• 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.

FSSC Ground Poly, Gmax and others

L

lambda

Messages
187
Country
hungary
Hi everyone!

I am new in scenery designing and need for your help. First of all: a read a lot of ground poly topic on this forum and i can make simple ground polys in FSSC but I dont know some things. I already made taxiways with polygons used by own textures but it didn't need for texture alaginment. But now i would like to create my own textured runway and that is not possible in FSSC without map the texture. As i said i am newbie, i never designed 3D objects just made taxiways and aprons. So i installed gmax, gamepack 2004, i made and textured the polygon and set UVMAP (as i read in a tutorial) and exported to an MDL file. But how i can use it as a macro or an api in FSSC? How to convert it?

Other:
I read in this topic: http://www.scenerydesign.org/forum/showthread.php?t=170 (#10 by MCarr) that there is a Bitmap2 API in the default FSSC which i can use to lay any bitmap in my scenery easily. I don't have this file, can somebody send it to me please? It would be the better solution for me i think.

Other 2:
According to a post it is able to visible the FSSC background image in FS2004 as a texture. OK but in my FSSC the visible in Flight Simulator option is not enabled (always grey, i can't click on it). The BG pic is 512*512 bmp and i also tried with extended bitmap converted by DXTBMP but the option still inactive. This is not a right solution for me becouse i think it can just only display 4.8 m/pixel resolution but i'd like to try it.

Finally, i read about SCASM code tweaking, programming etc, but it is too complicated for me. So please write that solution only if you can explain it detailed how to do :)

Thank you very much!
 
Hi,

lambda said:
As i said i am newbie, i never designed 3D objects just made taxiways and aprons. So i installed gmax, gamepack 2004, i made and textured the polygon and set UVMAP (as i read in a tutorial) and exported to an MDL file. But how i can use it as a macro or an api in FSSC? How to convert it?
Click to expand...

If you have read the thread about GMax ground polygons, you should have seen that using MDL objects for ground polygons is a bad idea :p. If you want to let them so properly you can better use the Fs2002 gamepack.

But placing them with FSSC afterwards is a bit tricky. When using the Fs2002 gamepack you would have to make an object library out of the GMax object using FsRegen and then use a proper API macro to call it. Check the article I wrote about using FsRegen.

When using the Fs2004 gamepack (although that is bad for ground polygons), you could make an object library out of the MDL file(s) using Library Creator XML. This tool also has the option to create API macros to call the library objects.

lambda said:
Other 2:
According to a post it is able to visible the FSSC background image in FS2004 as a texture. OK but in my FSSC the visible in Flight Simulator option is not enabled (always grey, i can't click on it). The BG pic is 512*512 bmp and i also tried with extended bitmap converted by DXTBMP but the option still inactive. This is not a right solution for me becouse i think it can just only display 4.8 m/pixel resolution but i'd like to try it.
Click to expand...

Check your FSSC preferences. I think you still have the FS version set to Fs98 or so. In that case the background option is not available.

FSSC does not use the mesh resolution of 4.8 meter per pixel. It just fits your entire background in one 512x512 texture. So depending on the area covered by the photo that can become an even worse resolution :). I never found this a very useful option.
 
Wow thx for the fast reply!

I am using fs2004 gamepack. I tried Library Creator XML and exported the MDL to an API. I added it as a macro to my scenery in FSSC, the texture is copied to the texture dir but i can't see anything is FS :( no "model" (poly), no non-textured poly, nothing. Why?
 
Arno!

I tried to make some more 3D objects with Gmax like cube and simple shapes and exported them to MDL. I created an API with Library Creater XML from all of them and inserted into FSSC but neither visible in FS :( Do i have to make a special thing to show them in FS what i don't know?
 
Okayy. I see. I compiled the BGL with the Library Creator XML and also put into the scenery dir and it works :) Just.. it's flcikering. (i know fs2004 gamepack). Ok, I opened the API file with notepad and tweaked the code as i read:

Code: 
; API created with XML2API
; to get the same size as when placed with XML scale 1.0
; use scale 0.5 when placing the API
mif(0)
Area( 5 %1 %2 1 )
RotatedCall( :symbol 0 0 %5 )
Jump( :endsymbol )
:symbol
RefPoint( 7 : 0.1 %1 %2 )
Points( 0
-380 0 -428
-380 0 317
387 0 317
387 0 -428
0 0 0
)
Poly( a 0 1 2 3 )
Poly( a 0 4 3 )
Return
:endsymbol
EndA
mifend

Area( 5 %1 %2 22 )
LayerCall( :obj )
LayerCall( :obj )
jump( : )
:obj
mif( %11  )
  RefPoint( 2 :end %4 %1 %2 E= %11 v1= %10 %13 %14 )
melse
  RefPoint( 7 :end %4 %1 %2 v1= %10 %13 %14 )
mifend
RotatedCall( :rot 0 0 %5 )
Return
:rot
CallLibObj( 0 F5983361 4DABD54B 0276FEAB DF39DEB4 )
:end
Return
EndA

I replaced the PrespectiveCall and ShadowCall with LayerCall but it does not work.. it just flickering again :( Help please!
 
Hi,

As I wrote, this only works for the Fs2002 gamepack :). The Fs2004 gamepack will continue flickering, even if you use the correct API.
 
The only way to make proper ground polygons in GMax is to use the Fs2002 gamepack. There is no other solution.

Else you will have to use the tools like FSSC, Airport for Windows or GroundMaker. But these are more limited in the options to map your texture.
 
Okay thx. For fs2002 gamepack i have to use fsregen instead of library creator xml is this correct? Now i try to install gamepack 2002 but everybody say that copy files from fs2002 disk but what and where... :) i 'll try.
 
Hi,

lambda said:
Okay thx. For fs2002 gamepack i have to use fsregen instead of library creator xml is this correct?
Click to expand...

Yes, for the Fs2002 gamepack FsRegen is the tool to create a library with. You can follow the steps of my article for that.

If you already know the coordinates of the object, you could also enter them during the export (so that you don't need FsRegen). Then you only have to tweak the source code a bit to make them ground polygons (these tweaks like the LayerCall command in the API macro).

Both options give the same result.

lambda said:
Now i try to install gamepack 2002 but everybody say that copy files from fs2002 disk but what and where... :) i 'll try.
Click to expand...

There is a folder on these disks that contains GMax (which you don't need as it is the old version) and the gamepack. Of these gamepack files you mainly need FsModelExp.dle. For MakeMDL you need to grap the latest version for Fs2002 from MS.
 
Okay Gamepack 2002 was installed and i read how to install gamepack 2002 to gmax 1.2 from MS. I downloaded the latest MakeMDL SDK 2002 and installed it, everything is in the right place I think but when i try to export from gmax to an MDL i get this message: MakeMDL was not found, or failed to convert the model specified in 'c:\gmax\gamepacks\fs2002\rwy' to a .MDL file. Check your system path to ensure MakeMDL is on it.

MakeMDL is in pugin dir and i also created a new gmax.ini for gamepack 2002 as advised by MS but it's not work.

I tried to open manually the MakeMDL.exe and convert the gmax file into MDL but it is only open X files. So i don't know what should i have to do now.
 
Does your windows system maybe use the comma as decimal character? The Fs2002 gamepack only works when it is set to dot.
 
Yeah, it works. Congratulations for the programmer.. :)

Now i am reading your article about fsregen.

"save the ASM source file and then compile it manual with BGLC from the DOS prompt"

where can i get BGLC? I tried with BGLComp (copied from Library Creator XML) but it don't work just make a lot of ERROR message. Where is BGLC for fs2002?

Sorry for my lot of question.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top