MSFS20 cannot get LOD's to work for my models

[astaticmusic]

I am creating lods, usually 3 different ones using the MCX to auto create the lods, and saving as gltf's - but they will not work in MSFS

is this a known thing or is there a trick to getting them to work!? some kind of re-write in the xml file?

I would like to optimize more sceneries using lods but right now im stuck since i dont use blender

Thanks for any help here!

 

[arno]

Hi,

It sounds like you export each LOD separately to gltf. Is that the case? It would be better to add all three levels of detail to the model and then export it at once to gltf. That will save all gltf files and a correct xml file that contains all three lods.

 

[astaticmusic]

Hi Arno, the way you are suggesting is the exact way i am doing it. Thats also the way that was not working for me. I have (ex.) 3 gltf files and 3 .bin files, and 1 .xml - for 3 different lods
to be clear, after running a build project for the new models in msfs, there were no errors, but when i add the actual model in the sim, nothing shows up.
Thanks!

 

[arno]

That sounds all OK. Did you check if the xml file lists them correctly?

 

[astaticmusic]

im not sure that mcx is writing them the correct way, i mean i dont know. There are some tutorials about it and when i compare the way that MCX writes the .xml, it looks different than what the tutorials are showing....theres a size discrepancy in the way it writes the size format i think. I was just wondering if anyone has used the MCX method for making them, compared to the blender way.

let me run one real quick and show the results.

 

[superspud]

The syntax seems to vary between some models I've seen.

This works for me.

<LODS>
            <LOD ModelFile="Scillylifeboat_LOD00.gltf" minSize="10"/>

            <LOD ModelFile="Scillylifeboat_LOD01.gltf" minSize="3"/>
            
            <LOD ModelFile="Scillylifeboat_LOD02.gltf" minSize="0"/>
        
    </LODS>

If the model builds and they don't display then the xml is the most likely thing.

 

[astaticmusic]

thats what im thinking may be the cause.

The syntax seems to vary between some models I've seen.

This works for me.

<LODS>
            <LOD ModelFile="Scillylifeboat_LOD00.gltf" minSize="10"/>

            <LOD ModelFile="Scillylifeboat_LOD01.gltf" minSize="3"/>
           
            <LOD ModelFile="Scillylifeboat_LOD02.gltf" minSize="0"/>
       
    </LODS>

If the model builds and they don't display then the xml is the most likely thing.

let me show what mcx creates and compare them... one sec...

 

[arno]

The syntax is also different between xml files before and after running the package tool if I remember correctly. To make it even more confusing.

 

[astaticmusic]

this is what mcx creates when i have 3 different lods


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

-<ModelInfo version="1.1" guid="{dd4c493c-9e4b-4088-89fa-6011becceaad}">


-<LODS>

<LOD ModelFile="e2_2_LOD0.gltf" minSize="7.8125"/>

<LOD ModelFile="e2_2_LOD1.gltf" minSize="3.125"/>

<LOD ModelFile="e2_2_LOD2.gltf" minSize="1.25"/>

</LODS>

</ModelInfo>

 

[arno]

The syntax doesn't look that different to me. Maybe except that the minSize is not zero for the last LOD.

 

[astaticmusic]

blender creates a different xml i do believe, different than what mcx creates... so the question is - do i have to re-write the xml for each model to get the lods to function properly? or is there a setting or something that needs to be changed to have the output xml work correctly?

 

[astaticmusic]

if i put this exact output from mcx into the sim it wont work

 

[arno]

I would have to double check in the sim, the MCX output used to work fine before.

 

[astaticmusic]

i also tried to ammend the line to read from....

<LOD ModelFile="e2_2_LOD0.gltf" minSize="7.8125"/>

to...

<LOD ModelFile="e2_2_LOD00.gltf" minSize="7.8125"/>

it looks like it was missing a 0 in that spot, but i did not change the minsize number, i wonder if it needs a single digit ? or mabey it wont read a decimal?

at least on my end, i can confirm that changing what ive shown here, it does not work either

 

[astaticmusic]

this is the output folder contents for the model, not showing the textures.....

 

[astaticmusic]

The syntax seems to vary between some models I've seen.

This works for me.

<LODS>
            <LOD ModelFile="Scillylifeboat_LOD00.gltf" minSize="10"/>

            <LOD ModelFile="Scillylifeboat_LOD01.gltf" minSize="3"/>
           
            <LOD ModelFile="Scillylifeboat_LOD02.gltf" minSize="0"/>
       
    </LODS>

If the model builds and they don't display then the xml is the most likely thing.

if you dont mind me asking, where did you generate this xml from? it doesn't look like what MCX generates. And thats my problem, if i have to re-write it then thats fine, but none of my edits have worked coming from MCX yet..

 

[astaticmusic]

Can confirm that the direct output from MCX does not work in sim. I sure would like to figure this one out! Thanks!

 

[superspud]

if you dont mind me asking, where did you generate this xml from? it doesn't look like what MCX generates. And thats my problem, if i have to re-write it then thats fine, but none of my edits have worked coming from MCX yet..

Can't remember. The various Blender exporters seem to do it slightly differently.

Your model naming appears to be the issue.

The convention seems to be modelname_LOD00, modelname_LOD01, modelname_LOD02 etc.

 

[=rk=]

Without a sample to review, there are a great variety of thing to keep guessing at. If this is a proprietary model, you could construct another one, using the same process and simple cubes, that we could examine and possibly offer advice for.

 

[arno]

The model names should match the names of the gltf files. For the rest there is no specific convention that is needed.