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With help from a fellow user, I now have a paint kit that works correctly. I'll send you a DM.

Creating a metallic shine on text is not difficult, and not very different from doing the same thing with P3D ... but it takes a bit of explaining to anyone who is not familiar with the MSFS file structure and aircraft paint kit. There are a few tutorials online, I believe, but if you run into trouble and need the job done quickly, I'd be happy to help. Then when you see the files, you will doubtless be able to figure out what has been done, and go from there.

I have to wonder why a 'heavy' was directed to land on that particular runway in what were clearly quite unstable sub-tropical conditions, when I would have assumed it would normally be allocated one of the longer runways. I saw a real-world pilot's assessment of the landing, and he indicted exactly as you have said - an overly fast and unstable approach onto the shortest runway, which should have triggered a go-around before touch-down - assuming no technical issues with the aircraft. Crossing the runway threshhold more than 30kts over the normal speed was indicative of a risky landing on a short runway. The aircraft floated and rose a little before the nose wheel touched down, followed much later by the first of the main gear, but the left gear hung in the air for a considerable further distance, preventing activation of the spoilers and brakes. Another factor too, was that there could have been a wind shift before landing, resulting in a partial tail wind component contributing to the instability; but again, you would think that might also trigger a go-around. In the end, the aircraft floated way too far for way too long, with only one main gear set (RHS) on the runway, so the brakes were ineffective and the aircraft was still doing approx 100kts when it ran out of runway. It also appeared that the reverse thrust may not have activated, even after all the gear was on the tarmac. The result, for five or more innocent people and their families, was a terrible tragedy.

I have a few questions in regard to the payware LVFR A380, and hope that someone familiar with both can provide their insights: How does it compare with the freeware FBW version? Is the exterior model neater (eg smoother engine cowlings, etc.)? I know the modelling of the interior is better than the (incomplete at this stage) FBW model. How does it compare in terms of systems depth and flight modelling? Is the paint kit complete and available at present (both fbx model and layered paint kit)? And is it better than the rough-and-ready early kit for the LVFR A320/321? Looking forward to a few insights!

But is there a way to have it retain its last position for the following flight?

I have the same issue - and no doubt many others do too.

Yes that would work too. I believe it is to do with long filenames errors, and you can change where you install by selecting the new location (either a Kodiak folder on the desktop, or an xboxgames folder on the C drive) and entering it during the install process. Creating a Community folder in C:\XboxGames\Microsoft Flight simulator 2024\content\ and using that as your install folder is easy - it automatically places the files where they should be and avoids having to manually copy the files to the old Community folder. That certainly worked for the Kodiak.

You might like to explore where the installer is trying to install. I had similar issues with the latest Kodiak installer until I discovered that MSFS 2024 now wants Community content installed via an xboxgames folder rather than the old location. When I pointed it to that folder, it installed without errors.

I had to reinstall MSFS 2024 a couple of weeks ago, and in the process it established the xboxgames set of folders which I don't think had been there before. I then created the Community and Community2024 folders inside the Contents folder, and set up the correct pointers before reinstalling my software. Instructions came from Microsoft Copilot. I have never had a problem with installers since, nor have I ever had a long filename error since. My (possibly limited!!) understanding is that the system seems to automatically place the installed files in the original folder locations, but uses this 'virtual file' system to do installations without errors, no matter how long the file names are.

By the way: these Community folders are now supposed to be in the xbox / Content folder too, I have discovered ... my sim is the Microsoft Store version, so this might vary for Steam users, but my new location for Community folders is here: C:\XboxGames\Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024\Content I found this when updating the newest Kodiak with the current installer, which spat out multiple error messages when trying to install in the Community folder/s in the old location. When I pointed it to the new location, it worked perfectly without any errors. I have since ensured that all pointers go to this location now and my system is working perfectly well. I suspect this is to help us avoid problems we have had in the past with fairly common long filename errors.

No, SWS has not got any bugs in the latest version. I too had the same problem with errors and thought it was faulty until I discovered that MSFS now requires all non-default aircraft to be installed in an xbox games Community folder now instead of the location used in earlier versions. Once I located the correct place to install to, it went perfectly right through to the completion, and the aircraft performs as expected. The location of the Community folder for 2024 is now in this Contents folder as follows: C:\XboxGames\Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024\Content Asobo and Microsoft have clearly failed to advertise this change as effectively as they should.

My setup permits the aircraft to wear the painted tail number on the rear fuselage in whatever style and size you want, and then have MSFS2024 place the tail number (the same as the painted tail number entered manually in the Identification field) on the lower left wing and on the cockpit placard. I'll see if I can send some screen shots in a DM.

I have some custom liveries working just fine on the Reims Rocket without over-writing the painted tail number. I used a panel folder with entries to reduce the size of the dynamic tail number to zero. Do you know how to do that? If not, I could send you an example.

UPDATE - yes it was indeed the long file pathway that was the problem. However, the installation worked properly when installed to the desktop then copied into the Community folder. The aircraft is outstanding, flies beautifully, and is once again one of my favourite GA aircraft. All the older liveries worked perfectly when converted to ktx2 format, and the file structure altered to suit the MSFS2024 model.

Thanks guys - I have now gone right through installation and have the same outcome. Hopefully SWS will quickly solve the problems (many files did not install) and update the installer for us. I'm pretty annoyed, as I had purchased the original aircraft from JustFlight as well as SWS (my mistake of course!), and when I experienced this problem with one 2024 installer I went to the other and bought the update again as well. Its an awesome aircraft, but not happy about double the price it could have been. I'm sure that in the end, the fun will be worth it!