CONVERTING FS2004 AIRCRAFT TO FSX TUTORIAL

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction and Downloads
Part 1:  Setup
Part 2:  Saving and Animating the Props
Part 3:  FS2004 Import
Part 4:  Setting Up Landing and Taxi Lights
Part 5:  Conversion to FSX
Part 6:  Editing Materials and Textures
Part 7:  VC & Appendix

PART FIVE - CONVERSION TO FSX AND SETTING VISIBILITIES

1.  Choose Export Object (menu) and change the drop down box to FSX MDL Object (or another MDL format if exporting to another sim).  Click on the MDL filename, in the example it's dc6b.mdl.  Click the Save button.  An overwrite warning will appear.  As long as you have made the FS9 backup of your MDL file, click the Yes button.  A red error line may appear in the log saying that this is not a supported MDL type.  This has never caused a problem for me.  Don't worry about the other MDL files in the image below.

export object

2.  You should see a yellow box appear on the screen detailing things you should have thought of when reading the LEGAL RAMIFICATIONS section in the Introduction of this tutorial.
3.  If you do not get a new MDL created (check the Modified Date in Windows Explorer/My Computer) or an error message, then it is likely your compile process is not working correctly.  This will need to be fixed before you can continue (see the LIMITATIONS section in Part 1).
4.  Import the new FSX version of your MDL file into MCX.  In our example it is still called dc6b.mdl.
5.  Use the animation slider to check all parts and make sure that they are located where they should and animating correctly.  If there is a problem here, I don't know how to solve that, sorry.
6.  Click the Object Information button.  Look at the Boundingbox section.  Find the largest dimension (negative or positive).

Object Info

In this DC-6B example, the largest dimension is -19.501.
7.  Click the Edit box and change the Name to include your sim.  I changed this to dc6b_FSX. Click the Edit button again. Close the Object Information box.
8.  Choose Export Object (menu) and check the drop down box is set to FSX MDL Object (or another MDL format if exporting to another sim).  Click the Save button.  An overwrite warning will appear.  Click the Yes button.
9.  If the values of the bounding box in step 6 are reasonable (i.e. around 10-30 meters) then skip to step 14.  If you chose to use RADItor to change the bounding box size, then go to step 11.  If not, open the MDL Tweaker in ModelConverterX by choosing Special Tools/MDL Tweaker.  Click the ... button and browse to your converted MDL file.  Click Open.  If the numbers are close to the ones you saw in step 6, you are done and can skip to step 14.  You will probably never have to worry about this again.  If the numbers are huge (100s or 1000s of meters), these need to be changed.  The DC-6B will probably not need to be changed:

mdl tweaker

We'll make a final size calculation later, but for now enter the number that is the next highest integer than the number found in step 6.  If you double click each number, just type in the new number and the minus signs will stay where they need to be.  It should look something like this (I actually used 21 for all the numbers when creating this tutorial because it's easier to type!).  The numbers can be a few higher, no problem.

mdl tweaker correct

10.  Click the Save MDL button.  Choose the MDL file you just converted above.  Click Save.  Click Yes to overwrite the original file.  You can keep MDL Tweaker open in the background for later use, if desired.  Use the Windows taskbar to bring it back.  Skip to step 14.
11. If you decided to use RADItor, start the RADItor program.  Click the ... button and browse to your converted MDL file.  Click Open.
12.  Click the Read button.  If the numbers are close to the ones you saw in step 6, you are done and can skip to step 14. You will probably never have to check this again.   If the numbers are huge (100s or 1000s of meters), these need to be changed.  The DC-6B will not need to be changed:

Raditor Large numbers

We'll make a final size calculation later, but for now enter the number that is the next highest integer than the number found in step 6.  If you double click each number, just type in the new number and the minus signs will stay where they need to be.  It should look something like this (I actually used 21 for all the numbers creating this tutorial because it's easier to type!).  The numbers can be a few higher, no problem.

Raditor temp numbers

13.  Click the Write button.  You can leave RADItor open in the background and use the taskbar to bring it up when needed.  For any further changes do not Read again, just press the Write button if modifying the same MDL name.
14.  Load the plane into FSX or later sim.  If you already have FS running and the plane loaded, do this:
    a.  Flights/Save Flight
    b.  Name it AAA or something simple near the top of the list (I use AAA for testing many things) and click OK.
    c.  Flights/Load Flight - choose AAA and click OK.
    d.  The new MDL file version will be loaded.
    e.  Repeat step c each time you want to load a new MDL version.
15.  Check the control surfaces, door, gear, and other animations.  The props will spin, but not disappear.  
16.  If you ever get a model displaying in FSX (or your sim) with animated objects displaced (often to the center of the plane):

displaced parts

Try this - it's often  worked for me:   
 a.  Import the model back into ModelConverterX.  All objects should be in their correct positions  (if not, then this can't be fixed).
 b.  Choose Export Object back into the same MDL filename (overwrite).  Use RADItor or MDL Tweaker if needed.
 c.  Reload the MDL file in FSX as I described in step 14.  Hopefully the result is below.
 d.  If it didn't work, try a through c again.  Try this up to 4 times. If it still didn't work, you will need to go back to your backup MDL and repeat these steps.:

correct parts

17.  In Windows Explorer/My Computer make a copy of the new MDL file and paste it back into the folder.  Rename it to the name plus - FSX1 (for our first FSX conversion).  In our example that would be dc6b - FSX1.mdl.  This is a backup so we can come back to this step if things go wrong later.
18.  At this point feel free in future steps to use Export Object to generate a new MDL file (in this tutorial it is dc6b.mdl).  We have a backup at this point so it would not be too bad to go back here and try again.  Remember to use MDL Tweaker or RADItor if needed, and if parts are displaced refer to step 16 above.

SETTING CUSTOM ANIMATION AND VISIBILITIES

19.  If you did not set all the custom visibilities in Part 3, Step 22, do it now.  Refer to Part 3, step 22 on the details of this process.  Our DC-6B example should have the custom visibilities set here.

ADDING VISIBILITIES TO THE STILL PROPS AND CHECKING THE PROP ROTATIONS

20.  Open the Hierarchy Editor.  Type in still into the search box.  The prop_still nodes should now be listed there.  Select all of them to highlight them and click the pencil to go back to the full list.  Your prop still nodes should still be highlighted.  Within those nodes, assign a visibility to all the ModelParts within that node.  The animation in a SceneGraphNode or ModelPart near the top of the node should read prop0/1/2/3_still.  Give the same visibility condition to all the ModelParts below it.  For example, if a SceneGraphNode has an animation name of prop0_still, then all ModelParts under that SceneGraphNode (and still within that node) should receive a visibility condition of prop0_still.  Remember, only ModelParts get a Visibility Condition.  NOTE:  Some of the ModelParts (or SceneGraphNodes) below the SceneGraphNode with the prop_still animation may have other animations.  In the DC-6B, that animation is lever_prop_pitch for the prop blade twisting.  All these ModelParts receive a prop_still  visibility condition since we want them to disappear at the appropriate RPM as well.  The DC-6B has 4 ModelParts per prop.
21.  Repeat step 20 until all still prop nodes have all ModelParts assigned a proper visibility.
22.  Check in FSX if your props are rotating in the correct direction.  If not, open the Hierarchy Editor, select a prop part as we did above, and right click on the word Animation on the right.  Choose Reverse Animation.  Repeat this for all props rotating the wrong direction (still, slow, and blurred).
23.  Export the plane as an FSX MDL file (or other format), then Import the plane back into MCX.

ASSIGNING PARTS WITH DIFFERENT ANIMATIONS IN FSX VS FS2004

24.  One more task, and that's to re-assign any parts that have a different animation in FSX than they did in FS2004.  An example of this is the steerable nosewheel using the c_wheel animation definition.  The FS2004 SDK specifies it to be animated differently than the FSX SDK does (see the Appendix for details if you are interested).  So open the Animation Editor and type in c_wheel in the Select Name Containing box and press the button.  Normally there will be only one line, but I guess there could be more.  Select c_wheel_FS9 from the drop down box to the right of the Assign Animation Type and click that button.  The c_wheel entries should change to c_wheel_FS9.  (In the DC-6B example aircraft there is one c_wheel line).
25.  The other thing that needs to be changed are any water rudder animations.  These are reversed in FSX from what it was in FS2004, so we need to reverse the animation to make them move correctly.  Open the Hierarchy Editor and type in lever_water in the search box.  In the DC-6B two parts should appear (in this case two SceneGraphNodes).  Click on one of them, and then click on the word Animation in the right panel.  Then right click it, and choose Reverse Animation.  Repeat this for any other parts listed.
26.  Some aircraft (some Manfred Jahn Connies and Jens Kristensen DCs, for exampe) have the rudder animated in the wrong direction.  It should be deflected to the left when the animation slider is all the way to the left.  If needed follow the steps above to reverse the animation, except search for rudder and find the rudder part(s) on the vertical tail.
27.  Export the plane as an FSX MDL file (or other format), then Import the plane back into MCX.  Check the plane in FSX or other sim and make sure all animations and visible/invisible parts work properly.  If not try the Export/Import again.
28.  In Windows Explorer/My Computer make a copy of the new MDL file and paste it back into the folder.  Rename it to the name plus - FSX2 .  In our example that would be dc6b - FSX2.mdl.  This is a backup so we can come back to this step if things go wrong later.

Next:  PART SIX - EDITING MATERIALS AND TEXTURES