Need help with MDL created with MAX, so that it displays in the sim.

[hollywood_TX]

Hello-
I am attempting to build my first scenery project for P3D v4. I am an architect, so have a pretty good working knowledge of Autocad, 3ds Max, Revit and Photoshop (have been using them since the 80s). Granted 3DS has been used for static architectural visualisation, and Photoshop mainly for photo editing, 2D presentation work, with some post production work for the 3DS renderings. I have read most of the current SDK, ADE manual, completed several tutorials already related to creating low poly buildings, and have used ADE for placing existing library objects, editing default airport surfaces, markings,etc, and creating custom ground polys. I am maybe trying to cover too much too fast (likely actually), but would like to get some input regarding workflow, after trying several different methods of development. My frustration at this point has been finding tutorials relevant to tools in relatively current versions of software mentioned above (ACAD, 3DS & Revit 2014, Photoshop 2018), best primitives for creating objects for best processor handling by P3D / FSX, and mainly the conversion process getting a 3DS Max scenery object with related textures into P3D compatible files. I have the P3D plugins / tool for 3DS Max 2014 from the SDK, and several freeware conversion tools. I have pretty extensive experience with working with the PC and software, so not a novice there... but have had major difficulty getting these 3rd party utilities to work correctly. It seems every direction I turn I hit a road block preventing moving to the next step, and can't find where I am misunderstanding instructions for these tasks. Did the Oilrig tutorial that comes with Max, but could not get the command line XtoMDL converter to work.... reported model errors.

I have spent the last week trying to convert my first custom building to .X, convert textures to P3D compatible format (DDS), and importing the buidling using the SDK tools and or ADE. I built a simple cube lighthouse object consisting of walls (initially constructed as extruded polylines or 3dfaces in ACAD)) painted with alternating diagonal b&w stripes, a door, metal railing, concrete foundation and a pedestal light object. Pretty basic, right? Textures only consist of a matte black paint, a matte white paint, and the concrete. There are no animations or transparency objects. Separately, I tried an option using a single real world size decal for the B&W painted walls created in Photoshop, in lieu of using separate paint color texture maps, and reduced the number of wall polys from 30 to 5.

So, I built the model in ACAD and Max as described above, ran the Export & LOD tool's "Verify" feature and received the following errors:
- Broken GUID or Friendly Name > This X file has no GUID or friendly name. ... MAX FriendlyName=<filename; .X GUID=undefined. This files friendly name does not match the filename! ...

I can't find how to give a friendly name to the .X file. Did I miss a step? I see you can retrieve a GUID from the .X to assign to the .MAX file in the file properties dialog
box of the Export & LOD menu, but not the other way around. Does this matter, since the X file is converted to a MDL or BGL anyway?

- Multiple root nodes > Lists all of my layer / object names in the model...

Can't find anything addressing this issue, or what causes it. Anything on this topic I find on the internet is related to animated / IK / Bones character objects.

- Open edges (non-manifold geometry) > Concrete, Rails.

It seems this refers to any object that was constructed with 3dfaces in ACAD or polygon faces without a capped end. Since this is intentional, I ignored. I had removed the polygon on the bottom of the concrete slab that would never be visible, and for railings I have a simple plane with no thickness, which renders 2-sided. Thought I would try this in lieu of a tube primitive or extrusion to reduce number of polygons. This object is small, and viewed from only from the air. Thought I would try and see if looks ok, and save over 100 polygons.

There were a few more errors, but figured them out using Google searches... the methodologies were not flagged as issues in any tutorials or SDK, but understand how to change to eliminate the error reported. Model imported and placed using ADE, but the scale was way too large and had to scale to 0.035 to be correct size. I did get a warning that the model was in US imperial units (feet & fractional inches) and P3d uses metric, and asked to confirm model is proper size. I made the MDL anyway, and only got the apparently typical "Crashtree - No Granularity Specified" message after the MDL file is created using XtoMDL. I added the MDL to the ADE Models library, and placed the object in scenery using ADE with no reported errors. The top / plan view of the placed object looks correct. Received no errors, compiled to BGL, saved textures and BGL to an addon scenery folder, activated in the P3D scenery library, and as a check, confirmed the viewed MDL displays objects correctly in the ModelConvertX preview window. Finally, opened P3D and the object does not display in the location where placed. So now at a total loss... Based on my understanding of the ADE instructions for inserting MDLs directly into the scenery, the separate addon scenery step may be unnecessary/ redundant. Tried both ways with not results. Checked scenery complexity setting for new object in ADE, and is set to Normal. Changing setting in the sim to highest setting has no effect. For the textures, I used the Prepare3d material template for all 3 materials and had already created the bitmaps as DDS from JPG images.

I have several more models built, but do not want to spend any additional time on their development until I can get this process correct for a simple object. Any assistance or direction to tutorials is appreciated. I know this description covers a broad range of operations, so determining where the process has specifically broken may not be possible based on the info given. Should I first try just bringing in a cube that I built in Max with a default grey texture to see if I am misunderstanding the instructions in the P3D SDK? I know there are certain object naming and material creation requirements defined in the aircraft modeling SDK, but did not see any of the same limitations stated in the other SDK sections for scenery objects such as buildings.

EDIT: OOPS... Forgot to mention that I did get an error from ADE when compiling stating: Could not find part of the path'E:\P3D Addons\Airport Design Editor\P34\XML\<MDL filename>.xml. Is there a required xml, if the object is placed as a MDL by direct insertion at the location, and complied into the airport BGL by ADE?

 

[lionheart]

Hey Hollywood,

I can help with the first one.

When you start a new scene project, and go to export it into X and Xanim files (Xanim is a side file for when you have Animations) you need to assign the project with a GUID and a friendly name. Open up the FSX Tools link in Max, Click on the Export and LOD Tool link, and this menu pops up. Fill in a new Friendly name, and click to create a GUID code. Close and done. It should then export.

As for the others, I have no idea. The scenery guys can help you with that.

 

[lionheart]

If you have the Prepar3D SDK, then it will show 'Prepar3D Tools' on the top Max toolbar.

 

[hollywood_TX]

Hey Hollywood,

I can help with the first one.

When you start a new scene project, and go to export it into X and Xanim files (Xanim is a side file for when you have Animations) you need to assign the project with a GUID and a friendly name. Open up the FSX Tools link in Max, Click on the Export and LOD Tool link, and this menu pops up. Fill in a new Friendly name, and click to create a GUID code. Close and done. It should then export.

As for the others, I have no idea. The scenery guys can help you with that.


View attachment 48277

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I got that part, but that apparently only provides the friendly name and GUID for the Max file. That info exports fine, and the info appears in the MDL. The error states MAX FriendlyName=<filename; .X GUID=undefined. The GUID generated by the Create GUID tool is transferred, so did not understand why the error message. Maybe in the end it does not matter since it obviously was transferred to the MDL, and was in the MDL info read by ADE.

 

[hollywood_TX]

If you have the Prepar3D SDK, then it will show 'Prepar3D Tools' on the top Max toolbar.

Thanks... have those. They are the tools I used to create the exported .X file. Problem is not that I do not have the tools. The problem is that I went through all of the steps, the MDL was created and inserted into the scenery by ADE, but it just is not displaying in the sim.

 

[lionheart]

Ok. I am afraid I cant help past that point. I build planes. I have no idea how scenery objects are exported as scenery. I can tell you about fuselages and ailerons. Thats about it.

 

[arno]

Did you export a bgl file from ADE after you placed the object at the location you want?

And did you copy the textures into the texture folder of the scenery?

 

[hollywood_TX]

Ok. I am afraid I cant help past that point. I build planes. I have no idea how scenery objects are exported as scenery. I can tell you about fuselages and ailerons. Thats about it.

Lionheart-
Thanks anyway for trying to solve it. And thanks for the offer, I will keep your screenname, since P3D aircraft may come later. Have thought about trying some repaints in Photoshop to start, but not sure I want to fiddle with creating flight dynamics tables for a sim. Seems more like computer programming than aeronautical engineering. Wait, that is why I became an architect instead of an aero engineer, they are about the same... HA! Have built many RC aircraft over the years from just drawings and stock balsa wood lumber (not precut kits). Building the aircraft models in Max would be fun, and a good lesson in animation with all the control surfaces, landing gear, etc. Enjoy your modeling...

 

[hollywood_TX]

Did you export a bgl file from ADE after you placed the object at the location you want?

And did you copy the textures into the texture folder of the scenery?

Hey Arno-
Finally I have a reason to post rather than just read your replies to others over the years. Maybe used the wrong phrase above when I said that I "compiled to BGL" instead of "exporting", but I brought the MDL created with XtoMDL into ADE using your instructions for adding to library, saved library, added MDL to the scenery through the Add>Model menu, and exported to BGL. I was not sure if I was to leave the related texture files in the ADE "Textures" subdirectory, since the MDL was added to the airport from the ADE folder. I moved all files to an addon scenery folder created after the object was added to ADE and BGL compiled (does that description make sense?). Regardless, I left the textures in ADE and also copied to the addon scenery "texture" folder where the new compiled airport BGL resides to at least insure that P3D found them. The airport also has some GPs that I created previously, so there is a separate BGL created each time by ADE for them as well.

Since my original post, today I tried scaling up the object (real world size is only 15' square), and setting at a fixed elevation above sea level in lieu of setting elevation at ground level using the altitude is above ground level checkbox in ADE. I don't have addon mesh scenery for this location, but the object appears now although floating in the air. So I guess the true ground elevation is not where the terrain mesh surface is rendering. There is a significant terrain slope at this location, but is less than 10%. The building is still not displaying correctly though. Only one side of the cube and roof renders, and the side that renders is the one closest to the viewpoint. Yes, the plane that is visible changes as if one side is opaque and the others are transparent depending on the direction that the cube is viewed. I am certain of this because one face has a door in it and the other faces have stripes that are reverse of the adjacent face. The railing is another story, in that only a portion of it displays. I am going to recreate the rail using a standard box primitive and bar sweeps for the components for now, and just deal with the impact of added polygons until I get the basics mastered. Still, can't understand what could be wrong with the model since it is so basic and everything renders fine in 3DS Max.

Will keep experimenting, but any knowledge on what could cause the object visibility problems is appreciated. Went back and read through the ADE manual again last night, but did not notice anything that I may have not followed correctly. Still not sure I understand what files (if anything other than the AD4) are to remain in any of the ADE subfolders after the object has been placed at the airport and a BGL is compiled/exported.

 

[hollywood_TX]

Guess will never figure out the cause. I decided to just rebuild from scratch, go through all of the steps again, and the model imports and displays correctly in P3D. Only guess is that the model was initially sitting below the visible terrain surface, or something got corrupted during one of the file conversions. Thanks for all of the input. Now on to developing the building enhancements to the airport.

 

[lionheart]

Congrats! Glad its exporting now.

Hope it goes smoothly.