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MSFS20 MCX Blocks Export of Native glTF

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MCX works very well at merging default Asobo animations. I've made two aircraft intended for AI use by merging my model with, in one case, the SimpleAircraft landing gear and in another case, using the F-18E landing gear. Both models work well in the sim and are stable enough for AI landings. Next, I spent a few hours condensing the animations of the Asobo 787 into a much smaller jet, scaling and transforming nodes, only to learn MCX refuses the export, after I'd already exported the animations from the base model. I tried removing my own model, even though it too was glTF format, but that did not remove the block. I did export to .X, to save my work, but MCX doesn't allow .X animations either, so that time is lost. Is there any chance MCX can be "tuned," or is this a dead end?

restricted asobo.jpg
J-20 thmbnail.jpg
 
Hi,

Did you import the model from a compiled format like MDL or BGL as the message says? That's the protection that has been discussed many times before. When reading from glTF files this should not happen.
 
So sorry I did not state the message clearly enough. The model is a default Asobo glTF. MCX exported it once, making it essentially an accomplice, if there had been any protection needed, but instead it was just being a tease, because after I'd spent 2 hours editing transformations, MCX refused to export the exact same animated glTF. To me, it seems like a glitch, like, "how can one be sure MCX will not block one's own, original glTF animations?" It almost certainly will, if your glTF animation is as complex as the Asobo 787.

I've done a little experimentation since, that implies to me the situation is incongruous performance on the part of MCX. To put it more simply, if the model is too complex, MCX fritzes. Generally, we can isolate any glTF SceneGraphNode, export it and re import it. However, editing that animation, removing parts, merging it to other glTF models, seems to somehow "corrupt" the models and MCX will eventually refuse to compile. Below is an image from the HPG Airbus we can get from Flightsim.to. I thought I'd try the trick with that model, just to see how far MCX allowed me to go, before it refused to export. I got down to the rotors I'd wanted to keep, but after deleting the body and many other parts, MCX refused to allow me to remove the doors, or any other nodes, while keeping the animations.

incongruity.jpg


This is not the protection that has been discussed many times before, I used no .bgl's or mdl's in the procedure. This is limited functionality, presumably as a consequence of intended protections, or possibly insufficient software.
 
Thanks for the clarification, let me see if I can reproduce this somehow with a glTF file.
 
I've managed to complete the 787 merge, by exporting animation sub assemblies and then attaching those to my test model, so reducing complexity seems to be key. Also, I've noticed that MCX writes the animation templates to the model .XML, but it ignores "ModelBehaviors." One of my animations is linked to that type of template and it's not that big a deal to have a spare .XML to copy/paste from, but in case it's an easy fix, now you know.
 
Hi,

Yes, the XML support for animations is still limited, the ModelBehaviors are not fully supported at this moment. Just as skin and bone animations that are not supported. So you might encounter more issues with animations for MSFS than you would for FSX/P3D.

I'll try to reproduce the export issue here.
 
Unfortunately, this Frankenstein plane crashes MSFS. So far, I'm not sure what there is about it, that is different. The model itself is an old Virtavia Tu-16 Badger, which is almost certainly FS2004 native, but I exported it to glTF, so it should be essentially the same as the other models I used. I'll strip the animations and see if that eliminates the ctd. I am suspecting that is the actual culprit, because of the unpredictable performance and if that's the case, I'll just extract the aninations again, even more carefully. Granted, there are unknown variables, but the procedure has already worked twice, with spectacular results imo.

dinosaur.jpg
 
I tried last evening the reproduce the issue that animations can not be exported, but I have not yet succeeded in that. You said your main actions were merging other models from glTF and editing animations right?
 
Yes. Generally there is a lot of scaling and then individual ScreenGraphNodes get jostled around to fit, more or less, where they are supposed to go. On the last model I went a little overboard, I even had the inlet compressor animations shrunk down and stuffed into the intakes of my model. It seems like all the added transformations put a strain on the software. If you want to test it, the fastest path I've discovered so far, is that HPG AIrbus, all I had to do, was delete a few nodes in the Hierarchy Editor and MCX locked the model. Otherwise, the 787 and 747 animations are the most complex, maybe try shrinking the 747 animations into a BAE-146.

Also, the F-18E animations breaks almost immediately, it is the reason I could not use the front wheel animation from the Hornet. I am pretty sure this distortion happens upon import - or it's remotely possible the Hornet animation is broken this badly, that had been my initial reaction, when I discovered that MCX will actually "drop" or ignore animations. Anyway, all I had to do to get this far, was isolate the top ScreenGraphNode of the animations and then zoom in for these images.

Hornet-1.jpg


You can see that the lower half of the oleo, or suspended part of the gear has become detached and sits to the side of it's assembly. If you cycle the animation, you can see that it circles its "parent," while the main suspension cycles it's compression phase. It seems pretty clear that that linear compression motion, has been transformed into a rotational motion. I feel like, if I just knew the transformation panel better, maybe using the matrix section, I could repair it.

Hornet-2.jpg


Here's another view of that bogie after its finished circling and it ends up visibly off center alongside the part it is supposed to rest within. This should be an easy test to run and granted, it does not cause MCX to refuse the export, but I see that transition to just be an extension of this glitch. It starts with missed, or distorted animations and escalates until the ".mdl based animations" flag is thrown to end the play.

I've attached the same set of animations, one has been frozen by MCX for specious violations. You could try bending the working one, to fit the shape of the frozen one, maybe.

That Virtavia Tu-16 ended up being rotten to the core, btw. I went so far as to remove all animations, I exported it to Collada, then from the Collada to glTF to try to cleanse it of it's FSX taint, nothing helped. If I tried to build it as an empty hulk, if I tried to build the default animations with it removed, there was no problem, no warnings or errors, but the moment I selected it, MSFS would CTD. So, even if MCX had allowed the default animations, the model was already doomed from the start. I have a different model to try with next.
 

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