Location of MSFS 2024 custom camera config files

[doriel0726]

If you use custom cockpit camera configuration files, for example to allow your “viewpoint” to be outside of the aircraft, I’ve found the folder where they get stored:
C:\Users[Your User Name]\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Limitless_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\SimObjects\Airplanes\Asobo_nxcub\presets\Asobo\nx_cub_advert\config\cameras.CFG

This example is for the Cub Crafters NX Cub, but you can find any of the other planes for which you used [CTRL-Shift-0 through 9 to store a custom camera cfg file.

[NeumaticMoth166]

I tried to find that. Folder is there but it is empty…
Do i do something wrong ?
many thanks
JM

[SmotheryVase665]

Moved to User Support Hub as OP is providing assistance to the community.

[Kiefer2020]

Any luck with finding the fix for this? My folder is completely empty but it’s exactly where I put cameras for FS2020…

[doriel0726]

If you can’t find the folder or the file where the custom camera configuration for your aircraft is stored, it might be because the file doesn’t exist yet. Here’s how to fix this issue:

1. Start MSFS 2020 or MSFS 2024, and start a Free Flight in the aircraft of your choice. Have the aircraft sitting still on the ground somewhere, a runway start point or parking space is good.

2. Move your eyepoint to the center of the cockpit with the left and right arrow keys, then move it up as far as it will go with the “up” arrow key. Press CTRL+ALT+any number key 0 to 9. Let’s assume you will use the “5” key for “above the aircraft”, so you press (left side of keyboard) CTRL+ALT+5

3. Now use the Down arrow key to push the eyepoint as far down as it will go in the cockpit, and press (left) CTRL+ALT+6 (assuming you will use “6” for the “below aircraft” custom camera.

4. To find the correct file, I suggest you use Agent Ransack, a very powerful freeware search app. If you don’t already have it, go on the Internet and download it and install it.

5. Run Agent Ransack, set the initial search to the drive where MSFS is installed, usually the C: drive, and set the search parameter to “cameras.cfg”, then hit the START button. Agent Ransack may find several dozen cameras.cfg files: sort the list by Date Modified: you want the most recent one, which should be the one you just created when you did Steps 2 and 3 above.

6. Open the cameras.cfg file in a text editor. You should see two blocks of data under [CAMERADEFINITION.0] and [CAMERADEFINITION.1]
   Just under the [CAMERADEFINITION.x] headers you will see Title=“5” and Title-“6”: the data blocks under the “5” are for your high viewpoint above the aircraft, and the “6” is the data block for below the aircraft.

7. Look down through the data block under Title=“5”, until you see these lines, “InitialXyz=” and “InitialPbh=”. InitialXyz= is the coordinates of the new camera, and InitialPbh=defines the direction vectors that the camera lens is pointing in.

8. For InitialXyz=, the first number is the distance longitudinally from the plane’s “zero” reference datum point, the second number is the vertical distance, and the third number is the lateral distance. You now want to elevate the camera to a point outside of and above the cockpit mesh, so take that middle number and increase it. Let’s assume the number that’s there is 0.8 Increase this to 5.8

9. Now look at the InitialPbh= line. The “Pbh” stands for “Pitch, Bank, Heading”. If you set the three values all to zero, the camera will be looking strait ahead. Set the first of the three values to -10.0, and the camera will be looking 10 degrees downward at the ground. Set the third number to “90” and the camera will be looking sideways at a right angle to the plane’s longitudinal axis (I’m not sure off hand whether “90” is looking left or right). You probably don’t want to set a non-zero bank angle for the camera, but if you do, you can set a custom value for the middle number.

10. Now move on the “lower” camera, the one with the Title=“6” data block.
    Set the InitialXyz= value for that middle number to -5.0. This will move the camera eyepoint outside of and below the cockpit camera mesh. Set the InitialPbh values to 0,0,0.

11. Save the file to it’s original location and restart your flight, which should re-load the cameras.cfg file. Now, when you press (left) Alt+5, the camera should pop out of the cockpit mesh restriction to a point 5.8 meters above the aircraft. Now use the arrow keys to move the camera around, to a point where it’s a couple of meters above the cockpit and looking slightly down at the ground: you now have a view of the ground ahead that’s unobstructed by windshield frames and instrument panels, which makes it easier to taxi. Press (left) CTRL-ALT-5 to save the new camera position and aim point to the config file.

12. Now press (left) ALT-6. The camera eyepoint might actually be embedded in the ground, so carefully raise it with the UP arrow key until it’s a few inches off the ground. If you want to be able to see the landing gear from this custom camera position, move the camera forward or back with the (right) ALT-UP and (right) ALT-DOWN arrow keys until the camera view is just bracketing the main landing gear. Press (left) CTRL-ALT-6 to save the new camera position and aim point to the config file. Adjust the aim point up and down angles as needed in the InitialPbh data and re-save the file. Now you have a custom camera set to show you a perfect view of the landing gear right before you touch down.

Now you can set up to 10 custom cameras anywhere that takes your fancy: out at the wingtips looking back at the cockpit, on top of the vertical stabilizer, zoomed in on the autopilot or Primary Flight Instruments, or off in the distance, looking back at the aircraftt. As far as the sim is concerned, you are still sitting in the pilot’s seat - all of the controls still work as you expect them to, and if you need to pop back into your seat, just press “F”.

[MinhBui220189]

Why don’t they just simply give us the camera.cfg as before ?
I used to change the numbers in camera cfg files for 30 years up to msfs 2020 . It looks like Microsoft does not allow users to do anything anymore . They make things more and more difficult for us . I guess msfs 2024 is the last flightsim I purchase .

[doriel0726]

I should have mentioned this in my original post: To the users who say “My folder is empty!”,
You first have to store at least 1 custom cockpit viewpoint from inside the sim, THEN open the camera config folder. Here’s how to do it:

1. Start a free flight in the aircraft of your choice. For this example, I’ll use the NX Cub. This free flight can either start at a runway end or at a parking pad.
2. Move your eyepoint with the arrow keys to the middle on the cockpit, and then down, as low as the cockpit mesh will allow.
3. Press CTRL-ALT and a number key of your choice, for example CTRL-ALT-6. This will store the new eyepoint, and you can recall it any time by pressing ALT-6.
4. Now open File Explorer, and navigate to: “C:\Users[Your User Name]\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Limitless_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\SimObjects\Airplanes\Asobo_nxcub\presets\Asobo\nx_cub_advert\config\cameras.CFG”.
5. Open the file in any text editor. If this is the first time that a custom cockpit eyepoint has been defined, you will find a single block of data, that looks like this:

---

[CAMERADEFINITION.1]
Title=“6”
Guid=“{2C0F25B1-E3E7-438F-BAD8-8AA79DAA3DC7}”
UITitle=“6”
Description=“”
Origin=“Virtual Cockpit”
Track=“None”
TargetCategory=“None”
ClipMode=“Normal”
SnapPbhAdjust=“None”
PanPbhAdjust=“None”
XyzAdjust=0
ShowAxis=“NO”
AllowZoom=1
InitialZoom=0.35
SmoothZoomTime=5
BoundingBoxRadius=0.1
ShowWeather=0
CycleHidden=0
CycleHideRadius=0
ShowPanel=0
MomentumEffect=0
ShowLensFlare=0
PanPbhReturn=0
SnapPbhReturn=1
InstancedBased=0
NoSortTitle=0
Transition=0
Category=“Cockpit”
SubCategory=“Custom”
SubCategoryItem=“None”
InitialXyz= 0.252656, -1.427341, -1.888824
InitialPbh= 0.416841, -0.019782, -0

Look at the last two lines of this data block, at the “InitialXyz” and “InitialPbh” numbers.
Initial XYZ is the location of the camera relative to the origin point of the aircraft model, and Initial PBH defines the direction vector that the camera is looking in, by P=Pitch, B=Bank, and H=Heading.
Now, to make this camera eyepoint always open OUTSIDE of the cockpit mesh, so that you can freely move the camera anywhere you want in the Sim, change the “Y” value of the InitialXyz. In this example, it’s -1.427341, which is the lowest point of the cockpit mesh. If you change this to, say, -4.0, the camera will now be well below the cockpit mesh and outside of the airplane.
Change the X and Z values to zero, and change all three of the Initial PBH values to zero, and you will have defined the camera to look straight ahead, from a point 4 meters below the bottom of the cockpit mesh. Save the file.

NOTE: If you have not already done so, go into Keyboard Configuration and define the (right) ALT+UP key combo as “move eyepoint forward”, and (right) ALT+DOWN as “move eyepoint backward”.

6. Now go back into the Sim and reset your flight. When the sim has finished re-loading, press (left) ALT-6. You should now be underground, looking into the ground mesh from below it’s surface, assuming you started the sim with the plane on the ground.
7. Slowly raise the eyepoint with the UP arrow key, until the camera is a few inches above the ground surface. Then move the camera backwards or forwards with the (right) ALT UP or (right) ALT DOWN arrow keys, until the aircraft’s main landing gear wheels are visible at the edges of the window. Now press the CTRL-ALT-6 key combo again, to save this camera position to the config file.

Now that you have one custom camera config that’s outside of the restriction of the cockpit mesh, you can move the camera around to wherever you like: for example the wingtips or top of the vertical stabilizer, with the camera pointing at the cockpit, or directly at the ground, or behind the aircraft, whatever you like. The plane’s controls work normally, because as far as the sim is concerned, you are still “in the cockpit”. Having a groung-looking camera positioned just above the ground, between the main landing gear, can help you practice descent and make very smooth, low-G touchdowns. Having a camera 3 or 4 meters above the cockpit can help you steer around the taxiways of an airport, especially in planes with poor visibility out of the cockpit, or while taxiing tail-draggers.

You might ask, “why do some aircraft let me push a camera outside of the cockpit without having to define a custom camera?” The answer is that not all aircraft that are flyable in MSFS 2020 and MSFS 2024 have a cockpit mesh defined in the model.. This is especially true of third-party aircraft. Almost all of the official Asobo planes have a cockpit mesh that will not allow you to move your eyepoint outside of the plane unless you define a camera eyepoint that is outside of the mesh as in the above instructions. Most of the planes I’ve acquired that were ported into MSFS 2020 from FSX don’t have cockpit mesh restrictions, and some of the new third-party aircraft built from the ground up for MSFS 2020 and 2024 also don’t have cockpit mesh restrictions. I wish Asobo would just get rid of this annoyance, or make it a option that users can enable or diasble as they want.