27.09.2011, 09:01
OK, here is a little tips and description about .eff files and its parameters.
The effects that you can use as stationary objects in game and you will find then as you know in FMB in stationary objects are:
Smoke1:Effect Effects/Smokes/SmokeShipMedium.eff
Smoke2:Effect Effects/Smokes/SmokeShipEnormous.eff
Smoke3:Effect Effects/Smokes/SmokeBoiling.eff
Smoke4:Effect Effects/Smokes/SmokeBoilingBig.eff
Smoke5:Effect Effects/Smokes/SmokeBlack_plane.eff
Smoke6:Effect Effects/Smokes/SmokeBlackToWhite.eff
Smoke7:Effect Effects/Smokes/SmokeWhite.eff
Smoke8:Effect Effects/Smokes/FireBoiling.eff
Smoke9:Effect Effects/Smokes/FireBoilingBig.eff
Smoke10:Effect Effects/Smokes/SmokeFire_plane.eff
Smoke11:Effect Effects/Smokes/SmokeFireSmall.eff
Smoke12:Effect 3DO/Effects/Fireworks/FlareWhite.eff
Smoke13:Effect 3DO/Effects/Fireworks/FlareRed.eff
Smoke14:Effect 3DO/Effects/Fireworks/FlareGreen.eff
Smoke15:Effect 3DO/Effects/Fireworks/FlareWhiteWide.eff
You can use sfs extractor to extract these effects files, the smoke effects 1,2, 5, are used by game in ships and airplanes too so if you change those they will change for every conditions that game uses them.for SmokeShipMedium.eff, SmokeShipEnormous.eff you have to change SmokeShipTiny.eff, because SmokeShipTiny.eff is the base effect files for these two effect files.
The effects below you can change freely!
smoke number 3, 4, 6, 7 (8, 9,11 are stationary fire effects)
smoke number 12, 13, 14, 15 are stationary light effects and use as navigation lights too.
This is an example of an effect file from the game.(SmokeWhite.eff) in ..\Effects\Smokes
[ClassInfo]
ClassName TSmokeSpiralParams--> the .class file that smoke engine use to generate smoke you can use TParticlesSystemParams also and test the differences
[General]
MatName ..\Materials\WhiteSmoke.mat--> the .mat (material) file name and the patch, in .mat file you will find which .tga file the effect uses.
Color0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0--> the initiation color values for particles as RGB (red, blue, green alpha channel or transparency) 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 means 255 255 255 (white color)and full visibility for the texture, the transparency value can vary between 0.0 and 1.0, ( 0.0 means invisible texture and 1.0 means full visibility) sometimes you can have other values like
0.20 0.50 0.63 to convert these value you do like this 0.20x255=51and 0.50x255=127,5 and 0.63x255=160.65 it means (51 127or128 160 or161 in RGB values).
Color1 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0-->the final color values for particles as RGB see above description.
nParticles 128 -->Number of particles can vary between 1 and ... don't tried the final value (smoke or fire particels).
FinishTime -1.0 --> the finish time of effect also how long the effect will last (-1.0 means it never stops but not allway it must be defined in class file).
MaxR 10 --> maximum radius of how wide the particles will spread .
PhiN 4.0 --> particles rotation speed vertically ( 0.0 means no rotations values can vary between 0 and upwards, don't know the final limit!).
PsiN 4.0--> particles rotation speed sideways ( 0.0 means no rotations values can vary between 0 and upwards, don't know the final limit!).
LiveTime 35.0--> particles lifetime in s (seconds).
EmitVelocity 3.0 5.0 --> particles emit velocity in m/s, initiation and final values.( you can use negative values too! like 10.0 -10.0 that will cause some particles travel first upwards and at the same time some particles will travel downwards! you can use -10.0 10.0 everything will be vice versa, first downwards then upwards).
EmitFrq 2.0--> the emit frequency of particles. (how often the particles will be emitted).
Wind 1.0 --> the wind effect, will make the particles move to a certain direction like when wind or when breeze blows.
Size 5.0 20.0 --> the initial and the final size of particles in m (meters).
GasResist 0.2 --> gas resistance indicate the compression of the particles, the higher the number the more compression of particles.
VertAccel 0.3 --> vertical acceleration speed of the particles in m/s, how fast particles will travel upwards if you use negative numbers the particles will go downwards.
Rnd 0.0 -->Range random, don't know what it refers to.
EmitTheta 0.0 30.0--> the initial and the final emit angles of particles in degrees,if you draw a trigonometric circle so you will have 0 degrees upwards 90 degrees to the left side, 180 downwards and 270 degrees to the right side.
Remember that:
* To manipulate all these parameters which are in connection to each other, is very time consuming, after every change you must restart the game load the effect (.TRK file) and check the results.
* You must be very patient, you will do many mistakes but it will cause you to learn how it all works together.
* You must do a mod file for example if you want to change SmokeWhite.eff you have to make a copy after you have extracted it with sfs extractor and place it in for example here:
C:\Program\Ubisoft\IL-2 Sturmovik 1946\MODS\my_effects\Effects\smokes
* You have to do a test mission, just put the smoke that you want to change, put one or two static cameras and make a recording .TRK file for 10-15 seconds and save it)open the your smoke file with notepad, do your changes and save it, for example if you want to change nParticles 128 you can do it like this nParticles 200 //128 now your new value is 200 and you have the old value saved in case you need it, you can continue doing like this nParticles 300//200//128 only the first value(300) will be used by game engine the values after // will ignored. restart the game an see the difference.
* Changing two or three parameters at the same time is very different to control and understand differences!
THX and Good luck stuka_40 8) :wink:
The effects that you can use as stationary objects in game and you will find then as you know in FMB in stationary objects are:
Smoke1:Effect Effects/Smokes/SmokeShipMedium.eff
Smoke2:Effect Effects/Smokes/SmokeShipEnormous.eff
Smoke3:Effect Effects/Smokes/SmokeBoiling.eff
Smoke4:Effect Effects/Smokes/SmokeBoilingBig.eff
Smoke5:Effect Effects/Smokes/SmokeBlack_plane.eff
Smoke6:Effect Effects/Smokes/SmokeBlackToWhite.eff
Smoke7:Effect Effects/Smokes/SmokeWhite.eff
Smoke8:Effect Effects/Smokes/FireBoiling.eff
Smoke9:Effect Effects/Smokes/FireBoilingBig.eff
Smoke10:Effect Effects/Smokes/SmokeFire_plane.eff
Smoke11:Effect Effects/Smokes/SmokeFireSmall.eff
Smoke12:Effect 3DO/Effects/Fireworks/FlareWhite.eff
Smoke13:Effect 3DO/Effects/Fireworks/FlareRed.eff
Smoke14:Effect 3DO/Effects/Fireworks/FlareGreen.eff
Smoke15:Effect 3DO/Effects/Fireworks/FlareWhiteWide.eff
You can use sfs extractor to extract these effects files, the smoke effects 1,2, 5, are used by game in ships and airplanes too so if you change those they will change for every conditions that game uses them.for SmokeShipMedium.eff, SmokeShipEnormous.eff you have to change SmokeShipTiny.eff, because SmokeShipTiny.eff is the base effect files for these two effect files.
The effects below you can change freely!
smoke number 3, 4, 6, 7 (8, 9,11 are stationary fire effects)
smoke number 12, 13, 14, 15 are stationary light effects and use as navigation lights too.
This is an example of an effect file from the game.(SmokeWhite.eff) in ..\Effects\Smokes
[ClassInfo]
ClassName TSmokeSpiralParams--> the .class file that smoke engine use to generate smoke you can use TParticlesSystemParams also and test the differences
[General]
MatName ..\Materials\WhiteSmoke.mat--> the .mat (material) file name and the patch, in .mat file you will find which .tga file the effect uses.
Color0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0--> the initiation color values for particles as RGB (red, blue, green alpha channel or transparency) 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 means 255 255 255 (white color)and full visibility for the texture, the transparency value can vary between 0.0 and 1.0, ( 0.0 means invisible texture and 1.0 means full visibility) sometimes you can have other values like
0.20 0.50 0.63 to convert these value you do like this 0.20x255=51and 0.50x255=127,5 and 0.63x255=160.65 it means (51 127or128 160 or161 in RGB values).
Color1 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0-->the final color values for particles as RGB see above description.
nParticles 128 -->Number of particles can vary between 1 and ... don't tried the final value (smoke or fire particels).
FinishTime -1.0 --> the finish time of effect also how long the effect will last (-1.0 means it never stops but not allway it must be defined in class file).
MaxR 10 --> maximum radius of how wide the particles will spread .
PhiN 4.0 --> particles rotation speed vertically ( 0.0 means no rotations values can vary between 0 and upwards, don't know the final limit!).
PsiN 4.0--> particles rotation speed sideways ( 0.0 means no rotations values can vary between 0 and upwards, don't know the final limit!).
LiveTime 35.0--> particles lifetime in s (seconds).
EmitVelocity 3.0 5.0 --> particles emit velocity in m/s, initiation and final values.( you can use negative values too! like 10.0 -10.0 that will cause some particles travel first upwards and at the same time some particles will travel downwards! you can use -10.0 10.0 everything will be vice versa, first downwards then upwards).
EmitFrq 2.0--> the emit frequency of particles. (how often the particles will be emitted).
Wind 1.0 --> the wind effect, will make the particles move to a certain direction like when wind or when breeze blows.
Size 5.0 20.0 --> the initial and the final size of particles in m (meters).
GasResist 0.2 --> gas resistance indicate the compression of the particles, the higher the number the more compression of particles.
VertAccel 0.3 --> vertical acceleration speed of the particles in m/s, how fast particles will travel upwards if you use negative numbers the particles will go downwards.
Rnd 0.0 -->Range random, don't know what it refers to.
EmitTheta 0.0 30.0--> the initial and the final emit angles of particles in degrees,if you draw a trigonometric circle so you will have 0 degrees upwards 90 degrees to the left side, 180 downwards and 270 degrees to the right side.
Remember that:
* To manipulate all these parameters which are in connection to each other, is very time consuming, after every change you must restart the game load the effect (.TRK file) and check the results.
* You must be very patient, you will do many mistakes but it will cause you to learn how it all works together.
* You must do a mod file for example if you want to change SmokeWhite.eff you have to make a copy after you have extracted it with sfs extractor and place it in for example here:
C:\Program\Ubisoft\IL-2 Sturmovik 1946\MODS\my_effects\Effects\smokes
* You have to do a test mission, just put the smoke that you want to change, put one or two static cameras and make a recording .TRK file for 10-15 seconds and save it)open the your smoke file with notepad, do your changes and save it, for example if you want to change nParticles 128 you can do it like this nParticles 200 //128 now your new value is 200 and you have the old value saved in case you need it, you can continue doing like this nParticles 300//200//128 only the first value(300) will be used by game engine the values after // will ignored. restart the game an see the difference.
* Changing two or three parameters at the same time is very different to control and understand differences!
THX and Good luck stuka_40 8) :wink: