Twin Otter and night lighting questions.

[Guest]

I have recently been using Eric Dantes' Twin Otter model which I found very good. I fly using the VC only where ever possible and the one for this freeware aircraft is very good. Despite liking this aircraft a lot I decided to buy the LAGO Twin Otter. The VC is a real mixed bag - The VC panel is very good, 3x1024s with some great gauge work, but some parts of the VC appear completely untextured or are messily textured, which I really can't understand given that this is a payware aircraft.So I have a few questions about making modifications:1: Is it possible for me to import the model into GMax (the external mesh has lots of tears as well as the badly textured interior)?2: If not, is there any way I can change the mesh/re-map the textures?3: The night lighting is really bad in the payware, default fs2002 pink light. How can I add self luminosity to the gauges and add a new lighting effect for the entire VC. In Eric Dantes' model this appears to be a new texture for the night VC.I work as a senior artist for a games company so I know Max 4 and photoshop 7 inside out (but have never tried GMax). I have only been using FS2002 for a few months and have no experience editing the aircraft at all(except for texture changes).Any help would be very much appreciated,Cheers,Rob(I do realise that in modifying other peoples work I won't be able to release my final result.)

[Guest]

>So I have a few questions about making modifications: >>1: Is it possible for me to import the model into GMax (the >external mesh has lots of tears as well as the badly >textured interior)?Fortunately, no. There is curently no way to 'decompile' the .mdl and import into GMax or FSDS2. There is a great concern that the author of a payware program will include this form of export into a later revision of his program, but at this moment that is sheer speculation.>2: If not, is there any way I can change the mesh/re-map the >textures? Unfortunately, no there is not a way to remap the textures, since that depends on having the model loaded into the design program (GMax or FSDS2) so that the individual polygons (triangles) may be mapped using UVW coordinates. UVW coordinates are 'mapped' to corresponding XYZ coordinates on the original model; this is how FS2k2's rendering engine knows where to put each pixel on the individual bitmaps.>3: The night lighting is really bad in the payware, default >fs2002 pink light. How can I add self luminosity to the >gauges and add a new lighting effect for the entire VC. In >Eric Dantes' model this appears to be a new texture for the >night VC.Here, you might have more flexibility. Although you cannot change the 'payware' gauges (since they are likely compiled .dll files). If any of them are in XML format you easiliy have the ability to modify them at will, using nothing more that WinZip to extract the elements of the .CAB file, notepad.exe to edit/rewrite the .xml commands, and a paint program to edit/redraw the bitmaps.Also, you are free to simply replace the 'payware' gauges with those of the 'freeware' equivalent by simply editing the panel.cfg file, as long as you stay within the boundaries imposed by the VC mapping (which you cannot change).

[Guest]

Thanks for the help - I guess I'm going to have a lot more work than I thought if I want to get my ideal aircraft!Cheers,Rob