• 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.

3ds max 2008 sdk?

fael097

fael097

Messages
63
Country
barbados
so i contacted autodesk, idk if they r gonna give me a lic for max 2008, but regardless i was looking for the max 2008 plugins, and my sdk only have for max 7 / 9. is the 9 compatible with max 2008?
 
No, that's the flagon with the dragon. It's the vessel with the pestle that holds the brew that is true .....

Translation to the Danny Kaye challenged:

It's the Max 7 gamepack (that really should be called the Max 7/8 gamepack.) that is compatible with Max 8.

the Max 9 gamepack is actually flawed, so you end up having to copy one of the Max 7 files ...
 
If you follow the instructions precisely, you can get the Max9 "FSX Tools" installed to work with Max2008.

To be brutally honest though, if one can't even get the simple "drop in and run" GMax version of the "FSX Tools" to run... ;)
 
well, i dont see any instructions.
i copied the max 9 files over to my max 2008 directory, and it worked fine. only problem, each time i open 3ds max, i get a new "aces tools" entry on my toolbar. what to do?
acesl.jpg
 
Hi fael (see you went the Max 2008 route ... good job)

Leave the tools where they are (in the SDK)
Rename the three files in the 3DSM9 folder that begin with Max9_ to get rid of the Max9_ prefix (ACES forgot to do this it would seem)

Copy modeldef.xml into the 3DSM9 directory (from the Max7 or Gmax directories)

Add the 3DSM9\plugins folder to your system paths in Max 2008 (get rid of other references and your copied plugin files -- hence the two entries)

(note under Vista Win7 Folder adding is flawed! -- the solution is to make a "Dummy" directory in the plugins folder and select that.

Alternatively ... open the appdata folder for max 2008 and edit plugin.ini to add \Plugins to the end of the path name there.)

How do I know all this? ... just been through it myself!
 
I fought with that for weeks. Honestly, I don't remember now precisely what I did to finally "cure" that problem.

What may have been the "cure" though is that I went into Max's UI menu* and removed all of the "FSX Tools" from the UI, then when I relaunched Max it loaded one instance into the UI and it's behaved properly ever since! ;)

* Customize User Interface/Menus tab/Main Menu Bar list

Click on the FSX Tools entries, then click on the Delete button.

Close Max, restart and you should have "FSX Tools" and "ACES Documentation" on the upper toolbar.

Hopefully, the next time you start Max those two entries won't multiply like rabbits! :eek:
 
fael097 said:
well, i dont see any instructions.
Click to expand...

The "instructions" are in the FSX SDK! See the "Modeling SDK/Using Modeling Tools" to read them...

BTW, there is absolutely no need to copy anything. All that's required is to launch Max and configure the absolute path to the SDK's Max9 folder.

The instructions below have been modified for use with Max9 and Max2008
  1. Start Max
  2. Select Customize on the main menu.
  3. Select Configure System Paths from the drop-down menu, then the 3rd Party Plug-ins tab.
  4. Select Add, and then browse to the Microsoft Flight Simulator X SDK\SDK\Environment Kit\Modeling SDK\3DSM9\Plugins folder.
  5. Select Use-Path and OK, and this path will appear in the dialog.
  6. Select Add, and then browse to the Microsoft Flight Simulator X SDK\SDK\Environment Kit\Modeling SDK\bin folder.
  7. Select Use-Path and OK, and this path will appear in the dialog.
It is now necessary to shutdown and restart 3ds Max.

On restarting, new main menu items named FS Tools and ACES Documentation should appear, with drop down options for: AttachPointTool, LODNameTool, AnimationManager and FSCloudTool.

CRITICAL NOTE!
Microsoft's ACES forgot to "code sign" the copy of xtomdl.exe in the SDK's ...\3DSM9\Plugins folder! This means that the compiler simply will not run if you are using Vista or Win7.

Copy/paste the copy of xtomdl.exe from the SDK's ...\3DSM7\Plugins folder to the ..\3DSM9 folder.
Click to expand...

You are now ready to use 3ds Max to create Flight Simulator X models.

Note that I've also Added another entry to supply the absolute path to the modeldef.xml file. I found this was necessary because otherwise Max9 or Max2008 won't know where it is!
max9setup01.jpg
 
Last edited:
Bill ... modeldef.xml was missing from 3dsm9 in my install.

Also, if you point ot the 3dsm path, none of the tools will work .. it need to go to the plugins folder.

I have not had any issue with multiple instances of the ACES tools in Max 2008

Don't know why ... probably just a UI issue with adding two plugin paths ... now should be fixed by deleting the second entries in the Cutom UI within Max(or creating a new UI, as you say)

I had the advantage of having previously setup Max9 on another computer ... so less trial and error.
 
hcornea said:
Bill ... modeldef.xml was missing from 3dsm9 in my install.
Click to expand...

See my revised post, including the steps to add modeldef.xml to the configuration in Max, as well as a screenshot from Max9.

The "startup" script used by Max7 includes a Registry scan to find the FSX SDK, and the path to modeldef.xml is found "automatically."

Max9/2008 doesn't use either the "startup" script or direct Registry reads, which is why we must configure Max9/2008 ourselves. :rotfl:
 
Last edited:
OK ... so modeldefl.xml doesn't have any dependencies ... so copying it will work ... unless you have custom tags (eg aircraft) that you wish to use across platforms ... is that correct?

Perhaps setting a path to the \bin directory is more "elegant"

I am sure it was YOU who mentioned renaming those 3 files in the 3DSM9 folder (although, I'll confess, I haven't seen any effect from that!)
 
I thought the problem was that the .exe and .dll files in the 3DSM9 folder were not signed and so you had to copy over those files from the 3DSM7 folder.

Regards, Mike Mann
 
thank you both guys :)

btw, bill, you either removed the aces tools script from your startup folder, or you edited it not to create a menu on every start, because it wont stop appearing if you simply change something on max

erm, might someone tell me whats wrong now with my file? how should i name my lods and bump maps?! what are lods?! lol
19614931.png


thanks again
 
Last edited:
@fael .. I think Bill answered the bump question on the other thread ... it apparently has to do with the _T in the filename ....

The LOD warning does not matter I think, if you are not exporting LODs.
 
LODs are levels of detail.

These are alternative geometry (simpler) displayed at a distance.

The LOD number is proportional to the diagonal size of the model extents (bounding box) as it is being rendered in the sim.

So the idea is that you can simplify geometry or offload textures if you are some distance away.


Sent from my mobile .. words substituted by iPhone at will.
 
gotcha! so basically i can make a building with balcony and stuff set LOD 100, and then make a generic box in the shape of the building and set that LOD 50?
 
Correct.

A small note.

People have found that to get LODs to work properly in FSX, you need to export an xanim file (I groan as I mention this)

Make a single keyframe dummy animation, when you export check the "Export Animations" checkbox ..

AFAIK this still applies in Max 9 .... obviously for objects like aircraft that have animations, this hardly matters.

In essence an object needs to be VERY complicated before it needs LODs, or animated (eg skinned animation). More critical is to minimise the number of materials that you use.
 
I found that with 3ds Max 9 I don't have to make a dummy animation for LOD's.

I just make sure the Export Animation is checked in the Flight Simulator Model Export Options dialog (even though I haven't assigned an animation to any objects) this process will create both .x file, and .xanim file and the LOD's work fine.

Regards, Mike Mann
 
hcornea said:
OK ... so modeldefl.xml doesn't have any dependencies ... so copying it will work ... unless you have custom tags (eg aircraft) that you wish to use across platforms ... is that correct?

Perhaps setting a path to the \bin directory is more "elegant"

I am sure it was YOU who mentioned renaming those 3 files in the 3DSM9 folder (although, I'll confess, I haven't seen any effect from that!)
Click to expand...

The main reason why I wanted to point Max9 to the ..\bin folder was because I use GMax v1.2 and Max9 (I still have Max8 installed also).

This way I don't have multiple copies of "modeldef.xml" scattered around Hells' Half-Acre... ;)

Over the past few years I've written almost 30,000 lines of "custom script" for all of the various projects I've worked on, and my modeldef.xml file became impossibly huge and awkward to use/edit!

I've now settled on a system whereby I have "per-project" custom modeldef.xml.projectname files in the ..\bin folder, which contain only the XML scripts and animation GUIDs needed for that project.

I simply rename the one needed to "modeldef.xml" for the project currently loaded. :D

The default modeldef.xml file from the SDK is permanently named "modeldef.xml.default" which allows me to search/copy/paste from it as needed, which keeps the default file "pure SDK...":cool:

BTW, I've (re)edited my "installation instructions" post to address the unsigned copy of xtomdl.exe in the ..\3DSM9\plugins folder. When satisfied I've covered all bases, I'll copy/paste it into a Wiki entry for posterity.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top