I just succeeded in exporting my first object from ModelConverterX back into FsX. In a previous post I showed a museum building that I had loaded into ModelConverterX from an API macro. Now I have been able to write it as a X file again, which I compiled into a FsX MDL file with XtoMDL. And the screenshot below shows you that it shows up in FS like it should.

So that means that the tool is getting close to actually doing what I want it to do. Loading in objects in one format and then saving them in another. But before I can release the first test version to the public, there are some things that I need to improve:

1. The API loading code must be improved, as I have only tested it with two or three macros until now. I am sure that the next one I try contains some unsupported SCASM commands. So I want to test it a little more, to make sure a wider set of SCASM commands can be read.
2. The user interface needs to be improved a little bit, as at the moment I have some hardcoded stuff in there for the debugging. Of course the first test version does not have to be perfect, but it should at least allow you to specify the filename you wish to save to.

Besides these two important things that I need to fix before I can reelase, there are also some smaller things I want to look at. For example I need to make sure that the X file I am writing is as optimal as possible, so I will have to examine the MDL file and see if it has a weird structure or contains weird things. And also the 3D preview in the tool needs a little work, as you can only zoom on the picture now.

But for today I am quite happy to have something working, although there is always more to do. I’ll let you know once I have some more progress again.