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MSFS20 Alpha channel & MCX

A

apollon01

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163
Country
luxembourg
Hello Arno,

thank you for adapting the MCX for use with MSFS 2020. I appreciate it!

Let me please ask one question regarding transparency:

I am converting my scenery objects from FSX/P3D to MSFS 2020. Some of the models contain alpha channel for transparency. However, I am not able to export this transparency to gltf. I set "Set default transparent" and click apply - it shows transparent in the preview. Then I save the texture as png. Then I export object to gltf. All shows fine in the preview but when imported into MSFS 2020 or again into MCX, the transparency is gone.

Could you please indicate what am I doing wrong?
Thank you!

Milan
 
Hi Milan,

The alpha mode (or render mode in MCX as there the P3D name is used) setting in the PBR material controls if the alpha channel is used.

You bring up a good point, the SetDefaultTransparent action does not update this attribute, it only sets the FSX transparency controls. I should update that.
 
I am doing something wrong here.

I am in Material editor, Properties (MSFS selected in the drop-down menu) and see Render mode in the PBR section. What to set there? Neither Translucent nor Masked seem to work for me. Do I need to set also Masked threshold?

Thanks, I am a bit stuck here :)

Milan
 
Hi,

According to the documentation the threshold is only used when you select MASKED. I think in most cases you want to select TRANSLUCENT (which translate to BLEND for MSFS).
 
OK, so actually I have done it properly before: PBR section - Render mode - Translucent and export model with the texture in png format. In sim it shows OK, only the preview in MCX is not showing the transparency for some reason.

Problem solved :)

As a side note: applying "Set default transparent" works also.
 
I should probably make sure the preview works also for materials that only have the PBR settings set. I'll add that to the todo list.
 
Hi,

I made a quick fix in the preview now so that the transparency is shown. It's a fix that should work until PBR materials are fully supported by the preview.
 
I am back Arno :)

And just discovered an issue with transparency I have not spotted before.

I have a FSX object with a texture with alpha channel for testing purposes which I want to convert to MSFS 2020. Based on the discussion above, I was able to apply the "Set default transparent" and the transparency shows in MSFS 2020...
...albeit with a weird glitch - check below:

This is how the model looks WITHOUT the "Set default transparent" (just for comparison): note the red/black letters on top of the building; the black will become transparent in the next step
no alpha.jpg


And this is how it looks after "Set default transparent"
alpha.jpg


Note that though the "Hotel Moskva" inscription is transparent as it should be, it is not obscured by the upper structure of the building and also the left side of the building has a similar issue.

I tried also to flip triangles with inverted normals but the issue is still the same.

Do you have any idea what might be wrong and how to correct?

Thank you for your tips.

Milan
 
Last edited:
Hi,

That's interesting. Do you have a zbias set for that material as well maybe? Looks like a drawing order issue to me.
 
I tried to change it from 0 to 1 with the same effect. I am not sure what values to put there.

Interesting thing is that it seems that not all polygons are affected.
 
Hopefully MS is aware of the problem, although even they admit that FSX objects will not work perfectly.

Perhaps if you make the letters a separate object and place it separately that might improve things?
 
There is something called "drawing order" that can help, apparently:

www.fsdeveloper.com

MSFS20 - MSFS Glass material (Blender)

Hello! I have been trying to get some good reflections for glass objects for weeks now o_O But I haven't managed to do that.. How I can get reflections like in the default buildings. Is it glass material and what settings are used? Also, is PBR required? This is what I'm looking for:
www.fsdeveloper.com www.fsdeveloper.com
 
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