Dr Chris's Spiffy Particles

to be honest....blue glow would be awesome

 

New version: should improve muzzleflashes on infantry weapons, used a new system which should correct visual defects when running at low framerates, don't know what it'll do for performance but if I use fewer particles it doesn't look as good.

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1579090/filehost/particles_r5.zip

 

I like the impact effects, but I'm not a fan of the muzzle flashes thus far, they seem too green to me. I haven't yet tried the r5 version that you just posted though.

Also, could you maybe work on a pack to replace the vehicle weaponry particle effects? Such as the explosions for Bio, Plasma, HE, HIT, etc.? Right now they're just different colors of the same thing really (though the HIT is a bit different from HE). I think you could make each one unique and overall better.

I really like the projectiles/trails and impact effects though. The muzzle flashes are just a bit too greenish for me, like I'm shooting lime energy or something.

Keep up the good work.

 

They're not fucking particle effects they're hardcoded despite my constant bitching at the coders for about 6 patches now.

 

The new ones Chris posted aren't green.
At least, I think I just tested it... If I managed to waste 30 minutes in Empires without actually testing what I thought I was supposed to be testing, that's durr on me.

 

Harass the developers and I will.

Actually some progress has already been made on that particular front although I still don't think that the infantry weapons have been aligned correctly or the emission points parented to the guns. I also don't have separate effects for flashes, and also after-firing smoke, I could make the gun smoke when you let go the trigger if I had a particle effect coded in there. I also don't think I have been given RPG engine effects yet, I'd like one for each side but in general would do.

I already have a few explosion effects but I'm not making more until I have something to test them with.

Basically if you want more effects, you need to get the devs to add a particle system in where you want it.

 

I've already done like 20 feature requests for particle support on mantis.

 

<bitchslap noise>

<_<

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!


*runs away

 

As empty has worked with particles implemented in a game, most of those are probably the same as the ones I want too, things like impact effects with calculated CPs for angles of incidence, reflection, normal of impact surface, emission CPs locked to gun barrels, definable particles for particular infantry weapons, dedicated effects solely for muzzleflashes etc.

Send me a list of what you already have requested/implemented and I will made additions if there are other things I need adding. No sense making requests for things you already have/already know about.

What I want is more or less this:

Particle System Requirements:

Section 1: Bullet based weapons, both vehicle and infantry, must have:

1. Tracer Particle, defined in the weapon script.
2. Muzzleflash particle, as above.
3. Impact particle for that specific weapon, as above, impact particles should follow impact rules outlined below.
4. All particles must be aligned to the muzzle point of the weapon, and should track with it, except for tracer particles which should not track, as once they are fired they are separate from the gun, they should however still originate correctly.

Section 2: Cannon/rocket type weapons, including mortars and RPGs, must have:

1. Projectile trail particle, per weapon, defined in the weapon script, positioned at the rear of the shell and oriented backwards, can be used to create smoke trails and glow effects for shells/rockets as required.
2. Impact effect, as above, must follow impact effect rules as defined below.
3. Muzzleflash effect, as above, also must track with the gun barrel of the tank.
4. Rockets would also benefit from a backblast particle, positioned at the rear of the launcher, could theoretically be done without a dedicated effect however as a child of the muzzleflash effect.

Section 3: Impact effects of all types must include:

1. This link outlines some standard control points and what they store, all of these would be helpful for impact effects of all kinds: http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Impact_Effects

2. In addition to specific weapon impact effects, specific surface impact effects would be helpful, the artist can produce both a weapon and a surface effect and spawn both together, allowing, with care, the firer to determine both weapon and surface by the effect alone, this is particularly helpful if incorporated into tank armors, as specfic armors could be given unique impact effects for cannons/bullets, this means each armor would have a 'bullet impact effect: <name of particle system>' and 'cannon impact effect <name of particle system>' line in its script. Most of these would likely go unused/be duplicates at least initially, as this is a large number of effects to create, but some weapons would benefit from this addition.

3. It would help if the bullet-based weapon scripts could have a 'bullet speed' value which does not have to affect the actual damage dealing, but which could be used to align with the speed of the tracer to calculate the correct delay for the impact effect based on distance, however this would probably not be hugely noticeable so it is not mandatory.

4. The particle system has a limitation, the render order of particles is absolutely hard-specified by the order in which the effects are layered, which means child particles behind parent particles will render in front of them, I don't know if this can be stopped material-side but it would help if, especially for things like cannon impacts, we could specify multiple particle systems to spawn, as I think that two separate systems would use normal z-distance based occlusion. If not, code support to allow it would help, as making large and complex impact effects such as would be merited by tanks exploding and artillery is difficult otherwise.

Section 4: Miscellaneous effects:

1. Tank death effect, specifiable on a per-chassis basis, emission CP would not be parented to the wreck as the explosion would be relative to the world.

2. Tank fire effect, specifiable on a per-chassis basis, emission CP would be parented to the wreck, emission delays can be specified in the system so no code support is neccesary there.

3. Tank exhaust effects, positions should be specified code or model side on a per chassis basis, or possibly in the vehicle script as a set of offset coordinates with a particle system to spawn for each, also consider a per-engine basis for this, so the offsets would be specified in the vehicle script for that chassis along with a 'particle type' value, while the engine file would contain a list of particle effect 'types'. For example, a jeep might have two type 1 exhausts, and if fitted with fission engine, would spawn whatever the fission engine script defined as 'type 1' at both points. A heavy tank might have a main exhaust and a heat sink, and so might have two exhaust types, fission might have a smoke exhaust and a steam exhaust as the two types for example.

4. Tank movement dust, code support would be preferable, to speed up emissions as the tank accelerates, simply spawning the effect more times the faster the tank moves should work. Positions of the treads could be defined in the vehicle script.

5. Building effects. Some buildings might benefit from smoke or steam or other effects, offset positions could be defined in the building script along with systems to spawn at each position.

All of that lot should let you put particles more or less anywhere they could be wanted, with any set of values that may be neccesary.

 

Ah, ok. I didn't realize support needed to be added, I thought it was a simple matter of making replacements for those particle files. (I don't know much about them.)

 

Where's mantis? I'll submit the write up to it.

 

They are useing bugzilla now, there is a certificate you will need to add to your browser to allow it.

https://bugtracker.empiresmod.net/

 

If you want people to use mantis, then fix the wiki.....

http://wiki.empiresmod.com/index.php?title=Bugs

 

Submitted a copy of that list to mantis.

 

JOLLY GOOD SHOW OLD BEAN.

ABSOLUTELY SPIFFING.

BRAVO GOOD CHAP.

 

blimey

 

Crikey?

 

tea and crumpets!