G'day to everyone.

First I wish to thank everyone who provides advice, insights and assistance to those of us willing to dig into things and see what we can achieve. Without community support this hobby would be blah...

Second, I was reminded that this forum is the place to share experiences and insights with importing older models into MSFS -- I had been posting over in the Screenshot forum and was gently reminded to post here..

So, here's what I offered to others by way of my own experiences and insights:



As I've been importing some of my favorite models into MSFS, I keep discovering new challenges and things to try and understand. It seems that for every 5 I successfully bring in to the game, 5 more present odd results.

Note: Please understand that I first wish to get models into the game and flying reasonably well before tackling the more difficult challenge of configuring the cockpits.




At this point I can describe several recurring typical issues and some insights:




  1. A model converts in but has several areas which are all white (and which seem to defy any effort at alpha channel editing or texture manipulation and so I suspect must be something hard-coded in the model itself -- though still trying to understand and overcome this issue).
  2. A model converts in but acts squirrely when one attempts to fly it in the game. My temporary fix (as is the case with the above KC-97) is to replace the air file with one from another similar model which is behaving properly in the game -- an old trick well known to many here I'm sure from previous versions of the game).
  3. My discovery that one can simply use a place holder for either panel or sound folders [i.e., create a folder, add a blank panel.cfg or sound.cfg] allows one to bring the model in and see how things look/act more easily. I also do this when I see that a panel requires DLL (which are not accepted by new game and prevent models from being successfully imported). I also try to avoid importing useless gauges and panels that require too much effort to repair afterwards.
  4. Before converting, make sure to edit any changes you wish to make in the aircraft.cfg [i.e., editing information] before importing. saves frustrations afterwards.





I'm sure I've forgotten something and I will also discover new challenges but I encourage anyone to begin experimenting. I've enjoyed seeing what I can bring forward for my own enjoyment -- especially my love of vehicles and ships for further explorations of the beautiful 'world simulator' that FS has now become!

Just wanted to contribute in some small way to the growing knowledge base here.




Thank you Asobo and Microsoft for this wonderful game.


Cheers


KevinB