Xplane Aircraft To FSX

[pilotnick1053]

Hi,
I have aquired source files of Xplane 9 and 10 Zenair 750 and 650. I am wondering how to open this in gmax etc to start the conversion? It is in blender and gimp files what ever that is?

[N2056]

Blender is an open-source 3d modeling program. It is free, but it has no direct export to FSX that I am aware of. I did a bit of research to see if there was a direct way to go from Blender -> Gmax. I could not find anything that did not require an intermediate step involving 3dsMax that resulted in a Gmax useable file. Unfortunately, unless you have some solid experience in Gmax that file is going to be way over your head in regards to what needs to be done with it to put it in FSX. It's really not what I would consider a "beginner's project". That said, the design itself is fairly easy in terms of shapes. There also appears to be plenty of reference material available. My suggestion would be to take a shot at building your own model!

[Allen]

Model Converter X says it can import the X-Plane .obj format and save things in FSX MDL format. I never done importing of any thing but FS2000, CFS2 FS2002 and FS2004 MDLs and BGLs objects so I can't say how well it will work for X-Plane or save in FSX MDL format since I deal with CFS2.

I do know once you get a object imported into Model Converter X you can save it as a 3DS Max object (You must remove all of the LODs but for the one you want as 3DS dosn't seem to support LODs) that gMax can import. However all of the parts are give name like AJ_##.# plus Animations and smoothing are lost as well.

I've used 3DS format to rebuild a number of stock CFS2 aircraft into other variation (CFS2 A6M2 Zero into a A6M2-N Rufe float plane etc.) in gMax just fine.

You can get Model Converter X here http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/downloads.php?do=file&id=83 If you need some help with it let me know. I do know from looking around that you will need to go to the "Option" of Model Converter X and tell it were your makemdl.exe is so that it can write .MDL files (in your case FSX .MDLs.)