Re: Effects showroom!

That’s a really interesting technique, I will have to look into that.

Lately I have been messing with timings to create delay-launch missiles. Makes for hugely dramatic launches. Most of all for weapons like this:

Copy Paste for high quality: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCrwmxQpDxA&fmt=18
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCrwmxQpDxA&fmt=18

The secret to this is pretty simple.

Emitter_Frequency = {
Flag = 4
Entry = 0.0000000000000000, 100.0000000000000000
EFlag = 0
SubFlag = 1
SubEntry = 0.00, 60.00, 0.00, 0.00
SubEntry = 0.24, 60.00, 0.00, 0.00
SubEntry = 0.25, 30.00, 0.00, 0.00
SubEntry = 0.79, 30.00, 0.00, 0.00
SubEntry = 0.80, 60.00, 0.00, 0.00

I found that using multiple sub-entries allows for creation of an absolute timing scheme rather than the relative scheme that is normally found. When they are used in the emitter_frequency context anyways. This is basically saying that from time = 0 to 0.24, there is a short puff of smoke, then from 0.25 to 0.79, there is a slight smoke trail, then from 0.80 to the rest of the effect, the engine is ignited, and there is a full trail. Note, values greater than 1 are entirely possible, its just that in this example I only needed fractions of a second.

You will also need to modify your missile engines and muzzle velocities to create a believable motion for the missile. For my normal missiles I actually have the muzzle velocity at -20, dispersion_angle at 0.0001 (dispersion angle cannot be zero when there is a negative muzzle velocity, otherwise the missile always fires backwards), an acceleration of 100, and motor lifetime of 2.

[Edit]

Also, Youtube now has a super HD quality thingie. You can now watch videos uploaded in 1280x720 in their native-ish resolution. Meaning you can now watch them full screen with much less artifacts than before. I will definitely be taking advantage of this. “Another short clip of the mod. Since last video, torpedoes have been adjusted to be mounted on applicable fighters in pairs.”

Copy - Paste link as usual. SIlly Starport auto-embed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1jRqTGi6Xw&fmt=22

Outstanding stuff mate!! Its guys like you who are advancing the Freelancer modding knowledgebase. Keep it up. high five

I totally agree with Forsaken here. Amazing work, Why485. And thank you for sharing your fantastic work with us!

@Why485:

Copy - Paste link as usual. SIlly Starport auto-embed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1jRqTGi6Xw&fmt=22

Lol, shall i see if i could disable it? (more than likely) or would it be better making a poll because some people might like the auto embed feature.?

@cheese:

@Why485:

Copy - Paste link as usual. SIlly Starport auto-embed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1jRqTGi6Xw&fmt=22

Lol, shall i see if i could disable it? (more than likely) or would it be better making a poll because some people might like the auto embed feature.?

You cannot embed high quality YouTube links, so I have to post direct links instead, which is impossible with the auto-embed. For the most part, auto-embed is good. I just want some way to override it and prevent it from happening in situations when I would prefer to directly link to YouTube. Which just happens to be nearly always.

what i dont like is that at low speed (below the already said speed of (-)20) the missiles will fire backwards no matter what you do

i can imagine that this might have some unwanted side effects
example: i fired a missile yesterday and a few secs i was hostile with the entire system coz i accidentially hit a battleship which was behind me ^^

@OPR8R:

what i dont like is that at low speed (below the already said speed of (-)20) the missiles will fire backwards no matter what you do

i can imagine that this might have some unwanted side effects
example: i fired a missile yesterday and a few secs i was hostile with the entire system coz i accidentially hit a battleship which was behind me ^^

Considering that missile speeds are so dependent on the speed of the parent ship, I’m surprised any Freelancer player would still fire missiles from a standstill, or worse, while flying backwards. This is a valid issue though, I won’t deny it. I personally can live with it.

Also I realise this is becoming a bit… advertise-y, but this is still somewhat relevant. It is after all showcasing the majority of effects coding I’ve done recently. Not to mention extensive ini modifications to NPC behavior, weapons, etc to make battles as cinematic as possible.

For awesome quality: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqYS0U7ZvBM&fmt=22 (Recommended)

For high quality: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqYS0U7ZvBM&fmt=18

This is a video of a stress test in Itano Circus. Basically throw in lots and lots of ships, and see what happens. Obviously several gameplay mechanics were broken in order to do this, such as the much more numerous spawns and the fact that I have dual micro-missile launchers (A terrible idea in the real mod due to ammo consumption) and over 9000 rounds for said launchers.

EDIT by FF: Fixxored those links. Awesome work

EDIT by Why485: No, they are supposed to be broken. If I put in the address direct it auto-embeds, which is the standard icky quality. The only way for me to possibly give a YouTube link without it auto-embedding at super low quality is to do what I do. It forces you to copy-paste, but there is no alternative.

EDIT 2 by FF: In which case TinyURL is your friend ;D

EDIT 2 by Why485: Wow, thanks a lot, thats perfect.

After watching the FREAKIN’ INCREDIBLE video, I’ve decided one thing:

I want to steal your brain….

Spectacular stuff, Why…my lord…

must…not…be…pissed…off…beca…use…every…one…is better than MEEEEEEEEEE!

lol

Cool thread ;D

@Why485:

I also fixed something else that really used to bug me. When a missile hits its target, the explosion effect flights right through the target and keeps on going. This no longer happens.

How exactly, or what, fixes this behaviour?
Is it an .ale only thing?

@Why485:

Lately I have been messing with timings to create delay-launch missiles. Makes for hugely dramatic launches. Most of all for weapons like this:

Copy Paste for high quality: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCrwmxQpDxA&fmt=18
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCrwmxQpDxA&fmt=18

Also, in this video it seems like you kill the shield and the hull of the target ships with only one missile.
Could you explain how that works, or are there actually 2 missiles?

Sorry for doublepost & off topic

@w0dk4:

How exactly, or what, fixes this behaviour?
Is it an .ale only thing?

This came from unparenting the particle from the emitter. It’s a bit hard to describe, but what this does is that the particle is not locked to its emitter in terms of positions. For example, in terms of the flame that comes from a missiles engine.

Typically the flame particle is parented to the flame emitter. What this means is that particle takes all its position data relative to the flame emitter. If the emitter moves or rotates, then the particles it emitted will move and rotate with the emitter as well, such that from the particles perspective, the emitter never moved at all.

If you un-parent particles from their emitters, particles take no positioning or rotational data from their emitters. This is how missile smoke generally works. It does not matter where the smoke emitter is pointing or where it is, once the particle is emitted, its position is only relative to the center of the universe. Meaning once emitted, it takes all motion data relative to the center of the universe. I realize this is all ridiculous sounding and I’m probably not doing a good job explaining it, but this is the best way I can think of describing it.

@w0dk4:

Also, in this video it seems like you kill the shield and the hull of the target ships with only one missile.
Could you explain how that works, or are there actually 2 missiles?

Sorry for doublepost & off topic

I totally cheated for that video. That single missile you see strapped under the Defender is a single torpedo launcher with two HPFires. This unfortunately breaks the launch sound, so that was post processed in later. The two missiles launched both behave precisely the same way, giving the illusion of only one missile. In the end for my mod I decided to simply give all applicable fighters two torpedo launchers.

thx for the explanation

Btw. there is a workaround for the missing sound effect on multi-hpfire-weapons - just add your sound effect to the const_effect of the fired missile.

wow, all very nice, Freelancer look like a full new game now.

BTW, i dont know to run the dx plugin on my pc (Dell Studio 1530, Windows Vista HP DX10, ATI R HD M 3450), i think Freelancer not load the plugin, any idea?

Sorry to get offtopic but there is a way to make a torp do both hull and shield damage at the same time. The damage for a normal torp is just in the explosion, but if you put a damage entry on the munition and the explosion you will get the desired effect.

You might than want to set the hitpoints of your munition 2 a value higher than the explosion damage.

I totally cheated for that video. That single missile you see strapped under the Defender is a single torpedo launcher with two HPFires. This unfortunately breaks the launch sound, so that was post processed in later. The two missiles launched both behave precisely the same way, giving the illusion of only one missile. In the end for my mod I decided to simply give all applicable fighters two torpedo launchers.

I have done this 2 years ago with missiles. Doesn’t brake sound and when you fire you see actually 2 missiles flying away (not always but in 95% cases). That’s not only thing I made launchers up to 6 missiles just for fun but that many lags MP heavy, especialy if you mount more launchers on ship but you can only imagine how does it look like with four 6 missile launchers. Also did this with turret and got flak effect but never tested it in fight. If u r interested I have it archived somewhere

@Lancer:

Engine FX example

The FX below will give you a new engine trail (real long) and the classic Star Trek blue flash when entering cruise. Also contains additional comments on what each section is for and how some of the commands work.

Click here to download the SSM Warp FX files

I tried this one but didn’t work. Followed instructions step by step but nothing. I did put on right engine I know because there isn’t any fx

Any thoughts?

Thx

@w0dk4:

thx for the explanation

Btw. there is a workaround for the missing sound effect on multi-hpfire-weapons - just add your sound effect to the const_effect of the fired missile.

I found out about this afterward. However I think my final solution of just separating the launchers and making them look like real torpedoes physically attached to the ship is way cooler.