I'm sorry if this topic has been covered already, but I dont have the time to go through all the pages of this forum.  I have made a modle in Gmax and am wondering how to export it into fs9.  I've tried tutorials, but everyone I read leads to a dead end or some kind of problem.  Any suggestions?

Thanks.  I appreciate the help.

For starters I hope you are using the GMAX that came with the game if not I strongly suggest that you use that one as it comes with tutorials one for a house/shack and one for the P38
I would suggest start with the house first it will take you through it step by step. Every thing you need is on the CD I think it is the last Cd under the extras folder. I have to caution you though I managed to build the house or shack and it is now being used as a line shack at my base airport but when I tried to make the P38 I nearly went bald I never could figure it out I had problems with the fusealge I just could not seem to do what the instructions asked no matter what. I nearly pulled every hair on my head out trying to make it work but finally gave up. I have since purchesd a book called THE GMAX BIBLE that comes with a cd  and a lot of tutorials. I am slowy working my way through it but letting my hair grow back before attempting the plane again.
If this is the first time you have ever used a 3D program than take it slow as GMAX is a very complex program for a begginer As I found out. You might want to consider the same book I bought as it explains in detail what every thing in Gmax does .
There are a bunch of people here that can help you just make sure you phrase your questions correctly and some one here can help you out 8)

NO problem glad to help. The Gmax on the disk is no different than the one you download from the web but the one on the disks have the tutorials I spoke of the process is not that hard once you have a finshed project. It envolves a couple of steps and you are done the tutorial will guide you through all of this.

The extra folder I was talking about is on DISK 1 of the FS9 instalition disks. When you put the disk in it will display a menu asking you what you want to do just close the window
and then explore the disk using the my computer short cut right click on the drive that has the disk in it and click on explore then you will see the extras folder Gmax is in that folder.
I had a littlle problem with the house at first but after reading the instructions again I finally managed to figure it out. Of course I got the textures in the wrong place I had the front door on the roof and the roof was at the front but I finally got it right. What I did was to print the instructions that way I was not switching back and forth .
I hope you have a full head of hair it sounds like you are going to be needing it 8)
Just hang in there and take it one step at a time; if you try to rush through it you will not get it right. I did the same thing was a little inpatient and tried to finsh it before  I had started it and had all kind of problems .
But if you print out the instructions and follow them to the letter you will get there just save as you go so if you make a mistake you only have to go back one step

Gmax came with FS2002 not with FS2004.  You should have tutorials that come when you download the FS9 SDK.  Also if you download Gmax itself from discreet you will get tutorials that way albeit they are not to build a building etc (I think more 3d game orientated) but they will teach you all the techniques you need to build scenery.

I used the Gmax tutorials, spent about 10hrs working through them and have been building FS scenery objects ever since.  I must point out that I am not a particulary great with computers either.

Have fun and you will get there.

AS for the tutorials I can no longer rember where I got them from to be honest with you. If you would like if you send me a P.M.(private message) with your email address I will send you the needed files.

The "makemdl can't be found" is a generic error message. There is either something wrong with your settings or the scene itself in that is does not meet FS standards.

First, not knowing what your location is, you might check your Windows System Settings and make sure that your decimal delimiter is set to a period " . " and not a comma " , " as is the case with many non US installations of Windows.

Besure your gMax settings are set properly. From the gMax menu bar click on Customize > Preferences... and on the General tab, in the top left corner, the System Unit Scale MUST be set to 1 unit = 1 meter. This is the scale that the scene is stored in and the only scale (except for the very first FS2002 version) that makemdl accepts.

Next, have you successfully exported anything in the past like a simple box? If so, look in the directory you are trying to export to for a file with a .log extension. This is a simple text file that is written on every export and can be opened with a program like Notepad and usually tells you what is wrong with the scene and why it failed to export. If you have this file, let us know what it says and some one can probably tell you what to do to fix it.

Lou

PS: When you export, I'd export the the:

C:\gmax\gamepacks\FS2004\meshes

directory and keep extra garbage out of the FS directories. Only put aircraft models and scenery bgls in your FS setup.

Also, the gmax12_help.exe and gmax12_tutorials.exe are  in the Extras directory on the CD with the gmax12.exe install program. When you install the FS2004 gamepack, there are tutorial docs installed in the:

C:\gmax\gamepacks\FS2004\docs directory.

On my Windows 2000 OS, I click Start > Settings > Control Panel > Regional Options and it is under the Numbers tab, Decimal Symbol.

Lou

I use XP and I do not recall having to do anything special to my system before I used gmax. Nor do I recall any mention of system settings in gmax. The only thing I recall is it telling you to change the setting in GMAX it self. Make sure every thing is in  the correct place Gmax should not be installed inside of FS but in its own directory and the FS2004 game pack needs to be in Gmax I can not rember if it puts it there automatically or not.
When I get home I will look to see exactaully what is where you might not have something in the correct folder 8)

I am doing my best to help you if you will send me a private message with your email address I will send you the tutorial for the house. It will explain every thing step by step.
The game pack folder should be inside of gmax and the FS2004 folder is inside of the gamepack folder PLEASE THIS IS NOT THE MAIN FS2004 FOLDER but the SDK folder so please do not move your main fs2004 folder
If you do not know how to send a Private message just click on the name of the person you want to send a pm to and select the send private message. When you logon it will tell you if anyone has sent you a pm if you notiuce I sent you one. 8)