Hi,
I started to mess again with Blender and A8 and try to make some simple models to start with, just a simple object almost a cube with an UV texture that I mapped with a .DDS in Blender.

Now the funny begins when trying to export it and import it with MED and get something that works. I spent this day to try different export settings with .3ds and .obj and never succeeded (.fbx I understand is obsolete and you would anyhow need to use yet another middle tool to version change current .fbx export to one that old MED understand). Sometimes using "same" settings in Blender but get different result in MDL when imported?!

I got it to work once a time with 2.49b and MDL7 exporter by Ventilator. But the latest Blender releases has lot of nice bells and whistles so I would like not to go back.

So the question, anyone has a workflow to use the latest Blender to get models with MED into A8 game?

I'm using 2.64 and I don't have any problems with exporting/importing
maybe you can try this version if it has enough features

You probably should use .fbx as a transfer format.
But there are some things to note
1) fbx writes the address to maps(skins) absolutely in the file so you will need to reload the skins in med but the uv mapping should be correct.
2) looking at the new blender I don't see a way to set the exporter to fbx 2010, which MED uses. So grab the fbx converter - it just takes a few seconds extra to do the conversion
http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/fbx20133_converter_win.exe
http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/fbx20133_converter_win_x64.exe

Blender changes very quickly and no one is maintaining the mdl exporter also it seems that 3dgs his no intention of updating the fbx importer in med to keep up with autodesk current versions. And why would you when your user base used to create and do the work for you.

Thanks! For the replys guys,I will test out both advices.

I have problems when exporting a model from Blender to MED (GS A8 with FBX). I tried both Blenders 2.64 and 2.68 but some bones are changed/missing in the armature and the bird wing seems deformed.

I tried other exporters, but generally they are without armature/animation or have another problem. FBX is what better works for me.

Seems to me that the problem was that I had two bones connected to the same parent. For some reason this does not work.

FBX files don't help you cash out on the stock market.

Blender is pretty cool. But like gimp it's unnecessarily complicated (I find anyway). I wonder if they're trying to stay under the radar and not get threatened for copying software layouts or something, or if they just thought they could reinvent the wheel by making it square. If blender had the same workflow as max... NO. No. I must not dream of something so beautiful. It will only hurt me in the morning to come.

I honestly don't think that blender and gimp are complicated. It's all a matter of getting used to the environment. Even if I had the money, I wouldn't buy Photoshop.
Simply because I am used to the work flow of gimp and if I use Photoshop it takes me 10 minutes to find the function that I'm looking for - while it takes me less than a second in gimp to execute the shortcut.

There might be some things that are more complicated in blender, but like I've said before, you just have to get comfortable with the workflow and the application's functions.

Side note:

If anyone is interested i have a quick and dirty fbx to mdl converter POC, written with FBX SDK 2014 and mdl7sdk from the download page.

It only convertes meshes/textures/uvs/groups though, no bones(hence no rigging) or frames/animation(since there is no rigging).

p.s. by quick and dirty i mean: Mashed together in couple of hours for fun a couple of months ago and i myself probably would not be able to look at the ugly creature that it is right now.

Also if anyone wants to go down that path, mdl7sdk docs consists of a sample code file, and fbx sdk always explains exporting to FBX, the exact opposite of what you are doing, so you basically need to do things in reverse from the docs.

Malice Thanks for you converter its for fine for me.