Has anyone made a plane for X-P9?

[Lionheart]

Hey guys,

Just wondering if anyone here has made or converted a plane to XP9 yet?

When I am finished with the Kodiak, I would like to convert one over and check it out. It would be interesting to hear if any Gmaxers are getting birds into XP9.




Bill

[txnetcop]

Bill once the guys at X-Plane have purchased one of your conversions you will be a very popular man in X-Plane. Looking forward to your conversion.
Ted

Warming up my credit card for your Kodiak.

[Boomer]

Bill,

I believe you are gonna have a problem with gMax models.

The process for putting a plane in XP (this is top level) is to either create in in Plane Maker & then fly away or you can create a plane in another program (this is for the physical model only) & import it into Blender & then export it as an acf.

I made a rubber band powered glider as a test subject with full anims in Max & was able to export it as a 3ds & then import into blender & then export it for XP.

Then you have to go into plane maker & create the aircraft anyway but make the model invisible. The purpose of this as far as I can determine & admittedly I havent dug as deep as I should is that XP uses the physical model from plane maker to determine the flying characteristics of the aircraft.

I believe that I read somewhere it is possible to create a doc that is similar to our airfile but havent tried it yet.

So to answer your question, so long as you can convert your mesh into a file that Blender recognizes you are golden.

There were some funky file extensions that it supports as well as the more common 3ds & obj.

Hope this helps or at least doenst confuse you more LOL

[spotlope]

Seems like there's a real opportunity here, Bill. I've been researching freeware and payware aircraft for XP, and have been highly unimpressed by what I found. The bar, it seems, is low, low, low - at least graphically. These guys are drooling over planes that are barely up to FS8 standards. They need someone like you to school 'em a little.

[JimC1702]

That's for sure. I'm hoping that, if FSX is truly the end for MS flight sim products, that some of the 3rd party developers will turn to X-Plane and provide the same type of quality we've come to expect from them.

Jim

[Lionheart]

Seems like there's a real opportunity here, Bill. I've been researching freeware and payware aircraft for XP, and have been highly unimpressed by what I found. The bar, it seems, is low, low, low - at least graphically. These guys are drooling over planes that are barely up to FS8 standards. They need someone like you to school 'em a little.

And they need your scenery man! Imagine Plum Island in XP9!

[Lionheart]

Bill,

I believe you are gonna have a problem with gMax models.

The process for putting a plane in XP (this is top level) is to either create in in Plane Maker & then fly away or you can create a plane in another program (this is for the physical model only) & import it into Blender & then export it as an acf.

I made a rubber band powered glider as a test subject with full anims in Max & was able to export it as a 3ds & then import into blender & then export it for XP.

Then you have to go into plane maker & create the aircraft anyway but make the model invisible. The purpose of this as far as I can determine & admittedly I havent dug as deep as I should is that XP uses the physical model from plane maker to determine the flying characteristics of the aircraft.

I believe that I read somewhere it is possible to create a doc that is similar to our airfile but havent tried it yet.

So to answer your question, so long as you can convert your mesh into a file that Blender recognizes you are golden.

There were some funky file extensions that it supports as well as the more common 3ds & obj.

Hope this helps or at least doenst confuse you more LOL

Hey Boomer,

I got this first hand from the gentleman that recently uploaded a new payware Mitsubishi high detail Mu-2 biz turboprop.

You 'can' make a fake exterior model and use a 'aerodynamics' invisible model with it. Thus you can make a brick that flys like a Cessna 172 now, (like in FS).

You 'can' also adjust the planes handling so it isnt twitchy, has better this and that performances, handling, etc. I cant remember though where that file is.

This guy was really up on 'everything' concerning XP9 and making planes for it.



I know its going to be something like how people make planes for FS with tools like LightWave or Blendor, etc.. Export to this format, then open with that, and export to that format, then open with this and compile to MDL....

Just need to figure out that exact pathway...



Bill

[spotlope]

And they need your scenery man! Imagine Plum Island in XP9!

I don't have to imagine it - I've seen it! A couple of weeks ago I tried out the FS to XP9 scenery conversion tool. It worked okay - better than I expected, actually, but there would still have to be a lot of tweaking done to get it looking really good. From what I saw, it's a definitely possibility though. One of the big no-nos for XP scenery design is using multiple texture sheets per object. I'd have to remap a couple of buildings to get it just right, but that's no big deal. Also, there's no way I've found yet to convert FSX-style phototerrain (like the patch I made for Plum Island) to XP9, so I'd have to look into doing it a different way.

[spotlope]

Hey Boomer,

I got this first hand from the gentleman that recently uploaded a new payware Mitsubishi high detail Mu-2 biz turboprop.

You 'can' make a fake exterior model and use a 'aerodynamics' invisible model with it. Thus you can make a brick that flys like a Cessna 172 now, (like in FS).

You 'can' also adjust the planes handling so it isnt twitchy, has better this and that performances, handling, etc. I cant remember though where that file is.

This guy was really up on 'everything' concerning XP9 and making planes for it.



I know its going to be something like how people make planes for FS with tools like LightWave or Blendor, etc.. Export to this format, then open with that, and export to that format, then open with this and compile to MDL....

Just need to figure out that exact pathway...



Bill

I think Blender has a direct path (via a plug-in) for exporting to XP9, Bill. 'Course, then you have to either learn how to use it directly, or port your Gmax models into it.

[Chacha]

Well I pray that you guys convert your projects/works to XP9!!!!... looking forward to see it! That would be awesome! :amen:

Eli

[n4gix]

I know its going to be something like how people make planes for FS with tools like LightWave or Blendor, etc.. Export to this format, then open with that, and export to that format, then open with this and compile to MDL....

Bill, the single biggest stumbling block for any wannabe X-Plane developer convert will be...

...panel and gauges.

You see, all gauges in X-Plane are compiled C & OpenGL plugins...

So, your options are to either code all your gauges as custom plugins, or use the very simple "generic gauges" that're available. Even then you will likely have to compile them yourself using something like MSVC++ .NET 2003, 2005 or 2008, or one of the open source compilers such as Borland or MinGW.

Understand also that there is one, and only one 2d panel. There are no popup subpanels. Multi-monitor support is non-existent.

As far as getting any help, you may well encounter this often:

[Lionheart]

Well I pray that you guys convert your projects/works to XP9!!!!... looking forward to see it! That would be awesome! :amen:

Eli

Thanks ChaCha.

Most appreciated.

[Lionheart]

Bill, the single biggest stumbling block for any wannabe X-Plane developer convert will be...

...panel and gauges.

You see, all gauges in X-Plane are compiled C & OpenGL plugins...

So, your options are to either code all your gauges as custom plugins, or use the very simple "generic gauges" that're available. Even then you will likely have to compile them yourself using something like MSVC++ .NET 2003, 2005 or 2008, or one of the open source compilers such as Borland or MinGW.

Understand also that there is one, and only one 2d panel. There are no popup subpanels. Multi-monitor support is non-existent.

As far as getting any help, you may well encounter this often:

Well, we could hire gauge gurus to make (convert) our gauges for us.


Also, on multi monitors. Mine has that. Check for the latest updates.



Aside from that, I welcome a gauge platform that can work on multiple OS platforms. If XML is only allowed on/in Windows platforms, then we do need a diff system, such as OpenGL.


By the way.. (I was thinking on this a few nights ago, when thinking of a dream simulator engine), why cant the verbage of a file that is an XML format by its file tag (name; .XML), why couldnt one call it a ZNT or BTO or YRK file and use similar code phrasiologies? Is the code verbage copyright?

I notice when I explore (disect) a game to see how the folder systems and files work (such as XP9 and Silent Hunter, etc), that they also use files that have wierd name formats but are in English and basically are config files and forms of simple code. (Copy/paste a file to desktop, rename format to TXT file, and open with Notepad).


We have to also remember XP9 is new. Austin might one day go to an alternate gauge system to help us out with our tons of various codes that already exist. I remember when FS was C++ only. Going to XML made it to where there are dual platforms now on FS, and now 2 XML code formats in FSX, lol.. eeeks!




Bill

[n4gix]

Bill, XML script wouldn't even work in FS if ACES hadn't written an XML->C parsing engine. All XML script "gauges" are converted to C "on the fly" so to speak.

[Lionheart]

Bill, XML script wouldn't even work in FS if ACES hadn't written an XML->C parsing engine. All XML script "gauges" are converted to C "on the fly" so to speak.

Goodness..

I never knew that. Thanks for the info.


Bill