Effects Editing
 

Mkay. Here we go...

I want to edit some pre-made effects in the base folder in a certain way...I want to stretch it and warp it. Does anyone know how I would do something like that?

Example would be taking the fire effect and then pulling it to make it taller.

Second, can I create brand new effects and have them work in-game?

Lastly, can I set an effect to play on a certain area of the body (in this case, hand) while an event is happening? Say I wanted an effect to play on the players hand when he uses force push, something like that.

Re: Effects Editing
 

If you can, you MUST make everything pink and fluffy. So when you blow up a gas canister on the mutant rancor level, there is cherry blossom explosion that kills everyone nearby. Yeaaaaahhhh...

Re: Effects Editing
 

I...you...

...:Puzzled:

Re: Effects Editing
 

Mehehehhh

Re: Effects Editing
 

Use EffectsEd, it came with the SDK.

Re: Effects Editing
 

I have it, I've been playing around with it somewhat for quite some time, just no idea how to do a couple specific things.

Re: Effects Editing
 

I can help with that.

1: I don't think you can accomplish that without changing the shader it uses.

2: Absolutely. What would make you think otherwise?

3. I think that would be a code mod thing. Far as I know, effects can only be used by an fx_runner in a map, unless the game's code says otherwise.

Re: Effects Editing
 

Mkay, thanks for all the help ov_nab662.

EDIT:

Okay, so I found a couple things to work with as far as Force Push...

...I found that in...

So it should be in one of the assets.pk3's and then I just extracted it. Any ideas on what I can do with that? That's the share for it, here's the .efx...

So, now that I know what is what...I'm still confused on what to edit. I know parts of this like what the filepaths are for and how to adjust the size, the problem is I want to adjust the shape and area of it. Any ideas?

Re: Effects Editing
 

It says right there, you need to edit the gfx/effects/force_push.jpg. Then you can make it any shape you'd like. Though that particular effect is only for the push and pull effect on the person you push, not the circle at the hand.

Re: Effects Editing
 

Exactly, and the circle is what I'm trying to edit unfortunately...

Re: Effects Editing
 

Whatever happened to EffectsED? Or are you on a mac...

Re: Effects Editing
 

For the "extending fire effect", have you tried editing the fire image in GFX folder?

i.e. if it's 128x128, make it 128x256 using an image editor like GIMP to stretch it.

Re: Effects Editing
 

I understand that, that was merely an example but thank you for the help!

Does it have to be in increments of 128 or was that just an example?

Re: Effects Editing
 

Well, I haven't personally tested it out - I was guessing about what could "stretch" the effect.

The 128 was an example. If it worked at all, the usual "power 2" rules apply.

Re: Effects Editing
 

Ooooohhhhh...POWER of two...Everyone else told me it had to be in increments of two...:Puzzled:

Re: Effects Editing
 

I had a quick glance on the CG_ForcePushBlur code, and this circle is the so-called ("superkewl") refraction effect, if I'm not mistaken. Things is, part of it seems to be coded, and part of it is the effects/refraction shader (to be found in effects.shader). You could try editing this shader (or at least replacing it with the refract_2 shader, which seems to be an alternative; would be interesting to know how it looks - though me personally, I'm too lazy). If it doesn't work out, you can set cg_renderToTextureFx to 0, and then - by the looks of it - the gfx/effects/forcePush shader will be used.

Re: Effects Editing
 

Hmm...okay thanks. I'll fool around with it.

But what do you mean by the cg_renderToTextureFx 0? What is that for exactly?

EDIT: Do you think I could apply that shader or something similar to something else?

Re: Effects Editing
 

There are a few effects that will only be drawn if cg_renderToTextureFx is set to 1 (which is the case by default), most notably this refraction effect upon push (both sp and mp). And in mp the player spheres will be a bit different, plus the repeater altattack projectile (only if cg_repeaterOrb is also set to 1), and cloaking seems to be affected, too. That's all for mp, anyway; maybe there are a few other things in sp that are also affected (there's no telling without the sp code).
At any rate, if it's set to 0, the refraction effect upon push will be replaced with the good old (jk2 style) gfx/effects/forcePush shader.

EDIT:
IDK, I guess so. Just try and see what happens.

Re: Effects Editing
 

Hmm...we'll see what I can do. Thanks for all your help nizwiz!