CFS2 Objects In FSX

[strikehawk]

Okay, I found some Vietnam era Mike6 craft along with some downed aircrew in rafts and want to try to use them in FSX via AI Boats. How do I go about getting FSX and AI Boats to recognize them if at all? I want to use the life rafts in a couple of SAR flights as they look better for a military rescue than the default objects especially if you can get everyone in MP to sync them at a waypoint, tell the to move forward (drift) and then go looking for the poor souls. As for the Mike boats, a couple of them have flight decks and would look great if you could get a Huey on them and run them in that Vietnam makeover that was released not too long ago.

And.... failing the above does anyone know if that program that turns aircraft and such into static models would work on something from CFS2?

[lazarus]

7701377012



'Nuthin great...but don't say I didn't get you anything for Christmas.:salute:

[strikehawk]

Thanks, this should be fun to hit with a Huey in the Delta this weekend. I'll make sure I get plenty of pics:salute:

[roger-wilco-66]

[...] And.... failing the above does anyone know if that program that turns aircraft and such into static models would work on something from CFS2?

CFS2 has a damage model as part of the mdl structure which has conditional code inside (the cfs2 engine feeds parameters into the mdl file which select the various parts of the model for the rendering of damage conditions, e.g. parts falling off or bullet holes showing). FSX does not understand that conditional coding, that's why these models are generally not compatible.
There are ways to do it though, but this can be quite time consuming, or just pure luck, depending on the software which was used to build the 3d model. Sometimes changing a parameter in the mdl file header with a hex editor works, on others one has to edit the SCASM assembler code to delete the conditions and referenced damage parts.
Also, there are often the usual problems with transparencies and textures / solid colors.

The newer beta versions of MCX can read CFS2 models, but not all of them. If you succeed reading them into MCX, you can edit the textures (convert bmps to dds, fix transparencies, replace solid colors) and save it as a FSX model.

Once you have a clean model, there should be no problem making an AI boat or static scenery object out of the CFS2 object.

Cheers,
Mark