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Post by thunder100 on Jun 24, 2019 5:46:07 GMT -5
I am in heaven anyway-->I have most CalClassic back in P3D V4 up So I dare to ask for more ( can take any negative comments...) Would anybody be so ultimately knind and do the short nose 749 too in FSX Native? That as most of my repaints are the non Radar nose ones THANK YOU Roland
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Post by Tom/CalClassic on Jun 24, 2019 13:22:51 GMT -5
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Post by jacklyon on Jun 24, 2019 15:21:08 GMT -5
Tom, i think you can start thinking to change the big red panel on initial page of CalClassic Site, now several planes, are FSX/P3D (all), compatibles .
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Post by deltalima on Jun 24, 2019 15:23:13 GMT -5
See - that screenshot proves how awesomely realistic a platform P3D is ... Just kidding. Thanks Tom - it can't be said enough. Appreciate your work on this. My favourite model, aesthetically, was the radar nose 749. But my favourite airline that flew 749s was Pan American. This upgrade closes the gap nicely. I've not had a chance to install these yet as I've been away from my sim pc all weekend on travel - but I'm hoping to get a bit of time tonight. Thanks Roland for requesting this one. Man, I'd give anything to be left alone for a few hours to figure out how to start converting some of my fave CC sceneries. Another decade and a half until retirement so I can ... lol.
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Post by thunder100 on Jun 24, 2019 15:41:52 GMT -5
THANKS A LOT
Kind of emotional I was in Howards Connie Team and then with Manfred in all of them Back now, the circle has closed
THANKKS AGAIN
Roland
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Post by Tom/CalClassic on Jun 24, 2019 16:37:57 GMT -5
Hi,
Glad to help.
I have already edited the big red panel to:
"Most of my (i.e. Greg Pepper's) FS2004 propliners (i.e. the CV-340, DC's, etc.) have been tested in FSX and P3D v1 and v2 and they work OK. They are not compatible with P3D v3 or later. I have been converting some aircraft to FSX native format and these are FSX and P3D compatible (the models, at least)."
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Post by deltalima on Jun 25, 2019 11:26:06 GMT -5
Hi Tom et al,
Had a total of 5 min of free time yesterday. Installed the TWA Connie with all the other panels, fixes, and mods - and then the latest .mdls. Function-wise, I didn't see any issues - though I couldn't find the cowl flap lever - I thought it was on the FE's panel. I haven't finetuned my P3D install yet, and hadn't yet mapped the open/close to a button yet, so I'll have to sort that out. But flaps and all other control surfaces behave as they should, props look good, etc.
All I did notice (not a Tom/model thing, obviously, just a general question) is that the cockpit windows appear absent, both from the VC view looking out, and from the spot view looking in. I'm sure there's a texture that needs tweaking, if someone knows which one and/or can share it, that'd be great, otherwise I'll poke at it over the weekend. It being our national holiday on the 1st, I should have some more free time over a long weekend.
The model looks great, and the enriched lighting from P3D really allows a fantastic, immersive, enjoyment that belies the actual age of the model.
cheers, and thanks again!
dl
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Post by Tom/CalClassic on Jun 25, 2019 12:45:13 GMT -5
Hi,
OK, I've changed the glass so it's visible. Same download link. You may want to change the alpha channel of the glass area of the wings_t.bmp texture if you want to change the look.
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Post by deltalima on Jun 25, 2019 13:38:24 GMT -5
Hi, OK, I've changed the glass so it's visible. Same download link. You may want to change the alpha channel of the glass area of the wings_t.bmp texture if you want to change the look. Hi Tom, Thanks for the reply - and sorry for not seeing/remembering that in the aircraft conversion tutorial. I haven't looked at it for a good while, whereas I just read the scenery conversion tutorial. Your comment got me thinking about what this plane looked like in FSX, since I don't recall having this issue in FSX. So I've dug up old screenshots, as reference since my FSX install is functionally N/S, and am looking to uninstall it once I've salvaged what I can off it. Yes, I aliased the USAF MATS to the TWA model, as I really like spinners on radial engines, that's just how I roll ... These were raw unedited in FSX, taken 5 years ago: So I had greenish windows, from the outside looking in. I can't recall what they looked like from the inside out - but I'll go back through my files and see what I may still have from back then that could work for now in P3D. cheers, dl
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Post by deltalima on Jun 26, 2019 11:11:14 GMT -5
So I dragged that very same MATS repaint over from my FSX archive and put it into the my P3D install, and confirm that the windows are now blank/invisible, and not green as they used to be in FSX. I confirmed that there was no call in the texture.cfg to yet another texture. I also noted that the sun shade was opaque, and in no way translucent. So I think there's a difference from how FSX rendered the glass vs how P3D does, even with an identical texture.
Perhaps from Roland's and my posts over at SOH we'll get some interest and possibly some new perspectives on how to solve this. But it needs to be said, the models look superb in the sim.
cheers,
dl
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Post by Tom/CalClassic on Jun 26, 2019 17:37:17 GMT -5
Hi,
Currently there is a problem in ModelConverterX where if there are objects that are transparent and opaque on the same texture sheet (like the sunshades and windshields) they are combined into one material when Imported. I've posted about this in the MCX forum and Arno is making changes. If so, it might be possible to make these better? I'm not sure, because I've never found a good material "recipe" for glass that looks like it does in FS9.
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Post by deltalima on Jun 27, 2019 1:07:14 GMT -5
Hi, Currently there is a problem in ModelConverterX where if there are objects that are transparent and opaque on the same texture sheet (like the sunshades and windshields) they are combined into one material when Imported. I've posted about this in the MCX forum and Arno is making changes. If so, it might be possible to make these better? I'm not sure, because I've never found a good material "recipe" for glass that looks like it does in FS9. Good to know about the potential fixes in MCX. For my part, I've played with it only to get a canopy fixed, and I copied the materials/settings from one I liked to fix the problematic one. Clearly I'll need to get further up to speed. As to glass, I've never had complaints about either sim, except when certain portovers into FSX went awry. I never took a lot of beauty shots of the airliners, but here's a very old one of the Flying Stations Buccaneer - models like these really showed off their canopies nicely. I have almost all the Virtavia and Razbam models and their respective FS9 and FSX versions looked equally good in their respective sim. Same with Piglet's, Garwood's, and Richardson's FSX releases - they pulled off great canopies. But I agree, glass/canopies are the Achilles heel of many portover endeavours.
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Post by Tom/CalClassic on Jun 27, 2019 9:50:20 GMT -5
I do assume it’s possible to get good glass in FSX, sorry. What I should have added to my statement above was “using the unchanged FS2004 textures”.
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Post by deltalima on Jun 27, 2019 11:17:08 GMT -5
I do assume it’s possible to get good glass in FSX, sorry. What I should have added to my statement above was “using the unchanged FS2004 textures”. Ah - now I understand. Yes, agreed completely. At one level, it's a shame, but at another one can say it's a blessing the model ported successfully between platforms once, from FS9 to FSX. It gave us lots of enjoyment in FS9, and lots more in FSX. With every succeeding step in platform, one has to accept a higher risk of incompatibility. Frankly, that any single model that originated in FS9 that could have worked in FSX was a bonus gift; any that still perform in P3D is a treasured gift. To the issue at hand (and sorry, am travelling, not at my sim pc) - can the glass be isolated in MCX? For example, the issue I was able to successfully deal with was the canopy on the Captain Sim F-18D model. Though an FSX model, it was not intended originally for a FSX-Acceleration+DX10 environment, so the canopy presented as an ugly milky texture. No amount of texture fixes could sort it out. So the counsel I was given was to find a model whose canopy looked good, and could also be isolated in MCX (in this case it was a freeware F-18C by the FSXBA group). I opened two instances of MCX, one for each of the canopies, and then copied all the material attributes / settings of the good one over to the affected one. Compiled a new .bgl, and then the D model canopy looked identical to the C model canopy, in the level of reflection, shine, translucence, etc. I presume this, or something in that vein, is what you've tried, and if not, could be something I could poke at later this weekend. But the key is whether the glass panels, in this case, are selectable in MCX, separate from another unrelated polygon, and edited accordingly. Again, I'm the village idiot insofar as MCX is concerned, so I fully assume you're way ahead of me on this. Just thought I'd ask, if nothing else to understand where the limitation likes in MCX, more specifically. thanks, dl
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Post by Tom/CalClassic on Jun 27, 2019 11:47:57 GMT -5
Hi,
Yes, I was able to isolate the windshield from the FS2004 model and add it back after modifying the material. Using the glass recipe from the tutorial or just using Set Default Transparent both give you the windshield you have in the latest model, which honestly is not that different from that windshield in FS2004 as far as transparency goes (rather murky). I don't know what causes the "some windows gray, some windows green" issue. Manfred used a technique that is no longer valid for FSX, so I can't duplicate that.
I don't use FSX, and thus have no examples of "good glass". If someone would send me some "good glass material recipes" that they have obtained from various FSX models using ModelConverterX I'd be happy to try them. Or you can just try them yourself:
1. Import the 749 model (MDL file) into ModelConverterX. Back up the file first (I call it xxx - Orig.MDL or similar). 2. Click the Material Editor. You will find two wings_t materials. One is for the glass, the other for the wings. Check the Highlight Selected box to see which is which. 3. Click on the material for the windshield, and edit the material settings per your recipe. 4. Use Export Model to export it back into its old name, overwriting the original. The type should be FSX MDL file (or P3D if you can't export to FSX). 5. Take a look in FS. Don't be surprised if the animations are broken, this is not unusual and shouldn't affect the look of the glass. BTW, this can usually be fixed by Importing the model back into MCX and Exporting again, sometimes 2 or 3 times.
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