Hi Folks,
RE: 3DC 9.22
Anyone left familiar with MSTS LODs ??? I have a problem – I’m pretty sure I know how LODs are supposed to work… In fact – I can make test models and even the “tender” on my current project allows me to create LODs with the exporter [FILE/EXPORT/TRAINWORKS]… I select then copy the desired object – then paste it twice in the scene – then rename the parent group of the copies to “Main.100” and “Main.500″… Works like a champ – I launch Shape Viewer with the resulting shape and the LODs are listed…
I’m familiar with the LOD rules pertaining to what we can remove and what we can’t – but – I’m not even into those steps yet… I haven’t even started the trimming – the LODs are exact duplicates of the base model…
Now I move on to my steam locomotive and attempt the very same procedure… It doesn’t work – the exporter prompts me to export the LODs and I do everything the same… The exporter does not complain but when I check the resulting model in Shape Viewer – no LODs… I’ve repeated this procedure countless times with all the variations I could think of to try – no luck… One other thing I’ve noticed with the locomotive shape – is that Shape File Manager is unable to compress the file – it errors out… I’m not sure if that’s related to my LOD problem – but – the tender shape file does compress fine…
Again – all this testing is done with exact duplicates of the models – no reduction in poly counts or trimming has taken place… It’s only the locomotive model that fails – all my other tests successfully produced LODs…
The models work fine in MSTS and OR as they’ve been tested over many hours…
If I crunch the locomotive model with the “automatic” LOD function built into the export process – the LODs work fine… If only Richard had given us a little more control over this feature to control what’s deleted and what’s not – it would have been really useful… I need the custom LOD function to do what I want…
Any ideas or suggestions ???
Regards
Scott
