What to do with the gmax Driver Setup?

[Whirler]

May I suggest your stupid idiots guide is not covering quite the stupidest of idiots? I just installed gmax12, and the very first thing after registration I see is this gmax Driver Setup window. I have no clue what to do with this?? I am familiar with the terms OpenGL and Direct3D but isn't everything DirectX now??

And who is HEIDI?

The grayed out "custom" radio button won't select. I had a faint hope of finding DirectX there. Wanting to play with Gmax a bit before I get a reply, I chose Direc3D. It seems to be working well.

Next stupid idiot unanswered question. Naturally I played with GMax and drew something. It is a cylinder with a dome on top (like R2 without legs) and has some lighting applied. I decided I wanted to save it and stuff it into FSX just for kicks. But I can't find anything in the File menu that looks like a "completion" step, or a way to 'compile' it, etc. And in your tutorial you left the user hanging. You never told him how to save the plane you created and put it into FSX. So what do I do with this R2 clone I created? What's the next step to making it be a scenery object I can place with, say, SBX or RWY12?

In the Godzone tutorial it looks like the next step would be exporting. Only the problem I am seeing is that there is no listing for exporting as an MDL file, which I guess is what I want to do. Only "plasma*.P3D" format is listed under the Save as type menu for export. So either something is wrong with what I drew, or something is wrong with my gmax installation. I'll have to set this aside until I get a reply here so I know what to do. Thanks. (see below)

Edit - Aha! Plugins are needed! I found that on a different forum by Googling the problem. I suggest you add that to your tutorial too.

 

[n4gix]

Edit - Aha! Plugins are needed! I found that on a different forum by Googling the problem. I suggest you add that to your tutorial too.

Installation and configuration of the FS9 and FSX tools for GMax are in their respective Software Development Kits (SDKs).

 

[Whirler]

I had used the downloaded files last night to install GMax, although I did download the plugins at the time. But I had forgotten about them once I started looking at the program, up until the above problem.

Within the program list on my PC is a listing for the MS SDK there is a single entry which leads to a document in the form of a help file, with information on Core Utilities, Environment, Mission Creator, and SimObject Creation. I guess that's where you meant for me to look. I didn't realize installing the SDK files actually put something in the programs menu. I thought they were all 'background' files needed by programs like SBX and GMax, but not generally accessible as a program themselves.

BTW, in this document it says Gmax is NOT included in FSX Acceleration (contrary to what I read last night in older forum posts) and provides a URL link to get Gmax on turbosquid, which is where I downloaded it. Just in case anyone comes along later in time and follows this thread. Hopefully this info will answer a lot of my questions as I go through it. Thanks for pointing this out, because I didn't know it was here.

 

[mmann]

BTW, in this document it says Gmax is NOT included in FSX Acceleration (contrary to what I read last night in older forum posts) and provides a URL link to get Gmax on turbosquid, which is where I downloaded it.

Note; there was no reason to include GMax with FSX Acceleration since it is included with FSX Deluxe (remember FSX Acceleration is an add-on and not a standalone program). Note that in the FSDeveloper Wiki Installing FSX GMax gamepack (http://www.fsdeveloper.com/wiki/index.php?title=Installing_FSX_GMax_gamepack) the yellow highlighted portion on top that says:

"Before applying any Service Packs, you should copy the GMax installer folder to another location, (outwith SDK folder tree), as applying the SP will delete the GMax installer folder."

This, of course, will not do you much good if you have already installed FSX and the service packs. In this case it would be easiest to obtain GMax from another source (such as TurboSquid).

 

[Whirler]

I should clarify that the installation discs I have are "FSX GOLD edition" which is comprised of "FSX Deluxe + FSX Acceleration". I've got the total package. Gmax is not on these discs. So for this copy of FSX Deluxe, it was not included.

I do have an older copy of FSX Deluxe (which I bought first a few years ago). I can not find any reference to gmax on those discs either. But FreeCommander on Windows 7 seems to like reading them even less than it does the newer FSX Gold discs. I even searched within the CAB files on the discs. No gmax. Good thing I was able to download it.

The only other possibility I can think of is that the Deluxe installation might create the installer for Gmax without ever containing the name or text string "gmax", so under those circumstances it would not be found searching the discs.

 

[beatle]

GMax gets installed as part of the RTM version of the SDK, so the GMax files are contained within the SDK installer on the FSX Deluxe disc (which is either a .MSI file or a .EXE file, and all the SDK related files are located within that installer file).

 

[Whirler]

Thanks for clarifying that. Apparently there is no notification of Gmax being installed when that happens, because I never saw any mention of it on the PC until I installed it from the downloaded files.

I have seen the "RTM" acronym mentioned multiple times next to SDK but have yet to encounter its meaning. What does it stand for?

 

[n4gix]

Thanks for clarifying that. Apparently there is no notification of Gmax being installed when that happens, because I never saw any mention of it on the PC until I installed it from the downloaded files.

I have seen the "RTM" acronym mentioned multiple times next to SDK but have yet to encounter its meaning. What does it stand for?

Just to clarify the information provided already. GMax doesn't actually "get installed" at all...

...what does get "installed" (or more accurately unpacked!) is the GMax installer program and help file(s)!

It's still up to the user to actually RUN the GMax installer to -well- install it.

Also left to the user is the (unstated) task of actually reading the SDK's documentation long enough to find the section on how to set up and configure Max or GMax so that one might go about the task of building then exporting their work to FSX...

RTM = The term "release to manufacturing" or "release to marketing" (both abbreviated RTM, initials also commonly used for the quite different "return to manufacturer" of faulty goods)—also known as "going gold"—is a term used when software is ready for or has been delivered or provided to the customer.*

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_release_life_cycle

 

[Whirler]

Ah. That explains things completely. I am familiar with "RC", as in Windows 7 Release Candidate, but I have never encountered RTM before.

So I am thinking that the reason there is caution, mentioned above, to move one's Gmax installer folder prior to installing service packs is to preserve the ability to actually install Gmax, which I see now doesn't happen by itself.

Thanks!

 

[Tejal Bernardo]

I think you just have to update the folder Fsx_GmaxGamepack, moving them again where you gmax intallation is.and activate/execute Gmax from there, that's all,where is Gmax program must be a folder called "gamepack" and there the Fsx_GmaxGamepack from the Sdk.

 

[n4gix]

So I am thinking that the reason there is caution, mentioned above, to move one's Gmax installer folder prior to installing service packs is to preserve the ability to actually install Gmax, which I see now doesn't happen by itself.

When SP1, SP2, or Acceleration SDKs are installed, step one is the completely DELETE the previous Service Pack...

...hence, if you didn't move the GMax installer to another folder, it will go P O O F ! and disappear.

 

[Whirler]

I think you just have to update the folder Fsx_GmaxGamepack, moving them again where you gmax intallation is.and activate/execute Gmax from there, that's all,where is Gmax program must be a folder called "gamepack" and there the Fsx_GmaxGamepack from the Sdk.

Thanks. I had a first with the email notification I got for your post here. The link that was in the email was WRONG. It kept taking me over to the Basic GMax setup thread instead of this one, so I had to do a search for all my posts to find this thread again. I've never had that happen with email notifications on any forum.

Anyway, I like your signature picture. Reminds me of an animated model I built many years back, called a "Flapjack".

 

[Whirler]

When SP1, SP2, or Acceleration SDKs are installed, step one is the completely DELETE the previous Service Pack...

...hence, if you didn't move the GMax installer to another folder, it will go P O O F ! and disappear.

I wonder why they have you step through all the previous SDK versions like that if they are going to uninstall each previous version? "Something" must get preserved, or it would be pointless, wouldn't it?

At the time I was installing the SDK, I didn't think I was going to be interested in Gmax, so I did not bother to follow their precautions about moving it. I guess that's why I never found any reference to it when I looked recently. But as long as turbosquid has it available, no problems.