INSTALLATION TIPS
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DOWNLOADING YOUR AIRCRAFT FROM SHAREPOINT
Please use MIcrosoft Edge to download your product. It is the most reliable browser for this task and shares the same MS ecosystem as the sim.
If you are encountering issues with your download, and are already using Edge, please contact us; we can troubleshoot with you, reset your download quota and provide alternative download links if necessary.
Full instructions are included in the manual which is available on the product page of our website: https://www.blackbirdsims.com
Please ensure your system meets the requirements for your product.
1. Pre-Installation Tasks
Gather information
Make a note of the path to your communtiy folder and your product activation key.
If you chose a location other than the default for your MSFS2024 base sim installation, you will already know the location of your community folder.
For example: if you chose D:\XboxGames as the install location, your community will be D:\XboxGames\Community.
If you installed MSFS2024 in the default location, your Community folder can be found by starting MSFS2024, then opening My Library in the Marketplace tab and clicking the cogwheel icon to the right of the search bar at the top right of the screen.
A new window will open for settings. Click the “open” next to where it says Community Folder
With your community folder open, click in the path of the explorer window. It will hightlight blue, hit ctrl+c on your keyboard to copy it.
Now you can paste this into the installer window where it says “browse”. Delete the text in there and then paste (ctrl+v) the value you copied above.
IMPORTANT: If you have a non-default location, the above method will fail due to the location given by MSFS2024 being a symbolic link to the actual location of your Community folder with the file path exceeding the length limit.
As with other flight simulator add-ons, pre-installation precautions should involve closing any open applications, as well as temporarily disabling any active antivirus software.
Failure to temporarily disable antivirus software during download, extraction and installation can result in a non-functioning product and/or simulator.
2. Beginning Installation
After purchase, this product may be supplied as a compressed (.zip) file. This compressed file contains an executable (.exe) file, which is the installer for the Blackbird Simulations product. Using the file compression utility of your choice (we recommend 7zip https://www.7-zip.org/), unzip this file to a location of your choosing. Once unzipped, you may begin installation by right clicking on the executable (.exe) file, then selecting "Run as administrator". The installer will run, showing an initial welcome screen. Left click on the "Next" button to continue.
3. Prerequisites Setup Wizard
Depending on your product, the installer may run a process that checks for missing components that are required for the product to function. Clicking 'Next' when prompted and following any prompts within the component installers will ensure that these components are installed and correctly configured for use.
4. Product Setup Wizard
After clicking 'Next' on the welcome screen, our installer may require the serial number you received at time of purchase. Entering this will then activate your aircraft.
There have been some cases where a licence key has been rejected for a seemingly bizarre reason:
a. Sometimes typing the key in has worked where copying and pasting didn't
b. Occasionally, windows archive extractor corrupts the file - try using 7zip instead https://www.7-zip.org/download.html
c. a punctuation symbol or accented character will cause a key rejection
d. windows not being up-to-date can cause this as well as other issues
e. most common of all, is not running the installer as admin
Note: A working internet connection is required for product activation.
The setup wizard will then try to determine the correct location for installation.
Please check that the installer has found the correct path by comparing it to the one you found in Step 1.
If it is different please copy and paste the correct one in.
NOTE: If you are using an add-on linker, you may run into the Microsoft path-name length limit. Please refer to your product manual for more information.
If all else fails you can extract the folder to your desktop or C:\ drive, then move it to your community folder.
Clicking 'Install' at the Ready to Install screen will proceed with the installation of the product.
Depending on your product, you may see further installation screens for additional required software. At the prompts, click 'next' or 'OK' until all additional software has completed installation.
5. Post-Installation Tasks
Please be sure to revert your antivirus program settings back to their previous state.
It may be worthwhile to back-up or save a copy of the downloaded installer. Please be aware that as new updates are released, we do not continue to offer older versions for download due to support issues. Please also note that support is intended for the latest releases of our products only.
6. Uninstalling the product
The Blackbird Simulations product must be uninstalled through the use of Control Panel > Programs and Features utility within the Windows operating system.
Simply deleting files without using the uninstall methods above will cause issues later.
Note: Prior to uninstalling the aircraft, please be sure to back up any customized files, flight plans, saved flights or custom liveries you have installed as they will be deleted in the uninstall process.
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UPDATE TIPS
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1. If you are using an add-on linker you must insure that any symbolic links to the previous version have been removed.
2. Please ensure you have removed the previous version prior to installing the new one using add/remove programs in Windows control panel.
3. If you have broken your install by removing MSFS and not uninstalling our product you may need to run this Microsoft tool to remove the broken install.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/fix-problems-that-block-programs-from-being-installed-or-removed-cca7d1b6-65a9-3d98-426b-e9f927e1eb4d
Choose the option for uninstalling and choose the product from the list.
4. If you use an add-on linker you must follow the directions in the installer - i.e. extract the folder to your desktop or C:\ drive, then move it to your community folder.