The Problem

As some of you may be aware, Blender 2.49 is old unsupported software that is becoming increasingly less usable on modern computers. To make matters worse, authors have large projects that are currently stuck on this platform, jeopardizing their work!

The Solution

We are creating a 2.49 XPlane2Blender converter inside of XPlane2Blender 2.7x, so that opening a 2.49 Blend file in 2.7x will automatically convert meshes, animations, materials, lights, textures, and XPlane2Blender properties into a modern format. This isn’t just an idea, we currently have a strong proof of concept that animations can be converted from old to new!

The 2.49 Converter Needs Your Help

The goal is

That if it exports in 2.49, it exports in 2.7x as similarly as possible.
That the conversion process is hassle free and also transparent.
That your work is safe and won’t be lost if there is a problem.

To accomplish this we’re going to need a lot of test .blend files and projects – to make it work for artists in the wild we need projects in the wild! We’ll take anything working and not working.

  • All source files will be kept secure and confidential within Laminar Research, and only used for this feature of XPlane2Blender, unless you make it open source.
  • Given that we’re trying to convert EVERYTHING, including materials and textures, it would also be extremely nice to have all files referenced as well.
  • Any description you’d like to include (preferably in a text block) would be nice too.

Again, just as with any other time someone sends me a sample to debug, it is kept secure and private, kept only for as long as needed, you can ask me to delete it at any time, and is only used for the development of that specific bug or feature of XPlane2Blender. They would never be used to develop any Laminar Research asset.

If you’re willing to submit a project to me, please get in contact via e-mail, DM, comment, or especially Github bug #397.

Please ask any questions!


8 comments on “Blender 2.49 files needed!

  1. Hi Ted, OpenSceneryX has quite a large number of Blender files. I’ve posted a reply on your GitHub issue with a link that lists them all.

      1. No problem. Yeah OSX has been version controlled since day 1, in a hosted SVN repo in the early days, then a private SVN repo, then Google Code SVN and now GitHub for the last few years. Hopefully no more major SCM migrations needed any time soon, I can do without that pain! A niggling worry is there are soft (1GB) and hard (unknown) repo size limits on GitHub and I’m pretty sure OSX is nearing the soft limit. We’ll have to see how that goes…

  2. Hi,
    actually, I found a complex 2.49 file from 2012. I sent it to you via email. Hope this helps. The works on the blender exporter are highly appreciated!
    Best regards
    Florian
    COLIMATA

  3. Hi Ted,

    I also have a bunch of old .blend files, but they can be a bit messy and I don’t exactly remember what they contain. On top of that there may be textures missing.

    Would you still be interested?

    -Marcus

  4. Ted Greene, I worked with X-Plane since version 3.5, up to 9. Met Austin in Italy in 2001 the in Switzerland … then bought a Kitfox aircraft, flew 16 years now, lost medical and sold plane and came back to X-Plane. Have four aircraft made for XP 9 with Blender 2.49 … that I can’t use now because it’s all messed up in the last version of Blender and XP 11.3 I am 70 years old and need help, please. Can I send you my planes with Blender files for mods?
    Say hello from me to Austin or Brett Sumpter if you meet them.
    Michel Verheughe

    1. Thank you for your continued support of X-Plane! I’ve never met a 3.5 user before! If you give me your 2.49 .blend files I will use them for the development of the converter, I can’t use them to help fix them. To be honest, I know very little about using XPlane2Blender 2.49. I am approaching this project from a reverse engineering bottom up approach. When I wanted to learn how 2.49 animates things, it was to copy the data into 2.78, and I started by reading the source code – not looking at tutorials or completing projects.

      Your files would be much appreciated, and I would appreciate them, but I can’t help debug them. When the converter is completed, you will probably use that to get your planes into 2.79!

      (I also edited out your e-mail from your comment. We can see them privately behind the scenes, so there is no reason to put it in a comment for the whole internet to see.)
      Ted

Comments are closed.