Greetings;

On the aircraft files that I have there is a model folder, and when I go inside I see the mdl file.  I want to open this file to see some things such as the lights and make some adjustment so it works better or eliminate the fixed light (strobes) and work it out from my Aircraft cfg.  However I need to make this adustment fix inside the mdl that was created by someone else.  So is there a program that I can use that can open this mdl file and put this same file back after the adjustment is made?????

This is all I want to do mainly to enjoy my aircraft better overall.

Chan

AS Brett says you lose the animations, mapping, etc so you may just as well start again

Also I think you will find that just about all models are released on the condition that it is not to be decompiled.

Garry

There is a big difference between painting an airplane and changing the model.  The difference is like writing a paragraph and writing a book...  Keep in mind, that mdl file is instructions for placing sometimes as many as 60,000 polygons in the sim.  It would be a bit hard to handwrite that like a .cfg file.

In Chan's defence all he wants to do is remove a strobe light defined in the MDL file. Surely that's no big crime. He didn't mention which version of FS he wants the aircraft for but I presume this is an older model created with FSDS for FS2002.

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It might be difficult but not impossible. The MDL file can be opened & edited with a Hex Editor. There are ways of doing these things if you know what to look for. I would tell him how to do it if I knew myself.

You're reading too much into this. But for the sake of technical correctness.. you're confusing freeware, with, "open source" software.. where it's exactly as it implies.. The source code is freely distrubuted, and modified.

That a model file is "encrypted", is a function of the compilation. The realtionship between an FSX model-file, and its Gmax source-file; is the same relationship between ANY programming language's source-file (that a programmer can write and edit), and its compiled, executable file. When you sit down and write some huge program, that "language" is for YOUR benefit. A computer doesn't need all those pages of read-able code and syntax.. it just needs simple, machine-language-like instructions... usually in hexadecimal format. A compiled program (or model), is much smaller, and much more quickly read and processed by a computer.

In theory.. FSX could use the Gmax files as model files.. but it would require terribly bulky code in FSX..  OR ..  FSX would have to have a compiler built in, and compile each model before rendering it.

It's more about efficiency, that any sort of encryption.  

As a freeware designer myself.. I'll freely distribute my source-code, to anyone who asks. If a person is capable of USING that source code in any  way (like making a decent modification).. HAVE AT IT !    I don't worry about someone just recompiling it and taking credit. I mean, geez.. they could do that with the compiled model. Just rename it and distribute it in their name. And even THAT doesn't bother me. The more people who get to enjoy my work, the better.

Now.. as far as repainting goes. Think of it this way. The textures are nothing more than data files.. like a spread-sheet full of numbers are to accounting software. Change the data .. change the output.

The cfg and air files have NOTHING to do with the model. They're data for FSX. FSX doesn't care if your model looks like a beach ball    All FSX sees is a point in space.. and those files are the data that help FSX make that point in space move about liike an airplane. Sure.. there are cfg entries for things like lights..  but all FSX cares about, is where those are, realtive to that point in space...

As far as editing stuff like model-dependent lighting from a hex-editor ? It would require more effort to learn and accomplish that task, than it would to build a new model from scratch. Anything other than very specific, conditional switches (like we used to "turn off" VCs), means messing around blindly in a china shop, that has houses of cards in it too, and the lights are turned off..

Hagar wrote on Apr 12^th, 2009 at 10:22am:


Yeah.. it's possible in theory.. But were talking about things like, conditional-appearance, variable transparency, probable animation.. part-hierarchy.. co-dependent materials...  Finding all the proper hex-entries.. and modifying them in ways that don't cascade problems throughout the model (the tiniest of which would simply render it uselsess), would be like finding the needle in the haystack and extracting it, without disturbing any of the hay. 

Now, though.. I'm curious and bored.. I'm wondering if there might be a simple, harmless edit, that just "shuts off", lighting. My instinct tells me that GMAX/MSFS doesn't discern it that discretely. I'll bet it's more along the lines of animation. You either have it, or you don't. The best we could hope to do, would be to "shut off" conditional appearance, and that would likely effect the prop and wheels 

Chan didn't say which version of the aircraft he has or which version of FS this is for. I assume it's either FS9 or FSX. I tried the FS9 version of the aircraft he mentioned & the strobes appear to be defined in Aircraft.cfg. It's possible the adjustment he wants to make is no longer necessary. Try it for yourself. FS2004 Ready For Pushback Boeing 747-200 package v2

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There is a little utility that will do most of those things automatically. It will convert the FS9 default DC-3 to display correctly in CFS2 with a single click. I've tested it & it works very well.

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Interesting.. but that's an entire model.. a fix along the lines of "shutting off" an entire VC. We're talking about editing a model... changing something specific, within it.

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Naw    We're friends forever !  

I respect your opinion too. I'd never suggest that you share a source file with just any person.

To me.. all the work and research is for making a good model and the whole reason for doing it, is for sharing it (even the source code).

We can't stop people from stealing.. locked door only keep honest people out of a house.

I figure.. if someone is interested enough to have learned Gmax, then them using my source code, is no different than someone using the actual model IN FSX.

And heck.. if they learn something from messing with my source code, that's even BETTER.. now I'm helping someone else , and we've got another designer

ShaneG wrote on Apr 12^th, 2009 at 11:01am:


Point of information only -

Shane - the answer is basically no.  IF it's coded into the mdl, it will operate under the appropriate keystroke.  This is not, for example, like a landing gear animation - you can "freeze"  a retractable landing gear by declaring extension.retraction times of "0"  in the aircraft.cfg file, but then you'll still have the visuals of the open gear doors, etc.

Or, you can make a landplane an amphibian/seaplane, again by editing the aircraft.cfg file, but then, all you get is a visual landplane landing nicely on the water.

Going back to the original question, the FS9 version of the RFP 747-200 already has a [LIGHTS] section in Aircraft.cfg together with corresponding FX files. I assume this makes further modification to the MDL unnecessary. Although I posted a link nobody seems to have checked it out. http://www.simviation.com/fs2004jets211.htm

I note that Chan hasn't returned since his second post. The amount of over-reaction in this topic probably scared him off.