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FS2004 Attachpoints and LODs

FSMuseum

FSMuseum

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us-kentucky
Hey all,

I'm exporting my Boeing 707 AI model through Blender2FSX, then exporting an FS9 model through MCX. I want landing light effects to appear on the aircraft, but Blender2FSX does not support the old GMAX/MakeMDL convention of having a polygon with the material name LIGHT_LAND.

Using the MCX attachpoint tool, I can get a landing light effect to appear on the model (albeit much smaller looking than on other AI aircraft for some reason) but it only appears on LOD0 (in my case, LOD_350). Once the model switches to the next LODs, no landing lights appear anymore.

I can also assign an attachpoint in blender, and it will show up in MCX, but the same issue is present.

Is there a work around for this?
 
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Are you used a BGL_LIGHT for the landing light or did you add a special polygon?
 
arno said:
Are you used a BGL_LIGHT for the landing light or did you add a special polygon?
Click to expand...
I first did it using a polygon with a material titled LIGHT_LAND but my exporter does not support that, so instead I exported my model as an FSX model and used the Attachpoint Editor in MCX to add the landing lights. I’m not sure what BGL_LIGHT is
 
If you assign the fx_landing.fx file as attached effect FSX, then it will be converted to a BGL_LIGHT of type landing when you export to FS2004.

The light_mapping.ini file controls what color is used for that light. Maybe if you make it brighter that the light will look better?
 
arno said:
If you assign the fx_landing.fx file as attached effect FSX, then it will be converted to a BGL_LIGHT of type landing when you export to FS2004.

The light_mapping.ini file controls what color is used for that light. Maybe if you make it brighter that the light will look better?
Click to expand...
The appearance of the light is less of a concern than it is that the light only appears on LOD0, I can’t get it to appear on the other LODs. I’ll have a look at the light_mapping.ini file though. Is there a way to make the light appear on all LODs?
 
Did you add the attach point and landing light effect to every LOD?

What I did in GMAX was to place the landing light effect into a part that had no LOD and thus would always display, but I’m not sure that MCX supports that.
 
Attached effects do not have a LOD in the FSX MDL file, only model parts due. So normally attached effects all have LOD -1 assigned and that should ensure that they are visible in each LOD.

When exporting to a FS2004 model I add the attached effects to the X file of the highest LOD. It is my understanding that this is the way to get them show in all LODs, but maybe I need to double check if MakeMDL does not put them under the LOD.
 
As I remember, if I did that using GMAX I would only get the landing light in the highest LOD.
 
tgibson said:
Did you add the attach point and landing light effect to every LOD?

What I did in GMAX was to place the landing light effect into a part that had no LOD and thus would always display, but I’m not sure that MCX supports that.
Click to expand...

I've tried assigning one to every LOD as well as to a polygon with no LOD attached, in both cases I only get the landing light on the highest LOD (LOD0).

EDIT: Adjusting the color values in light_mapping.ini did indeed make the light brighter, so that is fixed at least!
 
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Sorry, didn't take the time yet to double check if the way ModelConverterX exports the attached lights is right.
 
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