FSXA MDLs with texture don't show in FSX

[N57105]

PROBLEM RESOLVED

I made a carport (ultralight hangar) in Sketchup 2016 with no texture. I exported it as dae, imported it to MCX 1.3.0.0, exported as FSX MDL.

I used List Models to Add it to ADE 1.70, then placed it in a new airport using Add Model. It displays perfectly in FSX:Steam though without textures it's rather plain. That showed me I could make FSX models in Sketchup, a program I've used extensively in woodworking.

Next experiment was to add a built-in texture, again, a process I've used extensively before. I followed the same procedure as above, except that I used the Option to save the texture in a separate folder when I exported the dae. I imported the dae into MCX as before, then went to Texture Converter and converted the texture to dds. The texture displays fine in the MCX Viewer. Exactly the same as in SU.

I added the resulting MDL file to the List>Models in ADE and placed it in the same airport. This is where I run into trouble. I guess I don't know what to do with the texture (dds) file or I'm using the wrong format.

I tried putting it in FSX\Addon Scenery\texture. The model does not display at all in FSX.
I tried putting it in FSX\Addon Scenery\L65A Perris Valley\texture, my airport folder. No display in FSX.

I've also tried other built-in SU textures and even other hangar textures I found. I can import them into SU, place them on my model. Still they don't display in FSX.

I know it's got to be something simple and stupid that I'm doing, but I've gone round and round so many times I'm a little punchy. I've followed Tom Gibson's tutorial step by step, but something's going awry here.

Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated.

Eric

 

[Lane Street]

When adding models directly through ADE, as opposed to using an object library, your textures need to go in the texture folder that is paired with the scenery folder that contains your ADE .bgl.

That is, if your ADE .bgl is in ...\L65A Perris Valley\scenery your textures need to go in ...\L65A Perris Valley\texture.

Are your textures sized to a power of two? What size are they?

Did you recompile your model in MCX after adding the texture?

Did you add your new model to your ADE file, place it, then compile your ADE file again?

Is your scenery folder active in the FSX Scenery Library? Do you see other changes you have made to the airport?

cheers,
Lane

 

[N57105]

When adding models directly through ADE, as opposed to using an object library, your textures need to go in the texture folder that is paired with the scenery folder that contains your ADE .bgl.

That is, if your ADE .bgl is in ...\L65A Perris Valley\scenery your textures need to go in ...\L65A Perris Valley\texture.

Thanks for the reply, Lane. That's exactly what I have done. L65A Perris Valley\scenery contains L65A_ADEX_EJ.bgl and the dds texture is in L65A Perris Valley\texture.

Are your textures sized to a power of two? What size are they?

I've used 16x128 which was borrowed from another designer's airport (KRIR). Also used 64x64 from the same designer. Both work fine in Sketchup and display properly in MCX. Also, I have used the textures built into Sketchup in exactly the same was that Tom Gibson (Cal Classics) did in his tutorial. I don't know what size those are, but others are using the successfully in FSX.

Did you recompile your model in MCX after adding the texture?

Yes, I added the texture to the Sketchup model, made a new dae with a different model name and converted it to an FSX MDL with the new model name so I could keep everything straight.

Did you add your new model to your ADE file, place it, then compile your ADE file again?

Yes, many times. As I said, every model I tried without textures converted perfectly from Sketchup to FSX. I followed the same procedure, except adding the texture, to the L65A/texture folder.

Is your scenery folder active in the FSX Scenery Library? Do you see other changes you have made to the airport?

Yes, I turn L65A scenery off and on in the Scenery Library to load a modified bgl. Again, it works fine with models of all kinds with no texture, so at least everything having to do with the model, except those related to texture, are working fine.

I want to get this resolved, but tonight I'm going to try going to a Library bgl instead of direct ADE with an MDL and see if I have the same problem there.

Eric

 

[N57105]

Used the same MDL models (one without texture and one with texture), and saved them as a library bgl with LibraryCreatorXML 2.0.3.0. Added library bgl to ADE, placed one with texture, one without in my airport scenery. Put library bgl in my L65A scenery file. Non-textured model displays fine, textured model does not display.

It has to be associated with the texture. It's in the L65A/texture folder with an ADE gp texture which works fine so the path is good. It's a dds file, 16x128. I'm at a loss to explain this.

The whole airport folder is attached if anyone wants to give it a try. In FSX, I have it in the Addon Scenery folder

Eric

 

[Lane Street]

Simple fix.

If you load your object library into MCX you will see that your model is looking for a .jpg image file. We can't use .jpgs in FS.

Open the Material Editor and select your texture in the left pane.

In the right pane, scroll down to the bottom to where you see Diffuse texture and change the file extension to .DDS.

Now export your objects again and test.

Are you using MCX v1.3?

If so, you should update to the latest development release.

cheers,
Lane

 

[=rk=]

The Material Editor opens by default to the Properties Tab. Basic texture editing is much simpler, actually, through selection of the Textures Tab. You can confirm your save path, chose saved format and under the "Save textures" drop down, you can even specify power of 2 size ratio and whether to overwrite existing textures. Everything you could want to make your textures work in the proper size, place and format, performed in one click.
While you can indeed point to and assign specific textures in the properties tab, that page is intended for working with material properties; shine, bump mapping. etc. - there are material assignments to affect each, as well as a myriad of settings that are largely useless for someone that simply wants to edit the single texture of the model. Properties would be the tab to use when you want to affect the models night visibility by adding a "Nightmap" texture.

Eric, I invite you to peruse my Trimble Warehouse page, the models there will give you an idea of what can be accomplished with Sketchup in terms of modelling for the simulator.