Hello allI have a large collection of superb payware and freeware FS2004 aircraft which I no longer fly because I am concentrating on learning to fly just a few. However they are beautiful models and I would dearly love to have them permanently parked in specific places (not necessarily at a pre-defined gate) at several airports that I frequent. Ideally, I would like to convert them into scenery objects with little or no external visual quality loss. I would then be able to place the BGL wherever I wanted.Has anyone got any suggestions how I might approach this objective?Thanks in advanceDave

Hmmm.........don't know of a way to do it as a scenery object, but it is "possible" to do it as an AI plane.Just make some flightplans for these planes, at the airport of your choice, HOWEVER, I believe that it would drag your framerates down to a crawl whichever way you do itDan.

HiUsing payware/freeware high polygon models as static aircraft would seriously degrade your FPS to near nothing. You really need to use low polygon LOD AI models if your objective could be completed as these do not adversely affect framrates at all.

There is a program that converts the *.mdl file into a *.bgl called... are you ready?.....MdltoBgl.....and it should be avialable here:http://avsim.com/hangar/utils/mdltobgl/id45.htmA bit of a note before you dash off, though.Unless there has been some drastic revision, aircraft made prior to FS2002 work best since the program has difficulty dealing with the new Gmax planes and /or their bells and whistles. Also keep in mind that the simpler the model, the easier it will be on potential frame rate.

The whole point is not to make them AI models because of the framerate hit. AI models also are limited by the positions of the gates available in the afcad file. I want to place my "aircraft scenery" freely anywhere. I was hoping that someone, somewhere , might have had a similar yearning and had found a solution.Unfortunately the MDLtoBGL program doesn't work too well with GMAX models - I wish it did since it's exactly the sort of thing I am looking for. Thanks GCBarni anyway :-)Anyone else with any ideas?Dave

>The whole point is not to make them AI models because of the>framerate hitMakes zero difference if they are AI or static scenery, you will still get the same framerate hitDan.

I was looking like you to populate some airfields with static(not AI) aircraft. As you say - mdltobgl doesn't like GMAx stuff - in the end I decided to use FS98/2002 aircraft as the conversion works pretty much every time with those.I won't go so far as to say that all are acceptable but - with a bit of searching around for FS98/2000 aircraft to convert I managed to find quite a few that produced quite good static models- this was all military aircraft -I think you'll find a far wider choice if it's civil you're after.Dave

Hi,It's very simple to create a "new livery" for your planes and use them only for your AI (static) scenery. Make the parking code something like XXX (in both the AFCAD parking spot and the aircraft.cfg file), and that plane will park there all the time. If you don't include a taxiway leading to that parking place, the plane will never actually depart - just disappear at departure time. If you make the plan a WEEK plan that only flies somewhere else once a week in the middle of the night (and then right back), then you will never see it anywhere except it's parking place.This parking spot can then be moved in AFCAD at your whim, much easier than if it were a scenery object.Hope this helps,--Tom GibsonCal Classic Propliner Page: http://www.calclassic.comFreeflight Design Shop: http://www.freeflightdesign.comDrop by! ___x_x_(")_x_x___

Thanks for that Tom. I had been thinking along the same lines but had not got to the idea of a weekly flight plan with one flight in the middle of the night. Excellent!!

Thank you Tom, I think this is the way to go.Dan, if I remove all the textures that make up the 2D/3D/ and other internal views, surely this will lower the frame rate hit?GreetingsDave

The thing that makes the fps hit is the complexity of the model, even if you remove the textures, I believe the fps hit will still be very large, but you may as well try it none the lessDan.