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Can MCX Recover a FSDS Model ?

G

GaryGB

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Can MCX Recover a FSDS Aircraft Model ?

Hello:

Could someone be so kind as to help this gentleman have a 'merry Xmas' ? :santahat:

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=398081

Charles Kirk said:
I lost one of my Abacus FSDS models from the program when somehow my folder on the model and some 700 part files were lost from my hard disc. The compiled model is still in FS9 but can I use ModelConverterX to decompile back to FSDS format?

Abacus Tech have suggested it but are not sure it will work. I am 85 and the prospect seems difficult, so I would like to know that it can work before I try it.

Charles Kirk
Click to expand...

GaryGB
 
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My best guess would be to load the model into MCX, export as 3DS, import into GMAX, and save as a GMAX file. Then use the existing tools (if there are any?) to go from GMAX to FSDS. You will have the texture mapping intact in the GMAX model, but no animations. I don't know what you would get after the conversion to FSDS?
 
To add to my posts...

A: Arno just updated MCX developmental version with a rudimentary (but eminently useable) FSC exporter.

YES, it will take an FS9 mdl and convert it to fsc - converting from an FS-X mdl is "cleaner" .

(Aircraft) Parts with animations appear to get rotated - they were in my test model. Some parts are "grouped" - I think this is a material issue, but I'm not complaining. It's easy to then break out the individual parts in FSDS.

Best of all, texture assignments do come across (so that's a lesser pain).
 
Hi,

The clumped parts problem can sometimes be fixed by setting CollapseParts (options) to FALSE.
 
Setting collapse parts to false only works when import a FSC file, when importing a MDL file it makes no difference since the parts are not in that format.

I would have to check what is going on with animated parts being rotated. Felix, do you also see that when you load the FSC file back into MCX or only in FSDS?
 
Arno - I will have to do some more checking on that tonight.

So far I've only been testing export to fsc. I will try a more organized approach.

F

arno said:
Setting collapse parts to false only works when import a FSC file, when importing a MDL file it makes no difference since the parts are not in that format.

I would have to check what is going on with animated parts being rotated. Felix, do you also see that when you load the FSC file back into MCX or only in FSDS?
Click to expand...
 
BTW Felix, MCX imported my FS9 GMAX DC-6B MDL just fine, complete with animations and livery display. I could then export it as an FSC file, no problem. However, after loading into FSDS2 (the only version I have), it displayed not only the animated parts as rotated 90 degrees, but also a couple of unanimated engine nacelles. That said, it is much better than the alternative. :)

The 3D display in FSDS was also quite odd - very small and sometimes invisible. This might have been a units problem?
 
tgibson said:
BTW Felix, MCX imported my FS9 GMAX DC-6B MDL just fine, complete with animations and livery display. I could then export it as an FSC file, no problem. However, after loading into FSDS2 (the only version I have), it displayed not only the animated parts as rotated 90 degrees, but also a couple of unanimated engine nacelles. That said, it is much better than the alternative. :)
Click to expand...

After a bit of fiddling, I also did note that an FS9 mdl imported....

The 3D display in FSDS was also quite odd - very small and sometimes invisible. This might have been a units problem?
Click to expand...

I did see that, and I think it's an issue that MCX is exporting in meters into FSDS.
 
Hi,

I used meters indeed for the units, but I can also export in feet if that would work better. I just picked meters because modelconverterx works in that unit internally.

What unit are you using in FSDS in general?
 
I use feet for my projects.

Having said that, FSDS does have a scale converter, that converts the project meters<-->feet.

Having MCX convert in feet (or provide that option) would be nice.





arno said:
Hi,

I used meters indeed for the units, but I can also export in feet if that would work better. I just picked meters because modelconverterx works in that unit internally.

What unit are you using in FSDS in general?
Click to expand...
 
I think FSDS2 defaults to feet, but I assume that FSDS3 would default to meters, since it uses MakeMDL and it needs to be in meters for that. I can try the file load again after switching FSDS to meters.
 
FSDS defaults to however it is set by the user - meters or feet.


tgibson said:
I think FSDS2 defaults to feet, but I assume that FSDS3 would default to meters, since it uses MakeMDL and it needs to be in meters for that. I can try the file load again after switching FSDS to meters.
Click to expand...
 
Inside the FSC file it also stores the unit, so I would assume it uses that (or else convert to the unit set by the user).
 
ModelConverterX

Further to my previous post, I have tried importing my mdel from both FSX & FS9, using ModelConverterX and I can get 3ds files but gmax cannot read either of them.

Regards, Charles Kirk
 
I believe that all models are converted to "meters" (system unit 1 = 1m) ALL mdls will be in meters.

For an fsc file, it's easier to use the built in FSDS scale converter, or continue modeling in meters within FSDS.



arno said:
Inside the FSC file it also stores the unit, so I would assume it uses that (or else convert to the unit set by the user).
Click to expand...
 
Does GMAX give you an error for the 3DS files it cannot read? You need to Import them, not Load them.
 
Given that modelconverterx can now save to FSC directly, you might not have to go through gmax.

But if on importing the 3ds in gmax you get an error, then the 3ds file is most likely corrupt. Often that is a bug in modelconverterx.
 
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