• Which the release of FS2020 we see an explosition of activity on the forun and of course we are very happy to see this. But having all questions about FS2020 in one forum becomes a bit messy. So therefore we would like to ask you all to use the following guidelines when posting your questions:

    • Tag FS2020 specific questions with the MSFS2020 tag.
    • Questions about making 3D assets can be posted in the 3D asset design forum. Either post them in the subforum of the modelling tool you use or in the general forum if they are general.
    • Questions about aircraft design can be posted in the Aircraft design forum
    • Questions about airport design can be posted in the FS2020 airport design forum. Once airport development tools have been updated for FS2020 you can post tool speciifc questions in the subforums of those tools as well of course.
    • Questions about terrain design can be posted in the FS2020 terrain design forum.
    • Questions about SimConnect can be posted in the SimConnect forum.

    Any other question that is not specific to an aspect of development or tool can be posted in the General chat forum.

    By following these guidelines we make sure that the forums remain easy to read for everybody and also that the right people can find your post to answer it.

FSX Propeller Missing

tgycgijoes

tgycgijoes

Messages
1,071
Country
us-northcarolina
I have models for Tom Wintrow's Vought O2U Corsairs both on floats and on wheels. Somehow, they do not have propellers and I would like to attach propellers to them without using either GMAX or FSDS because the models will lose all animation and I do not know how to use either of those programs. Is it possible to create a propeller in one of those programs and attach it in MDCx to the models or do I have to ask one of you knowledgeable individuals for a huge favor and do it in either GMAX or FSDS and reanimate them for us all to share. If this is accomplished I intend to update all the textures with more details and convert to DDS with spec and bump maps so they really look great. These are the only models of these ever made and they sadly show their age. Mick Morrissey who did a couple of repaints of them shared his model on floats and I found a model on wheels. The real aircraft floats/wheels were interchangeable like the Curtiss SOC Seagull (not sure about the Kingfisher which was in both versions)
 
One way you might try to work it:

1. Find a plane with the correct (and working) prop.
2. Import this plane into MCX.
3. In the Hierarchy Editor, find the props (there will usually be three - still, slow, and blurred). If this is an FSX plane, that's it. If it's an FS2004 plane, you will need to do this three times, once for each prop (see this for details: http://www.calclassic.com/convert_tutorial/part2.html )
4. Remove everything else from the plane, until only the props remain (with the topmost ScenegraphNode as well). See the link in step 3 for details.
5. Export as an FSX MDL file with a new name, like O2U_prop. If for FS2004 you will end up with 3 files.
6. Import the O2U into MCX.
7. Click the Merge button and select your O2U_prop file. Choose the still prop if you have 3 files.
8. Estimate how much you will need to offset the prop from its current location to fit onto the O2U's prop shaft (not applicable the first time through). Use the Transform boxes in the Merge dialog.
9. Finish the prop MDL file Merge.
10. Now estimate how far the prop location is off from it's correct location.
11. Repeat steps 6 through 10 until the prop is in its correct location.
12. If the props are from FS2004, Merge the other two props using the transform values from steps 10 and 11.
13. Export the plane as an FSX MDL file.

Hope this helps,
 
tgibson said:
One way you might try to work it:

1. Find a plane with the correct (and working) prop.
2. Import this plane into MCX.
3. In the Hierarchy Editor, find the props (there will usually be three - still, slow, and blurred). If this is an FSX plane, that's it. If it's an FS2004 plane, you will need to do this three times, once for each prop (see this for details: http://www.calclassic.com/convert_tutorial/part2.html )
4. Remove everything else from the plane, until only the props remain (with the topmost ScenegraphNode as well). See the link in step 3 for details.
5. Export as an FSX MDL file with a new name, like O2U_prop. If for FS2004 you will end up with 3 files.
6. Import the O2U into MCX.
7. Click the Merge button and select your O2U_prop file. Choose the still prop if you have 3 files.
8. Estimate how much you will need to offset the prop from its current location to fit onto the O2U's prop shaft (not applicable the first time through). Use the Transform boxes in the Merge dialog.
9. Finish the prop MDL file Merge.
10. Now estimate how far the prop location is off from it's correct location.
11. Repeat steps 6 through 10 until the prop is in its correct location.
12. If the props are from FS2004, Merge the other two props using the transform values from steps 10 and 11.
13. Export the plane as an FSX MDL file.

Hope this helps,
Click to expand...
I am definitely going to give this a try and I also saved your calclassic tutorial because these are both FS2004 models. Thank you and I hope to post positive results here later.

Richard
 
You are able to create an animated propeller and add it to the existing model using MCX. You do not have to recreate the entire model, but after you have created a working propeller, you will have to recompile the entire model with MCX, in order to permanently add the propeller. It may be prudent to test compile the existing model first, to confirm MCX will compile it properly, before endeavoring to add a propeller animation.

Here is a thread about adding and editing propellers.
www.fsdeveloper.com

FSXA - FS2004 aircraft propeller states

Hi guys, Seeing that many users are converting FS2004 aircraft into FSX native aircraft, how does one get the 3 propeller states to show within MCX? I've looked at the manual, but haven't seen a reference on how to get the to show and I rather not export the compiled model into an editable mesh...
www.fsdeveloper.com www.fsdeveloper.com

This post explains my procedure for editing an existing model without losing it's animations.
www.fsdeveloper.com

Combining Parts From One Aircraft Model to Another

I ask this question and make this post with tongue in cheek because I have never in my life created an aircraft for Flight Simulator, although I did dabble with the FSX SDK P-38 Tutorial a bit, just never could get the hang of it. I cringe as I type, because I fear I will get more "sticks and...
www.fsdeveloper.com www.fsdeveloper.com
 
Adding the prop using Tom Gibson's excellent article worked perfectly with a hitch. I didn't realize that the engine has no texture. I checked the mass texture editor and there IS one for ENGINE and also a few model parts that highlight it supposed to have a color and my prop has no texture. Is there a way to fix this short of FSDS or Gmax to add textures to them? Here is a screenshot. The prop0_still looks beautiful though. I also have the prop slow and blurred following the instructions. HELP PLEASE signed frustrated. LOL!
O2U Corsair in MDCx.jpg
 
Glad to help. The black and white checkerboard means there are textures missing from the plane's texture folder. Did you look in the MCX Material Editor for prop and engine textures? When Importing the plane the Error Log would also complain about missing textures. When you find out what they are, move them from the old plane's texture folder into the new one's texture folder.
 
thank you. I am having an issue with exporting in MDCx 140 and you can't use V130 because it does not highlight the part in the heirarchy. I am going to uninstall it and reinstall a new package and reconfigure the locations in the options. That oughta fix it or I will be "shakin' ARNO's tree" LOL. Thank you for your help.
 
Well, I was able to remove the old engine with no textures from the O2U1 since there was NO way I no of short of Gmax to re-texture the engine and took the engine AND the prop instead of just the prop off of the Seagull I am using for the replacement prop. When I open up the prop/engine in MDCx it is facing forward but when I merge it as you can see it is backwards. I can't see any way of turning it around. HELP!!! I know it is out of position, that is the least of the problems I know how to reposition xyz in the merge.

MDCx V140.jpg
MDCx V140.jpg
 
What you might have to do is:

1. Import your engine/prop MDL file.
2. Transform/Rotate Object - rotate it 180 degrees on the Z axis.
3. Export Object (save your original)
4. Merge as usual.
 
BTW, I can't find the plane for download. I thought I would check what the missing texture problem might be.
 
tgibson said:
BTW, I can't find the plane for download. I thought I would check what the missing texture problem might be.
Click to expand...
They were impossible to find and were shared with me by a friend who knew Tom Wintrow and had his permission to do "whatever" as long as it was free which most designers do. Only the repaints are on line any more. Tom Wintrow did not pull them they may have disappeared in the AVSIM hack cause they ARE old. Here is a link to download them and thank you. Vought O2U Corsairs Wheels and Floats
 
tgibson said:
What you might have to do is:

1. Import your engine/prop MDL file.
2. Transform/Rotate Object - rotate it 180 degrees on the Z axis.
3. Export Object (save your original)
4. Merge as usual.
Click to expand...
I just tried to figure out how to Transform/Rotate object and can't figure out how. I looked for help online and ARNO said he might do this in heirarchy but I can't get Heirarchy Transformation to accept a value. help please.
 
I found out how to rotate it now all I have to do is figure out the x y z of the merge which I have done before and finally accomplished a few hours later LOL! Thank you. If you can figure out the texture issue with the original that would be great.
 
As I thought you have some missing textures. When I Import the plane (I can only find an MDL with out a prop; I don't know where the intact aircraft is) and press the Material Editor button, I get some materials with black crosshatching - that means they are missing. When I click the Highlight Selected box and click on "black", I get this:

BvTeE2o.jpg


The red area is where a texture called black.bmp should be mapping. Since there is no black.bmp present, you get the error.

Then I scroll down to find another one, and find "engine grey":

zVjQm3T.jpg


That one should have a texture called engine grey.bmp, which is also missing.

When I create small 64 x 64 bitmaps called black.bmp and engine grey.bmp and add them to the texture folder, I get this:

PZmIkQD.jpg


Everything looks fine. Note that my grey is probably a bit too light, compared to the gray ring already on the engine?

BTW, there are two other missing bitmaps:

l top wing.bmp - this is mapped to a tiny polygon inside the left wing (and thus invisible - not important).

fuse_32.bmp - this maps to the rear strut on the left wing (between the upper and lower wings). If you look in the image above you can see it above the engine, displaying black and white areas. If you make a copy of fuse.bmp and rename the copy fuse_32.bmp it will be textured.

Hope this helps,
 
Last edited:
I was able to color the missing textures. I was able to add the textures for the prop from the other aircraft and was able to merge the still, slow and blurred props and in MDCx it looks great. So...I exported the mdl and that worked. Setup a full folder with model, panel, texture, aircraft.cfg and air files from the original. Copied and pasted this into FSX. Opened up the aircraft at the airport and when it loaded on the seaplane ramp all of the animated parts are going around in circles. What happened and how do I fix it?
 
What animation tags do these parts have in the Hierarchy Editor? Find the part, and read the Animation name on the right.
 
the all say ambient. I opened this up in 1.40 so that I could highlight them. I then assigned animation to them in the automation editor but when I replaced the no animation model in FSX with this model the only thing that moved was the prop. When I tried to open up the original model in FSX it was invisible. I am tired of wasting time on this and I tabled it into my documents for another time. I am having a different problem that maybe you tell me an easy solution because I am sure I can't find how to fix it...when I open up a model in MDCx 1.40 none of the textures show unless I put the model into the texture folder and even then sometimes they don't just the checkerboard of missing textures. I looked in all the options but can't find anything. BTW I posted a new thread her for ARNO but he hasn't answered and its frustrating.
 
To get the textures to display, the aircraft.cfg file has to list the livery (in a valid way such that it is selectable in the Select Aircraft menu in FS). The model= line also has to match the MDL file's folder name that is currently loaded in MCX. I.e. the only liveries for that MDL file that will be available in MCX will be the liveries using that MDL file in FS. Note also that some FSX (and later) planes use a texture.cfg file to alias some textures to other folders. These are not read by MCX.
 
Another issue could be a Windows permission problem, especially if your FS is installed into any Program Files folder. You can always try right clicking the desktop shortcut and choose Run As Administrator.
 
Thank you. I am familiar with that working on a normal basis. My confusion is that Version 1.30 works perfectly and Version 1.40 doesn't. Any idea why? They should both in my opinion work equally in the same program on the same computer...Windows 7 64 bit. Its late tonight but I will check all this tomorrow and thank you for your help again. I'll post here probably tomorrow night. Busy tomorrow from early morning on to dinner. For that reason going to bed now. Again, thanks for continuing to help. I almost wonder though if Wintrow's O2U is a hopeless case. If I sent the original that I got from Mick Morrissey do you have time to check it out? I can pack it into mediafire and give you a link.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top