XToMdl zero size and xml problem

[TOREAL]

Hi,

I am trying to create an oilrig in fsx. I made the model in sketchup 6, then exported it to 3dsmax 7. I then exported it as a .x file. I created a shortcut as descriped on http://www.fsdeveloper.com/wiki/index.php?title=XtoMDL.exe. Sending the created .x file to this shortcut leaves me with a .mdl file with a size of 0 bytes and no .xml file. I tried the same method with a simple cube I created in 3dsmax 7, but it leads me to the same problem. :banghead: The wiki article about the XToMdl shorcut suggests to change my international settings to US, but I don't know how to do that. :confused: The target for my shortcut is the following: %windir%\system32\cmd.exe /K M:\PROJECTS\FSX_COMPILATION\SCENERY\xtomdl.exe /DICT:M:\PROJECTS\FSX_COMPILATION\SCENERY\modeldef. XML /XMLSAMPLE
The attached picture displays the XToMdl tool after trying to compile the cube.x file.

2500

Any help will be truly appreciated.

TOREAL

[MichaelD]

To change your settings to Decimal:

Start -> Control Panel -> Regional and Language Options.

On the Regional Options tab, choose English (United States).

You may have to restart Windows for change to take effect.

-Michael.

[TOREAL]

Thanks MichaelD!

This was the solution for my problem and it is working fine now!

Thanks again!
TOREAL

[Ruud]

Pfff I have the .mdl :) but I don't see any .xml file ? how do I get the .xml than ? I need that for the BglComp wan am not wrong.

[MichaelD]

If you're using Gmax, you won't get an .XML file with the output (only works with 3ds Max and the .X file output).

Copy the example .XML file in the BGLComp SDK. Copy the GUID for your object generated by the GMax LOD tool and paste that into your XML file. Be sure to include the line <modelData sourceFile = "yourFilename.mdl" /> (one of the examples in the SDK omits this but it's necessary).

When you get it working, substitute your own Lat/Lon cooriinates to place.

-Michael.

[Ruud]

Hey Michael,

Am using 3ds Max 8 :) I must have done something wrong than :confused:

[Ruud]

Now am :confused:

http://members.upc.nl/r.popping5/cmd.jpg

Something is wrong, I don't have that many hair but I think that I will be bald :laughing:

[kthy2003]

Radar Rotation FSX

I have followed the SDK papers for the creation of animation but have not been able to obtain rotation of my radar object.

I use 3ds max 7 and created the radar object with an ambient 0-100 frame tagging. The dope sheet verified the animation. The xanim file was exported from 3ds max.

This is where I may be going wrong. The xanim file was dropped onto the XtoMDL file with target path of.

%windir%\system32\cmd.exe /K c:\temp\xtomdl.exe /XANIM /XMLSAMPLE /DICT:c:\temp\3dsm7\modeldef.XML

I am getting error messages as the picture shows

[n4gix]

You don't "drop the XANIM file" anywhere. You must use the X file for compiling. At the very least, you must do it the "hard way" and follow the SDK's instructions...

If all the appopriate files are moved to the Plugins folder, then normal use of the XtoMdl tool would be to enter the following in a command line window:
XtoMdl /XANIM /DICT:..\..\bin\modeldef.xml /XMLSAMPLE filename.x

[kthy2003]

Thanks for the help. The animation is working perfectly in the FSX

kthy2003

[n4gix]

Thanks for the help. The animation is working perfectly in the FSX

kthy2003

If you are planning to do a LOT of scenery, it would pay you to visit the FSWiki and see how I setup a "SendTo Shortcut," which allows me to simply right click on the .X file and choose "Compile Scenery" from wherever the .X file happens to be... ;)

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/wiki/index.php?title=XtoMDL.exe

[kthy2003]

I have already tried to have this shortcut on my desktop but I got lost. I have adopted a method and it is perhaps a longer way of doing things but had worked for me. But will try again.

Meanwhile The radar building was successfully imported into FSX with the rotational animation.

Somehow, the following animation was not successful.

The terminal building have several flags in front of it and I have created a wafer thin boxes (as I was not able to import two sided textured plane into FSX, if possible please help) These wafer thin boxes were given ‘flex’ modifier in 3dsM7 to achieve the flag ripple effect. Five flags were tagged to five ambient animations in the FSX animation tool. Dope sheet verified all five animations. All went well and import into the FSX. The scenery is ok but there is no anticipated animation. The flags are frozen solid.

Is it possible to include several animations in one file?
Is it possible to have two sided textured planes in FSX?

The SDK paper Creating a New Animation mentions the following :
Model animations are defined in the modeldef.xml file (found in the Modeling SDK\bin folder). This file is used both by the XtoMdl tool, and the
Animation Manager used within 3ds Max®. The Animation Manager primarily reads the modeldef.xml file to extract the names of the animations to populate the drop down list of available animations. The XtoMdl tool does the bulk of the work in embedding the animation information into the model files.

To create a new animation, go through the following steps:

1. Add the name of the animation to the modeldef.xml file. To do this add an entry such as this to the <ModelInfo> section of the file:

<Animation name="Ambient" guid="A6F1C5D0-BEF6-449e-BAF8-FB777F27808F" type="Standard" typeParam="AutoPlay,Random" /> etc. etc.
This is where I am lost. With my radar animation I did not create a new animation I only used the ambient setting ?

Only reason I can think of may be the vertex warning during XtoXML conversion. but there was no warning when extracting .x and .xanim files from 3ds max

I would appreciate for your help.

Serdar (kthy2003)

[n4gix]

IThe terminal building have several flags in front of it and I have created a wafer thin boxes (as I was not able to import two sided textured plane into FSX, if possible please help) These wafer thin boxes were given ‘flex’ modifier in 3dsM7 to achieve the flag ripple effect. Five flags were tagged to five ambient animations in the FSX animation tool. Dope sheet verified all five animations. All went well and import into the FSX. The scenery is ok but there is no anticipated animation. The flags are frozen solid.

Is it possible to include several animations in one file?
Is it possible to have two sided textured planes in FSX?

Yes, you can have as many animations as you like. However, FSX does not support the type of animation you use. The only way you'll accomplish a "waving flag" animation is to use an I-K bone system. Examine the "Oil Rig" example .max file for details.

This is where I am lost. With my radar animation I did not create a new animation I only used the ambient setting ?

The only time it would be necessary to bother creating a new <Animation name=....> entry would be if you were - in fact - adding a completely NEW <PartInfo name=...> script to the modeldef.xml file.

Since you are dealing with scenery, it is highly unlikely you will ever have need to create an entirely new animation. This is directed for the most part to us "aircraft modelers," who always find wild and wacky things to animate... :D

[FelixFFDS]

This is directed for the most part to us "aircraft modelers," who always find wild and wacky things to animate... :D

Dangling keys, toilet handles, .....

[n4gix]

Dangling keys, toilet handles, .....

...wiggling rubber ducky antennas on a hand-held radio... :rotfl:

[kthy2003]

Flag Animation

I have had a look at the ‘oil rig’ example, and imported the flag together with the bones into my scenery. Cloned five times for five flags and made sure that each flag bone group had the same animation (ambient) tagged to it in the Animation Dialog. Attached a photo to show the arrangement.

Imported the scenery but no animation was observed.

Tried different grouping of the flags also no animation. Imported the oil rig flag alone in my scenery no animation was observed.
Changed the original FSX ‘oil rig’ flag Motion Controllers to Linear as was suggested in the SDK paper. The Linear controllers were applied to the radar rotation. Still no animation was obtained. I spent most of the day trying to get something.

I can not think of any other way of solving this problem.:banghead: :banghead: I looked through the SDK papers but could not find much useful info.

Also, is there an explanation to the available animations in the Animation Dialog Animation List? In particular to explain the ‘transition’ , ‘action’ , ‘non random ambient’ or any usable animation in the scenery.

kthy2003

[pilotos]

Hi I have the same problem I use the xtomdl and it gives me a zero size .mdl file...

Here is what the buildlog says:
Found dictionary file: C:\3DSM9\modeldef.XML
OutputFile: C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.MDL
Output file after modification: C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.MDL
Creating output MDL file: C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.MDL
warning : Degenerate poly detected in file (C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x) mesh ()
warning : Face vertex 0 x=1.83857 y=1.15072 z=-3.513153
warning : Face vertex 1 x=1.83857 y=1.15072 z=0.073566
warning : Face vertex 2 x=1.83857 y=1.15072 z=-3.614603
warning : Degenerate poly detected in file (C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x) mesh ()
warning : Face vertex 0 x=-1.83857 y=1.15072 z=0.073566
warning : Face vertex 1 x=-1.83857 y=1.15072 z=-3.513153
warning : Face vertex 2 x=-1.83857 y=1.15072 z=-3.614603
warning : Degenerate poly detected in file (C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x) mesh ()
warning : Face vertex 0 x=1.83857 y=1.15072 z=-3.513153
warning : Face vertex 1 x=1.83857 y=1.15072 z=0.073566
warning : Face vertex 2 x=1.83857 y=1.15072 z=-3.614603
warning : Degenerate poly detected in file (C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x) mesh ()
warning : Face vertex 0 x=-1.83857 y=1.15072 z=0.073566
warning : Face vertex 1 x=-1.83857 y=1.15072 z=-3.513153
warning : Face vertex 2 x=-1.83857 y=1.15072 z=-3.614603
warning : Degenerate poly detected in file (C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x) mesh ()
warning : Face vertex 0 x=0.950468 y=5.173039 z=0.368449
warning : Face vertex 1 x=0.973458 y=5.385396 z=0.251758
warning : Face vertex 2 x=0.973458 y=5.385396 z=0.251758
warning : Degenerate poly detected in file (C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x) mesh ()
warning : Face vertex 0 x=0.940289 y=5.187521 z=0.462504
warning : Face vertex 1 x=0.940289 y=5.187521 z=0.462504
warning : Face vertex 2 x=0.950468 y=5.173039 z=0.368449
warning : Degenerate poly detected in file (C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x) mesh ()
warning : Face vertex 0 x=1.047271 y=5.240776 z=0.296306
warning : Face vertex 1 x=1.024281 y=5.178836 z=0.471753
warning : Face vertex 2 x=1.024281 y=5.178836 z=0.471753
warning : Degenerate poly detected in file (C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x) mesh ()
warning : Face vertex 0 x=1.057451 y=5.376711 z=0.261007
warning : Face vertex 1 x=1.057451 y=5.376711 z=0.261007
warning : Face vertex 2 x=1.047271 y=5.240776 z=0.296306
warning : Degenerate poly detected in file (C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x) mesh ()
warning : Face vertex 0 x=-0.963278 y=5.24946 z=0.287057
warning : Face vertex 1 x=-0.940288 y=5.187521 z=0.462504
warning : Face vertex 2 x=-0.940288 y=5.187521 z=0.462504
warning : Degenerate poly detected in file (C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x) mesh ()
warning : Face vertex 0 x=-0.973458 y=5.385396 z=0.251758
warning : Face vertex 1 x=-0.973458 y=5.385396 z=0.251758
warning : Face vertex 2 x=-0.963278 y=5.24946 z=0.287057
warning : Degenerate poly detected in file (C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x) mesh ()
warning : Face vertex 0 x=-1.034461 y=5.164354 z=0.377698
warning : Face vertex 1 x=-1.057451 y=5.37671 z=0.261008
warning : Face vertex 2 x=-1.057451 y=5.37671 z=0.261008
warning : Degenerate poly detected in file (C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x) mesh ()
warning : Face vertex 0 x=-1.024281 y=5.178836 z=0.471754
warning : Face vertex 1 x=-1.024281 y=5.178836 z=0.471754
warning : Face vertex 2 x=-1.034461 y=5.164354 z=0.377698
warning : Degenerate poly detected in file (C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x) mesh ()
warning : Face vertex 0 x=1.057451 y=5.376711 z=0.261007
warning : Face vertex 1 x=1.099035 y=5.59379 z=0.029722
warning : Face vertex 2 x=1.057451 y=5.376711 z=0.261007
warning : Degenerate poly detected in file (C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x) mesh ()
warning : Face vertex 0 x=0.973458 y=5.385396 z=0.251758
warning : Face vertex 1 x=0.989657 y=5.39475 z=0.132282
warning : Face vertex 2 x=0.973458 y=5.385396 z=0.251758
warning : Degenerate poly detected in file (C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x) mesh ()
warning : Face vertex 0 x=0.940289 y=5.187521 z=0.462504
warning : Face vertex 1 x=0.898703 y=4.970771 z=0.702148
warning : Face vertex 2 x=0.940289 y=5.187521 z=0.462504
warning : Degenerate poly detected in file (C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x) mesh ()
warning : Face vertex 0 x=1.024281 y=5.178836 z=0.471753
warning : Face vertex 1 x=1.008373 y=5.020711 z=0.534049
warning : Face vertex 2 x=1.024281 y=5.178836 z=0.471753
warning : Degenerate poly detected in file (C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x) mesh ()
warning : Face vertex 0 x=-1.024281 y=5.178836 z=0.471754
warning : Face vertex 1 x=-0.982697 y=4.962086 z=0.711397
warning : Face vertex 2 x=-1.024281 y=5.178836 z=0.471754
warning : Degenerate poly detected in file (C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x) mesh ()
warning : Face vertex 0 x=-0.940288 y=5.187521 z=0.462504
warning : Face vertex 1 x=-0.92438 y=5.029396 z=0.5248
warning : Face vertex 2 x=-0.940288 y=5.187521 z=0.462504
warning : Degenerate poly detected in file (C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x) mesh ()
warning : Face vertex 0 x=-0.973458 y=5.385396 z=0.251758
warning : Face vertex 1 x=-1.015045 y=5.602472 z=0.020473
warning : Face vertex 2 x=-0.973458 y=5.385396 z=0.251758
warning : Degenerate poly detected in file (C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x) mesh ()
warning : Face vertex 0 x=-1.057451 y=5.37671 z=0.261008
warning : Face vertex 1 x=-1.073651 y=5.386064 z=0.141532
warning : Face vertex 2 x=-1.057451 y=5.37671 z=0.261008
warning : Degenerate poly detected in file (C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x) mesh ()
warning : Face vertex 0 x=0 y=-4.564595 z=-0.038249
warning : Face vertex 1 x=0 y=-4.564595 z=-0.038249
warning : Face vertex 2 x=0 y=-4.545023 z=-0.097512
warning : Degenerate poly detected in file (C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x) mesh ()
warning : Face vertex 0 x=0 y=-4.564595 z=-0.038249
warning : Face vertex 1 x=0 y=-4.59696 z=0.100377
warning : Face vertex 2 x=0 y=-4.564595 z=-0.038249
warning : Degenerate poly detected in file (C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x) mesh ()
warning : Face vertex 0 x=0 y=-4.615084 z=0.249858
warning : Face vertex 1 x=0 y=-4.615084 z=0.249858
warning : Face vertex 2 x=0 y=-4.59696 z=0.100377
warning : Degenerate poly detected in file (C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x) mesh ()
warning : Face vertex 0 x=0 y=-4.615084 z=0.249858
warning : Face vertex 1 x=1E-05 y=-4.614631 z=0.394613
warning : Face vertex 2 x=0 y=-4.615084 z=0.249858
error : Error in .X file: (C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x)! No GuidToName information!
error :
error : Failed to process file: C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x
Usage: XToMDL.exe /KEEP /NOGUI /BATCH /NOCRASH /BMP2DDS /XMLSAMPLE /XANIM /DICT:DictFileName /OUT:OutfileName Filename.X


any ideas?

[arno]

Hi,

Look at the first error in your log (after all the warnings):

error : Error in .X file: (C:\Documents and Settings\�ε΅ž\SendTo\spitfire_mkV.x)! No GuidToName information!

It says no GuidToName information, so that means you did not add a GUID and friendly name before exporting your object.