pacific Northwest region illustrates how supplementary scenery can be built around an existing FTX package.
Read the dependency and compatibility fields rather than relying on screenshots. “Recommended” usually means the product can run without the extra package but may not blend as intended; “required” means it should not be installed alone.
What problems can Orbx scenery cause?
Most Orbx scenery problems come from duplicate coverage, incorrect versions or scenery-layer conflicts rather than the installer itself.
- Two versions of one airport: duplicated terminals, flickering surfaces and conflicting runway markings usually mean another package covers the same ICAO. Disable one version.
- Incorrect simulator build: a package intended for another MSFS or X-Plane generation may load partially, fail to appear or cause visual defects.
- X-Plane scenery order: manually edited installations may require airports, overlays, orthophotos and mesh to be ordered correctly in
scenery_packs.ini. - Legacy scenery layering: FSX and Prepar3D airports must sit at the appropriate priority relative to regional, landclass and mesh products.
- Missing dependencies: absent object libraries often produce empty areas rather than an obvious error message.
Is Orbx worth buying?
Orbx is most worthwhile when a product improves an area or airport that you use repeatedly.
- Choose an airport for airline procedures and detailed ground operations at a regular destination.
- Choose a landmark or city pack for visual navigation and helicopter flying.
- Choose regional scenery for low-and-slow touring across a broad area.
- Skip overlapping products when your simulator, a world update or another add-on already covers the location adequately.
The catalogue is mainly commercial, although freeware products have also been distributed. Product quality, performance cost and coverage vary between developers, so judge the individual add-on rather than assuming every item sold through Orbx has the same scope or technical standard.