Considering the scare we had last year concerning GMax. Will we be using GMax for FSX.It would be nice to know if a long term solution has been decided on.

I'd like to know as well. If not, I'd rather start learning something else. No sense in putting all these man hours learning it and creating an airport just to start all over. It's a hard program at first! :) But I'm getting the hang of it.

Gmax is a sub-version (very limited one) of 3dstudio max by Discreet with some engine export enhancements for FS (and other games - in theory).As far as I know Discreet dropped support for Gmax and all export technology around it and it is no longer developed.I never did any scenery for FS, but I suspect that you can use 3DStudio Max for it as well. Only problem is that it costs around 5000$.

I would think though fs9 planes would be compatable with fsx? So if they are then G-max even though it isn't supported anymore would still be in use of making aircraft. Just my thoughts.

yes, that's the logical conclusion given Microsoft's standing policy of backwards compatibility with previous versions.

The whole "Gmax" issue is still being sorted by the development team and we'll know something as soon as they make a concrete decision. I wouldn't speculate just yet...Best,Owen

>I would think though fs9 planes would be compatable with fsx?> So if they are then G-max even though it isn't supported>anymore would still be in use of making aircraft. Just my>thoughts.>Definitely, meshes of planes (external models) should be compatibile in one way or another, no matter what external program is used to make them (as pure polygon data is pretty trivial to move between applications, there is a bit of trouble with animation though), it's only a matter of conversion to properiatry engine format. You can make polygonal models and UV map them in practicaly any application (and there are few freeware good ones) and it's a matter of writing a converter to properiatry FSX format, hopefully MS will release format sepcifications (I have plans to make some planes for FSX after hours just for fun ;) )

ISTM that if there is a change to the mdl format in FSX, resulting in a new makemdl, then the 3d authoring tool (whatever it is) would have to generate models, materials, and textures that are compatible. If FS9 makemdl still works, then GMax will continue, but presumably FS9 models won't be as nice as FSX models.scott s..

There seems to be a bit of misconception about what the precise bottleneck in the GMax => .MDL pipeline is, and how Autodesk's decision to drop support for GMax is the proximate cause of the bottleneck.MakeMDL.exe reads .X file input and compiles the finished .MDL file.Default a/c for FS are created with Max7 or Max8 and exported from that platform to .X file(s) using the plugin distributed in the DirectX SDK.However, for GMax content, MS had a license from Discreet to create and distribute an export plugin (FSModelExp.dle) for the sole purpose of taking GMax content and exporting to .X file format.In summary then, GMax is not a problem, except for those who can't obtain a registration after Autodesk finally pulls the plug. GMax will continue to merrily hum along and produce mesh.MakeMDL.exe is not a problem, since it is an MS owned program that they'll have to update for FSX's new features anyway.The real problem is that - barring any sort of accomodation/agreement - MS cannot legally update the export plugin (FSModelExp.dle) needed to convert GMax content to .X file format... ;)However, for those who have FS9, the FSModelExp.dle will always be available, and will continue to export GMax content to .X file(s) as always, but of course won't be able to exploit the new FSX features...

There is a lot of plugins for pretty much every 3d app out here which can export .x files (some are better some are worse quality though). Personally I don't use 3dsmax nor gmax ( ;) ) in my work (not FS related), but I can export meshes as .x, as soon as I have some time I am going to try it with FS9 and see what happens, just out of curiosity. Thanks for info and insight about format/conversion.