$FG ROOT

$FG_ROOT is refered to as the main directory of FlightGear, containing the so called base package (default aircraft and scenery, GUI files etc). When running FlightGear from a command line, you can set $FG_ROOT via --fg-root=path/to/root. In FGRun, it is set on the paths page, previous to the aircraft selection page.

As of FlightGear 2.4, it is advised to install additional scenery and aircraft in $FG_SCENERY and $FG_AIRCRAFT directories outside $FG_ROOT. This allow for maintaining the additional stuff when installing a new version of FlightGear.

Common paths

• Mac OS X: Applications/FlightGear.app/Contents/Resources/data/ (right-click on FlightGear.app and select "Show Package Contents" to see the Contents folder)

$FG_ROOT is not installed automatically. See New to FlightGear for an installation manual.

• Ubuntu: /usr/share/games/flightgear/
• Windows: Program Files\FlightGear\data\ (default, see note!)

Note  Newer Windows versions are very, very protective about the Program Files folder and installing FlightGear into this folder makes it prone to any problems relating to file read/write permissions. Hence, installing FlightGear into Program Files on Windows Vista and later is not recommended.