Model Formats for Flight Gear

Flight Gear models can be in different formats, or so the initial Flight Gear How to :

for example the 'model-how-to.tml' in FGROOT DOCs says:

(The same 2002 model how to found in Flight Gear 1.0 and 2018.1.1 as well.

Using 3D models in a basic aircraft template (which I will describe next) generates the follwing results. I created a simple shape called Block1.xxx and saved it under different formats. Some formats would not load at all:

1) Block1.lwo Result: FGRUN - "failed to load 3D model C:\ProgramFiles..."

2) Block1.wrl Result: FGRUN - "failed to load 3D model C:\ProgramFiles|......"

3) Block1.x Result: FGRUN - "failed to load 3D model C:\ProgramFiles|......"

These are the Lightwave, VRML 2.0 and Direct x file formats. These do not load in Flight 1.0, so this is my development environment. It is unlikely that these will load in the Fg 2018 or 2.0 systems so these will be ingnored.

We are left with the following file formats:

1) Block1.3ds Loads in FGRUN

This is how it is described in the model xml file:

<PropertyList>

<path>Block1.3ds</path>

Block1.3ds Loads in FGRUN, does not load in FG (object 'fond' not found)

2) Block1.obj Loads in FGRUN

These are the results:

Similarly, trying the .obj (Wavefront) format gives the following results: the pink shading is caused by an attempted texture application.

How to create a template folder? We can do this using a simple aircraft. For standardization, I will download the T38 all over again, since this aircraft is available on the internet at the ftp biblio site as follows under Aircraft 1.9.1

The folder will have the following files and folders. Leave the Engines folder alone, and go to the Models folder, under which is found the T38.xml File. Change the line in this folder as follows:

<!-- A wrapper file for the T-38 3D model -->

<PropertyList>

<path>T38.ac</path>

<!-- no shadows -->

<animation>

<type>noshadow</type>

.......

<path>T38.ac</path>

to

<PropertyList>

<path>Block1.obj</path>