SceneryDesign.org Two weeks ago I was able to produce a lot of updates for ModelConverterX quickly, since then it has been a little more silent. But that does not mean no progress is being made fortunately. Today I have been able to add some new features again.
The most important new feature is that night textures are now read in correctly from the SCASM macros and also applied correctly to the FSX MDL file. So your objects will no longer be dark at night. Another improvement deals with the default scale that might be set in the macro. That scale value is now read and applied by default. So most objects should appear fine when applied with a scale of 1 in your XML placement file.
Before I release a new test version there are some other bugs I want to solve though. Currently I am working on a transoformation bug, basically not all rotations and translation are applied correctly now (most simple objects are not affected by this bug). Another feature I would really like to add is the ability to specify which textures are transparant, so that they appear correctly in FSX. Hopefully I can finish these items somewhere during the week, so that I release a new version.
Hello Arno,
Your ModelConverterX is an extremely well-done and sought-after project and will save thousands of scenery programmers from re-programming their old scasm macros. Thanks a lot for your work.
One question: I want to convert my old scasm *.api macros into mdl files to be used in a scenery library with an object placer. The question is:#
Do the scasm *.api macros need an Area, PerspecticeCall, RefPoint ( %1 %2 %3 … etc) statement as the old macros, or is that all done from within the object call in FSx? In other words, is it sufficient to start the macros with Points( … ) etc. ?
Do you think the performance using the converted mdl files in FSx will be the same as with the old scasm bgl code or will it eb slower since the xml code seems to be much more than the scasm code?
Finally, I used the old Monitor3D ( :No_crash … ) statement. Do you think this will be converted correctly and will work in FSX, or should I use the new scasm crashbox statement?
Thank you very much in advance for your answer.
Hello Arno,
Sorry, have forgotten one issue. The current version 0.0.7.0 says when reading macros IfVarRange and IfVarAnd “unsupported command”. I use these commands for distinguishing between day and night texures. Will this be implemented in the next version you described which can handel night textures correctly?
Thanks, Bernd
Hello Berd,
> Do the scasm *.api macros need an Area, PerspecticeCall,
> RefPoint ( %1 %2 %3 … etc) statement as the old macros, or
> is that all done from within the object call in FSx? In other words,
> is it sufficient to start the macros with Points( … ) etc. ?
ModelConverterX does not read commands like RefPoint and Area at the moment. That is because they do not contain information that is useful for the object itself. As you say the placement is now done with the XML code, not inside the object.
> Do you think the performance using the converted mdl files in
> FSx will be the same as with the old scasm bgl code or will it
> eb slower since the xml code seems to be much more than
> the scasm code?
Initial tests at the moment show that the performance could increase quite a lot. The structure of the MDL file is a lot more efficient for quick drawing than SCASM code. Especially when you have bad structured SCASM code which was quick common.
> Finally, I used the old Monitor3D ( :No_crash … ) statement.
> Do you think this will be converted correctly and will work in
> FSX, or should I use the new scasm crashbox statement?
No, that command is not supported at the moment. I do not add any information for crashboxes to the X file at the moment. So that means that XtoMDL determines it for you.
> Sorry, have forgotten one issue. The current version 0.0.7.0
> says when reading macros IfVarRange and IfVarAnd
> “unsupported command”. I use these commands for
> distinguishing between day and night texures. Will this be
> implemented in the next version you described which can
> handel night textures correctly?
No, the conditional commands will not yet be supported. What is supported is the L option in the LoadBitmap command and the night texture option in the TextureList command. The conditional commands are on my wishlist, but that would be more work (and most will not work in the FSX format).
Hello Arno,
Thanks for your quick answers and the great tool. I look forward to the next releases, and so do many other scasm programmers, too, I am sure.
Bernd