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Can I fix an aircraft model whose main wheels don't turn?

G

GCarty80

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10
Country
england
I've been given some MDL files of FS2004 aircraft models that need fixing (the nose wheels rotate but the main wheels do not) -- the original author cannot fix them as his PC is no longer operational.

I believe the problem is likely the naming of the relevant objects (IIRC they need to be named c_gear, l_gear or r_gear to rotate) but when I open the model up in ModelConverterX (which I've never used before) I can only find names like "ModelPart" and "SceneGraphNode" in the Hierarchy Editor.

Where do I find the actual names of the objects so I can rename those which need renaming? Or are the model names removed at compile time (with appropriate animations applied during compilation) so that they don't actually appear in the MDL file?

Please advise,

George
 
Model converter X uses the FSX naming protocol, so the parts are not named as they are in FS 2004 format. Instead, those names are assigned to the animation section.

You can do one of two things:
1. Open the animation editor and find those animations that used to be part names in FS 2004.
2. Do a search in the hierarchy editor for those names and find the parts that have those animations.

By the way, the animations you are looking for are c_tire, etc.
 
On export to FS2004 MDL MCX does automatically map the FSX names to FS2004 names. So in the tool you need to assign the correct FSX name.
 
It looks as though the front and back wheels of the 4-wheel main wheel bogie have been merged into a single mesh (or more precisely two meshes: one for the tire treads and the other for the sides of the wheels), which would obviously be no good for rotating wheels.

Does ModelConverterX have any ability to split the front and rear wheels apart and then apply animations to them?

mainwheels.png
 
You can try setting collapse model parts to false in options and then import the plane again. This works occasionally, but the MDL compiler will usually combine parts that use the same material and are not animated.
 
tgibson said:
You can try setting collapse model parts to false in options and then import the plane again. This works occasionally, but the MDL compiler will usually combine parts that use the same material and are not animated.
Click to expand...
Thanks!

That seemed to separate the axles: now I just have to work out how to apply the animations!
 
Take a look at the animation of a wheel that does turn correctly, and try to duplicate that for your wheels that don’t work.
 
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