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FSX New Computer, Max9 Problem...

n4gix

n4gix

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I bought a new computer Saturday to replace my ancient development rig here in my office. It took most of yesterday to get the "essential tools" installed, including FSXA, FSXA_SDK, Photoshop CS8, DXTBMP, etc.

Just before going to bed last night, I copied all of my GMax and Max project folders across the network (14 hours!).

Unlike my experiences a few years ago with getting Max9 to "cooperate" with the FSX Tools, everything went perfectly until trying to export from Max9...

Now I did make the two required entries in Max's plugin.ini file C:\Users\Bill\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsmax\9 - 32bit\enu\plugin.ini

Code: 
[Directories]
Additional MAX plug-ins=C:\Autodesk\3dsMax9\PlugIns\
New Entry=E:\FSX_SDK\SDK\Environment Kit\Modeling SDK\3DSM9\Plugins\
New Entry1=E:\FSX_SDK\SDK\Environment Kit\Modeling SDK\bin\

FSX Tools load just fine, but for some reason when I try to export .x files, I get an error message that modeldef.xml cannot be found in the ..\3DSM9\Plugins\ path. Well of course not since it's supposed to be in the ..\bin folder!

Just as a test I did place a copy of modeldef.xml in the ..\3DSM9\Plugins\ folder, and the export completed normally, but this not the "solution!"

Somehow on my "old" dev machine I had done "something" that allowed Max9 to find the modeldef.xml file in the correct ..\bin folder (which is where GMax needs it to be as well), but...

...I can't remember just what it was I had done! :o

Does anyone else remember? :D
 
Are you using your shortcut on the SendTo menu? Perhaps the DICT section of that shortcut needs editing to find modeldef.xml in the ..\bin folder.
 
hairyspin said:
Are you using your shortcut on the SendTo menu? Perhaps the DICT section of that shortcut needs editing to find modeldef.xml in the ..\bin folder.
Click to expand...

Good thought, but the problem occurs when using the export .dle from Max itself to create the .x and .xanim files.

Compiling via the SendTo shortcut works just fine since I'd already copy/pasted/edited it for the new 'puter.

Just as an aside, this new 'puter is WICKEDLY overpowered for a mere "development" machine:

  1. Intel i7-3770 3.4 GHz 8m 1155
  2. 16 GB DDR3 PC3-12800 1600MHz DDR
  3. Dual Radeon HD 7770 1GB DDR5 PCIe (SLI)
  4. 850 watt ThermalTake 80+ modular power supply
  5. CoolIT ECO II liquid cooling
  6. Win7 Professional 64bit SP1

OTOH, I should be able to have Max9, Photoshop and FSXA open at the same time without running out of physical memory or having to use the Pagefile to swap stuff out! :D
 
Max's Customize/Configure System Paths, 3rd-party plug-ins tab?

edit: now you're just bragging! I'm jealous...
 
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hairyspin said:
Max's Customize/Configure System Paths, 3rd-party plug-ins tab?

edit: now you're just bragging! I'm jealous...
Click to expand...

And I'm poorer by $1499.00 + tax!

Um, in my original post:
Now I did make the two required entries in Max's plugin.ini file C:\Users\Bill\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsmax\9 - 32bit\enu\plugin.ini
Click to expand...

Thanks for playing though! :cool:

I do wish that Win7 wasn't so 'locked' to one motherboard though, otherwise I'd swap the HD's of the new dev machine and the current flightsim machine! This new one is significantly faster than my primary flightsim rig. Oh, adding insult to injury, a few days ago I discovered that the boot sector of my backup flightsim machine went 'poof' (no, I don't mean it turned gay!). I can still access the data though by dropping the HD into my new BlackX dual port HD device.
 
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This is a complete shot in the dark which most likely won't work, but maybe you could try switching New Entry and New Entry1 paths.

Everything else looks to be in order.
 
Knew I'd seen this somewhere, is this what you're looking for Bill? (Registry entry....)
 
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I had this exact same issue with the Prepared SDK, I never managed to get it working, so I went back to the FSX SDK and all works fine now. Sorry I can't be any help to resolve this problem.

Sent from my U8815 using Tapatalk 2
 
Just a crazy thought.

Have you added the new entry via configure system paths or by just manually editing the ini file?

If not try to add the path via the configure system paths and then edit the ini file to add the remaining \PlugIns\ part.

Using Max 2008 with the 3DSM9 FSX SDK and don't need the \FSX_SDK\SDK\Environment Kit\Modeling SDK\bin\ entry for the exporter to work.
 
hairyspin said:
Knew I'd seen this somewhere, is this what you're looking for Bill? (Registry entry....)
Click to expand...

I read that post of mine yesterday (from another thread). Oddly enough though, apparently Win7 does not even use that Registry entry... :eek:

On the other hand though, even though I still do NOT remember what I had to edit in the maxscripts, I had a brainstorm and simply copy/pasted both the ..\3DSM7 and ..\3DSM9 folders from my "old dev machine" to my "new dev machine..."

...and now everything works as expected. Thus proving to me that the change I made to at least one of the scripts was what fixed the problem of the export module finding the ..\bin\modeldef.xml file. :cool:
 
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