Gmax to Shape Editor

[Guest Chris Wallace]

You just missed the show by a couple of minutes, Alex...tsk tsk tsk that's what you get for going out and drinking beer!Anyway, here are some screenshots showing the results of a quick converter I've put together to convert .BGL files to .S3D. The BGL files are generated by the FS2002 gamepack exporter for Gmax. The model is the sample "Building" model (New York New York hotel in Las Vegas). So basically this provides a means for anybody with FS2002 or FS2004 to create high quality static models for Fly! II.Here is the original scene in Gmax:http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/107427.jpgHere is the imported S3D in the Shape Editor with a 256x256 texture cram:http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/107428.jpgAnd here again with an extravagant 1024x1024 texture cram:http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/107429.jpgThe pond looks wierd because the texture is missing (in both Gmax and the shape editor) and I'm using a default pink texture.I'll want to check this out with some more models before uploading, if anybody has any gmax static models you can send me to test with, that'd be very useful.Chris WallaceOttawa, Canada

[Guest Chris Wallace]

BTW, I am also working on a converter for animated aircraft models exported from Gmax into .MDL files. A lot of the code is common so I wanted to get the easier static model converter done first. But stay tuned, I'll post screenshots when I've managed to coerce one of the sample aircraft into a working S3D...Chris WallaceOttawa, Canada

[Guest laurentC]

Hi Chris,MDL files were used in the Fly!1 editor, right ? Are they still used with Fly!II or do we need another converter to fill the gap ?Cheers,laurentC

[Guest danieletona]

Hi Chris,very interesting and a great job.Maintain us to the current one of the developments.Dan

[Guest detector]

Chris,If you want to try one or two of these gmax models, no problem. :-) http://www.avsim.com/hangar/fly/josve/hpag...rojectsfs9.html

[Guest tonyc]

Keep it up , Chris.tony

[Guest tonyc]

I don't think so, Laurent. There was an mdl to dxf converter, I believe...tony

[Guest Chris Wallace]

Laurent,I don't think MDL files were used in Fly! 1, not that I recall anyway. The interchange format between 3DS Max and the editor was still S3D, and the final model format was BIN. In any case, these MDL files are purely MSFS-centric, they have essentially the same contents as BGL files but with a different header.Chris WallaceOttawa, Canada

[Guest Chris Wallace]

Hey Andrew,Yup, that's exactly what I was thinking. Can you send me the .gmax or BGL files, or are they linked somewhere I'm not looking?Thanks,Chris WallaceOttawa, Canada

[Guest Fly II Pilot]

Chris,I was literally falling asleep and almost hit the keyboard twice... Can you imagine trying to explain to the ER triage nurse that I didn't intentionally embed the G H and J keys in my brain, or that I broke my nose with a keyboard? ;-)Fantastic job... as usual... ;-)Take care,http://www.avsim.com/hangar/fly/dfdg/banneraa.jpg

[Guest detector]

OK, ready now, Chris!http://www.avsim.com/hangar/fly/josve/hpage/files/Its the file gtest_a.zip, a huge suspension bridge with the gmax .tga (I had to resize it to 256x256 because of my pathetic dial-up), and if you like, a "bridge under construction" scenery, varbro_uc.zip.Btw feel free to use both the models in FS (I incuded the DXT1 textures) if you got it, but they won`t look to good without the custom landclass, mesh and roads I use. :+

[Guest Chris Wallace]

Andrew,There appear to be significant differences between the BGL files that are in the .zip, and the ones I've been working with that were exported using the FS2K2 gmax gamepack. I'll try to figure out the additional details, but in the meantime could you send the original gmax files to start with? Thanks.Chris WallaceOttawa, Canada

[Guest detector]

Chris,OK, my models are FS2004 gamepack only. I uploaded a new file, "f2gmax", at the same place, it contains two bridge models.