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FSX Gmax error again

Bill, that is the message I have dealt with for a couple of years now, and if you look at my earlier post you might get some ideas. Over time I have begun to think that while you can make a very high poly count model in Gmax you could get to a point where your rig can't handle exporting it. To give you an idea of why I say that here is an example of a typical Gmax session.

I do some work on the model. I save, I do the first export and it takes. I go back and adjust the position of something. I save, and try export 2 and get your message. I restart Gmax, open the file and go straight to exporting it with success. That tells me that the file is not the problem.

I have similar examples I can provide that all end up pointing to a resource issue, and not a bad Gmax file. Like I said, this has been a battle I have fought every time a project starts getting big (125k+ polys). The first time I ever had it was back when I did Pete, and after I added memory the problem went away. Right now I am maxed at 4mb due to the fact that I am using 32 bit XP. Upgrading to a 64 bit rig is out of the question right now.
 
Hey Robert,

I just tried it, same thing. It did provide a MDL file, zero bytes though.

This caused me to look up my actual model polygon counts, both in the FS9 model and the FSX model.

FS9 Gmax model Polygon count;
562,733 Polygons

FSX Gmax model Polygon count;
413,280 Polygons

NOTE: FS9 model has a 'shadow model' which I deleted in the FSX model.


Just imagine... I am 497,733 polygons 'over' the old 'limit' of FS9. (smiles broadly)... Basically over half a million poly's....
 
Rogue is the key word. :]

The pilots, like I said, make up for 65,000 polygons per every 2 people, 4 people total, so thats about 130,000 polys right there. Then there is the engine, and I could smooth my hoses and things. I have tons of cables and wires in the center console that are visible on the Fixed Gear version. The gauge holes are probably 40 to 50 sided circle cutouts, then bazels over those. Knobs on the GPS and all are pretty much well modeled. There are little cargo net things in the back, modeled in 3D (that took a little while to get them to relax and look real).

You should see the polygons in the sunglasses... eeks.. And I lowered them a bit as well.

I dont think there is any 'notchy-ness' in the model...


Bill
 
Here's the guy that flies my Quickie. Sunglasses and headset included. Note the poly count :D

guy.jpg
 
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A very nice looking pilot Robert.

I sought to create some high rez pilots, using the Poser models and thus also, without messing with their mesh like in the past, lowering the mesh sophistication, sought this time to keep the mapping and detail and level of sophistication. Its something I have wanted to do and it has worked brilliantly in FS9. I never thought it would backfire in FSX.
 
Is there a way to track 'useage' of materials (number of polygons attached to a material) in Gmax?


And you know, I think I just realised a way, just as I typed this.
* Select a part from a material
* Select Run/Script/Select by Material
* With all parts selected that are using 'that' material, open the Polygon counter and check it there.

Off to check my findings......
 
Ok. The Lord has blessed me with some cool ways of checking things. Unfortunately for me, it was all bad news, or a lot of it.

First, I found as stated above, that I could select a part, use the script 'Select by Material' and get a total selection of parts using that material. I then used Polygon Counter to get a count.

I then went through and exported sections at a time, via my Hierarchy for LOD's. This went on and I found that the pilots of course, wouldnt export. So I created the double materials for the males, and then they were exporting, both at once.

I then started work on the females. I got to 4 materials and still couldnt export, and halted on that for now, in case there may be something else wrong. I tested it by exporting one female (right seat) and she did fine. Exported right seat, and no matter what, it wouldnt export. Even made a 5th material, assigned to a couple of high poly parts, exported, crashed.

Next, I tried to export the entire plane, minus pilots and landing gear. (Thats 'no' landing gear, no pilots). Worked! (I had doubled some 'mechanical' textures and broke those up, so that must have helped).

I then tried with landing gear, RG first, then FG with entire airframe, no pilots, crash and crash on both...

Oddly, I tried then to test by exporting per Material selections of parts, (use script Select by Material, export that group of parts) and the fuselage or base structure wouldnt export, crashed. I then sought to see if I could export anything (memory leak) and exported the fuselage, and it exported fine, showed bites in the MDL file.


This is quite wacky... Really wacky. I havent seen this ever happening. Perhaps my model is radically huge and it is tripping the memory buffers because of the model...

Back to praying and experimenting...



Bill
 
Stairing.... in awe..... mumbles incoherently.... days go by... a spider makes a nicely constructed web to the side of the monitor as the gray eyebrowed man continued pondering the situation, the ob-sta-kle that had him gridlocked.... 'Tink' .... a gray eyebrow, turned utterly white, dislodges itself from his forehead, falling to the desk, the sound carrying out through the room.... motionless...
 
While exporting today, hoping that time allowed FSX Gmax to heal (it was worth a shot) I looked over the newest crash list, going to the end and looking it over.

This is what I found.



Perhaps I still have some over-used materials? I hope so. Off to the store for supplies, then back to testing this and see if I can find max used Materials.

Too bad there isnt a plug in that will show you this and that, why and who, etc.... Like a vehicle diagnostics report with details as to what is malfunctioning, where, etc.

If I win the lottery, I want to hire a company that does CGI work for movie groups, and hire them to make some elaborate tools for Gmax...


Bill
 
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Ok... Here is a question.

The 'FSX' crash log states that there are over 65,000 'Vertices' and not Polygons.

It just occurred to me. In Gmax, you have a 'Polygon Counter' of which you can count up the number of Polygons. I have been selecting parts by their material via the 'Select Parts by Material' script, then running Polygon Counter. I am finding Polygons numbering perhaps 40,000. But.... This is Polygons, and I am not 100% sure that they are 'Triangles' which is what FS sees, be it FS9 or FSX. This is 'NOT' Vertices.

Thus.... How would I know what the maximum number of Vertices are? Divide by 3? Are these true Triangles? That would be 3 vertices per Triangle or gaming Polygon. But parts that are smoothed have 'shared' Vertices in surfaces, so the number goes down in count in truly used or truly counted Vertices.

How in the world do I find a way to calculate maximum Polygons? From what I see here, there is not a way. It would require a Vertice counter that reads smoothing of parts as well as total count, thus total count minus the smoothed/shared Vertices......

As it would stand, if the Gmax Polygon counter measures polygons by Triangles, then I would take the total number of Polygons and multiply by three, and that will be my Vertice count, so 40,000 Polys would be 120,000 Vertices. But if the Polygon Counter (in Gmax) is counting object Polygons and not true Triangles, then that is totally messed up.

I could be looking at a draw call of over 100 with cloned Materials....


Ackk!
 
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In e-poly mode, the count is rectangles. Count * 6 = vertices (more or less)

In e-mesh mode, the count is triangles. Count *3 = vertices (more or less)

The reason why I state "more or less" is that regardless of mode, the export module "retriangulates" your mesh, with the result that your actual total vertices could be a bit more or less than your rough calculation.
 
Dear Bill
The error list as shown is exactely the same I had ...
The error poligons I solved welding the vertices
The too much vertices I solved smooting the all the objects before exporting..
Did you tried this ?
 
N2056 said:
That's cool. How about a pic?
Click to expand...



LoL, even less polies than expected...but then again...they're sitting in the pit of a puddle jumper...of an airline that knows nothing but kind of casual fridays. :D

Getting the model to sit down and take in a PIC/FO pose was a major PITA, btw. Tons and tons and tons of vertex pushing.
 
I note that you show half as many Vertices then Polygons on your pilots, Bjoern. Thats interesting.
 
GANDALF said:
Dear Bill
The error list as shown is exactely the same I had ...
The error poligons I solved welding the vertices
The too much vertices I solved smooting the all the objects before exporting..
Did you tried this ?
Click to expand...



I have smoothed everything. I smoothed them in the build process, all their area's each smoothed, including many sub-groups that are smoothed separately.

Perhaps that might help to resmooth them all.
 
Bjoern, I wonder if that Max Vertice counter is a script, and it if will work in Gmax...? 8-0)))

I looked in the Gmax Script folders to see if the basic Gmax Polycounter was a script, to see if I could rewrite it to read Vertices. heh... Never found it.
 
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