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P3D v4 Exporting from Max2012

n4gix

n4gix

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I'm using the P3Dv4 SDK to export from Max2012 so I can compile for either FSX/A, FSX:SE and P3Dv4.

Does anyone know how to supress the darned "Texture vertices for Channel 1 and Channel 2 do not match. Channel 2 will not be exported?" warning messages?

I'm not using "Channel 2" at all, so these pesky error messages really are annoying!
 
It's interesting to note that the aircraft will compile and show up in the sim of choice with no errors or issues. It is only during the export from Max to .x and .xanim that these annoying warning messages appear...

...for ever darned object in the project! IOW, I have to hold the Enter key down to "blow past" these warning messages, since every darn one has to be acknowledged.

Worse still, having once loaded the .max file using the P3Dv4 toolset, all the "FSX Materials" are automatically converted to "P3Dv4 Materials" with the result that the project cannot then be worked on with any other SDK's toolset (such as P3Dv1.4 or FSX).
 
Until a better work around shows up, I'd treat a backup of my max file as a container for my fsx materials.
 
n4gix said:
It's interesting to note that the aircraft will compile and show up in the sim of choice with no errors or issues. It is only during the export from Max to .x and .xanim that these annoying warning messages appear...

...for ever darned object in the project! IOW, I have to hold the Enter key down to "blow past" these warning messages, since every darn one has to be acknowledged.

Worse still, having once loaded the .max file using the P3Dv4 toolset, all the "FSX Materials" are automatically converted to "P3Dv4 Materials" with the result that the project cannot then be worked on with any other SDK's toolset (such as P3Dv1.4 or FSX).
Click to expand...
Oh, I understand what you're saying now. It's like the warning you get if an object has a material map applied but no UVW map.
That would drive me crazy if I already wasn't. :eek:

I'll have to investigate this and see if I can reproduce the error.
 
bob5568 said:
Until a better work around shows up, I'd treat a backup of my max file as a container for my fsx materials.
Click to expand...
That is what I will be doing with the next project on my task list. But I'd really like to find a true 'fix' for this issue because I don't relish the idea of having to keep the same aircraft maintained in two "forked" .max files. :yikes:
 
Well I found the same problem of "texture vertex count mismatch in channel 1 and channel 2". I hadn't seen it before because they are only four objects comprising my pilot and I haven't been exporting the unfinished pilot since switching to the v4 SDK.
Why only these four objects?
3 of the objects have a texture map assigned and the other has no texture yet they all have the same error. I tried stripping the textures and the UVWs, didn't fix it. Did a search in the SDK help and the Max help. Searched the web, nothing.
I played with the map channels in Max. No luck there.
The one difference with these objects is that they were merged from a different Max file. There might be a clue in that.
 
n4gix said:
Worse still, having once loaded the .max file using the P3Dv4 toolset, all the "FSX Materials" are automatically converted to "P3Dv4 Materials" with the result that the project cannot then be worked on with any other SDK's toolset (such as P3Dv1.4 or FSX).
Click to expand...
Where is the problem with that? If you open the Max file in prior SDKs the textures revert back to FSXMaterials and vice versa. The material settings in the material editor remain the same. P3Dv4 material settings will only be initiated on export.
 
Actually Paul, that simply does not work. There is another developer who's posted the same issue on the L-M Developer's forum. When either of our projects are loaded back using the P3Dv1.4 SDK's toolset, the Materials are reported as "missing" and the entire project's textures are lost. IOW, every polygon is pure black (RGB:0,0,0) and the a/c becomes a "Wonder Woman" plane in the sim.
 
Bill, I'm a bit confused and please don't think of me as being argumentative. I'm trying to understand the problem to add to my own knowledge base.

I disconnected Max from the v4 SDK toolset and reconnected with the v3 SDK toolset in the process of trying to figure out the "mismatch channel 1 and 2" error, it maybe related, more on that later. There were no problems when the textures reverted back to FSXMaterials. Nothing like what you mentioned. With that said, why would you need to connect to the v1.4 toolset? To the best of my knowledge v1.4 is only needed for compilation compatibility with FSX.

Have you tried reverting your project back to v3? I would be interested to know if you still have the missing materials with v3.
On the mismatched channels error, are all the objects in your project displaying this error or just some?

On another note, I'm unable to logon to the Prepa3D forum. It no longer accepts my password. I cant re-register or have it send a password change email because the anti-robot strings it wants typed always tell me I'm incorrect when I'm not. It's down right frustrating.
 
Paul, to answer your question I need to be able to compile my projects for FSX/FSX:SE, P3Dv2, v3, and v4. It just makes life simpler to use the exporter from P3Dv4 and then compile the .x and .xanim files with the relevant XtoMDL.exe to support all four sim versions.

Every object no matter how small is generating this "warning message" during export. I literally have to hold the "Enter" key down during the export process to blow past these pesky message boxes.

Rob McCarthy from L-M has agreed that there is a problem and asked both myself and "blackboxgraham" (I don't know his name) to provide links to our .max source files so that they can look into the issue and see what may be done to resolve this problem. I've suggested that perhaps adding a tick-box to enable/disable Channel 2 from being 'exported' might be one possible fix.

I sympathize entirely with the login problem. Imagine my frustration with trying to restore all of my logins for dozens and dozens of websites, etc where I struggle to remember my login names, much less my passwords! :eek:
 
The mismatch channels problem is not strictly an LM problem.
Out of 679 objects in my Defiant project only 5 objects prompt the error message.
The objects in question were made in a different scene then later merged.
This tells me that there is something inherently different with these objects that must have come from the original scene settings. It just so happens that P3D v4 is noticing this difference.
Of the 5 objects 2 of them (pilot figures) were originally created in a Max 9 scene then later pulled into Max 2015 for further work where I made 3 more objects in the scene before merging them with the aircraft model scene.
All the objects in the aircraft model scene were made in Max 2015 and they do not generate an error.
For further testing I saved the selected 5 errant objects to a new scene (still using Max 2015) stripping out all textures and UVW mapping. Then I created 3 new objects and exported all 8 objects. The 5 that prompted the error still triggered it but the 3 new objects didn't.
I believe that there is something different in scenes made in earlier versions of Max that P3D v4 doesn't agree with.
That is the extent of my detective work and until someone discovers what's up I have no recourse but to recreate the 5 objects. Thank goodness it's only 5!
 
Paul, in this specific case the entire project was done in Max2012. All 1114 objects have had their Materials affected by this Channel 2 mismatch 'bug'.

This only occured after being opened in Max2012 configured to use the newest P3Dv4 SDK's toolset. Prior to this the project exported perfectly with the P3Dv1.4 SDK's toolset configured.

Any attempt to open the .max file using the P3Dv1.4 SDK's toolset results in a totally 'black' mess with "No Materials" errors.

UPDATE: I just now discovered that by loading the current "poisoned" .max file on another of my computers with Max2012 installed, and which has the P3Dv2.4 SDK's toolset loaded. I now have a nice, clean file that will export without any warnings! :cool:

I've also found that once Max2012 has been "updated" to use the P3Dv4 SDK's toolset, it cannot be reverted to use any earlier toolset. Two copies of the "Aces Tools" are retained on the toolbar, neither of which will work.

In any case, now I'll need to uninstall Max2012 from the new dev machine and reinstall so I can continue working with a clean .max file. :eek:
 
is there any "advantages" using P3D v4 toolset, in mater of material/model result? just curious and afraid to migrate
 
The major advantage is having the ability to add specific P3Dv4 features as desired should one choose to do so. However, experience so far indicates that once that decision is made and implemented, it will require 'forking' the .max project to a new branch, since the new stuff will preclude compiling for previous sim versions any longer.

Here is the answer as provided by L-M for handling this specific error:
The part name is given with the warning message during export, however the Tools > Channel Info dialog will also display which objects have a second UV channel. The dialog is populated by which parts are selected. Parts that have the 2:map ID entry have the second UV channel. Selecting that channel and pressing the Clear button will add the UVW Mapping Clear modifier. This modifier would then have to be collapsed to clear the channel.

Selecting the entire model and applying the UVW Mapping Clear modifier would also work, however all parts would have to then have the modifier stack collapsed to apply the channel removal.
Click to expand...
 
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n4gix said:
The major advantage is having the ability to add specific P3Dv4 features as desired should one choose to do so. However, experience so far indicates that once that decision is made and implemented, it will require 'forking' the .max project to a new branch, since the new stuff will preclude compiling for previous sim versions any longer.

Here is the answer as provide by L-M for handling this specific error:
Click to expand...
Thanks for the post Bill. Interesting news.
 
That cleared up the dule channel error for my problem objects! The fact that the tools to correct the problem are in Max shows how much there is to learn and how much my knowledge deficit is.
I am curious as to why these particular objects acquired the second channel.
 
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