True, the exporter problems are not related to xtomdl. I only believe some people wanted a 64 bit version of xtomdl because they run out of memory. But with modelconverterx I haven't had much trouble with xtomdl either, as long as I debug my x files correctly
Direct mdl export would be interesting if fs2004 was also supported, because then we directly export with features that makemdl does not support and require tweaking.
Arno, just to clarify I did develop a drop-in replacement for XToMDL that takes care of the known limitations:
http://isometrictechnologies.com/sean/XToMDL.html
Agreed, though, that the majority of the problems are with the actual .dle exporters in Max. Many have been documented in the P3D forums.
Yes, it uses xtomdl. Any reverse engineering of the mdl format was not going to be condoned by Microsoft at all and yes I asked. We had an MDL import function working and we had our hands slapped. What are the current limitations of xtomdl that you would like to see fixed? If there are real issues, I can send a note to Lockheed to see if we can get these onto the rather large list of things to get done.....
I have thought about, and have been asked by many if I would release my version of XToMdl as open source. This is precisely why I haven't: I have been told that Microsoft (at the time) wouldn't have been very nice about it if I did. Believe it or not, they checked this forum more often then you guys realized!
As it stands, I have been developing a set of modeling tools for FS for some years now. You might have seen the thread in the showroom. What I have developed so far is some degree of interchange between the mdl format and others directly. Due to the direct MDL support (the project started as a simple MDL viewer), it supports all of the advanced features of the MDL in it's entirety. Where I started stumbling, though, was when I tried to start integrating more CAD-like features, which was my real goal. So if we could find a way of marrying a good CAD/Modeling tool with native support for FS features, we would have a gem of a program.
So what is Microsoft's position towards this now that Lockheed owns the IP? Has it changed? What about LM, do they care? From my experiences it seems that LM has been friendly towards the developer community, but I don't know their stance on issues such as reverse engineering. Regardless, I am already guilty of the crime. I have reverse engineered the format and can produce it. Nothing has really changed as of P3D1.4 other than the addition of one unused section, so it's till basically Microsoft's format. So now that that's over with, do they care if the community were to use that format directly? I would LOVE to see more direct FS features integrated into a modeling program other than Max.
John, regardless of whatever the outcome is I would love to be a part of this project in whatever way I can. I truly think FOSS is the way to go for this. Hopefully the community will decide to financially support it.