getting gmax scenery into fsx

[yankeesfan12]

hi,
i think i made a topic like this here accouple months ago but had to leave it cause or family troubles. so if i was making a sphere or any shape, how would i get it into fsx? is there a tutorial to do this? and if you made a shape in GMAX, there is only a few colors to choose from and you cant get very good detail. i use paint.net so is there a way i could put the shape into paint.net and paint it and then put it into fsx?

-thank you

 

[arno]

Hi,

Take a look at this article on the Wiki for details on how to export your object.

For painting the object, you can not do that directly. You have to make a texture in your painting program. And then you can map that texture on your object.

 

[yankeesfan12]

thanks,
i cant find the FStools button. i found the tools button but when i clicked on that there was no LODNameTool's button. im guessing by texture you mean a blank page that is 512 X 512? and probley import the textures from the painting program to GMAX?

-thank you

 

[arno]

Hi,

i cant find the FStools button. i found the tools button but when i clicked on that there was no LODNameTool's button.

Did you install the FSX gamepack correctly? When starting GMax with the shortcut for the FSX gamepack the FSTools menu should appear.

im guessing by texture you mean a blank page that is 512 X 512? and probley import the textures from the painting program to GMAX?

Humm, not sure if I understand you here. A texture is not really a page, it is just a graphics file, like a BMP. The size depends on what you want, common sizes for FS are 256x256, 512x512 or 1024x1024. The only requirement is the size should be a power of two.

 

[yankeesfan12]

i use fsx deluxe edition with fsx SP2 and Sp2 sdk with no acceleration. when i start GMAX it just takes me to the main screen (see picture 1)

also i meant just a blank white "texture" page that is either 256x256, 512x512 or 1024x1024. then you would create the image and import it into gmax?

 

[MichaelD]

Are you starting Gmax with the shortcut provided in the SDK instead of the default icon? (in the folder \FSX_Gampack)..copy that shortcut to your desktop.

Sometimes though, the menu will still fail to load. If so, try opening the menu MAXScript -> Run Script...
and click on FSToolsMenu.ms

 

[yankeesfan12]

no i wasnt. i just tried opening it and i got 2 errors (see picture) i found the FSToolsMenu.ms file in the
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X SDK\SDK\Environment Kit\Modeling SDK\FSX_GmaxGamePack\scripts folder and when i click on it, it says that windows cannot open this file and it has me choose from either to use the web service to find the appropriate program or to delect a program from the list.

-thank you

 

[MichaelD]

In the FSX SDK there is a folder called "FSX_GamePack".
You need to copy that entire folder into your C:\GMax root folder (or wherever you installed GMax). Then, right click the provided Gmax Shortcut (called FSX_Gmax inside the "\FSX_GamePack" folder) and copy that to your desktop. Use that Icon to start GMax instead of the default icon that get's installed with Gmax.

You should then get the FSTools menu.

-Michael

 

[yankeesfan12]

thanks,
i copied the whole folder to the C:\gmax folder and i still got those error messages. so i moved the whloe folder in the C:\gmax\gamepacks folder and now it works. i will try the link in the first reply and see how it goes, then report back.

-thank you

 

[MichaelD]

One other thought;

did you install the SDK to the default location?
i.e. C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X SDK\SDK\

If not, that could be your problem. If you installed the SDK files to another drive or a custom folder on the C: drive then you need to run the utility in the SDK to update the paths to all the tools (after you've installed Gmax)..well, I should say, after you've installed GMax but before you copy the FSX_GMaxGamepack folder from the SDK into the GMax root folder.

From the SKD overview:

Installation to a non-default folder
The paths in the documentation and some tools will only be correct if the SDK is installed to the default folder. If the SDK is installed to a non-default folder, be aware that some documented paths may not be correct, and run the tool ConfigSDK.exe (in the SDK folder) to update the paths of a number of the configuration tools to the correct folder.

In other words, if you installed to a non-default location, Delete the FSX_Gampepack folder from GMax, run the ConfigSDK.exe tool, then recopy the Gamepack folder into Gmax.

 

[yankeesfan12]

ya, the SDK is installed in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X SDK\SDK folder. i did everything as the link said and it went very smooth but now i am at fsx planner and i chose a random airport "KCEF" and loaded it. next i tred to add the box by going to options+backround images+select image+ and selected the box file in .bgl fourm. then i typed in the corrdinates:
top left latitude: 42.1920700425
top left longitude: -72.5369824481
top right latitude: 42.1910700425
top right longitude: -72.5359824481

and then click Image Is Visible. finally i click add airport and after i clicked it nothing happened. i looked at the spot it was suppost to be in and nothing was there. did i do something wrong?

-thank you

 

[arno]

I guess you can better ask your FSX Planner questions in the FSX Planner forum. Please try no to go too much off-topic in a thread. Thanks.

 

[yankeesfan12]

ill try not to