Jaxon`s CFS2 Effects

Jaxon`s CFS2 Effects
(Version 2006_05_06)

The effect file

an effect is actually just some lines of text, so you can aopen and edit it with any Texteditor, like Word etc.
Since the files are very small, I usually use "notepad", what is part of every Windows.
Right click on the file and choose "open with" and select "EDITOR" and you are done.

An effect is made out of THREE important informations:

the [Emitter.0]

Tells the game where your effect should appear.

the [Particle.0]

Tells the game how the particle should look (colour, size etc.)

the [ParticleAttributes.0]

Tells the game what should happen with the particle (sink to the ground, dance around, "glow", whatever

You have noticed, that every Subinfo has a ".Number" ending.
Well, that is nice, you cann add several subeffects (Light, smoke etc.) to one large effect. Just add for every subeffect again all three informations below the first effect and start counting or each .0/.1./2/ and so on.

BTW: You can and should add information what each subeffect is for in a line starting with:

// <= The two bars tells CFS2 it should ignore this line

The Subeffect

// First Effect

[Emitter.0]
Lifetime=0.00, 0.00
Delay=0.00, 0.00
Bounce=0.00
No Interpolate=1
Rate=4.00, 4.00
X Emitter Velocity=0.00, 0.00
Y Emitter Velocity=0.00, 0.00
Z Emitter Velocity=0.00, 0.00
Drag=0.00, 0.00
X Particle Velocity=0.00, 0.00
Y Particle Velocity=0.00, 0.00
Z Particle Velocity=0.00, 0.00
X Offset=0.00, 0.00
Y Offset=0.00, 0.00
Z Offset=-2.00, -2.00

Ok, let`s start !

Here I have started with a comment.

And now the Emitter information.

Note that ALL numbers are specifying RANGES,
so CFS2 can randomize between these figures!

Lifetime from 0 to 0 means ? - Right just 0, a fixed figure
Lifetime 0 means btw, that the emitter lives always,
like the cockpit light.
Well, further : 0 Delay, 0 Bouncing

Rate: from 4 to 4 = 4
(Actually I do not know exactly what that means)
Well and the Emitter has no Velocity, nor does he releases Particles with a start-velocity.

No drag here and:

The emitter is offset -2 (to the back) from the center of the EFFECT.

[Particle.0]
Lifetime=0.13, 0.13
Type=19
//X Scale=0.15, 0.15
//Y Scale=0.15, 0.15
X Scale=0.50, 0.50
Y Scale=0.50, 0.50
Z Scale=0.00, 0.00
X Scale Rate=0.00, 0.00
Y Scale Rate=0.00, 0.00
Z Scale Rate=0.00, 0.00
Drag=0.00, 0.00
Color Rate=0.99, 0.99
Fade In=0.00, 0.00
Fade Out=0.80, 0.80
Rotation=-40.00, 40.00
Face=1, 1, 1

Now the Particle

Obviously this one does not live forever, it lives 0.13 time-units
(probably seconds)

Type ? No idea, possbly light, smoke etc.

For testing I have copied the old values and // them out
Below are my new trials:

A new, bigger scale !

Color rate means probably how close to the intended color it should stay.

This Particle does not fade in, it is directly there, but fades out after
0.8 timeunits.

The Paricle isn`t fixed, it can trun around from -40 to 40 degreess
This is the first time we have a true RANGE here,

[ParticleAttributes.0]
Blend Mode=2
Texture=fx_2.bmp
Bounce=0.00
Color Start=195, 195, 195, 255
Color End=255, 171, 45, 0
;Color Start=195, 195, 195, 255
;Color End=255, 203, 125, 0
Jitter Distance=0.00
Jitter Time=0.00
TempK=109.00
TempRate=0.01
uv1=0.50, 0.00
uv2=0.75, 0.25
X Scale Goal=0.00
Y Scale Goal=0.00
Z Scale Goal=0.00
Extrude Length=0.00
Extrude Pitch Max=0.00
Extrude Heading Max=0.00

Now the Attributes:

The blend mode
Well, blend, not blend, blend a little ? Not checked yet.

This effect uses the texture fx_2.bmp

No bouncing here
Color start (Well, I tell you about the colors later below),
just important is, they start and end at another color
; means the same as //

Now it is getting interesting,
How the particles climb or sink is done with temperatures !!
In this case, the initial temperatur is 109K, what means it hangs more or less constant in the air.
But in this case, the temperature changes with 0.01 - it is getting hotter and climbs up.

UV are the settings within the texture - more later.

For the final settings, I can`t say anything, but the Scale Goal,
and this is self-explaining:

It say how big/small the partile should get during lifetime.
Here: Unchanged

In this case, the effect was the large "corona"-gunflash as part of the muzzleflash-effect

Colours

Colours are given hexadecimal in Red/Green/Blue values from 0 to 255

After long trials and wild guesses, I had the idea to show them with the modelmaterial-tool by Martin Wright, which I already introduced at the shining tutorial.

Remember Color Start=195, 195, 195, 255 ?
So 195 / 195 / 195 is just GREY, 255 means it is full visible

Color End=255, 171, 45, 0

Well, just an orange, nearly invisible due to Alphachannel = 0

When you click on color selector the next window appears

Here again the same orange.
If this is too bright and you want to tone it down, you can move the slider at right down and get a new color, something that looks brown.

That means:
Brown glowing light is actually a very low glowing orange !

So when you find a strange looking dark blue for a light or even lila, you might want to look here of which original color it is just the dark conterpart.

textures

fx_2.bmp:

Now we need the UV-settings from the Particle-Atributes

uv1=0.50, 0.00
uv2=0.75, 0.25

The first value in line is the X-Axis (Left=>Right),
the second the Y-Axis (Up)

0,0 is the lower, left corner.

Our effect uses the part from X 0.50 / Y 0.00 (red dot)
and X 0.75 / Y 0.25 (green dot)

so it uses the second image from the right at the bottom.

Tweaked effects, which use the stock textures.

(Don`t wonder, these are very small files, actualy only some lines of text)

Installation: Just throw these additional files into the effects folder, that´s it.

Add them just like the other [extra.#]`s to your ship`s *.dp file with a simple text-editor like notepad or else
to tell the game it shall use these effects now.

Light effects
Tweaked light effects for a use as navigation/signal lamps. Actually it is very simple, I just copied/tweaked existing lights and saved them as fx_Light_Position_XYZ.fx
Single Lights		Combined Lights
fx_Light_Position_Green.fx fx_Light_Position_Red.fx fx_Light_Position_White.fx		fx_Light_Signal_Japanese_Rear.fx fx_Light_Signal_Landing_2xRed.fx fx_Light_Signal_Landing_4xGreen.fx
- click image to download -
Smoke effects
fx_Smokestack_Starboard.fx
I have separated this smoke from the light effects, which should be the final set. Maybe this one could be optimized some more (colour/length, etc.) The sources (mainly ship-art from the net) vary widely in representation from pure black to greyish white. Constructive critics welcome !
- click image to download -
*Some .dp file entries to copy and paste..** (complete sets of effects) If you have set up the effects for other ships, let me know, please ! (Tip: You can move the effects around and just reload the mission to see the result)
CV Hiryu (Usio)	CV Zuikaku (Usio)	DD Kagero (Usio)	Liberty Ship (Phil Crowther)
[EXTRA.0] location=0.0,0.0,100 effect=fx_wake_l [EXTRA.1] location=0.0,0.0,-119 effect=fx_stern_l [EXTRA.2] location=18, 11, 12 effect=fx_smokestack_Starboard [EXTRA.3] location=18, 11, -1.0 effect=fx_smokestack_Starboard [EXTRA.4] location=0.0,0.0,114 effect=fx_bow_m [EXTRA.5] location= 0.25, 13.80,101.0 effect=fx_N_jcw_marker [EXTRA.6] location=-9.995,13.0,77.03 effect=fx_Light_Position_Red [EXTRA.7] location=-9.995,13.0,76.6 effect=fx_Light_Position_Red [EXTRA.8] location=9.995,13.0,77.03 effect=fx_Light_Position_Green [EXTRA.9] location=9.995,13.0,76.6 effect=fx_Light_Position_Green [EXTRA.10] location=-11.45,18.12,0.15 effect=fx_Light_Position_White [EXTRA.11] location=2.19,10.02,-110.4 effect=fx_Light_Signal_Japanese_Rear [EXTRA.12] location=-16.75,13.5,-89.15 effect=fx_Light_Signal_Landing_2xRed [EXTRA.13] location=18.15,13.5,-89.15 effect=fx_Light_Signal_Landing_2xRed [EXTRA.14] location=-17.55,11.85,-79.75 effect=fx_Light_Signal_Landing_4xGreen [EXTRA.15] location=19.15,11.85,-79.75 effect=fx_Light_Signal_Landing_4xGreen	[EXTRA.0] location=0.0,0.0,130 effect=fx_wake_l [EXTRA.1] location=0.0,0.0,-131 effect=fx_stern_m [EXTRA.2] location=18.0,10.58,6.8 effect=fx_smokestack_Starboard [EXTRA.3] location=18.0,10.58,-3.96 effect=fx_smokestack_Starboard [EXTRA.4] location=0.0,0.0,132 effect=fx_bow_m [EXTRA.5] location=0.00,14.60,120.0 effect=fx_N_jcw_marker [EXTRA.6] location=-10.2,14.25,112.15 effect=fx_Light_Position_Red [EXTRA.7] location=10.2,14.25,112.15 effect=fx_Light_Position_Green [EXTRA.8] location=13.15,34,31.25 effect=fx_Light_Position_White [EXTRA.9] location=4.60,11.80,-128.8 effect=fx_Light_Signal_Japanese_Rear [EXTRA.10] location=-18.70,12.7,-94.35 effect=fx_Light_Signal_Landing_2xRed [EXTRA.11] location=18.65,14.00,-91.75 effect=fx_Light_Signal_Landing_2xRed [EXTRA.12] location=-19.45,11.50,-84.30 effect=fx_Light_Signal_Landing_4xGreen [EXTRA.13] location=19.4,12.9,-81.8 effect=fx_Light_Signal_Landing_4xGreen	[EXTRA.0] location=0.0,0.0,59 effect=fx_bow_s [EXTRA.1] location=0.0,0.0,59 effect=fx_wake_m [EXTRA.2] location=0.0,14.0,13.5 effect=fx_smokestack_s [EXTRA.3] location=0.0,13.0,-2.35 effect=fx_smokestack_s [EXTRA.4] location=0.0,0.0,-59.85 effect=fx_stern_s [EXTRA.5] location=-2.60,9.30,27.7 effect=fx_Light_Position_Red [EXTRA.6] location=2.60,9.30,27.7 effect=fx_Light_Position_Green [EXTRA.7] location=0.0,14.5,20.250 effect=fx_Light_Position_White [EXTRA.8] location=0.44,9.89,-21.04 effect=fx_Light_Signal_Japanese_Rear	[EXTRA.0] location=0.0,0.0,-60.25 effect=fx_stern_l [EXTRA.1] location=0.0,0.0,55.0 effect=fx_wake_l [EXTRA.2] location=0.0,0.0,72.85 effect=fx_bow_s [EXTRA.3] location=0.0,20.5,-0.2 effect=fx_smokestack_w [EXTRA.4] location=0.0,20.5,-0.2 effect=fx_smokestack [EXTRA.5] location=-8.70,10.05,6.00 effect=fx_Light_Position_Red [EXTRA.6] location=8.70,10.05,6.00 effect=fx_Light_Position_Green [EXTRA.7] location=0.0,19.5,40.00 effect=fx_Light_Position_White [EXTRA.8] location=0.0,13.5,-33.20 effect=fx_Light_Position_White
FINALLY: Please make sure to get the "windmarker", which I use at my japanese carriers, too - and other nice effects which were already developed in 2001 by the "godfather" of CFS2-effects, *"Nanni"* http://web.tiscali.it/Nanni/CFS/

Colours
Colours are given hexadecimal in Red/Green/Blue values from 0 to 255
After long trials and wild guesses, I had the idea to show them with the modelmaterial-tool by Martin Wright, which I already introduced at the shining tutorial.
	Remember Color Start=195, 195, 195, 255 ? So 195 / 195 / 195 is just GREY, 255 means it is full visible
	Color End=255, 171, 45, 0 Well, just an orange, nearly invisible due to Alphachannel = 0 When you click on color selector the next window appears
	Here again the same orange. If this is too bright and you want to tone it down, you can move the slider at right down and get a new color, something that looks brown.
	That means: Brown glowing light is actually a very low glowing orange ! So when you find a strange looking dark blue for a light or even lila, you might want to look here of which original color it is just the dark conterpart.

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