How to Share and Backup Your Aerosimulations Scenery Files Securely

Sharing and backing up your AeroSimulations scenery files is essential to protect your work and ensure easy access across devices. Without a structured approach, you risk losing hours of customization—or worse, breaking an entire simulation environment. Proper management not only prevents data loss but also makes collaboration with other simmers straightforward and secure.

AeroSimulations scenery files are more than just textures and coordinates; they represent finely tuned environments built from airport layouts, object libraries, custom meshes, and texture sets. These files often reach hundreds of megabytes or even gigabytes for complex urban scenery. Understanding how to handle them correctly—sharing with peers, syncing between PCs, and creating recoverable backups—is a core skill for any flight simulation enthusiast.

Understanding AeroSimulations Scenery Files

Before diving into sharing and backup workflows, it helps to know what you’re working with. AeroSimulations scenery packages typically include:

BGL files (compiled scenery data) – These contain the geometry and placement of objects, runways, taxiways, and navaids.
Texture files – DDS, BMP, or PNG images used for ground textures, building surfaces, and night lighting.
Model libraries – MDL or similar files that define 3D objects like hangars, terminals, and vegetation.
Configuration files – XML or INI files that define layering, display priority, and season switching.
Terrain data – Elevation models, land class, and water masks (often large).

These files live in dedicated directories inside your simulator’s root folder, such as ...\AeroSimulations\Scenery\World or custom add-on folders. Keeping them organized by aircraft or region is critical for both sharing and backup.

Sharing scenery with other simmers can be as simple as zipping a folder and uploading, but there are nuances that protect your work and ensure the recipient gets a usable package.

1. Compress Files Thoughtfully

Always compress scenery files into a ZIP or 7z archive before sharing. This preserves file integrity and can dramatically reduce transfer size—especially for texture-heavy packages. Use lossless compression to avoid corrupting any data. Tools like 7-Zip or PeaZip work well. For extremely large sceneries, consider splitting the archive into chunks (e.g., 500 MB each) to accommodate email or cloud storage limits.

2. Use Trusted Cloud Storage Services

Services like Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive offer reliable hosting with file versioning and access control. They are ideal for sharing download links with a few trusted friends or a wider community. Avoid peer-to-peer torrents unless you have control over seeders and leechers—copyright and malware risks exist.

When sharing a link, use a password-protected archive if the scenery includes proprietary assets (orthoimagery, copyrighted building models). Send the password via a separate channel (e.g., private message or encrypted email). For public releases, consider using a file host that supports expiration dates and download limits.

4. Maintain a Clear Naming Convention

Name your archived scenery files consistently: [ICAO]_[SceneryName]_v[Version].zip (e.g., KLAX_AeroSim_LosAngeles_v2.1.zip). Inside the archive, include a simple README.txt with installation instructions, credits, and changelog. This helps recipients identify the package and avoid confusion with similar sceneries.

5. Version Control Your Scenery

When collaborating, use a version control system like Git (with LFS for large binary files) or simply keep numbered folders. For small teams, a shared Dropbox folder with file history enabled can work—but avoid having two people edit the same BGL simultaneously, as conflicts can corrupt the file. Always communicate changes via a changelog.

How to Backup Your Scenery Files Securely

Backups are your safety net. A single hard drive failure can erase months of work. A solid backup strategy has three pillars: redundancy, encryption, and automation.

Local Backups (External Drives)

The simplest method: copy your entire scenery folder to an external SSD or HDD. For maximum safety, use the “offline” approach: after each editing session, manually copy the changed files to the external drive. But manual backups are forgotten easily. Instead, use a tool like FreeFileSync to sync folders with one click. Keep the external drive disconnected when not in use to protect against ransomware that encrypts connected drives.

Cloud Backups (Encrypted)

Cloud backup services like Backblaze, iDrive, or Sync.com offer end-to-end encryption. Configure them to automatically back up your AeroSimulations scenery directory. For privacy-conscious users, use a service that supports client-side encryption (you hold the decryption key). Never trust a cloud provider that does not offer zero-knowledge encryption for sensitive scenery assets.

The 3-2-1 Backup Rule

Adopt the industry standard:

3 total copies of your data (one primary + two backups)
2 different storage media (e.g., local SSD and cloud)
1 copy stored off-site (away from your primary location)

For example: your working scenery on your PC (copy 1), an external hard drive kept at home (copy 2), and an encrypted cloud backup (copy 3). If your PC is stolen, you have the external drive. If both local copies are destroyed by fire, the cloud backup saves you.

Automate the Process

Manually backing up every week is unreliable. Schedule backups:

On Windows: use Task Scheduler to run a script that copies to an external drive daily.
On macOS: use Time Machine with your scenery folder included (but note that Time Machine is not ideal for very large binary files unless you exclude unnecessary system folders).
Cross-platform: use rsync or rclone to sync to a cloud destination or a NAS.

Test your backups periodically: attempt to restore a random scenery file from each backup medium to confirm the data is not corrupted.

Security is often an afterthought but should be integrated from the start. Here are actionable measures to keep your work safe.

Use Strong, Unique Passwords

Your cloud storage accounts are the gateways to your files. Use a password manager (like Bitwarden or 1Password) to generate and store complex passwords. Never reuse passwords across services. If one account is compromised, an attacker won’t be able to access your backups on another service.

Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

For any cloud storage or backup service that supports it (Google Drive, Dropbox, Backblaze), enable 2FA using an authenticator app, not SMS (SIM swap attacks are common). This adds a critical extra layer of protection against unauthorized access.

Encrypt Files Before Uploading

If your cloud provider does not offer zero-knowledge encryption, encrypt sensitive scenery files locally before uploading. Use tools like VeraCrypt to create an encrypted container, or simply add AES-256 encryption to your archives with 7-Zip. The recipient will need the password, so share that separately and securely.

When sharing with a small group, use permissions within the cloud service to limit access to specific email addresses. Avoid sharing public links when possible; if necessary, set an expiration date and a download limit. For large community releases, monitor link activity and revoke access if you detect suspicious downloads from unknown IPs.

Threats evolve. Every few months, review your backup strategy:

Are your external drives still functional?
Have you changed passwords and rotated 2FA tokens?
Are you still using the same cloud provider, or did they change their security policies?
Did you add new scenery that requires larger backup capacity?

Keep your sharing links updated when you release new versions. Remove old links to prevent confusion and potential misuse of outdated files.

Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

Even with good intentions, things can go wrong. Here are issues to watch for:

File corruption during transfer: Always verify checksums (SHA-256) after copying large BGL or texture files. Use tools like certutil -hashfile on Windows or shasum on Unix.
Overwriting the wrong version: When restoring a backup, restore to a temporary folder first to compare file dates and contents, then merge.
Exceeding cloud storage limits: Scenery files can eat up gigabytes quickly. Monitor your cloud usage and upgrade if needed, or archive older versions to a separate cold storage.
Ransomware protection: Never have your backup drive constantly connected to your computer. Use the “air gap” principle—connect only during backup sessions. For cloud backups, use a service that keeps historical versions (e.g., Backblaze keeps 30-day history).

By planning for these failures in advance, you ensure that an hour of lost work becomes an inconvenience, not a catastrophe.

Conclusion

Sharing and backing up AeroSimulations scenery files securely is vital for preserving your work and collaborating effectively. The investment in a proper workflow—compression, versioning, 3-2-1 backups, encryption, and automation—pays off the first time you accidentally delete a critical file or your hard drive dies. By following the best practices outlined here, you can ensure your scenery files remain safe, organized, and accessible across devices, whether you are building a single airport or an entire region.

Remember: your scenery is the product of passion and precision. Treat it with the same care you put into creating it. A few minutes each week spent on backups can save you days of reconstruction.