Attachpoints

Today I have been working a bit more on ModelConverterX. More specific on reading attachpoints for FS2004 scenery MDL files (for FSX files it was working already). While doing so I also took at a look at attached library objects, since their code is relatively similar I was able to add support for that type of attachpoint as well. So now the FS2004 and FSX MDL readers can both read attached effects and library objects. I have also updated the Wiki pages describing the MDL format with the new information I learned.

In the remainder of this week I plan to work on some other open issues for ModelConverterX, including the FSDS FSC format importer and exporter.

Moving status #4

Since a few days FSDeveloper is running on the new server now and this are going well. The new server seems to be faster than the old one for most users. Today we have made two additional changes:

  • We have updated the style used. On the forum I explain the reasons behind this change.
  • The download section has a new user interface, it is less fancy but probably more user friendly. Once again the details are on the forum.

With this the moving of the FSDeveloper website is almost down, the only item still on our list is to improve the frontpage a bit, as we currently have a simple static one (which is still in the old theme). We have some nice plans for that already, but I’ll keep that a surprise for now…

Moving status #3

We have pointed the DNS to the new server now, so FSDeveloper should become accessible for you soon again. This might take a little while though.

We are still tuning and tweaking the last details, but the community could be reopened already. So we would like to welcome you back in our new home.

Moving status #2

The moving of FSDeveloper is going well. We have got everything running again and are currently in the process of some final testing and tuning. So hopefully we can get the site live again in a hour or two.

Moving status

Here is a little status update of the moving of the FSDeveloper website. We have moved everytihng to the new server and have upgraded the forum software by now. That all seems to be running fine. The wiki still needs upgrading and after that there will be a final test before the site can go live again. But until now things are going relatively smoothly and we hope to be ready in a few hours.

Offline during moving

Opposed to what I reported before, the FSDeveloper website will be offline tomorrow during the moving process to the new server. We decided to do this, as it makes the moving easier to perform. Of course we’ll try to be online as soon as possible again.

Tomorrow is moving day

Just to remind you all that tomorrow we will move the FSDeveloper website to a new server. The work will start around 10:00 CET and we hope to finish in a few hours. During this period the old server will be in read only mode, so you will not be able to post.

In case things go wrong and the old site might go offline, I will use this blog to post information. So keep an eye here as well. But hopefully that is not needed and we are up and running soon on the new server.

FSDS support

One of the features on the ModelConverterX wishlist is adding support for writing FSDS FSC files. I can now say that I started working on this. I got a SDK from Louis Sinclair, the author of FSDS, that explains how the file format works. To get more used to the format I decided to first make a reader that can import FSC files. The current development release has an initial version of this reader included already. It should read the geometry correctly, but I am still working on animations and other advanced features. I think I’ll also need some more test files to test the reader on those aspects. After the reader is done, I will start with the writer.

That I started on this FSDS support does not mean that the FS2004 MDL reader is completely done, I still have to look at the attachpoints and figure out a way to deal with the conditions and LODs. These issues are still high on my todo list as well and if there is feedback on how the FS2004 MDL reader works with your animations I would also like to now.