FSX MCX: Is it Possible to Edit Crashboxes Manually?

[Mick_S]

Hello everyone,

I know that I can influence the granularity of the crashboxes of an object in MCX, and I'm experimenting with it.

Nevertheless, there are situations when this isn't enough - like shown in the pictures:

• crashboxes on top of a helipad (resulting in a crash just before touchdown)
• crashboxes that are distributed somewhere around the object (pic = default 747)

Does someone probably know a procedure (not necessarily in MCX) how I could edit / remove the relevant crashboxes only? I don't want to switch to "NoCrash", just remove or re-position such crashboxes.

Thank you for helping,
regards
Mick

 

[Heretic]

1) "Special Tools" menu in MCX -> "MDL Tweaker"
or
2) RADItor (external tool)

 

[Mick_S]

Thank you, Heretic, for the hint. I'm going to try it asap.

 

[Essex]

Crashboxes will not be generated if they intersect a platform (AFAIK), therefore flat helipads should never be a problem.
However,
http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/auto-platform-causing-aircraft-crashes.437007/#post-740650

I think the unattached 747 crashboxes are caused by animations.

BTW, Blender2FSX allows individual parts to be tagged "nocrash" but I have not tested this.

 

[Mick_S]

@Heretic: On a first glance it looks as if "MDL Tweaker" and "RADItor" are basically the same tool for changing the radius setting. I'm afraid this doesn't have to do with the crashboxes. In particular I don't see a way how to edit/remove some of them only.

@Essex: Thank you as well. The Heli platform on the picture is buried under crashboxes (visible on the picture) and landing without a crash is impossible - that's the truth I have to face in FSX. I didn't make the model myself, so changing just a part of it (i.e. correcting the platform only) would require getting the source objects from the developers. Since I'm not distributing anything, I was looking for "the private way" of only adapting it slightly to my system requirements, which I considered to be a "quick solution" with MCX. Regarding the 747 I didn't know that animations would have crashboxes... do you by any chance know how to identify the animation responsible for them?

One more idea: Will I find the crashbox definitions inside the X-file? If yes, I might try to edit manually, in case I can sort out which is which.

p.s.: Just to let you know: Within the next 3 weeks I might be unable to respond to your contributions quickly. I'm going on a vacation in web-free areas from today, so please don't consider a longer delay impolite.

Regards
Mick

 

[Heretic]

@Heretic: On a first glance it looks as if "MDL Tweaker" and "RADItor" are basically the same tool for changing the radius setting. I'm afraid this doesn't have to do with the crashboxes. In particular I don't see a way how to edit/remove some of them only.

The bounding box does affect crashes though, doesn't it?

 

[Henk Schuitemaker]

I always remove crash boxes when I convert aircraft from FS9 to FSX. Under MCX Settings > Exporter Settings > MDLWriter, set "NoCrash" = True. With this setting, the exported mdl will not have any crash box.

 

[=rk=]

and landing without a crash is impossible - that's the truth I have to face in FSX. I didn't make the model myself, so changing just a part of it (i.e. correcting the platform only) would require getting the source objects from the developers. Since I'm not distributing anything, I was looking for "the private way" of only adapting it slightly to my system requirements, which I considered to be a "quick solution" with MCX.

The actual truth is that you will crash land as long as you allow it, face only your own resignation to the fact. You have "the source object" and you have MCX with which you can edit the crash box granularity. Granularity: a big "grain" is a single box that covers all the boundaries of a model. If the model to which your landing platform connects forms a cube, then low granularity would work well for you. If your model is shaped like an aircraft carrier, higher granularity can eliminate crash boxes in open space, like between the tower and flight deck. Higher granularity, greater definition in the crash box "mirror" of the model, adds complexity to the model, so it is probably impossible to render a model to which the crash boxes have been matched on a molecular level, but that would be the ultimate goal.

Also this thread relates to some of the quirks of working with MCX and Bjoern's understanding that there is a relation between bounding box and the dimensions of the crash boxes.

This is a default library object, "GEN_hospital 1." Of particular note are the two bounding boxes, one for the building and one for the helo pad, how the crash boxes are tightly stacked like building blocks and how the landing deck is free of crash boxes even though they are present on every other horizontal surface. I should also say that I had to disable crash box rendering in order to position the screen shot because the added complexity slowed my computer.

Here is the model re-exported using the MCX default settings. The options panel allows the user to select the XtoMDL crash box values or chose values set by MCX. Note that crash box granularity of "1" makes far fewer, coarser crash boxes and while the landing pad remains clear, it is now much easier to trigger a crash by passing close to another portion of the model.

Does your model have a hard platform for the landing pad?

 

[Mick_S]

Just before going on my flight, one quick last post with thanks to all of you. Going to offline vacation for 3 weeks then.

@Heretic: afaik it doesn't, but I don't know the details. You can set MCX to "NoCrash" but still have your bounding box. You can see it very well in rk's pictures, where the bounding box is shown with yellow lines.

@henk: Sure there are many workarounds, but I'm learning and it's a nice challenge to dive into this complex issue.

@rk:

• The actual truth is that you will crash land as long as you allow it, face only your own resignation to the fact.

  Sorry, I don't understand what you mean. I'm crashing with or without allowance as long as I don't stay away from the helipad. Having crash boxes on top of it - after checking the model in MCX - made me realize why all my attemts to land had to failed shortly before touchdown.
  

• You have "the source object" and you have MCX with which you can edit the crash box granularity.

  It's one big object from "Helipack_X_v2" in a single bgl file, i.e. the helipad isn't a separate object from which I could remove (or change) the crashbox while leaving the rest of the buildings untouched. From your 2nd picture I figure that your helipad is a separate object. Please have a look at my pic #1 on top of the thread, then I guess you know what I mean. It's been exported with CrashGranularity "1" and re-imported.
• It's supposed to be a hard platform for the landing pad. In the FS9 version it was, and it was landable without any problem. I don't see a reason why they should change that without notice.

I was hoping there's something like "Click on the edge of a crashbox and press 'DEL'" to remove a single crashbox.

Thank you again, looking forward
Mick

 

[Essex]

In this case, just leave two of the platforms that you would normally delete. Crashbox granularity 5.

https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=de&tl=en&u=http://www.flightport.de/szenerien/helipack-deutschland/

 

[arno]

Hi,

The crashboxes are calculated by xtomdl, so they are not stored in the X file.

I think the nocrash option per part would probably be the best solution, but that is not supported by MCX at the moment.

 

[Mick_S]

Thank you for the hint, Arno.

@Essex: Wow - this is exactly what I wanted, crashboxes for the building but not for the helipad. HOW did you do that?

In this case, just leave two of the platforms that you would normally delete.

Sorry, I don't understand. I thought I can't delete the platforms (in MCX)?

 

[Essex]

crashboxes for the building but not for the helipad. HOW did you do that?

Add Auto platforms using the attached object editor, export.
Import the new BGL, delete the unwanted platforms and export again, make sure Crashbox granularity is set to 5.

 

[Mick_S]

Thank you, Essex - your recipe worked!

So, despite still not fully understanding WHAT I'm exactly doing, I have a resulting scenery object (Hospital) with landable roofs and helipad. And, just like in reality, a helicopter crashes when flying into the building or its extensions ( tried it). Perfect!

Have a nice day
Mick