Prepar3D v2 MDL changes

When I released the first update for ModelConverterX that supports the new Prepar3D v2 MDL format, I had already found out two differences in the MDL format:

  • The material definition has been extended with an additional attribute for the ZBias
  • The indices of the triangles are now stored as int instead of short. This basically means that you can have more triangles in a modelpart, because with a short you can’t have an index higher than 65536.

But a few days ago I found out that there are more changed sections in the Prepar3D v2 MDL file. It turned out that the way the mouse rectangles are stored has also changed. So I have now updated ModelConverterX again to support this change as well. You can download the new version tomorrow.

I have tested with most of the models that come with Prepar3D v2 and I haven’t been able to spot other MDL files with unknown sections. But you never know what we will find in the future…

2 thoughts on “Prepar3D v2 MDL changes

  1. matt says:

    Hi Arno, i make a small airport with models and a ground poly fs2002 style and save in fsx mdl format. i put in prepar3d( using 2.4) and works fine, no problems on models or flickering on groundpoly. I don’t know why but work. Is recomended keep that work
    with only fsx mdl or make a prepar3D mdl and p3d v2 gp? im confusing because most of people say “fsx mdl and fs2002 groundpoly not suported prepar 3D 2.+ but for me no one problem happen

    • arno says:

      Hi,

      I think what they say is that after P3D v2 they will drop the support for FS2002 style ground polygons. Haven’t heard that about the FSX MDL files before. So for now you would be OK to use them and if your scenery should also work in FSX it’s easier to do it this way.

      If you are only working for P3D, it would be easier to use the P3D v2 MDL format I think, it makes the workflow easier and allows you to use the advanced material properties.

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