ModelConverterX support for AeroFly

Thanks for the info

Thanks for the update. If I am understanding this correctly, we can export a scenery object like a building, bridge, stadium, etc., and then place it in AFS2 in a scenery folder? Sounds great!

Yes, just tell me what limits you find

With this new feature it should be possible to go from for example SketchUp to AeroFly. ModelConverterX can export as TGI file, that you can run through the Content Converter yourself. Or you can export as a TSC scenery directly. I'm not sure if exporting directly to TSC suits in the typical AeroFly workflow, at the moment ModelConverterX can't add an object to an existing scenery. That might be a good addition for the future.

Hi Arno,

to begin with, thank you for making your tool available for Aerofly which is a great support for a great simulator

I'm a bloody noob when it comes to object design, but your tool looks so useful that I wanted to try it. I choose a (visually) relatively simple model from the Warehouse:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.c…werk-Jena-Winzerla-Turm-2

I imported it into ModelConverterX providing me a .tgi file plus a number of textures under a subdirectory /untitled, all within a temp directory). The log is attached, it gives an "Error while loading modeldef.xml file" and some warnings about "The size of untitled\texture_0.jpg is not a power of 2" (I got these also with other models I tried). I tried converting the textures according to the manual but failed (supposedly just because of lack of knowledge of the very process.)

I tried to go on anyway and started the Aerofly Content Converter using a .tmc and a .tsc and the textures all into the same directory (it's all in the attached zip file). It stalled with an "ERROR: (bad geometry 'part08')" though.

Any helping hand for a beginner would be great.

Thanks and kind regards, Michael

Hi Michael,

I'm also still learning the details of FS2, so any feedback is useful to me.

You can ignore the warning about modeldef.xml, that only applies to MSFS. Same for the warnings about the texture sizes, as the Aerofly Content Converter will automatically resize them for you.

I think you found a bug in the MCX output. I think the TGI file is not written correctly. I'm not behind my PC now, but will try the object you posted and see if I can spot where the error comes from.

Hello Arno,

I am also a big fan of your work to bring Aerofly FS2 scenery to a new level. Thanks for your dedication to our flight sims.

Do you think being able to convert Sketchup files to useful Aerofly FS2 files might be a useful tool in getting some modern General Aviation static aircraft models into Aerofly FS2?

I keep hoping we can find some artists that would donate some static models, maybe from X-Plane 11 or FSX/P3D.

Regards,

Ray

Hi Ray,

With ModelConverterX you should be to convert Sketchup models to Aerofly. But the challenge is to find models that are designed efficiently enough. I don't have enough Aerofly experience yet to know that's good performance wise, but you see many Sketchup objects that are just too complex and wasting resources.

Converting content from X-Plane or MSFS is probably easier, as they are design with real-time simulation in mind. But of course the developer has to agree for his work to be reused.

I know there are developers interested in porting their addons to Aerofly as well. I just hope to make all those conversions a bit easier, because actually all sims have a lot of similarities as well.

Quote from arnog

Hi Ray,

With ModelConverterX you should be to convert Sketchup models to Aerofly. But the challenge is to find models that are designed efficiently enough. I don't have enough Aerofly experience yet to know that's good performance wise, but you see many Sketchup objects that are just too complex and wasting resources.

Converting content from X-Plane or MSFS is probably easier, as they are design with real-time simulation in mind. But of course the developer has to agree for his work to be reused.

I know there are developers interested in porting their addons to Aerofly as well. I just hope to make all those conversions a bit easier, because actually all sims have a lot of similarities as well.

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Thanks Arno for your thoughts on this. I don't expect any problems getting the freeware designers to have their work used in an additional flight sim provided they do indeed keep getting credit for their contributions. I am not looking to add these static aircraft to any payware, just us users that would like to see a Bonanza, Cirrus, or modern Cessna sitting on the ramp.

Regards,

Ray

Hi Michael,

I just checked the model and here on my PC I don't get the same error. But I noticed that your TGI file contains comma's where I didn't expect them. That's due to the regional settings that are different in different countries. I have just pushed a new version of ModelConverterX that fixes this and makes sure the output always uses dots for decimal characters. I hope/think that will solve your error.

If you grab the latest development release you'll have the fix. Looking forward to hear if it helped

Quote from arnog

Hi Michael,

I just checked the model and here on my PC I don't get the same error. But I noticed that your TGI file contains comma's where I didn't expect them. That's due to the regional settings that are different in different countries. I have just pushed a new version of ModelConverterX that fixes this and makes sure the output always uses dots for decimal characters. I hope/think that will solve your error.

If you grab the latest development release you'll have the fix. Looking forward to hear if it helped

Thanks Arno, not sure where the regional settings enter the game, but they obviously do. I'll get the latest build and test it and report, probably tomorrow.

Kind regards, Michael

Hi Arno,

we're making progress. Now the bad geometry is gone. However, when I export as an object, the Aerofly Contents Converter does complain about textures being not multiples of 2 now afterwards. I thought these shouldn't be a an obstacle with the Aerofly Contents Converter...? Log file from the Aerofly Contents Converter is attached.

On the other hand, when I try to export as a scenery directly from ModelconverterX, it seems be able to work with the textures but has issues with not being able to write to the output path. I am offered to enter my mail into an error report, which I did, but upon sending the message I get an unhandled excpetion, thus the error message is attached as well.

Otherwise export as a scenery including the textures seems to work, however, the "untitled.tsc" file does not contain the proper coordinates. Even after substituting it by a proper tsc file the object does not show up in the simulator, though.

Hope this helps.

Kind regards, Michael

This is funny. Upon closer examination I find 2 objects flying in the air in the proper place . See attached image.

KInd regards, Michael

Hi Michael,

I noticed the Sketchup file has parts without textures as well. These parts only have a color assigned. I'm not sure Aerofly supports that. If not the colors have to replaced by a texture.

Yesterday I didn't test the model in the sim, I'll try to do that tonight.

Hi Michael,

I tested your object but it shows fine here in my AeroFly.

You mentioned a warning about textures not being square. Do you have this line in your content_converter_config.tmc file in the texture settings?

[bool][make_square][true]

That should automatically ensure they are square.

Hi,

I called the file hkw_jena.tmc, it's attached. Yes, that line is included. I start conversion just by double-clicking it as it's linked to the converter.

Kind regards, Michael

All textures for use in FS2 must be a square power of 2 - that was mentioned many months ago when Rodeo and I and Jeff were doing some of the first airport development testing. That should be done before any Content Converter building.

Dave W.

Thanks for helping. Rodeo already pointed me to the Materials Converter for converting. I converted all the textures (it shows quared sizes afterward, two textures were not squared initially) and saved them as .jpg. Next, I exported the scenery again. Copied the new .ttx files and the tmb files to Aerofly. Still only the two rings are rendered.

Kind regards, Michael

In your TGI file which texture format is referenced? When I did a test export in MCX I used the TSC writer and that converts everything to BMP on the fly. Maybe that's a difference.

In another object I had a 1024x512 texture. But the content converter turned that in 512x512 automatically without problems.