• 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.

FS2004 GMax object causing FS9 to crash

E

ecagan

Messages
92
Country
us-colorado
Hi all,
I've decided to take a plunge at using hangar animation and CAT. Normally I create my object in GMax, export the model and create a library using Instant Scenery. Reading another thread, Arno suggested loading the model first prior to using CAT to see if it works before messing with CAT. When attempting to load my model, my doors were rotated weirdly and an object I had created off to the side of my hangar was at the center point of my door, also rotated. I labeled the doors tick18_door1, tick18_door2 etc.. Can someone with more experience please take a look to see if I've messed something up with my model or do I need to get the model into flight sim using another method? I know there's a trick but I'm missing it, and can't seem to find the solution in the forums.
Second part of the question may be based upon this first solution. When I used CAT to assign conditions to the model and attempted to use Instant Scenery or ADE 1.50, FS9 crashed when loading the object. I've attached my model file if someone can please help me.
Sincerely,
Eric
 

Attachments

Well I just compiled it and placed it in FS9 and it works as it should as far as I can tell. I didn't tweak it with CAT but the doors open and then slam shut as expected. If it's crashing the sim, is it because you're trying to use those 24 bit textures in the texture folder? I put them through Imagetool (16-555 with mips) and dropped them in the texture folder and had no problems. Nice building, BTW :) .

Jim
 
Jim,
Thanks for the help. How did you place the hangar object? Did you use Instant Scenery or another method? One thing I didn't try was to place the object and then reboot FS9 to see if it would come up ok. I did convert the textures to DX3 to allow for transparencies in the girders. I just sent the 24bit ones so you could see them inside FS9. They displayed correctly within FS9 when I was attempting to place the object. I'll try again tonight to see if I can get the hangar to work and then try to tackle the CAT issue.
Eric
 
Hi Eric, I did use Instant scenery and I did have to restart FS9 before the animation did anything at all. Before I restarted the sim it just sat there and did nothing. I also did have a go at running the model through CAT and the finished model crashed the sim on my end as well. That could very well be because I messed something up in CAT though, it's been a while. I had a CAT processed animated security gate model of my own and I re-exported it from gmax and re-processed it through CAT just to see if I was doing it right. I did manage to get it to work again as it did before on a NAV2 frequency. I can't see any issues with your gmax file or animation so I don't know what to tell you. I'm not experienced with animations at all, I have to get the book out every time I do one :) .

Hopefully someone can check out your file and spot an error.

Jim
 
model modified using CAT causing FS2004 crash

I was able to get my original model to show, using ADE to place it. Its animation was continuously running, like it should. When I attempted to use CAT again and used the CAT model, FS9 crashed. I'll do more searching, but I think I'm using CAT correctly. I'm enabling animation condition. Using the Condition (between) to localize how far out to have the animation work. In this case, I chose -100 to 100 meters and Apply to animation trigger. On the next GUI page, I Enable animation trigger and the Condition (between) and have chosen NAV2 frequency (Variable 07C2h) and have values of 1200h for both Min and Max. I have no secondary animation conditions set. I chose the old asm file and created a new asm output from CAT. I compiled the model without error. Can anyone else please take a look? I have the latest CAT v 1.2.12.
Thanks,
Eric
 
I took a look at your file, and went through a number of exports to see if there was something specific throwing off CAT...

I noticed some key frames missing in one of the doors, but I doubt that is the issue... I was able to re-assign an animation set to the doors, export the doors and the main hangar box ONLY and it went through CAT and FS fine... so its a specific item in the scene thats causing the problem...

I didnt find what WAS hanging CAT, but there are many things in that hangar scene that can be excluded from the export to see if THAT is what it throwing off CAT...

I suggest starting simple, and exporting the main hangar box, the doors, and add one thing ONLY to the scene at a time when you export it, and that should let you know where to look...

I also suggest simplifying the scene... that is a HUGE amount of polys for a hangar... the tubes are killing the poly count... also, there are overlaps of polys that will cause flickering, as well as polys that are into the ground that are textured and completely unnecessary...

I always say, model poor and texture rich... that way, when you NEED to model something complex, it doesnt kill the object with that many more polys...

Good Luck...
 
I have download your model.zip.

It is a very nice model - Congratulations.

I have made a test from the complete model and i have see no Animation.

Then I have made little changes at the anim in Gmax and it work by default in FS - the endless anim in FS. This is okay.
Then i have made the CAT Procedure - I would get the NAV2 Anim at 112.00 - I have done that with the complete Model. The FS are crashed.

Then i have made two bgl - one with only the doors and made the CAT Procedure with NAV2 - 112.00. The other bgl is the rest of the model.
Set them in FS - and it works fine.

Here you can download the complete Folder i have made in Gmax.

Klick Me

Attention: The doors changes with CAT, I have renamed in the old name nothing you see there with _cat in the zip.
The file with doors in his Name are ready tweaked with CAT.

The bgls in the zip you can delete - I have forgotten to remove them.
And you must change the Coordinates and the Heading in the 2 xml files,.
they must the same each other file.

In the Texture Folder there is your bmps in 32 bit Format - ready to use in FS.

Another point for settings this sort of Objects - I need to set more than one of them I use different xml with the same models but other coordinates and when it is necessary other headings.

I hope you understand my bad english. :)
 
Last edited:
Sandra,
I used your models and was able to place the objects using Instant Scenery. It worked. Thank you for your help. What changes did you make in the animation? Or did you just separate the doors from the rest of the model to get it to work correctly?
Ed or anyone else, I wanted to create a hose. I used splines to a mesh, which created a lot of polygons. What do you suggest I use to keep the poly count down, but maintain the appearance of a hose?
Thanks,
Eric
 
well, unfortunately, cylinders eat polygons, and its a decision you have to make as to HOW detailed you want to make them, and how many polys a more detailed 'look' will take...

since its something thats a passing item in the overall scene, and not something that 'needs' polygons, I would create ONE cylinder, upright, and make a texture that maps double sided (naming the material DS_* * being whatever you choose, but it HAS to begin with DS_ ) up the cylinder with the texture being a horizontal hose lapped.... or even better, it can even be a ring or torus textured as a pile of hose, rather than making the ENTIRE length of hose coiled...

think 'rich textures' mapped on 'simple objects'... especially if its a passing item, so that item is not one of many polygon hogs in a total scene...
 
ecagan said:
Sandra,
I used your models and was able to place the objects using Instant Scenery. It worked. Thank you for your help. What changes did you make in the animation? Or did you just separate the doors from the rest of the model to get it to work correctly?
Ed or anyone else, I wanted to create a hose. I used splines to a mesh, which created a lot of polygons. What do you suggest I use to keep the poly count down, but maintain the appearance of a hose?
Thanks,
Eric
Click to expand...

I have made 2 seperate mdl - one are the Doors and one are the rest of your gmax scene.

I have in the anim the middle keys deleted - in mine there is for every door 2 keys, the start key and the end key - in yours there was more of 2 keys per door.


And for the Hose I can only help is this.
Is the Hose really needed for the scenery - how many Hoses do want to make - can you see the hose if you stand beside there - how often stand you beside the hose, or is the hose at a point of the scenery that you see not so often ?
 
Last edited:
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. For this scene, the hose doesn't matter, since this is the only hangar on the field. I will keep the poly count lower though if I have more objects in the scenery. I'll take a look at the animation modifications. I appreciate the help in getting it to work. It seems either that was the issue, or the transparencies in the hangar girders. I'm thinking it was the keys though, unless there is an outstanding issue with CAT.
Eric
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top