VATSIM

Installing Model Matching

I use FSLTL for model matching. It should be a relatively simple install, only problem is that the FBW installer does not work in Proton, so you will have to manually download and install the models. This does not cover installing the injector.

To download FSLTL, you should clone the repository on GitHub (opens in a new tab). You can download this from GitHub directly Code > Download Zip, but it is faster to use git.

git clone [email protected]:FSLiveTrafficLiveries/base.git

Once you have cloned this, move the fsltl-traffic-base directory to your Community folder in MSFS. You can also delete the leftovers from the cloned repository now.

Installing swift

Download the Windows installer from their GitHub repository (opens in a new tab) and run the installer through Protontricks.

The configuration wizard should launch automatically.

Accept the terms.

Click on next in the Data loading page.

Click on skip in the Copy models and Copy settings and caches page.

In the Simulator page, under Setup of each individual simulator:

1. Simulator: FSX
2. Simulator directory: set the directory to %appdata%/Microsoft Flight Simulator
3. Model directories: %appdata%/Microsoft Flight Simulator/Packages/Community and %appdata%/Microsoft Flight Simulator/Packages/Official

Then click next.

In the First model set page, make sure FSX is selected in Simulator and Distributions, then under Models:

1. Models: reload
2. Under Distributions, select FSLTL, and then back under Models, click create next to Model set.

Then your model should have been created, make sure to click on save, then click next.

Skip the XPlane setup (as this will only run for MSFS)

Configure your hotkeys, you'd at least need one for push to talk. Then click Finish.

You should now be able to connect to VATSIM! The next steps are to create a .desktop file for convenience, or setting up a separate Linux swift client to connect to the Windows swift client. There may not be much of a benefit for doing so, but you do get to use a native Linux client. If you are not interested in any of this, just skip to testing swift.

(Optional) Create a Desktop Entry for swift in Proton

Creating a desktop entry (opens in a new tab) should make opening the swift client easier as you will not have to find the location manually each time.

These files will go into ~/.local/share/applications/, but you can create multiple directories inside it to make it easier to manage your custom Desktop Entries that you manually created. For example on my system, I stored this entry under

~/.local/share/applications/wine/Programs/swift/

Create a Desktop Entry inside a location specified above, with a text editor of your choice. The name of the file is irrelevant as long as it has the .desktop extension.

When creating the .desktop file, make sure that the directory is correct for the swift version you have installed.

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Swift Launcher (Proton)
Exec=protontricks -c "wine C:/Program\\ Files/swift-0.12-64bit/bin/swiftlauncher.exe" 1250410
Type=Application
StartupNotify=true
Categories=Game;Simulation;

Then make sure to update the database for desktop entries by running this command in the terminal

update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications

You should now be able to find the Swift Launcher in your Desktop Environment's application launcher.

Testing swift

If you haven't used VATSIM before, you should read up on the guides (opens in a new tab), but if not, you can join as an observer at a busy airport, with ATC preferably (map for convenience (opens in a new tab)), and hopefully you should hear ATC and see correctly model matched traffic at the airport.

If it is all good, you should have set up swift and model matching correctly, and you can fly on VATSIM now!