GMAX Chrashed - Lost the project...

[Guest misho]

Aargh! Is there an utility that would reverse-convert from *.asm to anything that would be readable by GMAX or 3DS MAX?As I was working on a project, GMAX crashed and wasn't even able to emergency-save the the file (hence they ask wether I want GMAX to "attempt" to save the file LOL)The only record of my project that I can use is in the *.asm file that was created as an intermediate file ( I'm tinkering with some reflectivity settings, and I have a switch for intermediate files set in a MakeMDL cfg file)The question is: Can I somehow reverse-convert from *.asm to GMAX? I'll take ANY possibility, I'll even cut-and-paste ASCII vertex and poly data into something that GMAX or 3DS MAX can read...Please help!

[Guest odog]

no auto-bak!?!?!? check the autobak folder and make sure you select ALL FILES, because by default.. they hide. they're in there, Im sure of it.joe

[arno 1]

I have never heard of a tool to import ASM files, so I hope Joe is right. Because else you will have to start from scratch.The only alternative to import the ASM file again would be to convert it to a DXF first. But there is no tool to do that as far as I know (would probably cost you more work then redesigning).

[jonpatch 1]

... bummer. That would suck.In the future, I recommend turning on the gmax "increment on save" function. Every time you save, gmax will save your work under a new file name, incrementing a 2 digit counter, eg. myproject23.gmax. You end up with a plethora of files, but it you never lose much if there's a crash.The bright side is that a clean restart can often result in a better project.Jon

[arno 1]

With GMax 1.0 we had crashes rather often, but now I must say that GMax hardly ever crashes on me. I also have the habbit to press Ctrl-S very often, so I will never loose too much if a crash happens.

[jonpatch 1]

I've only been using gmax since November, but I've found crashes to be rare. And I believe in almost every case I've been presented with the option to save my work first. In the rare cases this didn't occur, like Arno, I save often so never had to go back far.Jon

[Guest misho]

I actually didn't know there is a default auto-bak, so this will at least be a learning experience.Auto-bak is there, but only the last 3 saves, 6 minutes apart. I have since worked on something else and the autobak overwrote it. Thanks anyway for the tip!

[Guest misho]

Good Tip! Thanks!I actually have a good Ctrl-S etiquette :) but this time it corrupted the original file. Fortunately, the project is not large and it will take me a few hours (hopefully) to re-create it!

[Guest misho]

Thanks guys! I had the same experience too, not too many crashes, but once in a while, like this time, even the emergency-save failed, as it somehow saved it corrupted.I have a habit of making components in separate files and then merging them all in an "assembly" file. This time, though, out of my own carelesness, I was adding other components to a component file, and I lost it. That means only that component was lost... well, back to the drawing board...

[Guest Diamond Dave]

You could try 3D Model Converter from http://web.axelero.hu/karpo it says it'll convert FlightSim files, although I haven't managed to get it to work yet, I downloaded it this morning.David

[arno 1]

Hi David,Interesting tool. But I could not really find a FS format in the list (only something like FlightSim DAT file). Have you found more information somewhere else?

[Guest Diamond Dave]

Hi Arno,Sorry but I also drawn a blank on how it works, I was wondering if we should renamed the model or asm file to DAT :-hmmm David

[arno 1]

I just downloaded the tool and tried to read a MDL file and a BGL file. But that did not work.I have not tried the ASM file yet or have not tried renaming as well. But I doubt it is going to work...

[Guest Diamond Dave]

ArnoI tried it with a 3ds file and exported it as a FlightSim (DAT) file and had a look see in Notepad and it contained data in this format:v:1 xyz:-1.454245,5.796875,-1.177234;v:2 xyz:-10.540541,5.796875,-1.177235;v:3 xyz:-10.530409,5.796874,-8.591625;v:4 xyz:-10.413183,5.796874,-9.057140; ********* cut to lower down the list ***********f:26224 rgba:0.000,0.000,1.000,1.000 vecs:13737,13738,13740;f:26225 rgba:0.000,0.000,1.000,1.000 vecs:13736,13737,13740;f:26226 rgba:0.000,0.000,1.000,1.000 vecs:13735,13736,13740;f:26227 rgba:0.000,0.000,1.000,1.000 vecs:13735,13740,13741;I've no idea what kind of program for FS object design uses this kind of data.CheersDavid

[arno 1]

Hi David,I haven't seen that format before. So I guess it is for another flight simulator. It doesn't say it is for MSFS of course :).