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P3D v4.4 MDL support

arno

arno

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Hi all,

I'm working on supporting P3D v4.4 MDL files. They have the added PBR materials. I have also noticed that the MDL files have a new header, so they are probably not backwards compatible.

Now my question is should I make a difference between v4 and v4.4 MDL files when exporting from MCX?

A complicating factor here is that when installing the SDK, the registry only shows one version of the v4 SDK, so I can't differenciate between the v4.4 and older SDK automatically.

Any thoughts would be welcome,
 
Hi Arno,
I guess you should. V4.0 was already a break in compatibility and thus must remain.
From this point of view, 4.4 is a pre-release of 5.0 which will be the next break. Then 4.4 might be replaced by 5.0
Thanks
0.02€
 
Hi Arno,
I think like Alain that this release is the "bêta" of v5 which will be delivered during next year. LM need to break FSX compatibility in order to evoluate.
Why don't name this one v5B for pre-release of the future?
 
Hi Arno, thanks for your work on this.
I think you do need to have support for both 4 and 4.4 at this time. The paths will just have to be set manually.
 
The user will have to set the path manually in that case, because once you installed the v4.4 SDK the registry only contains that sdk. So I can't detect the older ones automatically anymore.
 
Hello...

Thanks Arno, for giving us a chance to share on what should occur and for your ongoing support of MCX along with your other Applications... my 2 cents worth is this:

Since the beginnings of P3D v4.0, the backwards compatibility has been slowly evaporating. I could be wrong but doesn't everyone who has purchased v4.0 and onwards, have the means to upgrade to v4.4 (since this is "step" upgrade). If the answer is yes, then I think the only backwards compatibility within MCX should be the SDKs of previous versions such as P3D v3.x, P3D v2.x and P3Dv1.x (this is what you have done in the past). Maybe, a special application/utility to move models from v4.3 to v4.4 would be simpler, especially given the changes involved (you could then look for the default locations of the SDK in question; not within the registry but the Hard Drive locations - maybe?). Or just have the user locate the specific SDK for P3D v4.3 within options of MCX, if P3D v4.4 has been installed already.

Just my thoughts...
 
i think yes , cus now v4.4has replaced the mdl and X format with new formats
and i think that any mdl that was made by 3DSmax whouldn't work for 4.3
well to be sure we need to test it so if you need someone to test it just ask ;)
 
tgibson said:
Are FSX format aircraft still compatible with P3D 4.4?
Click to expand...

Yes, I think so. It's just that the P3D v4.4 MDL files have an unique header, that they will not work in previous versions. So if you want to use the PBR materials that is for v4.4 only.
 
@arno i'm still a bit confused cus SDK never talk about ground polygons
and i just need to know : can we use PBR materials for those ground polies ? in 4.4
thnx
 
Why not? As long as you use a MDL file for your ground polygons you can use the same material attributes as for a 3D object.

On the other hand, it seems there is no ZBias property for the PBR material, so you would not be able to layer your polygons.
 
:O and how will we make them ? we can't do that without layers X(
does the MDL still have his old proprities ?
and yeah ? in the PBR editor i didn't see the night textures part and many entries we used to manipulate in older fersions of MDL ?!
 
The PBR still has an emissive texture for the night texture. But it is a completely different way of rendering the object, so of course you won't have all the properties of the old material.

Since the ZBias is not there, I guess LM does not yet intend it for ground polygons. Nothing we can do about it for now.
 
how about : instead of layering the textures we just layer the model i mean we put texture2 0.001m above texture1 and texture 3 0.001m above the 2
and try to find the best hight to avoid fleckering ?!
 
I don't think that works, we tried that before in FSX (since there was no ZBias) and that never worked perfect. From a distance you need a bigger spacing than close by.
 
hey i think i have a good idea
so we make the base layer ( asphalt , concert ..... ) with PBR and we put it about some cm above the ground then we just export it as a normal LIB object and we apply curve earth correction and place it
and for the other layers like marks lines cracks ... we use just normal material with Z-Bias and with export with a small modification in altitude and layering
and this must work , I think =)

i'll test it now and keep you tuned :)
 
hey @arno
after i tested the idea of two diffrent materials
i couldn't export (no erros but :
i made a 20 by 20 m rectangle with a concerte PBR material with normal map and dettails ..... and above i made an other rectangle with 0.4m by 20 to be as
a taxi line with satndard P3D material, so i exported from 3DS to MCX as a .X file , no problems i read the file with MCX, checked that section is PBR for the pbr rectangle
then i exported to MDL, and ! here! i reopened the MDL and found that i lost my base PBR rectangle with pbr material and all i got is the texi line :(

Does that mean we can't export two types of material in one object ? for X file there is no problem but for the MDL i can't see my PBR rectangle
hope you answer thnx in advance :)

IMPORTANT EDIT : i tried to convert to MDL using the XtoMDL of the SDK and it worked and i could open the file in MCX but with your MCX and XtoMDL path well setted in the settings i couldn't :(
here is the line i used : XtoMdl /DICT:..\..\bin\modeldef.xml /XMLSAMPLE GP_PBR.X
 
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Hi, thanks for v4.4 pbr on mcx, but it seems that objects can't export with the 'curved earth attachment' with 4.4...
 
arno said:
The PBR still has an emissive texture for the night texture. But it is a completely different way of rendering the object, so of course you won't have all the properties of the old material.

Since the ZBias is not there, I guess LM does not yet intend it for ground polygons. Nothing we can do about it for now.
Click to expand...
Thank you very much for your selfless offer spirit 。I notice a“Decal Order ”attribute in P3D V4.4's SDK document，this can use for ground polygon？ Thanks
无标题.jpg
 
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