• Which the release of FS2020 we see an explosition of activity on the forun and of course we are very happy to see this. But having all questions about FS2020 in one forum becomes a bit messy. So therefore we would like to ask you all to use the following guidelines when posting your questions:

    • Tag FS2020 specific questions with the MSFS2020 tag.
    • Questions about making 3D assets can be posted in the 3D asset design forum. Either post them in the subforum of the modelling tool you use or in the general forum if they are general.
    • Questions about aircraft design can be posted in the Aircraft design forum
    • Questions about airport design can be posted in the FS2020 airport design forum. Once airport development tools have been updated for FS2020 you can post tool speciifc questions in the subforums of those tools as well of course.
    • Questions about terrain design can be posted in the FS2020 terrain design forum.
    • Questions about SimConnect can be posted in the SimConnect forum.

    Any other question that is not specific to an aspect of development or tool can be posted in the General chat forum.

    By following these guidelines we make sure that the forums remain easy to read for everybody and also that the right people can find your post to answer it.

P3D v4 One step to success - But still a red cross instead of Hangar Doors...

Messages
884
Country
germany
Hi everybody,

I started two days ago with my first SODE experiences and am just a little proud to get a red cross into my scenery at least LOL. Also I get the right options inside my P3Dv4 pull down menu (SODE 1.62) that allows me to "show, hide, open, close" my hangar doors.
Okay, show, hide, open close my red cross so far :rolleyes::p.
Furthermore, to see the red cross almost near the coordinates I inserted into the xml is a good sign to have a working interaction of SODE and my P3D.
That means, my xml seems to be correct so far, my sim connections seem okay so far, but my only issue seems to be a wrong placed mdl file (hangar doors) or a wrong specification of it inside the xml.

So I feel I am only a little step away from success.

May please someone can tell where the needed elements have to be placed at correctly, please?

1. my xml file
2. my folder with the apropriate mdl files (it's a folder, because there will be added a lot of more hangar doors next days...)

I found different places with SODE entries so far

a)
C:\programme(x86)\12bpilot\SODE
(seems to be the main path of exe and modules where the installer set SODE while installing...)

b)
C:\programData\12bPilot\SODE
(here I find "backup, cfg, log, SimObjects,xml folder) In this SimObjects folder I copied my folder "ETUO" with my mdl files.
Is this correct? If I have a wrong place for my ETUO folder, I will see a red cross, I realize that.

Each hint is much welcome, never thought I got so much success so far....
 
Messages
884
Country
germany
Okay, guys, after some days and a really hard step by step try and error challange now I got my hangar doors correctly appear in my scenery. I will add a small tutorial how I got it to work and how I did it the next days here....
 
Last edited:
Messages
108
Country
portugal
Hi
I have found dout the issue. I had edited the xml and did not figure out that I had delete the EnvironmentalDataProbe details.

Regards
Mário
 
Messages
884
Country
germany
Today, I finally got success! Everything is working correctly including the right duration, placement and all correct parametres which are needed inside Gmax. I have to thank Steven Legg for the breakthrough! Please give me some more days to write a short summary.





 
Messages
884
Country
germany
***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Okay, let me try to explain how I got it to work!
It's not a final tutorial. But if anybody can give some valuable hints and suggestions, please let us know at this place for all users who want to understand this great programme! It's only a brief summary how I got the animations to work successfully. If there are any wrong descriptions or mistakes inside my explanations, feel free to correct it :)
I have to say, Steven Legg (well known from the fantastic ACG sceneries) helped me a lot to finally get moving doors!

First of all, I had to understand that SODE treats objects you want to add into your scenery as simobjects. WHAAAT? Yes, SIMOBJECTS!

When you are installing SODE for the first time, I recommend to follow the installation step by step. Use the SODE suggested paths absolutely, this will prevent missunderstandings and wrong used paths when you work with your own models!

It is important to know, that SODE installs its components in two different places:

1. C:\programme (x86)\12bPilot\SODE
This is ONLY the path where SODE puts in its modules to cooperate with your sim - furthermore, you find the SODEPlatformManager.exe - here you can choose your running flightsim, check if the versions are registered correctly and if the SODE module is activated.
I suggest to create a shortcut on your desktop for a quick check if SODE does not start correctly...
Don't try to start the SODE.exe at this place - you only will get problems of warnings that another SODE prog is running when you start your flightsim. That's it. Wrong place for any modelling art!

2. C:\ProgrammData\12bPilot\SODE
This is the place we want to get familiar with!
This folder contains several subfolders which are basically needed to get your object working in your sim.

The sobfolder are as follows:
- backup
-cfg
-log
-SimObjects
-xml


The green ones are the folders we have to work with.

-SimObjects

It took a while to understand, that this folder - AND NOT THE SimObject FOLDER YOU FIND IN YOUR SIM - has to contain all your new created models.
Okay.
Now in "SimObjects" I created a subfolder called "ETUO". In here, all ETUO animation models (hangar doors, saisonal textures etc.) has to be placed:



As you can see, I only have hangar door models created so far.
So what contain these model folder?
Correct - here inside are the hangar doors (mdl files) which I created in Gmax and run it through Model ConverterX:
(Please note: I would like to explain how I put the animation trigger to use with the hangar door, but not at this place:cool:)



So finally: How do I get this hangar door into the sim - animated by SODE?
Let me try it to explain with the door you can see in the screenshot (ETUO_H1_FRONTDOOR)
The MCX converted and exported mdl file I copied into the respective model.ETUO_H1_FRONTDOOR folder.
Inside, I also had to add a model.cfg file as to be used by all sim objects. So for my hangar door animation, I have two files inside my model folder:
- ETUO_H1_FRONTDOOR.mdl
- model.cfg
Content:
[models]
normal= ETUO_H1_FRONTDOOR

Accordingly, you find the texture folders, wherein I add my textures belonging to the frontdoor model.

You furthermore notice the sim.cfg file. This is important, because here you have to add ongoing all your animation models:

[General]
Category=Viewer
Module=SODE


[fltsim.0]
title=ETUO_H1_FRONTDOOR
sim=
model=ETUO_H1_FRONTDOOR
sound=
texture=""
[fltsim.1]
title=ETUO_H1_BACKDOOR
sim=
model=ETUO_H1_BACKDOOR
sound=
texture=""
[fltsim.2]
title=ETUO_H2_DOORS
sim=
model=ETUO_H2_DOORS
sound=
texture=H5H7


etc etc etc....
You notice this is a little like you add new paints to your aircraft folder...

-xml

Okay - here it goes a little tricky, but if I got it to run, you will get it anyway :cool:

Here is the hangar door you can see above, written as a xml.cfg inside this xml folder:

<SODE>
<!-- Data Probe serving its clients -->

<SimObject Name="ETUO_H1_FRONTDOOR"> that's the exact name of the model inside the SimObject folder
<Placement Lat="51.9286286614" Lon="8.2979528628" Alt="0#AGL" Hdg="238.2"/>
the place where the doors have to appear
<Model SimTitle="ETUO_H1_FRONTDOOR">
the name how the model appear inside the flightsim SODE menue bar (watch the screenie above)
<TriggerableVisibility Input="TextMenu" Action="Show,Hide" VisibleOnLoad="Yes"/> the trigger option in the flightsim SODE menue bar hide/unhide (screenshot above)
<TriggerableAnimation Input="TextMenu" Action="Open,Close" StartKF="0" EndKF="100" Duration="20"> the trigger option in the flightsim SODE menue bar, open/close the door (screenshot above)
</TriggerableAnimation>
</Model>
</SimObject>
<SODE>

To be continued next days.....

***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
 
Messages
108
Country
portugal
Hi
Thank you for the tutorial.
I'm doing hangar doors now in 3D Studio Max and I do not have the SODE_trigger_1_4SEC. How to add that option?
Regards, Mário
 
Messages
108
Country
portugal
Hi


I have animated 3 doors moving like yours. Going from right to left. In 3d studio max and MCX I see the movement correct, but at p3d, the door 2º and 3º door goes to right before starts going to left.

How to avoid that ?
And how to slowdown the speed? I had increased the number of frames, but the behavior is the same!!


Br.
Mário
 
Messages
884
Country
germany
Mário, can you post a screenshot of your mdl loaded in MCX, please? We need a look at your model with opened animation editor to see which trigger is set. The animation editor is the small black square icon below "export scenery".
 
Messages
383
Country
unitedkingdom
Hi Mário

Hope you don't mind Manschy

The animation itself is written in modeldef.xml (which is found in the sdk) and uses a 'Lag' entry to define the speed of the animation over 100 frames.

Below is the 4sec animation data from modeldef. The line in red shows the Lag and is 25 in this instance, it is calculated from 100frames/25 = 4 seconds of animation.

<PartInfo>
<Name>SODE_Trigger_1_4SEC</Name>
<AnimLength>100</AnimLength>
<Animation>
<Parameter>
<Code> <!-- Masks bit 0 (0x0001) out of the SimVar and checks if set -->
(A:VELOCITY BODY Z, number) near 0x0001 &amp; 0x0001 == if{ 100 } els{ 0 }
</Code>
<Lag>25</Lag> <!-- Defines duration of animation: 100Frames/25 = 4 seconds -->
</Parameter>
</Animation>
</PartInfo>

To create a longer animation you need to create another entry in Modeldef.xml, for example a 12.5 second animation would require the following lines to be added.

<Animation name="SODE_Trigger_1_12.5SEC" guid="ENTER-UNIQUE-GUID-HERE" length="100" type="Sim" typeParam2="SODE_Trigger_1_12.5SEC" typeParam="AutoPlay"/>

<AnimationRef guid="SAME-GUID-AS-ABOVE-HERE"/>

<PartInfo>
<Name>SODE_Trigger_1_12.5SEC</Name>
<AnimLength>100</AnimLength>
<Animation>
<Parameter>
<Code> <!-- Masks bit 0 (0x0001) out of the SimVar and checks if set -->
(A:VELOCITY BODY Z, number) near 0x0001 &amp; 0x0001 == if{ 100 } els{ 0 }
</Code>
<Lag>8</Lag> <!-- Defines duration of animation: 100Frames/8 = 12.5 seconds -->
</Parameter>
</Animation>
</PartInfo>

The Lag for this 12.5 second animation would be 8 (100/8=12.5)

You can add as many of these as you wish to modeldef, changing the lag (to give different lengths of animation), the name and GUID for each entry. Keep your keyframes at 100 frames no matter how long the animation is, it is SODE which slows down or speeds up the animation in the sim depending on the Lag setting.

Stevo ;)
 
Last edited:
Messages
108
Country
portugal
Hi

Thank you. Latter on I will change the modeldef and try and also put here the mdl himself.

Br.
Mário
 
Messages
884
Country
germany
Stevo, glad to read it. That's what I imagined in #6 that people give their input here.

Good detailed suggestion!

I have animated 3 doors moving like yours. Going from right to left. In 3d studio max and MCX I see the movement correct, but at p3d, the door 2º and 3º door goes to right before starts going to left.

Did you animate the doors in complete? Each door has to be animated by itself, means the trigger has to be set to each door in sMax.....
 
Messages
884
Country
germany
It seems you don't use the correct trigger for the animation.
So first of all, you have to be able to use the SODE trigger animation option in your 3Dsmax or Gmax. Therefore, you have to add the appropriate lines of the trigger section of SODE to your modeldef.xml. Attached you find my modeldef.xml. So using this one, the needed trigger should appear in your animation tool. Back up your original modeldef.xml first.
Report back when you are ready, then we do the next steps :cool:
 

Attachments

  • modeldef.zip
    29.8 KB · Views: 199
Messages
108
Country
portugal
Hi

In terms of time, I'm ok. I think that you saw the file with number 2 that I did not change yet, sorry for not informing you about that.

My issue now is the movement that should only go to left, but the door goes to right 1 meter (example) before it goes 10 meters to left. Only seen in p3d, not in 3ds or MCX.

And thank you for the support on this subject :)
 
Messages
383
Country
unitedkingdom
Hi Mário

Try changing the 'assign controller' transformation options under the 'Motion' tab for each door, change the position and rotation to Linear position and Linear rotation. If this does not work delete the keyframes and animation door again using the new linear controller.

Stevo ;)
 
Messages
108
Country
portugal
Hi

I tried and changed everything has suggested but no success.
Attached the file 3ds and texture. I hope that someone can check the mistake that I'm making and say: shame on you!! ;)
Thank you in advance
 

Attachments

  • ptpl3.zip
    5 MB · Views: 194
Messages
884
Country
germany
Jap, shame on me - not able to open the file because I use Gmax :( Sorry. Is it possible to save it as 3DS file? This I could import....
 
Messages
108
Country
portugal
Hi

There it is. I will try now from scratch to add 3 boxes and animate.

Br.
Mário
 

Attachments

  • ptpl3.zip
    4.5 MB · Views: 225
Top