• Which the release of FS2020 we see an explosition of activity on the forun and of course we are very happy to see this. But having all questions about FS2020 in one forum becomes a bit messy. So therefore we would like to ask you all to use the following guidelines when posting your questions:

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FSX Error with ModelconverterX 1.70 for FSX

arno said:
I got it in the error tracker now, it is a different error from version 1.8, but still has to do with the initialisation of the OpenGL control. So I think it must be something related to the graphics driver on your system.

Do you maybe have multiple graphics card (also one on the motherboard maybe)?
Click to expand...
According to the specs for my motherboard (Gigabyte G41M-ES2L) it has Graphics Media Accelerator(GMA) X4500 (DirectX 10) onboard graphics.
I've been flight simming ever since I got my original HP computer in 2001. I don't recall ever running the computer with just the motherboard graphics, I've always had an add-on graphics card installed as far back as CFS1 and FS8.
 
OK, you might want to check if Windows did not detect both. I have that on my laptop, where I can choose between the onboard and the NVidia (I can make that choice per application). If MCX would for some reason use the onboard one that might explain the issues.
 
arno said:
OK, you might want to check if Windows did not detect both. I have that on my laptop, where I can choose between the onboard and the NVidia (I can make that choice per application). If MCX would for some reason use the onboard one that might explain the issues.
Click to expand...
Windows Device Manager is showing only my add-on GTX 1070 graphics card, status "working properly".
 
Hi again:

On some older motherboards, depending on the silk-screened hardware revision of its model number, there are BIOS quirks.

My prior computer build had limited documentation of how to configure for full speed use of PCI-Express x16 slot #1.

That motherboard also had integrated graphics, and when I installed an upgrade discrete video card, the BIOS was not set right.

This caused it to share bandwidth between (2) x16 capable PCI-Express card slots, so the video card did not run properly in slot #1.

That video card upgrade was a Gigabyte build; their tech support actually tested the same motherboard and card to no avail.

I was forced to upgrade my Windows version to get it to work properly at that time.


I later saw Asus released a new revision number of the mother board; that motherboard revision's manual explained things fully.

An obscure setting in the BIOS needed to be configured to force higher bandwidth priority to (only) the X16 PCI-Express slot #1.

Previously, my BIOS split PCI-Express bandwidth at 8x between onboard graphics and my upgrade video card; neither ran at full speed.

However, even though onboard graphics was disabled, PCI-Express bandwidth was not giving full priority to the X16 slot #1 GPU.


I looked for a main Manual and BIOS manual pertaining to your motherboard online, and (due to its age ?), I cannot find it.

It may help if you can find those manuals (back then it was usually a single manual with both hardware and BIOS details in it).

You also need to look at the silk screen part number and model info on the motherboard to confirm which revision number it is.

According to what I saw online during a brief search this morning, the Intel graphics chipset, if not fully disabled, or if mistakenly assumed to be still capable of sharing PCI-Express bandwidth, may be regarded as available for use by Windows.

If a BIOS setting is wrong, Windows may attempt to use the motherboard integrated Intel graphics, which does not support OpenGL at the level of performance MCX requires in Win-10.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Intel+Graphics+Media+Accelerator+(GMA)+X4500+OpenGL+Windows+10&client=firefox-b-1-e&sca_esv=32c31fc24eb89b34&channel=entpr&ei=Ym-0aOuTLfDHp84PiL6wuAI&ved=0ahUKEwjrzPHEs7WPAxXw48kDHQgfDCcQ4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=Intel+Graphics+Media+Accelerator+(GMA)+X4500+OpenGL+Windows+10&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiPkludGVsIEdyYXBoaWNzIE1lZGlhIEFjY2VsZXJhdG9yIChHTUEpIFg0NTAwIE9wZW5HTCBXaW5kb3dzIDEwMgUQIRigATIFECEYoAEyBRAhGKABMgUQIRigATIFECEYoAFIljpQ9wZY_zZwAXgBkAEAmAFvoAHTBaoBAzUuM7gBA8gBAPgBAZgCCaAC9gXCAgoQABiwAxjWBBhHwgIGEAAYFhgewgIIEAAYFhgKGB7CAgUQABjvBcICCBAAGIAEGKIEmAMAiAYBkAYIkgcDNi4zoAfJLrIHAzUuM7gH8QXCBwUwLjMuNsgHGg&sclient=gws-wiz-serp


It may be that .NET is being fed incorrect info via the Nvidia drivers under Windows 10 with current BIOS settings.

IIUC, that may result in the error message referring to an "external device" (the Nvidia card) not initializing properly.


There may be 3rd party work-arounds in non-Intel drivers; but Intel later did made a 'few' Windows 10 drivers for 'some' of their older graphics chipsets, but one needs to search to find them.

I do not have time to search for those Intel drivers, but they may exist for your integrated graphics chipset if you need them.

But IIUC, the goal here is to fully disable them and instead use the Nvidia card exclusively.


If you reach out to Gigabyte tech support, they 'may' still offer help even with older hardware.


Otherwise, this may be a good time to upgrade your computer and start exploring what MSFS 2020 / 2024 now has to offer.

The GTX 1070 could be used for MSFS. that as that sim's performance is much better than FSX / P3D, so you may have less upgrade cost.


I would be glad to look into this further to try and help, but I am leaving shortly for several days of Holiday travel.

I hope this info might still be of some help.


Many thanks to Arno for looking into this. :)

GaryGB
 
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GaryGB, even after all these years of maintaining my own computer I still don't feel confident working with the BIOS settings. There is a fairly easy to understand AI explanation online for how to turn off the integrated graphics on the Gigabyte G41M-ES2L motherboard. I may try that but I have a new motherboard that I haven't installed yet because I didn't want to take the computer apart. For the time being, enjoy your holiday and I'll get back to you later. :)
 
Hello Franzi:

Perhaps it does seem that your inquiry was not answered directly, as most of this now (3) page thread is focused on getting MCX to run.

You need to tell us what computer hardware you have, and then state what video card drivers are installed for your GPU.

That will tell us if your computer is able to use OpenGL graphics versions utilized to run recent versions of MCX.

Additionally, you may require newer versions of certain .NET versions, Visual C++ and DirectX to run recent versions of MCX.


FYI: I can run MCX version 1.8 on Windows 10 Pro with a AMD RX 5700 XT via current AMD Adrenaline GPU drivers supporting OpenGL.

I have DirectX 9.0c installed separately from DirectX 12 that comes with Windows 10.

I also have installed Microsoft .NET Runtime - 8.0.14 (x64) and Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 - 2022 Redistributable (x64) - 14.44.35112


When I import the add-on you cited above ...downloaded instead for free from:

https://simviation.com/1/browse-Misc-58-6

https://dl.simviation.com/download/...iere.zip&sessionId=2la9umd8ki09mc9nn5o18f6cj3


...MCX runs normally, and this is the MCX Event Log from the completed process:

Code: 
10:06 AM    CfgReader    Information    Starting reading of file N:\2XP5_RJ_Bak\Downloads\Destroyer_CommandantRiviere\ai_Destroyer Commandant Riviere\model.ai\ai_Commandant Riviere.MDL
10:06 AM    CfgReader    Information    Starting reading N:\2XP5_RJ_Bak\Downloads\Destroyer_CommandantRiviere\ai_Destroyer Commandant Riviere\sim.cfg
10:06 AM    CfgReader    Information    Reading models from aircraft.cfg
10:06 AM    Mdl9Reader    Information    Starting reading of file N:\2XP5_RJ_Bak\Downloads\Destroyer_CommandantRiviere\ai_Destroyer Commandant Riviere\model.ai\ai_commandant riviere.mdl
10:06 AM    ScasmReader    Information    Starting reading of sub object 0
10:06 AM    ScasmReader    Warning        Unsupported command VFileMarker in line 12
10:06 AM    ScasmReader    Warning        This is an empty object!
10:06 AM    ScasmReader    Warning        Unsupported command VFileMarker in line 12
10:06 AM    ScasmReader    Warning        Unsupported command ShadowVPosition in line 68
10:06 AM    ScasmReader    Warning        Unsupported command ShadowVICall in line 82
10:06 AM    ScasmReader    Warning        Unsupported command SetVar in line 1671094
10:06 AM    ScasmReader    Warning        Unsupported command SetVar in line 1704860
10:06 AM    ScasmReader    Warning        Unsupported command SetVar in line 1725580
10:06 AM    ScasmReader    Warning        Unsupported command SetVar in line 1772168
10:06 AM    ScasmReader    Information    Finished reading of sub object 0
10:06 AM    Mdl9Reader    Information    Finished reading objects
10:06 AM    Mdl9Reader    Information    Cleaning object: ai_commandant riviere
10:06 AM    Mdl9Reader    Information    Removed 571 triangles with small area
10:06 AM    CfgReader    Information    Reading points from aircraft.cfg
10:06 AM    CfgReader    Information    Read 0 points
10:06 AM    CfgReader    Information    Finished reading aircraft.cfg
10:06 AM    CfgReader    Information    Finished reading objects
10:06 AM    ObjectRenderer    Information    Loaded texture: N:\2XP5_RJ_Bak\Downloads\Destroyer_CommandantRiviere\ai_Destroyer Commandant Riviere\texture\comandante riviere.bmp
10:06 AM    ObjectRenderer    Information    Loaded texture: N:\2XP5_RJ_Bak\Downloads\Destroyer_CommandantRiviere\ai_Destroyer Commandant Riviere\texture\dunkelgrau.bmp
10:06 AM    ObjectRenderer    Information    Loaded texture: N:\2XP5_RJ_Bak\Downloads\Destroyer_CommandantRiviere\ai_Destroyer Commandant Riviere\texture\graue teile.bmp
10:06 AM    ObjectRenderer    Information    Loaded texture: N:\2XP5_RJ_Bak\Downloads\Destroyer_CommandantRiviere\ai_Destroyer Commandant Riviere\texture\parts.bmp
10:06 AM    ObjectRenderer    Information    Loaded texture: N:\2XP5_RJ_Bak\Downloads\Destroyer_CommandantRiviere\ai_Destroyer Commandant Riviere\texture\seite.bmp
10:06 AM    ObjectRenderer    Information    Loaded texture: D:\Flight Simulator X\texture\globalenvtest.dds

So, AFAIK, if you are getting the above "start error" for MCX may mean that you do not have all requirements to run recent MCX versions.

Check to see if you can meet all hardware and software requirements in order to run recent versions of MCX.

If you have met all requirements to run recent versions of MCX, and still have the above "start error" for MCX, let us know.

In that case, it may be that only Arno can help you run recent versions of MCX.


However, you may be able to import this MDL into an older version of MCX to achieve your goals.

I was just now able to import it without problems, into the June 1st, 2012 version of MCX. :idea:

When I imported the above cited MDL in the older MCX, it popped up a "User Variables" dialog that only required a 'click' to process it.

The import then proceeded without errors, completed processing, and rendered the 3D preview on screen.

GaryGB
 
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Hello ! Thank !
Here is my computer:

AMD Ryzen 9 3600X 12-core processor, 64 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070---Windows 10 64-bit
 
Which version of ModelConverterX did you use?

June 1st, 2012 version of MCX download ?
 
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Franzi, your hardware should be able to run the latest MCX without issues. What language and region is your wibdows configured for? I suspect the error you posted in the first message is related to a language setting.
 
Hello ! thank ! Where do I set the language in the program?

June 1st, 2012 version of MCX download ?
 
I mean the language and regional settings of your wibdows installation. MCX is always in English.
 
Hi again:

Here is a quote from one of my older posts on how to assign Region settings for Windows:

"set your Windows configuration so it uses a "period" (.) as a decimal symbol rather than the comma (,) when using the FS SDK and other related FS development utilities (both freeware and payware).


This is done via:

Windows Control Panel > Region and Language > {Formats} Tab > [Additional Settings] button > {Numbers} Tab > Decimal Symbol (.)"


You may need to restart Windows for that to take effect.

Also, be aware that nearly all software coded by programmers in North America require this setting to be used with their software apps.

GaryGB
 
Gary, MCX does not require you to set your regional settings to English. It is coded so it works with any setting. I also don't think this error has to do with the decimal character, but with something else regional settings related as I can not reproduce it on my machine. Therefore I want to know which settings the user uses to try to reproduce it.

Although I said above MCX works with any setting, XtoMDL obviously does not. So any user who needs to use that compiler to export still has to change their decimal character to dot.
 
Assuming the OP gets MCX (any version date) to start and run, he will ultimately have "a rendezvous with destiny", as MCX utilizes XToMDL when the OP (IIUC, wanting to convert 3D models to FSX / P3D format), commands MCX to:

"Go Do ...That Voodoo ...That You Do ...So Well". :-D

Thus my proactive posting of info regarding Windows region settings.

Since I have a comparable computer hardware and OS /software environment, I would be glad to purposely mis-configure my region settings to test whether something can force MCX to fail.

Or is the MCX start error Franzi reports likely to only occur immediately after "installation" and 'first run" of MCX ?

GaryGB
 
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No, the error will happen every time. I hope I can reproduce it, as else it is hard to fix it. But for that I first need more information about the system settings.
 
I went back and looked at Franzi's OP for this entire thread, and saw that the screenshot of his error message was in French.

Did MCX throw that error, or was that the .NET run time (coded in North American English and programming routines), attempting to forward its best 'interpretation' of the error via the error message window seen in the screenshot that Franzi attached to his OP ?

Or does Windows itself do that, when an "English" copy of Windows is installed, then configured to use French as the system-wide language of choice ?

GaryGB
 
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Hello! OK! Thank you! I changed Windows to a “.” instead of a “,”.
I used MCX 1.30 and managed to view the MDL file!----Good !
MCX 1.8 does not work with this MDL!
 
Hi Franzi:

FYI: I am able to run MCX version 1.8 on my computer, and import / process that MDL in question, without any known limitations or errors.

IMHO, with a little more troubleshooting work to assist Arno here, it will be only a matter of time until you can do the same. ;-)

GaryGB
 
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