Question for the pro's

Could be all the models don’t have custom names in milkshape. While exporting a model you have to change the group names for the model to unique ones. If not, although the model itself maybe called something different, FL reads the internal parts as the same model and defaults to the one you are flying. I had this same problem years ago and traced it to a freighter i was flying. Changed the internal names of the model and problem solved.

Duhh…

Yes, naming ship groups uniquely is fundamental to getting it right.

If you aren’t sure how to name groups, try to use the following format for naming your ship groups in MilkShape… (explanation is in brackets, don’t put it in)!

Excalibur_Hull (Main Fuselage)
Excalibur_LEngPyl (Left Engine Pylon)
Excalibur_REngPyl (Right Engine Pylon)
Excalibur_LEng (Left Engine)
Excalibur_REng (Right Engine)
Excalibur_LWing (Left Wing)
Excalibur_RWing (Right Wing)
Excalibur_LWingTop (Left Top Wing)
Excalibur_LWingBot (Left Bottom Wing)
Excalibur_RWingTop (Right Top Wing)
Excalibur_RWingBot (Right Bottom Wing)
Excalibur_LFin (Left Fin)
Excalibur_RFin (Right Fin)

If your hull is made of several parts, try this:-
Excalibur_Hull (Main Fuselage)
Excalibur_HullA (Rear Fuselage)
Excalibur_HullB (Front Fuselage)

This will help you when you make the sur files, because you need to have one MilkShape Group with the same name as the sur part.

Remember the top group in the list is gong to be renamed to “root” when you export the model. It should normally be the biggest hull component.

Also remember - if you are going to export sur parts manually and use Sur Splicer, FL standard is for the group names to end in “_lod1”. So when you create your sur parts, name them like this:-

Excalibur_Hull_lod1
Excalibur_LEngPyl_lod1
Excalibur_REngPyl_lod1
Excalibur_LEng_lod1
Excalibur_REng_lod1
Excalibur_LWing_lod1
Excalibur_RWing_lod1

Then you will NOT need to import the Cons_fix.dat file, because this is all it does - correct the names by putting _lod1 on the end.

The .cmp exporter does this automatically, and so does the .sur exporter v1.1.

If you follow this method your sur files have the best chance of working, most problems are in bad naming.

@ST:
You forgot also that there is lod0, lod2 etc…
If you export it with CMP exporter 2.0+ it lets you choose the Level of Details (as in lod) so you dont have to name it in the groups’ names.

To fix crc conflicts, it would be probably easier to use FLModelCloner. That way, you will not have to rehardpoint/rescale and all that jazz.

TheDvDMan wrote:
@ST:
You forgot also that there is lod0, lod2 etc…
If you export it with CMP exporter 2.0+ it lets you choose the Level of Details (as in lod) so you dont have to name it in the groups’ names.

No I didn’t forget because I did NOT discuss exporting the CMP files at all.

OK, to keep this information complete and back on track:

No, you don’t have to but you SHOULD name sur parts correctly (same as the associated cmp group and ending in _lod1) when you export each part MANUALLY to use with SUR SPLICER, to REMIND you of the correct name

Why?

Because:
When you export a multi-group SUR, the exporter will name the first part “root” and the remaining parts xxx_lod1 automatically. You don’t need to do anything except to ensure that each sur part is named exactly the same as an existing cmp group.

But:
When you export a single-part sur, and this is what you do when you export them one at a time, there is only “root”. So all your sur parts that you export one by one are named “root” internally.

So:
When you stitch them together using Sur Splicer, you must remember to name them the same as your .cmp groups and add “_lod1” after each one except the actual root part, which must be named “root”.

You do this in the input file that you create for Sur Splicer.

So - to make it easy to remember, I export each part as its name, including the “_lod1” at the end, so each sur file is named “xxxx_lod1.sur”

Then when I create my input file, I can see immediately the correct name for that part, and I can rename them very easily and without mistakes:-

Excalibur_Hull_lod1.sur Root
Excalibur_LWing_lod1.sur Excalibur_LWing_lod1
Excalibur_RWing_lod1.sur Excalibur_RWing_lod1
and so on.

Why?
Because the groups in the .cmp file are named:-

Root
Excalibur_LWing_lod1
Excalibur_RWing_lod1

And so they will MATCH already!

So what?
Duhh - because for collision checking, FL looks for the SAME NAME in the sur file as it finds in the .cmp file!

And I WON’T need to import the cons_fix.dat file that Sur Splicer creates into the .cmp file to fix the names by messign up standard naming into non-standard stupid zomgbayxx names that might exist in more than one model!

If you don’t do it this way then you MUST import the cons_fix.dat file into your .cmp file because the sur part names will not be correct!

The Standard form for cmp group and sur part names is xxxxxxx_lod1

Why do so many of you insist to not follow standard FL form and then expect your rubbish names like “z_Oh_My_God _Bay01” to work?

Sometimes for complex models you may have more sur parts than cmp groups, and in this case you will need to make extra cmp groups. This is where some of you like to make (far too many) additional cube or sphere shapes inside the ship and give them meaningless zomgbayxx names.

Why not break up the model instead where possible? And use meaningfull names like:-

xxx_Hull_Front with xxx_Hull_Front_lod1
xxx_Hull_Rear with xxx_Hull_Rear_lod1
xxx_Hangar1_Floor with xxx_Hangar1_Floor_lod1
xxx_Hangar1_Ceiling with xxx_Hangar1_Ceiling_lod1
xxx_Hangar1_LWall with xxx_Hangar1_LWall_lod1
xxx_Hangar1_RWall with xxx_Hangar1_RWall_lod1
etc.

zomgbayF&86kxx!?!

I don’t believe in extending peoples’ misery or letting them make mistakes so I can laugh at them or feel superior.

Some of us are trying to reduce the agonies of new modders, because we have experienced them already. But when the majority of you don’t know how or why and throw in bad info, how are the newbies going to know the difference of which one is right?

Like I said somewhere else, we can take the horse to the water but we can’t make it drink.

Well - here’s the “water” - drink if you want to.

Yep, there is - just put up with me when I’m feeling Grumpy - that’s most of the time!