Gmax Aficionados,Some Help?

[dvslats]

Hi All,

I'm in the process of trying to fix the size and radius issues with the hangers put out by xavierb.
It is similar to the bug in the gary20 objects fixed by Pen32win. Here.

And here.

After taking the better part of four hours, I've finally gotten them into Gmax.

View attachment 8832

Where I need help now please, is getting the object back into a .bgl from Gmax.
The Gmax I'm using is from my Fs 2002 install, if that's any help. Yes, it's a legal version.

This does sound lazy of me, but one gets a bit after all the previous searching and reading to get this far.

My huge thanks to anyone that can help me from this point

Thanks, Dv

 

[Blood_Hawk23]

Hi All,

I'm in the process of trying to fix the size and radius issues with the hangers put out by xavierb.
It is similar to the bug in the gary20 objects fixed by Pen32win. Here.

And here.

After taking the better part of four hours, I've finally gotten them into Gmax.

View attachment 8832

Where I need help now please, is getting the object back into a .bgl from Gmax.
The Gmax I'm using is from my Fs 2002 install, if that's any help. Yes, it's a legal version.

This does sound lazy of me, but one gets a bit after all the previous searching and reading to get this far.

My huge thanks to anyone that can help me from this point

Thanks, Dv

Here is what you need..

Allen's bat files
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...id=49&id=16622
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...id=49&id=16620

you will just need the one for FS2002.

Allen has very good instructions with it. Did you extract the damage model too? If not you will need that to complete the model.

for that take a look at these.
Robert John's old to new models
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...tid=49&id=4073
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...tid=49&id=4075
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...tid=49&id=3761

once you have both models and are happy with how it is in GMax you will export them as a "flightsim .BGL". If you have Allen's CFS2_Exploting_Objs_Using_FS2002 then export it to that folder. name it as Allen has it in his instructions. Then do the same for the damage model.

Allen's bat files will walk you through the rest.

To get the damage model, import it into modelconverterX. when you get the window that says 24 in one box and 0 in the other, change the 0 to 32767 then hit OK. this will bring up the damage model which you can export as a 3ds object. from there import it in to gmax. you will need the textures in 256 format for them to show in gmax.

getting the model set in GMax is the hardest part. the rest is easy - ish.

Give that a try and let us know. you can pm Allen, Robert John or myself if you need help. Start with Allen as RJ might be busy and I still have one more nite of work.

Till Later,
John

 

[dvslats]

Hi John,

Thank you for posting those links.

Looks like Allen's CFS2_Exploting_Objs.zip is the ticket.
I missed that one in my hunt.

Now it's time for a sleep cycle.

Appreciate the Help,
Dave

 

[Blood_Hawk23]

No problem Dave.

So what do you have to do to fix the issue?

Oh I forgot to mention, if there is no damage model then use the same model or make a box underground and use that. remember to give it the correct LOD_ tag and add the material. No need for textures as you might guess.

 

[Allen]

Also for the damage left behind you may need a Zbias setting if the damage is flat plane close to the ground. I use Zbias_1_Damage. The zbias is added in the material editor. I make the damage plane 0.003 or 1 inch off of the ground. This should stop any flickering.

 

[dvslats]

So what do you have to do to fix the issue?

Hi John,
I'm going to attempt what Pen32win had done.

I forgot a very old lesson. Put simply when you get a model out of gmax you look at the 0.asm file to find the radius in meters.
This number is used in the SCASM SIZE line which tells CFS2 how much space the object occupies. Now, it measures this along the longest axis of the object....BUT.. If you took a protractor and put the point in the center and the scribe at the edge of the Square/Rectangle then spun the compass, what happens? You cut off the corners.
This is what has happened where you see buildings prematurely disappear from the edge of you screen or the opposite, pop into view. You've told CFS2 this object has X Radius but the corners extend beyond that radius so CFS2 says "Stop displaying that object" or "Display this object now" even though the corner(s) should have displayed already. The funny thing is this only seems to happen to objects with a radius of >20m.

Tried fixing the bgl size in scasm/mdlc first but, no joy. These object show up as TexPolys in the SCA file so they seem to be put together with Fs98 coding.
To the best of my knowledge, objects done in Gmax are way more efficient then the older TexPolys types plus I need that 0 asm file.

Also some of them are off center to the indicator when loaded in the MB. That also creates issues when displayed according to Pen.

Going to another topic, I loaded this .bgl using ModelConverterX 1.3 as a Wavefront OBJ using a script suggested by Arno at Fsdeveloprers.
I did get the model and the damage model. Is this the way to go for CFS2?
Seems like everything is there, including textures. I'm not sure at the moment. This is uncharted territory for me.

And thank you Allen for that nugget about the Zbias. Lots to learn here.

Well, nothing is going to get done with me sitting here and typing. Off to adventure land...

Thanks Guys,
Dave

 

[Allen]

I norm dump the norm model and lods as 3ds. (same with damage) and import (merge with current). .3ds is not the best since it has the 8.3 filename set up the means you need to reload textues in gMax if the texture name was larger than 8 characters long (not including file ext.) Also smoothing and animations are lost.

 

[Blood_Hawk23]

Dave,

Sounds to me your on track. I'd go ahead and compile the model. Then give it a test run. remember to have the DP named the same as the model unless your using the original.

 

[dvslats]

Greets John & Allen,

Well, finally compiled a bgl thru Gmax. Looks successful so far. There's no more disappearing edges.
Still needs some more testing for the unknown and unseen.

The only item I wasn't able to get were the textures on the damage lod. So in the material it's set to a charcoal color in RGB.

View attachment 8899

Really wanted to say Thanks to the both of you for helping me get his far. I was ready to throw in the towel several times during this adventure.

Cheerz, Dave

 

[Blood_Hawk23]

Greets John & Allen,

Well, finally compiled a bgl thru Gmax. Looks successful so far. There's no more disappearing edges.
Still needs some more testing for the unknown and unseen.

The only item I wasn't able to get were the textures on the damage lod. So in the material it's set to a charcoal color in RGB.

View attachment 8899

Really wanted to say Thanks to the both of you for helping me get his far. I was ready to throw in the towel several times during this adventure.

Cheerz, Dave

Dave,

Looks great man.

In modelconvertx it will give you the textures used on the model. You can check that and see what he used.

 

[dvslats]

Dave,

Looks great man.

In modelconvertx it will give you the textures used on the model. You can check that and see what he used.

Hey John, Thanks.

Did use modelconvertx to get the OBJ file plus the texture. Strange thing is it didn't show up in the bgl.

In Gmax the damage model showed with the correct texture but wasn't there after it compiled. Made a sca of the finished bgl afterwards and thats when I noticed it. Material, yes,
TextureList, nada. Ok for the normal model though.

Pretty sure it has to do with beginners inexperience.
Think I'll try getting a 3ds file as Allen suggested and see how that goes. It's kinda cool playing around in Gmax. Pretty powerful piece of software. Lots of goodies to learn about.

We'll see how it goes.
Dv

Edit: Did the 3ds route. Guess what? Everything came out perfect.

View attachment 8926

So tell me then, why didn't I listen to you guys in the first place?

Seriously though, the first time MCX made a 3ds there were errors in the log about not loading or saving textures. That's what headed me towards using an OBJ file. No errors.
Live and learn strikes again.