fsedit questions

[matthew954]

I have spent my entire evening trying to open one of my 3ds max meshes in the fsedit aircraft creator.  I have the model in an .mdl format but when I look for the model in the open directory I can't find it.  If someone can help me I'll appreciate it.

[d0mokun]

as far as i know FSEdit is a program for fine tuning Flight dynamics and the such.. not a 3d model editor? Try opening an *.air or *.cfg file.
is it the microsoft fsedit that comes with 2002?

dano  8)

[matthew954]

No it is the fsedit program that comes with fs2004

[Felix/FFDS]

In either case, unless you do the file hierarchy manually, FSEdit allows you to "set up" the new aircraft's folders, and set a base from which to tune your specific model.

HOWEVER......

you will NOT see a "model" folder and file in FSEdit, and you have to open the aircraft.cfg model.cfg to rename the *.mdl reference file from "NOMODEL" to your model's name.

Basically, FSEdit creates the "shell" from where you have to copy your model *.MDL file into the MODEL folder.

The NOMODEL.MDL created by FSEdit is a no-geometry - i.e. invisible - model.

[matthew954]

Well how do I make the config and air files.

[d0mokun]

they are already made for you by fsedit.. open them in notepad and edit them.
have you ever installed a repaint to an aircraft?

dan.

[Dan]

If you mean how to edit the *.Air / Aircraft.cfg then get AirEd http://members.dsl-only.net/~eagle/#statement for the Air and use windows notepad for all *.cfg files. AirEd is the best ed around IMHO.
Dan G  ;)

[matthew954]

No, this is my first try at modeling for anything besides a first person shooter.

[d0mokun]

ok well, i'd take a look at a few tutorials that are on felix's website- the address is in his signature. to model you'll need gmax, from www.discreet.com , and the fs2004\2002 gamepack from microsoft insider (theres a link in this forum i think).
which FPS did you model for? I used to  be a half-life modeller on a ww2 project, "the gate", and i did some other work too.

dano.

[Felix/FFDS]

something else popped in...

WHAT mdl format and how did you get your 3DSMax mesh to the mdl format?

From 3DSMax, unless you converted to a direct X file and used makemdl.exe directly on the *.x file, your MDL format is not recognized by flight simulator.

[matthew954]

Well I had imported the max mesh into gmax and then I had exported it into a .mdl format.

[Felix/FFDS]

Well I had imported the max mesh into gmax and then I had exported it into a .mdl format.

Thanks, I just wanted to get clear in my mind that you hadn't exported, say, to a quake MDL format or some such.   (all MDLs are not created alike)

[Dusty019]

I would also highly recommend all the SDK's from:

www.microsoft.com/games/flightsimulator ... ds_sdk.asp

It took me a while to understand all the relationships between each of the files.

I definitely recommend the Aircraft Containers SDK and FSEdit SDK.

Good luck.