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P3D v3 Black Objects in ADE

A

alphatango2

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us-wisconsin
Hello,

It has been some time since I've posted on FSDev....anyways, when I compile said airport project I get the black object error and object won't show up in P3D. Now I know that means I don't have said object in my Library object file but where could I possibly find those libraries so I don't run into these issues when I have to reset draw flags on any scenery that I download and use from various people. (Ex: Ray Smith Afcads)

Thanks
Dan
 
Where did you get the file with the black squares? If an addon, look in the text file for any libraries you need to download. Otherwise I don't know of a way to find a library object you don't have - I doubt there is a way to do that. There is nothing in the information kept in the BGL file that would tell you the library an object came from, only the GUID and perhaps the model name.
 
Tgibson,

To use an example, I just recently downloaded the Ray Smith and Craig Scott OMDB AFCAD file for FSX. I loaded it up in ADE P3D to reset the draw flags and convert it to work in P3D. I noticed a lot of black boxes which are missing objects in my ADE Library Object Manager. I looked in the readme and I could not find any info on where to download the libraries that they used to add onto the airport. This black box issue occurs when there's a AFCAD with extra library objects and anything from FSX.

Hope that explains it better.

-Dan
 
I assume you mean an AFD file, rather than an AFCAD file. AFCAD files cannot contain objects - the program did not have that capability.

I think you would have to contact the authors for what libraries they used, or find someone that has those AFDs loaded and does not have the black boxes (because they already have the libraries loaded).

Keep in mind that even if they are black boxes in ADE (because you haven't loaded the libraries into the LOM) they will still show up in P3D if you have those libraries in the Scenery Library (and if they are converted to P3D format, if needed (i.e. FS2004 libraries if P3D won't read those, I don't know)).
 
alphatango2 said:
To use an example, I just recently downloaded the Ray Smith and Craig Scott OMDB AFCAD file for FSX. I loaded it up in ADE P3D to reset the draw flags and convert it to work in P3D. I noticed a lot of black boxes which are missing objects in my ADE Library Object Manager. I looked in the readme and I could not find any info on where to download the libraries that they used to add onto the airport.
Click to expand...
That is because those black boxes represent models that are compiled into the AFD file.

They use default FSX textures and there is no need to add any third party object libraries.

cheers,
Lane
 
Then as I understand it these AFD files cannot be edited using ADE alone, since ADE will not retain the included MDL files in its compiled BGL file. Correct?
 
tgibson said:
Then as I understand it these AFD files cannot be edited using ADE alone, since ADE will not retain the included MDL files in its compiled BGL file. Correct?
Click to expand...
As I understand it, yes, that is correct.

Unless Jon were to add that functionality to ADE...:scratchch

cheers,
Lane
 
If we are talking about embedded models then there are a couple of ways to deal with it

If there are black boxes in the airport bgl file when loaded into ADE then chances are that any models are also in that file. Load the file into the Library Object Manager and it should find and add these to its data. Now reload the airport bgl file into ADE. If these black boxes are models from the file then they should be replaced with footprints in the display.

Next you can modify your airport and create a new bgl file making sure that it loads after the original.
 
I have thought about adding this functionality and my other tool Bgl2Xml will extract model files. However we have always taken the view that if a developer embeds models then he (or she) does not want them reused. I should probably write an article on how to deal with this.
 
Ah, I didn't know you could add an AFD file to the LOM - good tip.
 
Hi Tom

Yes - the LOM will read any bgl file that you offer it and if there are any models in that file it will add them to its database. The other thing is to look out for _OBJ files since any models will be stored there in preference to the AFD file if they exist
 
Dan, same case, same problem and also with Ray Smith sceneries here!

scruffyduck said:
If we are talking about embedded models then there are a couple of ways to deal with it

If there are black boxes in the airport bgl file when loaded into ADE then chances are that any models are also in that file. Load the file into the Library Object Manager and it should find and add these to its data. Now reload the airport bgl file into ADE. If these black boxes are models from the file then they should be replaced with footprints in the display.
Click to expand...

I've tried this, but ADE doesn't want to include those models into the newly compiled bgl. They only shows in ADE project. Original bgl is 140kb, and recompiled is just 110kb. I also tried to extract models from the original bgl with your bgl2xml tool, but without any luck. Please see the original bgl attached - the objects in question are "jetway munich".

scruffyduck said:
Next you can modify your airport and create a new bgl file making sure that it loads after the original.
Click to expand...

This one worked, although I don't really like multiple scenery.cfg entries for the same scene :-) Maybe there's a better solution?
 

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I was wondering that too, Jon. If you load the AFD file with embedded MDL files into the LOM, then I assume that ADE now assumes they are library objects and will no longer embed them into the ADE BGL file. Therefore, they don't show up in FS (unless you extract them and create a new library BGL file).
 
If the same GUID is used for the embedded one and the one in the library then there will be issues. If you load the bgl file containing custom models into the LOM then ADE will assume they are in a library and will probably only show if a bgl containing the models I'd in an active Scenery folder. ADE has never extracted models from a bgl file on the assumption that if a developer embers them then they are not for reuse.
 
scruffyduck said:
ADE has never extracted models from a bgl file on the assumption that if a developer embers them then they are not for reuse.
Click to expand...

This is totally understandable, although I don't want to extract and steal anything: I'm just trying to fix a third-party airport for my own use. 9 times out of 10 this boils down to resetting taxi links drawflags and nothing else.

Anyway, your suggestion about making a lower-priority copy of the original bgl works. I just wanted to know if there's a more elegant solution. It appears there is not, but that's okay :)
 
Hi,

I ran your BGL file through bglxml and got two MDL files - jfk_jetway_01.mdl and 8729ddc74cc22450d6d3c6bc047c1ffa.mdl, which I assume could be used again in ADE (either added to the model list or placed into a library BGL and added through the LOM). The program did crash, but the MDL files had already been created.
 
Interesting! With the latest bgl2xml (1.60) I'm getting two mdl that appears empty in MCX, and a large xml file I don't know what to do with.

Screenshot - 14.05.2017 , 23_56_03.png
 
I didn't use bgl2xml, I used bglxml. :)

But I also got MDL files of 19 and 7 KB, and they display fine in MCX.
 
Tried bglxml, got same files, still empty viewport in MCX 1.3.0.0

Extracted models from some random Ray Smith scenery - MCX shows them just fine.

Confused.
 
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