• 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.
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    • 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.

MSFS20 MSFS Asobo Official Blender exporter

Lagaffe said:
To resume, IMO (and following the advice of people who have already posted on this topic) the best solution is to take
- Blender 3.6.18 (or the last 3.6.21) in conjonction with
- Asobo v1.3.3 plugin (you have the links below).
This solution is 2020 & 2024 compliant.

1) Blender:
The old release of Blender are here: https://download.blender.org/release

2) Export plugin:
a) The last official version of Asobo plugin is the v1.3.3 : https://github.com/AsoboStudio/glTF-Blender-IO-MSFS and it can be use with Blender 3.6.x (https://download.blender.org/release/Blender3.6)

b) The version 1.6.13.0 is a fork of RonH (Ronh991) devlopments but I don't think that it is yet released. The last released of RonH is the 1.6.12.0 : https://github.com/ronh991/glTF-Blender-IO-MSFS/releases (go to the middle of the page : Feb 18 to find it)

c) Always in the github of RonH you can find the branch v2.x.y which is for Blender 4.2 LTS but if I remember it is experimental !!! I have tested this version two weeks ago, something works but they are yet some problems (aircraft creation).

"Blender 3.6.18 + Asobo v1.3.3" is the choice that I adopted knowing that I was still working last week with Vitus plugin and Blender 2.83.18.
Saturday, I migrate my last aircraft and the export works fine under 2020 & 2024.

PS1 : If you want to use several versions to solve specific problems, make as me, use as many portable version that you need and the plugin adapted. Currently I have on my SSD:
- Blender 2.83.18 + last Vitus plugin
- Blender 2.93.X + FlyByWire plugin for Import
- Blender 3.6.18 + Asobo v1.3.3
- Blender 4.2 + PBR Painter for texturing tasks

PS2 : Blender 3.3.x is out of date and Blender 4.2 is experimental.

If theses informations can answer your questions ;)
Click to expand...

Thank you for being so informative. It does help eliminate some confusion, but raised a couple of questions. I promise not to beat a dead horse.

Apparently 1.3.3 is Asobo's "official" version. The other versions are, "unofficial" updates? What would be the advantages to them, and are there limitations to 1.3.3?

You have a line above that's a bit confusing. "Blender 3.6.18 + Asobo v1.3.3" is the choice that I adopted knowing that I was still working last week with Vitus plugin and Blender 2.83.18.". You start the sentence with "Blender 3.6.18" and end the same sentence with "Blender 2.83.18". I'm not sure what you're referring to here. Also, I do not know what a "Vitus plugin" is.

In that same sentence you imply that you're using Blender 3.6.18 and 1.3.3 to export into MSFS 2024? I was under the impression we needed a different plugin for MSFS 2024. I've used 1.3.3 and 2.3.3 to convert older models and ONLY 2.3.3 for exporting into MSFS 2024. Is this correct?

One last question, in Blender, there is a "Import-Export glTF 2.0 format (rev 3.6.28) Does that need to be enabled?

Thank you for your patience and for replying.

TB2
 
Sorry if my English is not academic but as a French I try to do my best to exchange via this forum :cool:

PS: You give a lot of version number but if you do not specify the authors of these versions it is very difficult to find your way through all these numbers ;)

What I wanted to say is that all my projects since 2020 were developed with Blender 2.83.x and the Vitus plugin. Vitus author of the Boeing 247 from Wings42 was the author of a first plugin to export a Blender file to MSFS: https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/blender2msfs-support-thread.448402
After that, numerous plugins has been released: FBW, Bestdani, Eblano, FlightSim Estonia, Nooleano, etc

All my aircraft developed since 2020 so far have been with this couple of software. They work perfectly under 2024 ("legacy" aircraft if I follow the MSFS 2024 SDK description) even if they are not native planes but to what I have seen few planes have been developed as native planes, a dozen at most.
For this I am waiting for the SDK to be more advanced (documentation and resolution of existing bugs), I have already lost enough time between 2020 and 2022 with the work of Asobo to lose more. IMO, currently wait is the best advice.
I do think that if you want to fully use the possibilities of MSFS 2024, the plugin of their latest SDK (1.3.3) is necessary but these last months I have spent my time installing and uninstalling the SDKs of 2024 because they changed very often, too often, proof that Asobo is not mature on this point

Indeed, if I’m not mistaken, the MSFS 2024 SDK provides a specific plugin for exporting via Blender to 2024.
On my SSD I have found Z:\Tools\SDK_2024\Tools\Blender\addons\io_scene_gltf2_msfs_2024 in release 3.3.1 from Asobo. The documentation is here https://docs.flightsimulator.com/ms.../Blender_Plugin/Blender_Plugin_Properties.htm and as they write "This part of the documentation has not been fully updated for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and is currently a work in progress.". This plugin is intented for Blender 3.3 LTS and 3.6 LTS.
According to several contributors to this post, it is not advisable to activate the plugins for 2020 and 2024 in the same installation of Blender, IMO it is better to have two separate installations of Blender.
If you know the Q&A forum for MSFS, I advise you to read these posts regularly : https://devsupport.flightsimulator....iscussions/sdk-tools-samples-documentation/66
At the moment I do not use this plugin so I can’t give an opinion on this subject.

As for the Import-Export glTF 2.0 format (rev 3.6.28) which is installed systematically with any new Blender installation, it is ESSENTIAL and must be validated IMPERATIVELY otherwise you risk serious problems.
=> https://devsupport.flightsimulator.com/t/errors-exporting-from-blender-3-6-to-msfs-2024/13837

My Blender 3.6.18 configuration about Import-Export plugin for MSFS :

1746775009736.png


For me, Blender is a very versatile tool that allows many things according to the installed plugins, so as well have several versions with the appropriate plugins for each type of work.
Installing multiple plugins on one installation of software is not recommended (I worked as a Research and Development computer engineer for 38 years) => many tools for many tasks.
 
Last edited:
@Lagaffe Has summed it up nicely.

The best thing to do is. If you have started a project in whatever version of blender and/or the export STAY WITH THAT version - changing just leads to problems.

You really don't need all those fancy new features in Blender 4.X

Only start a new project with a new Blender version or exporter version.
 
Lagaffe said:
Sorry if my English is not academic but as a French I try to do my best to exchange via this forum :cool:

PS: You give a lot of version number but if you do not specify the authors of these versions it is very difficult to find your way through all these numbers ;)

What I wanted to say is that all my projects since 2020 were developed with Blender 2.83.x and the Vitus plugin. Vitus author of the Boeing 247 from Wings42 was the author of a first plugin to export a Blender file to MSFS: https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/blender2msfs-support-thread.448402
After that, numerous plugins has been released: FBW, Bestdani, Eblano, FlightSim Estonia, Nooleano, etc

All my aircraft developed since 2020 so far have been with this couple of software. They work perfectly under 2024 ("legacy" aircraft if I follow the MSFS 2024 SDK description) even if they are not native planes but to what I have seen few planes have been developed as native planes, a dozen at most.
For this I am waiting for the SDK to be more advanced (documentation and resolution of existing bugs), I have already lost enough time between 2020 and 2022 with the work of Asobo to lose more. IMO, currently wait is the best advice.
I do think that if you want to fully use the possibilities of MSFS 2024, the plugin of their latest SDK (1.3.3) is necessary but these last months I have spent my time installing and uninstalling the SDKs of 2024 because they changed very often, too often, proof that Asobo is not mature on this point

Indeed, if I’m not mistaken, the MSFS 2024 SDK provides a specific plugin for exporting via Blender to 2024.
On my SSD I have found Z:\Tools\SDK_2024\Tools\Blender\addons\io_scene_gltf2_msfs_2024 in release 3.3.1 from Asobo. The documentation is here https://docs.flightsimulator.com/ms.../Blender_Plugin/Blender_Plugin_Properties.htm and as they write "This part of the documentation has not been fully updated for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and is currently a work in progress.". This plugin is intented for Blender 3.3 LTS and 3.6 LTS.
According to several contributors to this post, it is not advisable to activate the plugins for 2020 and 2024 in the same installation of Blender, IMO it is better to have two separate installations of Blender.
If you know the Q&A forum for MSFS, I advise you to read these posts regularly : https://devsupport.flightsimulator....iscussions/sdk-tools-samples-documentation/66
At the moment I do not use this plugin so I can’t give an opinion on this subject.

As for the Import-Export glTF 2.0 format (rev 3.6.28) which is installed systematically with any new Blender installation, it is ESSENTIAL and must be validated IMPERATIVELY otherwise you risk serious problems.
=> https://devsupport.flightsimulator.com/t/errors-exporting-from-blender-3-6-to-msfs-2024/13837

My Blender 3.6.18 configuration about Import-Export plugin for MSFS :

View attachment 96473

For me, Blender is a very versatile tool that allows many things according to the installed plugins, so as well have several versions with the appropriate plugins for each type of work.
Installing multiple plugins on one installation of software is not recommended (I worked as a Research and Development computer engineer for 38 years) => many tools for many tasks.
Click to expand...

Hope I didn't give a negative impression about your reply! I speak perfectly good English, and yet I often wonder if others fully understand me. 😂 No harm intended, and I (we) DO appreciate your replies!

Seems (almost) everything is referred to by revision numbers these days. I had no clue to refer to the author instead. In fact, (and I have not read every post on this forum), I had no clue that other authors were creating their own versions of the plugin. I assumed, (yes, I know), that it was a natural evolution of the existing addon. Thank you for clarifying that. Still, would like to know what each version offers, and why. (Do I actually want / need the other versions?) I'll have some homework to do, IF that answer is buried within this post.

Agreed, 2024 is an unfinished product and what's frustrating is the uncertainty and waiting. I would hate to modify my current project (60+ objects) just to find out "they" change something next month and starting over again. That's a real possibility. I created several steam locomotives for another simulator, and they had an update that rendered them all useless until a solution could be found. 😠

As far as having 1.3.3 AND 2.3.3 on the same Blender, you have to have both to do a conversion of a 2020 model to 2024 standards. (Or so I've been informed, AND it seems to work). I'm not sure WHAT the "conversion" is actually doing, but once converted, disable the 1.3.3 to export, and everything seems to work. I won't question that one since it's behaving.

Again, thank you for being so verbose and informative.

TB2
 
TBryson2 said:
As far as having 1.3.3 AND 2.3.3 on the same Blender, you have to have both to do a conversion of a 2020 model to 2024 standards. (Or so I've been informed, AND it seems to work). I'm not sure WHAT the "conversion" is actually doing, but once converted, disable the 1.3.3 to export, and everything seems to work. I won't question that one since it's behaving.
Click to expand...
You're exactly right on this. This would be the preferred method, and you have the right addons for 2020 and 2024. Regarding simple models, I don't believe there's much difference between the 2020 and 2024 addons, excepting some of the materials. Most simple 2020 objects will display OK in 2024. SimObjects are another story. It seems aircraft for 2024 should be converted to 2024 if they were developed for 2020.

The real issue with 2024 building models is the LOD system. 2024 is pretty strict about the number of vertices allowed per minSize for the desired LODs. Your great 2020 objects can disappear unexpectedly in 2024 fi you don't adapt them properly.
 
I'm posting this in case anyone else runs into this issue.

I've encountered an interesting intermittent situation (not sure if this is a known problem) when I export into 2024, and I get an error in Project Editor. Rework the model, clean it up, verify everything is correct, and still no joy.

To get around it, I create an NEW empty workspace in Blender, Append the "collections" or individual objects from the offending Blender file, and it will export properly into MSFS 2024 without issue. I typically try only one LOD at a time just to make sure that any one of them aren't the root of the issue.

This has happened more than once, and my solution seems to work every time. (Probably jinxed myself here). I had similar issues exporting into 2020, but reworking, cleaning up my model in Blender seems to resolve that issue. (ONLY in 2020).

I am using Blender 3.6.18LTS with the exporter (2.3.3) found in the SDK for 2024. I've successfully exported many models (2020 and 2024) and ran into this issue about 3 times now.

TB2
 
TBryson2 said:
I'm posting this in case anyone else runs into this issue.

I've encountered an interesting intermittent situation (not sure if this is a known problem) when I export into 2024, and I get an error in Project Editor. Rework the model, clean it up, verify everything is correct, and still no joy.

To get around it, I create an NEW empty workspace in Blender, Append the "collections" or individual objects from the offending Blender file, and it will export properly into MSFS 2024 without issue. I typically try only one LOD at a time just to make sure that any one of them aren't the root of the issue.

This has happened more than once, and my solution seems to work every time. (Probably jinxed myself here). I had similar issues exporting into 2020, but reworking, cleaning up my model in Blender seems to resolve that issue. (ONLY in 2020).

I am using Blender 3.6.18LTS with the exporter (2.3.3) found in the SDK for 2024. I've successfully exported many models (2020 and 2024) and ran into this issue about 3 times now.

TB2
Click to expand...
That sounds similar to an issue I had 6 months back where a model (static aircraft) exported ok in the first paint scheme, then failed to export or failed to render in MSFS with a new scheme. Copying the model and pasting is as a "new" Blender model solved that.
 
I've seen references to Blender "Windows portable" and Blender "Windows installer". For our purposes, does one have any advantage over the other? Talking about same revisions Blender.

TB2
 
Windows portable is a zip file with no installer. You just Unzip to a drive location, and you can run the EXE file. To uninstall, just delete the drive location... no uninstaller. You can have multiple versions of the unzipped folder on your PC. I use the Windows portable. I think it's install and uninstall is a cleaner option. I have 3 versions on my PC v2.93, v3.6.22, and a v4.2 But that's because I experiment with these.
 
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