Making .m3d show up in the Export File types...

[Hauksbee]

I think I'm finally seeing how the CFS3 SDK is used. I installed the SDK (Aircraft, Vehicles & Buildings). I'm trying to Export my test building as a .m3d but it's not showing up as a choice in the Export file types. I see:
FlightSim Cloud (*.CLD)
Quake III (*.MD3)
FlightSim Scenery Object (*.MDL)
FlightSim Aircraft Object (*.MDL)
plasma (*.P3D)
All Formats

How do I get .m3d to appear?

[Pat Pattle]

Hi Hauksbee,

You need to have the CFS3 Aircraft and Vehicle SDK installed - you can get it from this thread:

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...tches-and-SDKs

[BorekS]

there should be "CFS .m3d File (*.M3D)" export dialog item available.

usually the current SDK gmax pack contents own gmax shortcut (.lnk file) with own plugin settings. for more check gmax\gamepacks path. find and run the CFS3 gmax shortcut there and will see... check also the current gamepack *.ini file settings. you can edit them, if needed.

btw, I love CFS3 file exporting. the airplane exterior and interiror are two separate models, so I can export it independently as I wish. very handy for me, keeps my gmax sources much less rubbish looking
this is possible for FS9 or CFS2 models too, of course, but only as *.X file solution, which needs to be merged then with current MakeMDL into the final *.MDL single file.

the true FSX airplane export goes the seperately exterior / interiror logic same way just like the old CFS3, it seems...

[hairyspin]

Not quite, Borek: the CFS3 model swaps the cockpit section with the VC section when you're flying from the cockpit. Equally, the gunner/bomb aimer sections are swapped in when they're needed but the main aircraft model is always being used. CFS3 is something of a halfway house between FS9 and FSX in this regard, although different in other ways.

Robert, you need md3exp.dle in Gmax's plugins directory. Then it'll work.

[Hauksbee]

Robert, you need md3exp.dle in Gmax's plugins directory. Then it'll work.

Thanks, Hairyspin. I found it, but, how do I use it? 2x-clicking just gets me a message that says "Windows can't open this". Do I need to move it to a different folder? (Bear in mind, this is my first time for EVERYTHING!)

[hairyspin]

And it's an awful long time since I installed this... In the same place you found md3exp.dle there should be a shortcut to launch Gmax with the CFS3 sdk. According to the Words supplied with the sdk this will give you the option to export to CFS3. Failing which, copy any file with the extension .dle from that location to ...gmax/plugins folder and fire up Gmax as normal. I think that's what I did many moons ago.


edit: you also need cfsexp.dle in the Gmax plugins folder

[Hauksbee]

And it's an awful long time since I installed this... In the same place you found md3exp.dle there should be a shortcut to launch Gmax with the CFS3 sdk. According to the Words supplied with the sdk this will give you the option to export to CFS3. Failing which, copy any file with the extension .dle from that location to ...gmax/plugins folder and fire up Gmax as normal. I think that's what I did many moons ago.
edit: you also need cfsexp.dle in the Gmax plugins folder

I think all candidates aspiring to the title of Zen Master should be required to first build an object in Gmax and successfully export it into CFS3. Anyone who can unravel the threads to CFS modding will have no trouble hearing the sound of one hand clapping.

First, the m3dexp.dle, in the Plug-In's folder. Check the screen cap. below, but I do not see anything that looks like a shortcut to launching Gmax w/ SDK.

Second, "According to the words supplied with"..."copy any file with the extension .dle from that location to..." The inset shows what I've got when I unzip the CFS3 SDK download. There's an .htm file (From Bitmap to Boom-and-Zoom in 60 Minutes), the two P-47 images and a folder with only the avsdk15 installer.

Should I download the CFS3 SDK 1.5 from SOH, and will it give me these missing bits, including the cfsexp.dle? Thanks.
.

[hairyspin]

Oh boy, I'm getting old. You need the sdk installed and the link Pat Pattle gave above to the sticky thread is about the only place you'll get it now. Download and run it and you'll get the plug-in and shortcut I was thinking of. md3exp.dle is the Quake plug-in used with LithUnwrap, doh!

If a man stands alone in the forest and there is no woman to hear him, is he still wrong?

You think this is impenetrable, don't start FSX modelling...!

[Hauksbee]

Oh boy, I'm getting old. You need the sdk installed and the link Pat Pattle gave above to the sticky thread is about the only place you'll get it now. Download and run it and you'll get the plug-in and shortcut I was thinking of.

It's 5:35 in the morning. 'Couldn't sleep thinking of this. So I got up, found your reply, used Pat Pattle's link, downloaded, unzipped and there's less in the folder than before. No .htm doc., and no P-47 images. Just the avsdk15. So I re-installed it thinking I'd have more in the plug-ins folder. But they are just the same. Does the avsdk15 create the files somewhere else?

edit: I went randomly poking about in Gmax folders. In GAMEPACKS I found the cfsexport.dle. In a different folder right next to it I found 'discreet gmax (with CSF3 Game Pack)' Looking in the far right column, I see that this file type is called SHORTCUT. I assume that I need to put both these in the Gmax Plug-ins Folder and launch Gmax with the short-cut. When I export my model, .m3d will appear?

edit: Well, with nothing else to do, I blindly pressed on. And got a .m3d file. Sent it off to my buddy at WOFF. Will hear back sometime tomorrow.

[BorekS]

well, a bit more experienced user can edit / adapt the current game pack plug-in gmax settings as he wish for his own usage, but the common user, which would like to try the CFS3 add-on creation, will just download and run the CFS3 SDK installator (avsdk15.msi), which will just put all the needed stuff into the gMax modeler folder, usual path example: c:\gmax\gamepacks\CFS3.
the gMax modeler must be installed before, of course
aside the "physical" file placement the installator will create shortcut items to the needed stuff into your Program Files group, if I good remember.

the only thing what the user then needs to do is to run the discreet gmax CFS3 Game Pack .lnk file (the shortcut). this way the CFS3 needed plugin will be available for the mesh export. now the user can open or create some gmax mesh and he can try to export it into the game. more about this can say the SDK documentation.

The CFS3 Aircraft and Vehicle SDK contains:
* discreet gmax plugin for exporting CFS3 .M3D aircraft model files
* reference documentation on creating working CFS3 models, aerodynamic configuration files and damage profiles
* ImageTool for converting images to different formats
* 2 sample gmax aircraft (the P-47D-25 and the Ju-88A-4) and 2 sample gmax vehicles (the American M16 halftrack and a German Destroyer).

[Hauksbee]

Now that RAF_Lou and I can get models into CFS3, is it possible to use Model Converter X to place them?

[hairyspin]

MCX doesn't read .m3d files so I don't think so.

[Hauksbee]

MCX doesn't read .m3d files so I don't think so.

More's the pity. Saw tutorial on YouTube and it looked so easy. Is there something similar for CFS3?

[Pat Pattle]

More's the pity. Saw tutorial on YouTube and it looked so easy. Is there something similar for CFS3?

Afraid not. There is a mission editor somewhere that can also edit facility files, other than that I put together a tutorial a few years ago.

It involves the dreaded 'G' word!!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rzgarbyyar...0cfs3.zip?dl=0

ps. thread on the editor here:

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...acility-Editor

The file must be up on SoH.