A frequent question is how to declutter the MSFS hangar and how to reduce the amount of unwanted liveries and aircraft that are loaded when starting the program. There are some excellent addons for these things, but if you prefer to do it yourself, this post provides techniques that don’t require 3rd-party utilities.
This is an informational post, meant to provide info that is searchable by forum users.
These techniques are valid for MSFS 2020. I do not have MSFS 2024 and thus do not know if this stuff is valid for it.
Fact-checking is welcome; please add comments with corrections, clarifications and additional info.
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When MSFS starts, it loads all available aircraft and their liveries. It even loads liveries for unavailable aircraft if individual liveries are configured as “selectable”. Just a few unwanted liveries can total gigabytes. And all of this can tax load times and memory usage.
Important: Make a backup copy of any file or folder that you change, so that you can easily restore it if something goes awry.
And also keep notes of the changes you make. Any changes you make in the official OneStore directory can potentially be replaced by an MSFS program update. If that happens, having notes will allow you to restore your changes quickly.
Use MSFS Content Manager
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The first, and easiest option, is to use the MSFS Content Manager to delete unwanted aircraft and liveries.
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If the aircraft or livery can’t be deleted in Content Manager then it shouldn’t be manually deleted, because the program probably needs it. If you do delete it, the next time you start MSFS, it may restore the deleted aircraft. Instead, these aircraft can be hidden from your hangar instead of being deleted.
Backup Your Files
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Backup all folders and files that you plan to change or delete, for easy restoration if you make a mistake or decide later to use them.
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I have two archive folders with zipped backup folders and files:
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A folder with original aircraft downloads. For example: original aircraft files I downloaded from flightsim.to
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A folder with zipped copies of the aircraft in my Community folder, which includes all of my tweaks and livery changes.
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I also zip up individual edited files from the \Official\OneStore folder that I want to preserve. For example, I added color to the topsail of the OneStore Tanarg topsail. I archived the updated texture files so that if MSFS updates or restores the Tanarg, I can easily restore my edited texture files.
File Structure
Livery file structure is typically the same in both the Community folder and the \Official\OneStore folder.
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Within each aircraft folder there are texture (livery) folders. No changes are needed to the texture files to hide the liveries or aircraft.
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Within each aircraft folder there is an aircraft.cfg file, which defines the liveries that will be used.
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In the discussion below, remember this structure: \SimObjects\Airplanes\aircraftname\aircraft.cfg
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If there is no aircraft.cfg file, then the aircraft’s configuration files are encrypted. This is typically seen in 3rd-party aircraft purchased in the MSFS Marketplace. There is a section below that addresses this situation.
Aircraft.cfg Settings
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Within the aircraft.cfg file are one or more sections titled [FLTSIM.0], [FLTSIM.1], etc.
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Within each [FLTSIM] section, there are a couple of relevant settings:
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"texture = " defines which texture to use. It does not define whether or not to display this in the hangar. There is no need to change this setting. If you do, the hangar may just display a blank thumbnail or a weird rendering of the aircraft.
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"isUserSelectable = " determines if the livery will be displayed in the hangar. If the value is “1” then the livery will be displayed in the hangar and it will also be available for other traffic in the simulation. If the value is zero then the livery will not be displayed in the hangar, but it will still be loaded for use for other traffic.
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Hide Individual Liveries
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Liveries are included in each aircraft’s folder, and may also be individual standalone addons in the Community folder.
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To hide a livery from your hangar, use the “isUserSelectable = 0” setting in the relevant [FLTSIM] section in the aircraft.cfg file of the aircraft, or in the aircraft.cfg file of a standalone addon livery.
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If "isUserSelectable = " is not in the [FLTSIM] section then simply add the line.
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"isUserSelectable = " can be used in multiple [FLTSIM] sections to selectively hide multiple liveries.
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This method hides the livery in the hangar, but the livery is still loaded by the program for use by other traffic, such as aircraft that are displayed at airports.
Completely Prevent Liveries From Loading
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Loading unwanted liveries may waste available memory and slow program loading time. On my PC, the combined total of unwanted liveries in the Community folder and in \Official\OneStore was many gigabytes.
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Make a backup copy of aircraft.cfg before changing anything!
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Standalone addon liveries in the Community folder can simply be moved or deleted.
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In both the Community and \Official\OneStore folders you can completely prevent liveries from loading by deleting the relevant [FLTSIM] sections in the aircraft.cfg file.
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When a [FLTSIM] section is deleted, the livery is not loaded because it is not called by aircraft.cfg in the first place. You do not need to delete the associated texture folder.
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Do not delete the first [FLTSIM.0] section. In some aircraft, [FLTSIM.0] includes settings that are needed to operate the aircraft. You can hide it with “isUserSelectable = 0”, but don’t delete it.
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[FLTSIM] sections must be in sequential number order, starting with zero. [FLTSIM.0], [FLTSIM.1], FLTSIM.2], … There cannot be gaps or duplicates in the number sequence. Re-number the sections, as needed.
Hide Aircraft From the MSFS Hangar
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In both the Community folder and the \Official\OneStore folder, you can hide any aircraft that has an aircraft.cfg file by changing all of the [FLTSIM] sections so that “isUserSelectable = 0”.
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If "isUserSelectable = " is not included in a [FLTSIM] section then add the line.
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This approach prevents the aircraft from being displayed, but the aircraft will still be loaded for use by other traffic.
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If the aircraft is still displayed after changing every "isUserSelectable = " line, then there may be a standalone addon livery in the Community folder or in \Official\OneStore that has its own aircraft.cfg file that must be edited with “isUserSelectable = 0”.
Hide Aircraft That Do Not Have An Aircraft.cfg File
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Some aircraft do not have a visible aircraft.cfg file. My approach is to make the aircraft unrecognizable to MSFS.
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For example, the Pitts is difficult to hide. I discovered that changing the SimObjects folder name hid the aircraft, and MSFS has not noticed it nor tried to restore it. I changed “SimObjects” to “_SimObjects” (I added an underscore to the name).
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Sometimes renaming SimObjects works, and sometimes it doesn’t.
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Don’t change the name of the top-level folder (e.g., " Asobo-aircraft-c152 " changed to " _asobo-aircraft-c152 "). When I do that, MSFS consistently restores the aircraft and I end up with both the new and the old folders.
Prevent Variants from Loading
If an aircraft has variants (e.g., skis, floats, … ), you may be able to prevent them from loading by editing the layout.json file.
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Make a backup copy of the layout.json file before doing this!
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For example, the OneStore CriCri has floats, skis and jet variants. It does not have a visible aircraft.cfg file for the variants.
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Open layout.json and delete all lines that refer to cricriflo, cricriski and cricrijet.
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Save the file and restart MSFS. If it doesn’t work, then use your backup copy of layout.json to restore the original configuration. (You did make a backup copy, right?)
Troubleshooting
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If your changes break things, then you can easily fix them by restoring the original files that you backed up.
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If you delete or hide an aircraft and it still appears in the hangar, there may be an individual livery that has its own aircraft.cfg file with a setting of “isUserSelectable = 1”. Look at the aircraft displayed in your hangar to figure out what and where that livery may be located (Community folder vs \Official\OneStore). Edit the livery’s aircraft.cfg file so that “isUserSelectable = 0”. If it is an addon livery in your Community folder, you can also just move or delete the livery.
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If the aircraft should be displayed in the hangar, but it isn’t displayed at all, check the [FLTSIM] numbering sequence in the aircraft.cfg file. [FLTSIM] sections must be in sequential number order, starting with zero: [FLTSIM.0], [FLTSIM.1], FLTSIM.2], etc. The first section must be [FLTSIM.0], and there cannot be gaps or duplicates in the number sequence. Re-number the sections, as needed.
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If you get a pink checkered aircraft in your hangar, a potential culprit is the aircraft’s layout.json file. This can often be fixed using MSFSLayoutGenerator (a free utility). Simply copy MSFSLayoutGenerator.exe into the same folder as the aircraft’s layout.json file. Make a backup copy of layout.json. Then drag and drop layout.json onto the MSFSLayoutGenerator.exe file. It works instantly and it may not look like anything happened. Restart MSFS and look at your hangar to see if the issue is fixed. When you are finished, you can delete MSFSLayoutGenerator.