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FSX Help! Animation export problems

skyteam_daviehu

skyteam_daviehu

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china
I create a vehicle animation in 3DS max, and then I followed the method from jtanabodee
http://fsdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20241&highlight=export animation

Screenshot 2015-05-30 11.03.02.png


Screenshot 2015-05-30 11.04.01.png




After I export it, I have got two files, one is .x and another is .xanim , what's the next step to convert it to mdl or bgl into FSX, I have tried model converter x, but when I import the .x file to Model Converter X, there is no animation at all. Who can help with it ?

Screenshot 2015-05-30 11.14.49.png
 
Haven't you looked at the SDK for instructions? The .x (with .xanim) has to be compiled with XToMDL.exe to make a .mdl. It's command line driven, so better to start with Brandon's GUI tool for XToMDL.
 
So a 3,700 dollar program is worse for exporting than their freeware Gmax! Although i still want to get 3DS so i can use AO effects. But i never knew it would not export like Gmax does.o_O I am shocked 3DS can't use the normal SDK and i am shocked that the P3D version can't export a simple model file. Maybe this is why it can export any size project!
 
DG, Max uses the same SDK as Gmax which also uses XToMDL, just you don't know it. When FSX first came out, Max was the only modelmaking option and it was always a two-stage process. Had MS kept up development of FS, there is a chance a single step exporter for Max might have been made, but we'll never know. Just for fun, locate XToMDL.exe in your FSX sdk and move it somewhere else temporarily. Then export a Gmax model to FSX and see what happens.

The Gmax exporter for FSX had to be made a one-step process, or Autodesk would not sanction it - a two-step process would give Gmax an export facility to .x file and for their own reasons Autodesk refused. Others with better contacts and/or first-hand experience have talked about this before.
 
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I have used X to Models for scenery in the past. Just never knew developers who use 3DS had to do this. It's not that big of a deal to do this extra step just was surprised the P3D SDK could not design it to export into a model format.
 
Animation in 3dsmax export to be .x and xanim file. That's the way it is. You cannot drag and drop to XtoMDL.exe, you need a command line. It is just a nigh mare for me. You can create shot cut for the right click in order to send it to XtoMDL.exe. Please read this thread. It will make your life easier.
 
Sorry, Tom. I missed that. Wow. .. that tool is very good.
Gmax does export to mdl. But the bad thing is: it generates xanim every time. So each mdl exported by Gmax will have one drawcall. MCX will eliminate that. Max export to x file, so it has drawcall batching applied by default.
 
jtanabodee said:
Sorry, Tom. I missed that. Wow. .. that tool is very good.
Gmax does export to mdl. But the bad thing is: it generates xanim every time. So each mdl exported by Gmax will have one drawcall. MCX will eliminate that. Max export to x file, so it has drawcall batching applied by default.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your tips. However, I have tried it but seems still not works. I will check it later.
 
Have you tried Brandon's tool? Or try this thread http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/compile-by-using-short-cut.428983/#post-661807
To make it short,
1. Make new folder as FSX_SDK to the root folder of C: or D: (it will be like C:/FSX_SDK.
2. Copy everything from the default folder that you install SDK. (The default is C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X SDK. But it is too long for command line.) You need to copy (not move) all the content to this new folder. So other program can still working.
3. Create new short cut of XtoMDL.exe
4. Modify the short cut a bit as stated in the thread (move some quotation mark).
5. Go to C:\Documents and Settings\**your user name** make the folder option to show hidden files. Then go to "Send to" folder. And copy your short cut there.
6. When you want to compile, just make a right click and it will bring option to your menu and send to "Compile" short cut. In animation, click on X file and send to this short cut.
 
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jtanabodee said:
Have you tried Brandon's tool? Or try this thread http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/compile-by-using-short-cut.428983/#post-661807
To make it short,
1. Make new folder as FSX_SDK to the root folder of C: or D: (it will be like C:/FSX_SDK.
2. Copy everything from the default folder that you install SDK. (The default is C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X SDK. But it is too long for command line.) You need to copy (not move) all the content to this new folder. So other program can still working.
3. Create new short cut of XtoMDL.exe
4. Modify the short cut a bit as stated in the thread (move some quotation mark).
5. Go to C:\Documents and Settings\**your user name** make the folder option to show hidden files. Then go to "Send to" folder. And copy your short cut there.
6. When you want to compile, just make a right click and it will bring option to your menu and send to "Compile" short cut. In animation, click on X file and send to this short cut.
Click to expand...

Hi Jtanabodee:
Thank you so much for your detail instructions. However, I have checked every steps but it still not working.
Could you help me to compile this file because I want to know whether this issue is caused by the SDK or the 3dsmax itself?
I have uploaded the original .x and .xanim flie here.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jcniyvqpwjcam48/vechiles.rar?dl=0

Regards
 
I'm on Max 11.

In my compilation run, the compiler registers your ambient animation and issues no error warnings.

In your screenshot you do not seem to have indicated an animation length, the Start and End frame boxes? Just wondering ... it may be possible you don't need that for ambient.

Anyway, the proof of the pudding doesn't lie in MCX, it lies in FSX. If you let your mdl replace the default "normal" exterior mdl of the Cessna, what you see when you select the Cessna as an aircraft is a very small boxlike shape going round in circles. So that's alright then, you have succeeded in doing something. Strangely enough one cannot see your mdl in the sim scene itself, as if it were submerged under the surface or something. So my advice would be to put your mdl at 0,0,10 (meters), i.e. 10 meters up in the air, use a a very short animation distance, such as 5 meters, compile, use the Cessna, and see what's up. Just for testing, of course. Once you know animation etc is in working order you can take it from there.

I once made a revolving teapot just for testing ambient, and if you want try it out (source .max included) it's here:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/51024107/ambient2.zip

P.S. Here is the model.cfg I used for testing:

[models]
// normal=Cessna172SP
normal=animatingWNZ
//normal=ambient2_rot
interior=cessna172sp_interior
 
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