Getting Started

 

Welcome to the Tutorial. The will walk you through converting an aircraft from FS2004 or FS2002 to CFS2. Also on setting the collision bubble size. This will work for model made with FSDS and gMax.

 

Also this will work for anyone wanting to make CFS2 ships as ship MDLs are the same format as aircraft MDLs.

 

For the tutorial I’m showing how to do things the slow way but this will help you catch any mistakes or problems that may come up. You can use the DOSBox Convert.bat that only need user input for collision bubble settings!

 

 

 

Main Tutorial

 

Okay now to the main part. For the tutorial I’m using the Mitsubishi Ki-46 III Dinah Fs9 by Shessi.

 

Mitsubishi Ki-46 III Dinah Fs9 by Shessi

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links.php?catid=205&linkid=20247

 

With the aircraft downloaded I’m going to enter the zip and go the model folder and copy the model.

 

 

Now Paste it into the DOSmdlc 2.0  folder.

 

 

Now I going to rename mitsubishi ki-46 III.mdl to z.mdl Why? Because every things is programmed to look for that file name.

 

 

Now that you have your model in the DOSmdlc 2.0 folder and named Z.mdl find and run the DOSBox FS04 or FS02 to CFS2.

 

 

The model you wish to convert must be in the DOSMdlc 2.0 folder

and named Z.mdl. If Z.mdl is in the DOSMdlc 2.0 folder

Press any key to continue . . .

 

The Z.mdl is already in the folder so hit any key to start!

 

 

At the end of the text you will see a blinking “_” The blink “_” means that MDLC is working. This may take a few minutes so wait tell you see…

 

 

A file named Z.MD2 should be in the DOSmdlc 2.0 folder!

 

If a Z.MD2 was NOT made make sure that you have Z.MDL in the DOSmdlc 2.0 folder 

and re-run DOSBox FS04 or FS02 to CFS2!

 

If Z.mdl was in the DOSmdlc 2.0 folder but no Z.MD2 was made...

 

Run DOSBox Ind FS04 to FS02 and follow instructions!

 

OR

 

The model is CFS2 or older format. Check the model in CFS2.

 

If a file named Z.MD2 is in the DOSmdlc 2.0 folder

DOSBox CFS2 Animation Fix should be ran next!!!

 

You can now close this window.

 

Now check the DOSmdlc 2.0 folder for a Z.MD2. If you do have the Z.MD2 go and start the DOSBox CFS2 Animation Fix.

 

 

At the end of the text you will see a blinking “_” The blink “_” means that MDLC is working. This may take a few minutes and sometimes what seems like days! So be ready to wait and wait tell you see…

 

 

"MDLC normally terminated" should in the text above!

IF "Z.MD2 not found" is shown re-run DOSBox FS04 or FS02 to CFS2!

 

The CFS2_MOD.mdl found in the DOXMdlc folder is 100%

CFS2 usable but will likely have a large collison bubble.

 

DOSBox Collison Size should be ran next!

 

You can now close this window.

 

Doing the collison bubble is a small mess but I can’t fix it. I didn’t make MDLC so there is no other way. Run the DOSBox Collison Size.

 

 

The collison bubble is set in the MDLC.ini that will open next.

The number is put at the end of size_radius= The range is 1 to 16.

 

Basic collison bubble guide.

3-4 for Single engine fighters

5-6 for Twin engine fighters

5-7 for Medium Bombers

8-10 for Heavy Bombers

 

The MDLC.ini will open next. Once you have set the size in the MDLC.ini

come back to this window!

 

Okay the Ki-46 is Medium Bombers sized so put 6 on  size_radius= when MDLC.ini opens.

 

 

Save and close the MDLC.ini. Click on the DOSBox Collison Size window.

 

 

Once you have edited the MDLC.ini you can press any key to start DOSBox!

 

Now hit enter or any other key really…

 

 

 

 

At the end of the text you will see a blinking “_” The blink “_” means that MDLC is working.  Setting the size doesn’t take long so just wait tell it says…

 

"MDLC normally terminated" should in the text above!

A file named CFS2_MO2.MDL should be in the DOSmdlc 2.0 folder!

 

CFS2_MO2.MDL is a CFS2 ready model with the collision bubble set

Copy/move and rename CFS2_MO2.MDL as needed so the aircraft's model.cfg

can load the model!

 

If "MDLC normally terminated" is NOT seen and/or CFS2_MO2.MDL

is NOT found in the DOSmdlc 2.0 folder re-run DOSBox CFS2 Animation Fix!

 

You can now close this window.

 

 

The CFS2_MO2.MDL is the CFS2 model that has everything you have done (converted to CFS2 forum, the animations fixed so they work in CFS2 and now the collision bubble down to size.) Copy it from the DOSmdlc 2.0 folder and Paste the CFS2_MO2.MDL into the Mitsubishi Ki-46 III Dinah model folder.

 

 

 

 Rename CFS2_MO2.MDL to mitsubishi ki-46 III.mdl.

 

That’s it!!  Now go fly. Remember that converted aircraft will likely need a new .air file and .dp but that is up to you!

 

With the mitsubishi ki-46 III it does work good enough “As is” in CFS2 once you drop in the converted model.

 

 

Troubleshooting/Bugs

 

 

If your unable to convert at model. Try loading it into CFS2 as it may already be a CFS2 compatible model. Native FSX are not convertible…

 

The only bug I have ran into is Runtime errors but I have only see this with the original DOSMdlc . During testing of 2.0 I found no Runtime errors and I hope none show up.

 

If you have something else that is not shown find me at 

 

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/member.php?53588-Allen

or

www.sim-outhouse.com and fine user Allen.

 

 I’m active in the CFS2 General Discussion. I will do my best to help but I’m new at this and only have access to Windows 7 so if something is causing things to not work on Win 8 or 10 I may not be able to fix it.

 

 

Batch Files Overview

 

DOSBox FS04 or FS02 to CFS2

This should let you convert any FS04 or FS02 model to CFS2. You will still need to do an Animation and Collison bubble fixes after this.

 

DOSBox CFS2 Animation Fix

 Used to fix model’s animations as FS04/02 animations aren’t quite the same as CFS2.

 

DOSBox Collision Size

Used to fix model’s Collison bubble. The collision bubble is used by CFS2 to know if the aircraft hit something. Most of the time the bubble is too big so this will let you get it down to the right size.

 

DOSBox Convert

Will take FS04 or FS02 models and convert it to CFS2 with all fixes done. Collision bubble size is set at the start than you can just walk away for a bit as no other user input is needed.

 

DOSBox Auto Convert

Just like DOSBox Convert but will skip the user setting the collision bubble size. It will use last collision bubble size setting. Good for those that are building and testing models or ship builders as CFS2 ships don’t use a collision bubble.

 

DOSBox MDLC Command Line

This is here for the advanced users. It will need you to use DOS Command line. This will be needed if you need to convert an .mdl or .bgl to SCASM for editing.  Some aircraft need to be converted to a .bgl before Model Converter X will import them.

 

All MDLC Commands are listed on DOSBox start. DOSBox follows the 8.3 filename rule (eight character in the name and 3 for the file extension) so if you want to convert scenery_fs_props.bgl to SCASM for editing you will need to shorten the name to some like scenery.bgl than do the converting.