Good Afternoon,
This is my first post on FS Developer! I have read many posts on this forum and they have been been helpful in the past few months as I have become more interested and engaged in programing and development with Flight Simulator X. I started from zero (an interest in avaition) last fall. One post I found quite interesting dealt with how much time people spent "developing" and actually "flying"....My hope is to "fly" but I keep trying to make it better...haha!
My project is a science fiction mission which I have developed through Flight Simulator Mission Editor. The premise is basically that the ships from the Twelve Colonies ( Battlestar Galactica) have arrived at Earth in modern times and are stationary in the airspace (which needs us to suspend belief again to deal with the little problem of gravity...) over the city of one's choice. This type of scenario exists on the web already and there are numerous BSG models available on FSX sites. There are also numerous models available on Google 3D Warehouse.
I have successfully imported stationary airborne scenery models into FSX flipping them from Google 3D Warehouse (.dae files), through Sketchup 7(trial version) to transform them into .gmax files for GMAX and from there to .bgl files and placement in the Addons folder. Whew, this was a learning curve!
So to my initial question. It involves "hardening surfaces" and creating "landable surfaces". This has been treated many, many times by this forum and elsewhere, so I apologize in advance and ask your indulgence! So, how does one successfully create a hardened surface?
Here is the technique which I have used thus far and which has NOT been successful.
1. Model is in GMAX
2. find mesh to be hardened; use the "rollout" to change to "polygons"
3.Select the polygon to be hardened; Hide unselected: detach the poly;
4.COPY the poly; now entitled "object 1"
5.Use the FSX Addon to "harden" the platform AND select "No Crash"
6. Save the scene
7.Export to FSX through Library Creator; .mdl to .bgl files
I have checked in the properties dialog for the gmax scene and the /platform, /no crash codes are there.
On export and rendering in FSX, the aircraft landing on the airborne scenery ( spacecraft) fall right through... I have tried both BSG aircraft and a standard F-15 Eagle. I am thinking it may be the "crashboxes", but haven't pursued it to much further in that direction as this is another level of complexity. I have also considered placing a platform under the scenery using a runway program (forget the name now!), but this is another level of complexity again.
I realize there are multiple points where this can go wrong,but any insights from more experienced hands would be welcomed.
Sincerely,
John Allison
This is my first post on FS Developer! I have read many posts on this forum and they have been been helpful in the past few months as I have become more interested and engaged in programing and development with Flight Simulator X. I started from zero (an interest in avaition) last fall. One post I found quite interesting dealt with how much time people spent "developing" and actually "flying"....My hope is to "fly" but I keep trying to make it better...haha!
My project is a science fiction mission which I have developed through Flight Simulator Mission Editor. The premise is basically that the ships from the Twelve Colonies ( Battlestar Galactica) have arrived at Earth in modern times and are stationary in the airspace (which needs us to suspend belief again to deal with the little problem of gravity...) over the city of one's choice. This type of scenario exists on the web already and there are numerous BSG models available on FSX sites. There are also numerous models available on Google 3D Warehouse.
I have successfully imported stationary airborne scenery models into FSX flipping them from Google 3D Warehouse (.dae files), through Sketchup 7(trial version) to transform them into .gmax files for GMAX and from there to .bgl files and placement in the Addons folder. Whew, this was a learning curve!
So to my initial question. It involves "hardening surfaces" and creating "landable surfaces". This has been treated many, many times by this forum and elsewhere, so I apologize in advance and ask your indulgence! So, how does one successfully create a hardened surface?
Here is the technique which I have used thus far and which has NOT been successful.
1. Model is in GMAX
2. find mesh to be hardened; use the "rollout" to change to "polygons"
3.Select the polygon to be hardened; Hide unselected: detach the poly;
4.COPY the poly; now entitled "object 1"
5.Use the FSX Addon to "harden" the platform AND select "No Crash"
6. Save the scene
7.Export to FSX through Library Creator; .mdl to .bgl files
I have checked in the properties dialog for the gmax scene and the /platform, /no crash codes are there.
On export and rendering in FSX, the aircraft landing on the airborne scenery ( spacecraft) fall right through... I have tried both BSG aircraft and a standard F-15 Eagle. I am thinking it may be the "crashboxes", but haven't pursued it to much further in that direction as this is another level of complexity. I have also considered placing a platform under the scenery using a runway program (forget the name now!), but this is another level of complexity again.
I realize there are multiple points where this can go wrong,but any insights from more experienced hands would be welcomed.
Sincerely,
John Allison
