PMC Tactical forums

Does anyone know much about FSX / FS2004 model .MDL files and how to convert them into 3ds max (3ds) or better yet lightwave (LWO) format?

On the other topic we just discussed this for Blender, but it seems you need all sorts of junk that nobody wants to install or is just way too much hassle for simple conversion... that it would be really nice to get a quick tool to convert MDL -> 3DS format.

Hi... the following is from an X-Plane forum (its a VERY nice Flightsim)

http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?showtopic=26616
(it talks about converting mdl->dx->3ds or so ... and thats quite a lot of work getting the planes to actually work inside ...)

but cgsociety i think has a better answer...
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=18890

it says using valve sdk to convert to max formats but ...
it also says milkshape can do both mdl and lwo ...
btw i heard that soft being mentioned very often by gamemodders due to the many formats it can handle.. and its shareware (35$ or 25€)... it has an HalfLive mdl viewer on site too

i wished soo often that it can handle the odol7 or what format (arma p3d and ofp p3d (odol4) ) ... but not yet fullfilled


some more links
http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?showtopic=32658

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/wiki/index.p ... ConverterX

// using the brute force method, capturing the 3d datastream from directx ... grrr..
http://www.deep-shadows.com/hax/3DRipperDX.htm

Both of those methods are quite complicated, as I just want model or two converted from .MDL format into .3ds or .lwo so I can load them into Modo, its way too much to ask to install SDK's (I mean you do have to "install" them right) and other stuff.

3DRipper also is out of the question as I do not have FSX/FS2004 game's installed either.

Thanks for posting Vigilante, excellent stuff with the links and everything, thank you.

So still, no easy cmd line conversion tool for .mdl -> .3ds ?

try milkshape... its free the first week or so ... and if you dont like installing on your workhorse... i would use a devbox just for that (your last old pc or so) ... aint there some plugins for modo or lightwave getting mdl?

also, what i understood, the mdl format is quite different than others because it writes a lot of other config stuff into the model file, even different stuff differing from game to game (ie HalfLife has different mdl than FS2004 and such)... so it will never be a simple one-step conversion process AFAIK sorry ... you somehow need to get the unnecessary stuff out ...

or take the plane ingame and do isometric screenshots of it from all axes and then cut-n-paste like the other tutorial you posted here somewhere ... and make it from scratch ... sometimes this route is quicker and easier than fumbling stumbling into stuff we will never understand ... like hex coding or such save your time and nerves ... and who knows maybe someone has the same model in a better format or already a converted one.. keep your eyes open

(hehe... or read my new post at programming language thread and learn C++ and code your own mdl-lwo translator... i think you will please quite some ppl with it )

how about the classics of conversion okinos polytrans/nu graf and deep exploration from right hemisphere? although said above still applies (i.e. the other 'stuff' inside the mdl format)