MSFS20 Fly By Wire addon for Blender 3.x

[ronh]

My updates to the ASOBO exporter will work with 3.3, 3.6 and 4.0. However each is individually updated to work with those three versions. It's best to select the one made for the version you prefer.
I have also added a FBW functionality to the material migration. The legacy Vitus exporter, had MSFS Materials set up slightly different than FBW and then slightly different to ASOBO. SO you will see a pre-migrate button if things don't match up with ASOBO version of how MSFS Materials are set. Clicking on the pre-migrate helps with the "Migrate", although not perfect.

The workflow is the following.
Open your legacy/FBW blend file.
Go to the shader screen where you see the nodes.
Click on a object and go to the material panel. Close all panels, except the preview and MSFS
The preview panel of the material will show you how the material looks before migration. Usually a good start.
If the pre-migrate button shows, click on that.
Click on the Migrate button.
review the preview and see if it looks relatively the same. Some materials will lighten up or darken, depends.
If the material totally changes - it's usually due to emissive, or base color, or base color alpha.
Do a CTRL -Z to get back the original legacy shader node structure. Write down any key elements, like roughness, metallic, base color hex, emissive color.
then re-apply the pre-migrate and migrate and then manually make changes to the panel values.

I cannot emphasize enough, DO NOT manipulate the surface panel data, and DO NOT manipulate the nodes directly, ALWAYS use the MSFS Material Params

This is a one way street. The panel sets internal exporter variables, that automatically update the shader nodes, the update the renderer and show you how the material "looks".
If you update the nodes then the reverse does not happen - the panel and exporter internal variables do not get updated, however the downstream renderer does and you see the material show the way you like, but the exporter does not know about these changes and will potentially not show in the sim. You will drive yourself nuts trying things. This also happens if you manipulate the Surface section/panel in the materials. The surface panel is not tied to the ASOBO exporter variables. and the same will happen.
Just manipulate the variables in the MSFS Material Params section. (Sometimes things will work fine, until it does not - so be warned)

Notice below - it starts out as "Glass" but then changes to the correct "Geo Frosted" FBW internal variable was not the same as the ASOBO - so pre-migrate helped in this case.

 

[Marionettework]

So to be clear, can I use this modified exporter both to export scenery into MSFS and to open and convert aircraft models (with texconv), and do this on 3.3 or 3.6, using one Blender install to do both tasks?

 

[ronh]

So to be clear, can I use this modified exporter both to export scenery into MSFS and to open and convert aircraft models (with texconv), and do this on 3.3 or 3.6, using one Blender install to do both tasks?

You can use it for scenery yes, however I am an aircraft dev, so scenery should work also - I just have not tried.

You CAN'T convert models with my exporter. You have to still use FBW or rhumbaflappy version.

You can open converted models, you just have a lot of work to do migrating the shader nodes to ASOBO shader nodes and MSFS material parameters.

 

[fasencio]

Good day to all.

For exporting into MSFS I have been using 3.6 LTS + 1.3.3 succesfully.
But now, I want to have a look at an interior model , LOD0 GLTF of an airplaine model , with no success.
I followed the route mentioned above , that is :

Downloaded textconv from inside link in addon config, put aside
Special folder for converted textures next to textconv
Point to MSFS root folder In my case D:\FS2020 ( I am Steam version , so "community" lives there, and "official" lives in D:\FS2020\Official\Steam )

Installed 2.92 with FBW version - Error
Installed 2.92 with FBW_Rumbaflappy version - Error again....
Not dived into ronh with 3.6 yet....

What am I doing wrong ?

Thank you for any advice.
Greetings

 

[fasencio]

Well well well, looks that I am sticking to blender 3.65...
Like all things in life , it takes a little work + a little time., provided enough patience ...

Does the fbw importer (original 1.75 ) work in 2.92 ? Yes it does !
Does it work in 3.65 ? Yes it does !

I am using both blender versions in sandbox ( zip file ) installs.

What was I doing wrong ? In fact, nothing . Not that I am aware off..

It turns out that the error just happens with the one particular aircraft I am interested... I think I will ask the developer , maybe some protection ? Who knows....

Yes it is an non official aircraft one , it lives in the community folder.
But others inside the community folder also work , official and 1 third party helicopter (by flyinside ), also.

Do the textures come in , converted ? Are they visible to enjoy in blender ? Yes they do.
Animations ? Also.

Happy to contribute to the community.
Greetings

by frasenci