ALE Coding: Assistance, bitte?

OK, in my endeavors of weapons coding, I’m in a bit of a roadblock coding custom ALE files. Yes, I am aware of the fact that the wrong CRC for the effect in question will likely cause catastrophic failure to the game. My case is different, unlike beam effects, I want to make photon effects. After decompiling ku_photon_01.ale I was aware that I would get two files.

I want to make my own photon effects from scratch, but I lack documentation of the Alchemy Effects Code. I barely have a clue as to what each command does towards the BIG picture. Any idea on where to start?

UPDATE: On second thought, nix the code, now I face something confusing. Node_LifeSpan, is that value in seconds or something else? Also, how do you calculate keyframe time from real time? Is it referenced time/end time?