Tell Me About The Particle System
Dr_Shaggy
Join Date: 2002-09-26 Member: 1340Members, Constellation
Join Date: 2002-09-26 Member: 1340Members, Constellation
<div class="IPBDescription">Do I have to be able to map to try it?</div> I'm interested in mapping, but not so interested in the time investment required. So I was wondering, is there any way I can create particle effects that others can use in their maps? What kind of programming is involved with the particle system (I'm at the tail end of my Comp Sci degree)? Are there particle "previewing" programs to look at what you've done, or is Half-life that program?
I'd love to contribute to peoples maps, is this a posibility?
<b><i>EDIT: I've got WorldCraft going, I've done the empty box room... See below please!</i></b>
I'd love to contribute to peoples maps, is this a posibility?
<b><i>EDIT: I've got WorldCraft going, I've done the empty box room... See below please!</i></b>
Comments
I can give the NS team kudos for actually creating one and using it for some good in-game effects, but as far as using it to add 'atmosphere' to your maps...it's not all it could be.
For a start..rain..If I see anyone using particle rain in their maps I will personally hit them,..a lot. It simply looks terrible and is pretty annoying if you're trying to fight in it.
If anyone uses particle effects PLEASE keep them to steam, the odd bit of fog and other subtle, small effects. People with the high detail enabled might enjoy the odd bit of eye candy, but sometimes it's just annoying.
If you want to play about with particles and make some effects download Valve hammer editor (worldcraft) or Quark and make a box shaped room to play about with the entity in. I'm sure some mappers (including myself) would appreciate some pre-tested and pre-done settings to do things with the particle system. Saves fiddling with it.
Btw, if someone could make prefab partical FX. Imo, that would be very helpfull. Everyone knows, tuning particals takes lots o time.
This is exactly what I want to do, write some particle effect thingies (<- what an excellent word) that I could post here and people could use in their maps. Anyone have a link to some tutorials to get me started in my hollow cube level of particle madness? (preferably with something of a manual on how to work said particles)
It's not so much a failure of the particle system as it is a failure of people to use their imagination in it's application... There are lots of really subtle effects the official mappers have used... The fact that you don't notice them is tribute to their ability...
Besides - it's Christmas (it is in Australia anyway) so cheer up!
<i>Less "particle system sucks", more "here's what you want to look up Shaggy"</i>
Most the effects I've thought of require new sprites, but hey..
Water running down a window(who know, like it does on your car's windows when it rains).
Waves on water(ie: ripple effect)
Not to sure on this one, but some sort of electricity fx...?..
Eh, shoot..I'll come up wiht more
The best part is, to see the sliders in ns 1.0, I have to do an "editps test" (in console of course), then a "toggleeditps" (also in console), <i>THEN</i> I can see the sliders teasing me from behind the console. So I close the console and the sliders disapear too.... damn.
So here we have 2 problems:
1) Can't see particles at all (particle size up to 10)
2) No sliders for you
Please help me I'm so achingly close to playing with particles!
The sliders don't work but even still - particles that are sposed to trigger other particles (on death) don't work anymore...I recompiled some of my old particle effects and they don't work anymore...
<b>CrackBrock</b> - When the particles worked (in nstr2) I actually made some sprites for exactly those two purposes ... one I constrained to the z axis so it would not "face" the player - it was ripples so that when water dripped and hit the surface it spawned a ripple...quite cool - bit laggy tho.... as for the rain on windows - that worked really well...again, I constrained the sprite to the direction of the glass and just aimed a rather large particle system at the glass and when a particle collided - it spawned the splash which slid down the glass... quite cool...
I'm sure I've still got the sprites around somewhere *looking*...