[Marginal]

Originally Posted by José Bourgoignie

I really the FSX Acceleration or SP2 SDK needed ?

I don't think it will work with the original RTM SDK. It may work with the SP1 SDK - I just haven't tried. Why don't you try it and see?

Originally Posted by arno

I have been thinking about other import option that would "prove" the user actually has the source. For FS2004 MDL files you can think of importing the ASM files (I haven't seen MDL decompilers yet). Unfortunately for FSX I did not find something that could be imported and only made if you have the sources.

The .x file would be a good choice for FSX (and FS9) - it would be easier to parse than trying to reverse-engineering .MDL files. But I don't think it's possible to get the FSX gmax gamepack to produce a .x file?

Originally Posted by n4gix

Complicating matters is that the XML Schema used for FS9 is very different to the XML Schema developed for FSX, so you would have to branch your script depending on which platform the user is exporting for

I'm hoping to ignore FS9, on the assumption that most people have moved on to designing solely for FSX (?)

Originally Posted by n4gix

For example, here is an nnn.xanim for an object with a "rudder" animation file. This file would have to be generated by your Python script (or whatever handler you pass control to).

That looks quite do-able - it's just a case of combining info from the modeldef file with the Pose Bone positions from Blender.

I'm unsure how to handle custom animations. I hadn't realised that the only way to make custom animations in gmax appears to be to edit modeldef.xml. I'm not sure whether to follow that approach, or to provide the user with a way to input the info for custom animations in Blender.

Originally Posted by n4gix

If you like, I can easily generate sample .x files for either FS9 or FSX (or both) for any type of animation...

Thanks for the offer. I have enough to be getting on with in TestX.xanim at the moment, but I might want to take up your offer later.