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Dummy/Placeholder animation tags?

Heretic said:
But both "code" and "sim" based animations require a GUID, don't they?

Or am i misunderstanding something?
Click to expand...

In FSX they do. But in the FS2004 MDL format GUIDs are also used to indicate certain types of animations. All Sim and all Code animations have the same GUID there. So that's a way to see what the animation type is.

When converting to FSX I do now assign a new random GUID to each animation.
 
I have made some progress on the mouse rectangles now. I can read them from the mdl. Currently working on matching them with the modeldef.xml.
 
Hi,

I have just pushed a new development release that should read the mouse rectangles from FS2004 aircraft correctly.

Next step is to have a look at the visibility conditions...
 
Just checked one of Tom's FS9 propliner models and one with vastly more custom code.
In both cases, nearly all mouse rectangles and animations were read correctly. And the generated modeldef also looks very good.

The exceptions to this were the "usrvar" and/or "userdefined8" animations. In some cases, these also belong to geometry that is supposed to have mouse rectangles assigned.
Is there something you can do about that, Arno?
Or do you at least have an idea why those variables are not recognized as "regular" custom tags?
 
Hi,

I need to look more closely at those animations to see what's going on. I have the model from Tom now, so I'll have a look at that later.
 
Hi,

Small status update. I'm still working on the visibility conditions. For a simple object they are reading fine, but for Tom's DC-6 when I read them the scenegraph somehow gets messed up by the additional nodes with the visibility condition and parts get misplaced. So I'm still debugging that....
 
I'm sorry it's so complicated. I was rather proud I got it all to work in FS9, so I'm not surprised to hear it's hard to convert. :)

BTW, if the makemdl.parts.xml file would help I could send it or post the custom parts, or anything else that might help, like the GMAX file.
 
Hi Tom,

No blame to you :). It's also not the info from the makemdl.parts.xml file that gives me trouble (I think I understand that bit by now). It's more that I need to find a way from the FS2004 if/else like structure of conditions to the FSX way of assigning a visibility condition to a node.

And luckily it's something fun to work on...
 
arno said:
It's more that I need to find a way from the FS2004 if/else like structure of conditions to the FSX way of assigning a visibility condition to a node.
Click to expand...

Do you mean XML code if/else?
 
Nope, I mean the BGL opcodes used in the FS2004 MDL, thinks like IfVarAnd, IfVarRange and IfInF. With these conditions are checked and based on the outcome a jump is made to another opcode in the MDL file. That can turn into spaghetti and needs to be translated to nodes with a visibility condition.
 
Hi,

Small update. I made some progress and fixed the displaced parts. Next thing to do is check that the visibility conditions are inserted correctly. After that I can hopefully release this soon (but don't hold your breath :))
 
Hi,

One thing that would really speed up the conversion process would be if you could Import all the parts, not just the ones that have a certain visibility value. AFAIK, for example you must import the plane 3 times and isolate the still, slow, and blurred props each time. Then you have to Merge the three props into the final model. Could there be a checkbox (perhaps on that box that pops up asking for some variable values before Import) saying something like "Import All Parts"? Then they would all be imported, with their visibility values set as in the model.

Thanks,
 
Hi Tom,

That's exactly what I'm working on right now. I don't think it needs a checkbox, this can just be default behavior.
 
Oh, that is excellent! Thanks so much.

Great minds must think alike. :)
 
Hi Tom,

Can I ask you a question about the DC-6 test model? I'm trying to figure out the prop visibility conditions now, but can you tell me how many states there are and which visibility conditions you used for them?
 
Hi,

There are three states, and in FS9 you do not specify visibility conditions - the compiler sets them for you. All I do is name them prop0_still, prop0_slow, and prop0_blurred (for engine #1), and make sure the axes are set correctly. I do not set any keyframes. The compiler takes care of the rest.

I could create an MDL file with just the props (or one of the props) if that would help. The prop blades are linked to the propN_still object, named lever_prop_pitch0 (etc.) so they will twist when moving the prop pitch lever. I can include those or leave them out.

PS. Which exact DC-6 MDL are you using? MDL name?

Hope this helps,
 
Hi Tom,

A simple test model with just two engines and their props in different states would help. Especially if there are no other animations present. So if that's easy for you to extract from a model that would be great.
 
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