MSFS Visibility

[Christian Bahr]

I'm in the process of getting some of my 3-D models ready for the MFS. A few of these models are said to have some intelligence. That worked with the windsock and a clock. The clock shows the local time and the windsock turns into the wind when the wind direction changes. So far so good, but ...

But I just got stuck with one topic: Objects that should only be displayed at a certain time of the Year/Day ...

Specifically, it is about a parasol as a SimObject that is on the visitor terrace ...

This umbrella should be on the terrace in the summer months. However, the umbrella should not be visible in the winter months.

I know that the MFS works with so-called model bevahiors. But the old recipes from the P3D modeldef.xml no longer work. Here is the contents of the XML file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<ModelInfo version="1.1" guid="{e0c85e87-f282-4a4d-9f09-6c995c95a776}">

<LODS>
<LOD MinSize="0" ModelFile="edle_sonnenschirm.gltf"></LOD>
</LODS>

<PartInfo>
<Name>edle_sonnenschirm_sommer</Name>
<Visibility>
<Parameter>
<Code>
(E:ZULU MONTH OF YEAR, number) 6.0 &gt;= (E:ZULU MONTH OF YEAR, number) 8.0 &lt;= and if{ 1 } els{ 0 }
</Code>
</Parameter>
</Visibility>
</PartInfo>

</ModelInfo>

Does anyone have any advice on what the VisCode should look like, which contains a season's condition?

 

[FlyingsCool]

I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but, as I understand it, MSFS does not yet support seasons. Perhaps this is part of that? IOW, it's not just that the seasonal textures don't exist yet, but the whole season timeline thing might not yet be implemented?

I might be wrong, just a guess...

Doesn't summer end in 9? Short changing the customers, eh?

 

[FlyingsCool]

Hmm, is this why the beacons I add to my airport are on all the time, because modeldef is not working yet? I'm just using the default scenery object airport beacon at the moment and turning on the beacon.

 

[Christian Bahr]

I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but, as I understand it, MSFS does not yet support seasons.

I can't say for sure whether seasons are supported. I don't want to work with seasonal textures either. Some objects should only be displayed for certain months. The MFS SDK has a "Time"-Variable:

Some objects should not be displayed in rainy weather, so this is by no means limited to the season.. Maybe I didn't use the correct formatting and that's the only reason the Code doesn't work.

 

[FlyingsCool]

I can't say for sure whether seasons are supported. I don't want to work with seasonal textures either. Some objects should only be displayed for certain months. The MFS SDK has a "Time"-Variable:


View attachment 63908


Some objects should not be displayed in rainy weather, so this is by no means limited to the season.. Maybe I didn't use the correct formatting and that's the only reason the Code doesn't work.

Exactly, the beacon should only be on during the night OR if the airport is in IFR conditions (unless you choose to have it on 24 hours). But I haven't figured out if that's the way MSFS works (FSX did) or how to get it to work. Good luck.

(Just because it's in the SDK doesn't necessarily mean it works, haha ... hope it does).

 

[Christian Bahr]

What are your findings so far? Perhaps you would like to share them with us so that we can learn something from them

 

[arno]

As far as I know visibility conditions don't work on scenery objects in MSFS at the moment. But I could be wrong.

 

[Christian Bahr]

Thanks Arno, that's how I understood it. This is why I created the objects as SimObjects and SimObjects can be assigned a role via "Model Behavior". And, as far as I understand, SimObjects can be treated very differently. Hence my idea that SimObjects can also be assigned a visibility code

 

[Lagaffe]

And if you use visibility and conditional tests with ZULU MONTH OF YEAR variable? (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/pr...t-esp/cc526981(v=msdn.10)?redirectedfrom=MSDN)

 

[SimArc]

The code structure is slightly different in the case of 'Model Behaviours'. Firstly, the custom code for any simobject needs to go in a separate <ModelBehaviours> tag within the .XML and not within the <ModelInfo> tag. Secondly, The 'node' name is missing which defines exactly which part will use the code. Try with the attached code and see if it helps. Just replace the text in red with your required conditions. PS: I haven't tried this for visibility conditions, but it's working for other purposes and it should work here too.

<ModelBehaviors>
    
        <Component ID="Any Name of your choice" Node="3ds max object name">
            <Visibility>
                <Parameter>
                    <Code>***Insert Code here***</Code>
                </Parameter>
            </Visibility>
        </Component>
    
</ModelBehaviors>

 

[arno]

Hi,

I believe the proper way is to put them inside the ModelInfo in a Behaviours tag. As with the ModelBehaviour you get an invalid XML file with multiple roots. It seems they changed that a while ago. I bumped into this a few days ago while working on visibility condition support in MCX. But I am also still in the testing phase to see if it works

 

[Christian Bahr]

I changed the VisCode as suggested. The entire XML file looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<ModelInfo version="1.1" guid="{e0c85e87-f282-4a4d-9f09-6c995c95a776}">

<LODS>
<LOD MinSize="0" ModelFile="edle_sonnenschirm.gltf"></LOD>
</LODS>

<ModelBehaviors>
<Component ID="edle_sonnenschirm_sommer" Node="edle_sonnenschirm">
<Visibility>
<Parameter>

<Code>(A:LOCAL MONTH OF YEAR, Number) 4 == if{ 1 } els{ 0 }</Code>

</Parameter>
</Visibility>
</Component>
</ModelBehaviors>

</ModelInfo>

Unfortunately it doesn't work

 

[SimArc]

Try it with something like this. Edited the .XML slightly for syntax issues.

Secondly, where are you getting the code from? I checked the MSFS SDK and didn't find any variables linked to time/seasons etc. Maybe I'm missing something here?

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<ModelInfo version="1.1" guid="{e0c85e87-f282-4a4d-9f09-6c995c95a776}">

<LODS>
    <LOD MinSize="0" ModelFile="edle_sonnenschirm.gltf"/>
</LODS>
</ModelInfo>

<ModelBehaviors>
    <Component ID="edle_sonnenschirm_sommer" Node="edle_sonnenschirm">
        <Visibility>
            <Parameter>
                <Code>(E:LOCAL MONTH OF YEAR, Number) 4 == if{ 1 } els{ 0 }</Code>
            </Parameter>
        </Visibility>
    </Component>
</ModelBehaviors>

 

[Christian Bahr]

Try it with something like this. Edited the .XML slightly for syntax issues.

Thanks for the help, but unfortunately it didn't work. The parasol is displayed for all months. Initially, it should only and exclusively be displayed in month 4 (April).

Secondly, where are you getting the code from? I checked the MSFS SDK and didn't find any variables linked to time/seasons etc. Maybe I'm missing something here?

To be honest, I have little to no idea about coding. I still have some of the above code from the P3D, on the other hand variables are also documented in the MFS SDK. These are Simconnect variables. I don't know if you can use it in SimObjects:

These are simulator variables that looks promising:

 

[SimArc]

I still have some of the above code from the P3D, on the other hand variables are also documented in the MFS SDK. These are Simconnect variables. I don't know if you can use it in SimObjects:

That's a nice find. I'm seeing two 'simulation variables' pages in the Documentation. Not sure what's the difference is between them though.

But anyway, This topic got me interested so I thought to try this out. So I compiled a sample object using the same code as I posted in post#13(With changed node ID), and the visibility conditions worked. The object was only visible in the 4th month as per the condition set. The object was added in as a simobject instead of a scenery (But that shouldn't be an issue since you are already using simobjects)

Attached are my 3ds max settings and complete .XML file. Let me know if this helps

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<ModelInfo version="1.1" guid="{899f4aa1-b771-48c3-bbe4-69084c824f70}">
    <LODS>
        <LOD MinSize="0" ModelFile="SimArc_vischeck.gltf"/>
    </LODS>
</ModelInfo>

<ModelBehaviors>
    <Include Path="Asobo\Misc\SimObjects.xml"/>
        <Component ID="Wigwag" Node="Wigwag">
            <Visibility>
                <Parameter>
                    <Code>(E:LOCAL MONTH OF YEAR, Number) 4 == if{ 1 } els{ 0 }</Code>
                </Parameter>
            </Visibility>
        </Component>
        
</ModelBehaviors>

 

[Christian Bahr]

I'll try that now. I have already found a small mistake. It's about completing ModelInfo (</ModelInfo>). I had the entry at the very end of the XML file, maybe it was that. I'll get back to you after testing.

 

[Lagaffe]

A question: what do you understand by "<Include Path="Asobo\Misc\SimObjects.xml"/>" ? I don't think it was a PATH, so ?

 

[SimArc]

A question: what do you understand by "<Include Path="Asobo\Misc\SimObjects.xml"/>" ? I don't think it was a PATH, so ?

Oops, I'm afraid I left it there by mistake. It should not have any effect on this particular code. It's relevant only when using the default templates available inside the base sim.

 

[Lagaffe]

I have found myself: ..\Official\OneStore\fs-base-aircraft-common\ModelBehaviorDefs\Asobo\Misc\SimObjects.xml

 

[Christian Bahr]

Short feedback, it worked!!!

The parasol can only be seen in month 4 (April). In the other months it is hidden:

I had to adapt your code to my 3-D model, so the tag WigWag had to be changed into edle_sonnenschirm. Here is the changed code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<ModelInfo version="1.1" guid="{e0c85e87-f282-4a4d-9f09-6c995c95a776}">
<LODS>
<LOD MinSize="0" ModelFile="edle_sonnenschirm.gltf"/>
</LODS>
</ModelInfo>

<ModelBehaviors>
<Include Path="Asobo\Misc\SimObjects.xml"/>
<Component ID="edle_sonnenschirm" Node="edle_sonnenschirm">
<Visibility>
<Parameter>
<Code>(E:LOCAL MONTH OF YEAR, Number) 4 == if{ 1 } els{ 0 }</Code>
</Parameter>
</Visibility>
</Component>

</ModelBehaviors>

Based on this XML file, I will now make further experiments. For example, the animated people should not be visible on the visitor terrace when it rains. But now I want to call out HipHipHooray first. Veeeeeeery loud!

Once again, many thanks for this extremely good help!