Weapon Effects

crankit · Space Emperor Joined: Mar 22, 2014

Could some one explain how the weapon effects work in this game. I'm hoping to create some weapons with different effects.

Looking at the components.txt I found the following

Weapon Display Type := Beam
Weapon Space Display Effect Name := Beam 2
Weapon Ground Display Effect Name := Beam 2

Does that correspond to the picture below Labeled Beams 2?

1.Am I right to assume that the picture is used in game to create the effect in battle?
2.Hows does the game know which area of the picture to use for a specific beam.
3.In the effects folder there are 7 beam pictures labeled beams 1-7. Is it possible to add an 8th picture with new beams for new components?

DXM · Space Emperor Joined: Mar 20, 2012

0. - No. Beam 2 does not refer to Beams_02.bmp
1. - Yes.
2. - That is defined in BitmapEffects_SpaceCombat.txt in the Data folder.
3. - Yes. Beams_01-07.bmp contain the bitmap effects for all 28 stock beams. You can add new ones, but you will need to add entries in the data file in order to use them.

Each effect entry lets you specify the bitmap name, the number of frames, and the start & end locations for each frame. The X/Y coordinates for bitmaps in SE5 are a % of the total bitmap... Therefore, "0.500" as a starting position for X & Y means it will start at the exact middle point of the bitmap... Technically, you could have 1 beam texture per bitmap, or six, or ten... But especially if you are not mathematically inclined, it's easier to stick with the stock pattern...

I hope that was assistive. I wish you luck in your endeavor. Effects modding is probably one of the great (mostly)untapped ways to enhance the game. I'm far from an expert, but I'll offer any help I can.

crankit · Space Emperor Joined: Mar 22, 2014

Thanks DXM For clearing that up for me. I'm hoping to get some star trek like effects like the pulsed phaser incl sound from star trek twok into the game. See what I can come up with.

marhawkman · Space Emperor Joined: Mar 24, 2008

Hmm... I might tinker with this later myself. One of the issues I've had in Warp 10 is that I haven't made any custom weapon effects.

Zwo_Dvoongar · Space Emperor Joined: Feb 02, 2011

Well, I didn't know we could add new effects. This is pretty cool. I had just been replacing the extant effects with the ones I wanted.

I'll add that the SE5 system for any group of pictures incorporated into a single picture is a straightforward left-to-right, top-to-bottom reading, just like we use when writing and reading English.

For weapon effects

1 2
3 4

are in the first file.

5 6
7 8

are in the second, and so on.

DXM · Space Emperor Joined: Mar 20, 2012

True, left-to-right, top-to-bottom is how it is setup... But it's only that way because that's how it is defined in the data file. It could just as easily be right-to-left or bottom-to-top, or even set to select the first frame of each set which would give you an alternating rainbow beam!