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FS2004 aircraft mdl export

Hi Tom,

I had a look at the taxi lights now. I see what the problem is there. It seems your modeldef.xml does not contain the default light_taxi_vis condition. That's why you get a custom visibility condition.

Code: 
  <PartInfo>
    <Name>light_taxi_vis</Name>
    <Visibility>
      <Parameter>
        <Sim>
          <Variable>LIGHT TAXI</Variable>
          <Units>bool</Units>
        </Sim>
      </Parameter>
    </Visibility>
  </PartInfo>

I checked with the modeldef.xml you send me before with the stairs and blocks conditions in there and that one indeed does not have the default entry in it. The issue is that the landing and taxi lights both use the same effect, so when the visibility condition is not one of the entries listed in the light_mapping.ini file, MCX does not know it is a taxi light and based on the effect it will then make a landing light.

I also noticed that light_landing_vis does read als light_general for the visibility condition (they both have the same visibility condition code), so I will extend the light_mapping.ini file to handle that correctly.
 
Hi Tom,

I also had a look at the alpha of the lights. When I set the opacity of the light material in GMax I do see that the X and ASM files are changed, but in FS2004 I don't see an effect either. Do you have an example where the alpha value does have an effect?
 
I checked my original FSX SP2 SDK modeldef.xml file and it does not contain any taxi light entry at all. I added it, but used a slightly different name and code - light_taxi_visible:

mcx_modeldef.jpg


The P3D 1.4 SDK modeldef.xml file does contain the light_taxi_vis entry, however. Should I change my entry to light_taxi_vis and that will work OK? Or copy/paste the P3D entry into the FSX modeldef file? Or just start using the P3D modeldef file? I've seen no advice on which one to choose. I was creating FSX aircraft and didn't want to accidentally include any P3D-only animations.

Well, you might have just caught me out with the GMAX light splashes - I just assumed it was working and used an opacity value suggested by someone on the forum back then. I then changed the color until I got the desired effect. I will take your word it doesn't work unless you need me to test it - yet another error in the FS9 compiling process.
 
I tried renaming my entry to light_taxi_vis and that didn't work, I still got a custom visibility condition.

I then copied and pasted the taxi light entry from the P3D 1.4 modeldef file and that worked - now I get light_taxi_vis as the visibility condition. When compiled into the FS9 model I get working taxi lights.
 
Hi Tom,

I was not aware it is a recent P3D addition. I should check what the FSX version has so that any sim works.

I did read in the SDK that you can use the alpha for lights as well. But I can't get it to work from gmax. If you have any ideas let me know.
 
Do you mean you applied a texture to the landing light objects?
 
No, I have no texture on my test object.
 
BTW, I can confirm that the Opacity setting in GMAX makes no difference to the appearance of the landing light in FS9. Setting it to 25 or 100 makes no difference.
 
tgibson said:
So what is the alpha referring to? Do you mean Opacity?
Click to expand...
Yes, the alpha value of the material color, as set via the opacity in the material editor.
tgibson said:
BTW, I can confirm that the Opacity setting in GMAX makes no difference to the appearance of the landing light in FS9. Setting it to 25 or 100 makes no difference.
Click to expand...
Ok, same as I saw then.
 
I have done more testing and I can't find a way to make the Opacity value affect the landing or taxi lights, no matter their configuration.
 
Hi Tom,

I just checked, but my copy of the FSX SDK also has the light_taxi_vis entry in the modeldef.xml file. So I think it is a safe default value for the mapping to the FS2004 taxi lights.
 
tgibson said:
Perhaps you have the Acceleration version of the SDK?
Click to expand...
Yes, I do. But I can't remember if the SDK was different for that one, don't think so. Are you saying the standard SDK does not have it?
 
Correct. My FSX SP2 SDK modeldef file does not include a taxi light entry of any kind.
 
This link says the light taxi entry was not added until “the SP2/Acceleration SDK”. That suggests that the modeldef files in SP2 and Acceleration are the same, although I’m not convinced of that. I don’t think I was editing modeldef files until after I got the SP2 SDK, but I can’t be sure.

www.avsim.com

Taxi lights in FSX

www.avsim.com www.avsim.com
 
Looks like I installed the SDK in November 2007, which should be SP2 by that time?
 
Let me check the different SDKs, I should still have them laying around. On the other hand most people either have SP2 or P3D v1.4 nowadays.
 
Do you know if the P3D 1.4 modeldef file contains any P3D-only entries, or are they all FSX compatible?
 
I just did a diff between the modeldef.xml from my FSX SDK (probably the SP2 SDK) and the P3D v1.4 SDK and the two files are 100% identical.
 
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