FS2004 Exporting from Blender to FS2004

[FSMuseum]

Hello all,

In a sea of MSFS and FSX/P3D threads... the lone FS2004 thread.

I would really love to make my own model of the 747 for FS2004, and I have some knowledge of using Blender, Sketchup, and MCX. I am not new to 3D design but I am new to it in terms of aircraft (i.e. things like animation, etc.).

Just one simple question: Can Blender make FS2004 models? I understand that it can export to .x and then MCX should be able to handle the rest. Is that really all I need? Can it handle everything else such as lights, animations, etc in regards to FS2004?

Thanks!
Chris

 

[Pyscen]

Yes, Blender can create FS2004 aircraft... but the animations will need to be done in Blender and then assigned in MCX I believe.

Hopefully, someone will clarify this

 

[FSMuseum]

After doing some research and nearly completing an AI 707 model, I do have some questions.

1. I have a decently highly detailed (as in, slightly higher poly-count than I care for in an AI model) 707 made. What is the best way to eliminate detail in a way that won't compromise shape but still give an acceptable poly-count for an AI model? Using Blender's decimate modifier can give some rather ugly looking geometry and used too much will cause the shape to become distorted in places (such as the flat cockpit windows, wing fairing, etc.)

2. New versions of blender do not export to .x anymore. What format should I use?

3. Are there any tips or information on best practices or anything I should just generally keep in mind that I may not already know?

Thanks much!
Chris

 

[FSMuseum]

Alright, I've got the first question resolved, I figured out a quick and easy way to reduce geometry without sacrificing detail or making ugly geometry. I basically just delete a loop around something, and then loft the gap together with LoopTools.

The second two questions still remain though. I'm not sure what the proper format to export to MCX should be, given that I'll have to use MCX for the animations.

 

[FSMuseum]

Alright... officially stumped. I need something that can properly export from Blender to MCX at the least and retain my animations. Can anyone at all help me out here? I tried Blender2FSXP3D 0.9.5, which on the wiki lists compatibility with FS2004, but it does not appear to be functioning.

 

[FSMuseum]

Anyone at all on this one?

My only idea thus far for FS2004 compatibility is to export the model to GMAX, do the animations and UV there, and then to FS. But that seems like a mountain given I don't know GMAX...

 

[FSMuseum]

After much experimentation with Blender2FSX, I finally have a model exporting successfully to .x format, and with animations, and to FS2004. I cannot export the model directly from Blender though, it has to be run through MCX first. The animation is there (I assigned it to L_gear) but it does not seem to respond to the G key, and instead plays infinitely as soon as the model is loaded. Also the geometry looks very "crunchy". Any ideas what I can do here?

 

[Lagaffe]

Hi,

I have read with attention yours posts ... Why do you want to use Blender? In order to use some functionalities that Gmax doesn't ?
Well, and if you export from Gmax to Obj (you can find a plugin for this operation) work with Blender to use "decimate" and others functions and after that export to OBJ (it seems that a import Gmax plugin for Obj) and you can export your model.

 

[FSMuseum]

Hi,

I have read with attention yours posts ... Why do you want to use Blender? In order to use some functionalities that Gmax doesn't ?
Well, and if you export from Gmax to Obj (you can find a plugin for this operation) work with Blender to use "decimate" and others functions and after that export to OBJ (it seems that a import Gmax plugin for Obj) and you can export your model.

I learned how to use Blender first, and I've been resistant to learning a new software. However, the deeper I get into this, the more and more likely it seems that I'll have to learn Gmax if I want FS9 compatibility.

If I understand correctly, I need to export FROM Gmax to OBJ, then into Blender, then back out to Gmax and then export the model? What is the purpose of that?

 

[Lagaffe]

Sorry, I have understand that your first model was made under Gmax but if you begin under Blender
- with Blender create your plane
- export to OBJ
- import your OBJ under Gmax then create animations (animationt + tags)
- compile and export to *.X

[EDIT] Wavefront Import for Gmax => Wavefront OBJ/MTL Import Utility for gmax, v1.1 Chris Cookson

ScriptSpot | Your community resource for 3ds Max tools

www.scriptspot.com

 

[fs10inator]

Okay, I think this may help:

-For moving parts, you can just name the parts according to the ones listed on page 14 of the MakeMDL document, which I've attached here.
-So far, I've been able to get the basic control surfaces (aileron, elevator, rudder) working.

I test the animations in-game instead of using MCX.
For convenience, you can save a flight in FS9 with the aircraft you're working on, so that you can reset it after any changes you make.

I use Blender 2.79, so I can still export to .x, and use MakeMDL to convert to an FS9-compatible model.
Note: you may want to have the Edge Split modifier applied on export so that your part would look a little better, but I'm also still experimenting.
Also, in MakeMDL, you might want to enable "Ignore Bad Triggers", "Ignore Bad Normals", and "Ignore Warnings".

Edit: accidentally uploaded the FS2002 MakeMDL pdf instead of the FS9 one... sorry.

 

[FSMuseum]

Okay, I think this may help:

-For moving parts, you can just name the parts according to the ones listed on page 14 of the MakeMDL document, which I've attached here.
-So far, I've been able to get the basic control surfaces (aileron, elevator, rudder) working.

I test the animations in-game instead of using MCX.
For convenience, you can save a flight in FS9 with the aircraft you're working on, so that you can reset it after any changes you make.

I use Blender 2.79, so I can still export to .x, and use MakeMDL to convert to an FS9-compatible model.
Note: you may want to have the Edge Split modifier applied on export so that your part would look a little better, but I'm also still experimenting.
Also, in MakeMDL, you might want to enable "Ignore Bad Triggers", "Ignore Bad Normals", and "Ignore Warnings".

Thanks for this information!

I have downloaded and successfully moved my model into Blender 2.79b and I am able to get a .mdl using the .x Blender now makes, but only if I don't export animations.

If I export any animation, I get this error:

ERROR: found scale animation

The only animation I have right now is the nose gear retraction, which only uses location and rotation scaling.

 

[fs10inator]

Thanks for this information!

I have downloaded and successfully moved my model into Blender 2.79b and I am able to get a .mdl using the .x Blender now makes, but only if I don't export animations.

If I export any animation, I get this error:

ERROR: found scale animation

The only animation I have right now is the nose gear retraction, which only uses location and rotation scaling.

Same problem here.
To add insult to injury, I STILL have this error despite ensuring scale is already reset for every single part and every single keyframe (only LocRot keyframes; no scaling).
At least I got the elevators, ailerons, and rudder working.

 

[fs10inator]

Ok, now when I export my model as a "regular" DirectX .x file with only rotation keyframe animations (in my case, landing gear), MakeMDL thinks I have a scale animation (ERROR: found scale animation).
However, when I export as an FSX .x file (from the Blender2FSX/P3D toolset), and then convert it using MakeMDL, I get no scale animation error, but there's absolutely NO gear animation in the resulting mdl file.

And mind you, for both scenarions, this was WITH "No Animations" unchecked in MakeMDL, and scale already reset for each and every part/keyframe in Blender.

To add insult to injury, MakeMDL says that the scale animation was found in a part that:
a. didn't even have animations to begin with, and
b. had a scale of 1.000 (i.e. already reset scale)

 

[fs10inator]

EDIT: I'm currently following Lagaffe's suggestion and animating parts in Gmax.

I think I may have found the problem behind the animation scale error:

After exporting my .x file in Blender, I opened my exported .x file in fragMOTION, and it turns out that scale keys are set for some reason.
So I disabled all scale keylists, and exported the .x file in fragMOTION, but after converting, my MDL looks like a mess.

Now I'm wondering how I'll be able to export without scale keys in the first place.
This is gonna be a long road...