[MSFS] Development Tutorial - Add custom 3D models to MSFS aircraft
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- Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
- This HowTo / tutorial deals with the workflow to add custom 3D models to (existing) aircraft for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
Basically, your custom 3D model is exported separately as glTF file and in a second step it is merged with glTF files of an (existing MSFS) aircraft.
Prerequisites
Download (and install) the following software tools / files / scripts:
Blender 2.9X
www.blender.org/
GIMP
www.gimp.org/
MSFS2Blender2MSFS addon for Blender github.com/fly...
Merge script by FlyByWire
(build.js and models.json) github.com/fly...
Node JS Node.js
nodejs.org/
MSFS Layout Generator github.com/Hug...
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Also, feel free to post a comment of course :-)
Thanks for watching.
Cheers & regards,
Woosel
a new MSFS development series has been started: check it out here if you are interested. I show you my new workflow that I have been using
ua-cam.com/video/p68pgsY9j1E/v-deo.html&ab_channel=Wooselman
Any opaque texture (no transparency) is better saved as BC1/DXT1. The COMP file is better (with 16 bit source) saved as BC7, BC3/DXT5 is actually inferior to BC7 for this purpose, but it is the best option in GIMP.
Hi Woosel! Thanks for sharing this tutorial. I wasn't able to get it to work using the steps outlined here. When exporting, the interior model appeared invisble in-game, but I did learn alot about msfs mod development from the video! In fact, eventually I managed to add 3d models to aircraft using a very convoluted, similar approach by LordFrites from flightsim dot to.
I exported the gltf + bin of the model to add from blender 2.93 (using the msfs2blender2msfs module). Then I exported the png textures in blender 3.1 (using the gITF-Blender-IO-MSFS tool). I then used a tool called the GLTF MSFS Compiler to assemble the gltf from 2.93 and 3.1. I performed texture conversion from PNG2DDS using a tool called the MSFS Textures Toolbox. After that, I was able to use your tutorial exactly! I'm currently making some build tools to streamline the process a bit more.
I'm curious what your current export workflow looks like! I watched some of the WooselMod streams but some of the steps seem hidden.
Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated. Yes, some parts of my export workflow are not shown on the livestream as it would be a bit too confusing with switching scenes etc. I mainly use the official Blender Asobo plugin for Blender and the MSFS package tool to get my gltfs and textures.
There might be also better approaches but for me this worked quite well so far even though it is quite cumbersome.
To be honest, spare time is quite limited at the moment for me but I will keep that in mind for upcoming livestreams to find a way to show the process a bit more detailed 😉
Very nice tutorial, just a tip, try make your desktop resolution more low to make the texts more legible
This is amazing. thank you!
If you can figure out how to animate them with bones. Let me know ;)
Hi!
Thank you for the video! I have few question: Is it possible to modify (a little) an existing airframe?
Hi, that is what I did with the CJ4 but it is a really cumbersome process with a lot of trial and error (at least from my experience). Keep an eye out for my livestreams of MSFS dev content and then you get an idea of the process. However there might be better approaches in the meantime that I am not aware of.
Make an updated video. I don’t believe this works anymore. I get a million errors when exporting. Some byte offset errors and some PY errors.
Thanks very much for this tutorial, going through things now. I would like to know whether it's also possible to replace default meshes with custom meshes (for example, would like to increase the polycount on certain parts of an aircraft)
Cheers!
Thanks for your feedback 👍unfortunately that is not possible at the moment as far as I know.
@@TuckyGenesler Thanks again Wooselman for the info :) You've provided a really nice starting point for me to try to get something happening- it's a bit hard to find good tutorials on modifying aircraft.
Hi, why when im exporting my model I get traceback errors. I'm using exact same version blender 2.92.0 and that tool 1.7.5
Hi, this tutorial is a bit outdated now. There could be various reasons for the errors though. Once I find some time, I will do a new video with my current workflow 😉
Very interesting tutorial, I'm really noob with this, why we need to merge models with an external .js tool? why don't merge the models inside blender and export both already merged?
Thanks for the feedback! It is due to the fact that there are issues with animations if you import the other (stock) model into Blender. If you would export them both the original animations are not retained.
So, this is why the merge script is the only way at the moment.
Got some problems, if I do it with a gps, I only get the container when reimport the result to check in blender, and if I do CTRL+A and scale all my animations get broken... I would be happy if you can give me some little help. Thank you
Can you make the body animated like if i want the hamds to move flipping me the bird lol
Hi there, great video. Could you please help me locate the "Onestore" directory? I am using the Xbox PC Pass version of MSFS
Nevermind, all good... found it, I had created a "temp" folder for all my xbox install files, thus a lot of the content is in there. At least, I hope that I'm looking at the right content 😋
Tried but my textures come out pink and purple. Any ideas? When I export from blender it comes packaged as DDS files not PNG so I skipped your step about that because the GLTF file already has the DDS files in it as well. Any idea what i’m doing wrong?
You updated your layout.json as well? So, your DDS files are in there? Sounds like MSFS cannot find the textures in case the model shows up pink / purple.
It doesnt work anymore. The strange thing is that even if I replace the joined gltf with the original one in official folder, still nothing of the custom 3d model is showing up. The rest of the cokckpit is as it was before. When I import the joined gltf in blender, my custom model is there with the cockpit. Any ideas ? Many thanx!
Hey! That sounds strange indeed. I still use the same workflow and it still works for me. Hard to say but maybe there is an issue with exporting so MSFS is not able to load your custom model of the joined glTF properly. Have you tried it with just a simple mesh like a cube? Just to check if that one is visible in MSFS when your joined glTF is loaded.
@@TuckyGenesler just managed to make it work only after compiling my custom model's gltf as a simobject with fspackagetool.exe..... That gives you a gltf in pure msfs format. No need to edit anything. You can use compiled dds and dds.json files as well. So.. that means something doesnt work anymore with the manual entries in gltf from blender... but maybe its something I did wrong. Still cannot see my model if I put a separate folder in the community. I have to replace the original gltfs of the aircraft ( after a backup of course) and update the layout and manifest. In anyway thank you a lot for the nice tutorial!
If I'm working with a very simple object, can it only have an albedo map or is the normal map always required?
Sure, just an Albedo is fine. Normal and Comp maps are optional basically.
Is the approach only working with default aircraft or as well with add-ons that are already in the community folder?
@@benedictrastetter3084 to be honest, I have only tried it with default aircraft. I could imagine though that addon aircraft might have integrity checks on the glTF files and such…but it’s worth to give it a try maybe if you like 😉
Would be nice if you did an updated tutorial on how to do this as a lot has changed and can't seem to get this to work anymore the 3d model doesn't show up at all in the cockpit
once I find some time I will definitely do an update in the future. Thx for your feedback.
@@TuckyGenesler are you still using the method and is it still working for you? I just followed along to just add a simple cube to the JPL_152 cockpit. I can see the file was merged in the gltf (by searching for the object name in the text) but it doesn't display in the cockpit in game. I also noticed the fbw now has a buildv2 and modelsv2 file, does that mean the old build and models files no longer work?
@@thestonefox Hi! Thanks for the hints. I wasn’t aware that there is a v2 and haven’t taken a look at it so far. However the old method should still work but to be honest I have to double check myself as I am not really active at the moment regarding MSFS development.
I've opened up the generated gltf in blender and I can see the object I merged but its just an empty object, no longer a mesh
@@thestonefox I see. I will check if I find some time and my plan is still to create a new video about it as quite a few things have changed.
Im using the exporter, the bin and gltf files are exporting, but the albedo and normal maps aren't. Do you know what to do? @wooselman
Hey, there are some issues with this approach when you have a mesh with multiple materials. Is this the case?
I am planning to do a tutorial with a new workflow which makes things easier…might take a while though.
@@TuckyGenesler Yes, i just downloaded a 3D file to use, so i don't have any textures, instead it's just materials. Can I still follow this tutorial without them, or are they necessary?
@@-__FIXX__- I see. Yes, you can follow the tutorial. Instead of textures you can also just use the MSFS Standard material with a base color. Should work too then 😉
Noch schneller bitte...danke
At the last step I got SyntaxError: Unexpected en of JSON input. at JSON.parse (,anonymous>) , I wonder if you are familiar with this? @wooselman