ODF question

[Crewman87]

Hey guys,
I recently came back to BZ2 after a long time and I wanted to start modding again. So im about to ask a noobie question since I forgot a lot about how to do these.

I wanted to know when it comes to the color codes in the ODF files. What is the order they go?

ex: Startcolor = "0 0 0 0" and the last one is opacity. I think it goes in that order. So am I doing this right?

[bigbadbogie]

Perfectly.


The scale is 255 to 0.

0 is transparent, and 255 is fully opaque.

[Crewman87]

Ok thanks a lot. Also Ill most likley be sticking around also. So hello! lol.

[bigbadbogie]

Good!

The more modders, the better.

[General BlackDragon]

there are posts in modding tutorial section wich can be useful

[iron maiden]

good to see a new person willing to stick to the universe.  Perhaps when you get your modding skills back up to snuff you could help the others with the community project.[i exclude myself as i know nothing of and am to busy to learn the sort.] still......yay, new member. 

[Crewman87]

I'd be glad to help with a community project. FE was fun and another campaign would be killer.
I'm also taking a modeling class next semester so until then I'd love to help with what I could. 

[TheJamsh]

I posted an effects tutorial a while ago, but its not overly accurate. BZ2's particle system is VERY flexible, so one setting could mean one thing in [ExplosionClass], but something ENTIRELY different in [i76Building] Class.

[General BlackDragon]

TJ, thats because renders are called differently in explosion class then in all other classes. They're not a draw_multi render class setup, they're a played minimovie of renders that has a focal start point and lasts however long the timers run.

Unlike normal draw renders wich exist and are generated for as long as the object making them is around.

[TheJamsh]

I know that, im just saying

You can quite easily have an explosion class generate an infinite-lifespan effect though... but again its done differently.

[General BlackDragon]

Love to do that with an explosion, attach it to a weapon with a 0.1 fire rate, and see how long it takes it to kill a new computer 

[Crewman87]

Lol any explosions that uses .flame effect on a large scale makes my comp go nuts. Seriously I don't think it can handle an explosion with a radius over 100. 

[General BlackDragon]

.flame effect?

that could be anything... effects can be named *Filename*.monkeydoodle and as long as there's a render with the heading [monkeydoodle] in that particular file, it'll be used.

Yes, you can referance a render from a different file. just put filename.renderheader in the rendername slot.

For instance:

For effects on vehicles/torpedoes:

effectName# = "filename.rendername"

or on a draw multi render:

[Render]
renderBase = "draw_multi"
renderCount = #
renderName1 = "fileA.rendername"
renderName2 = "fileB.rendername"

Where it draws 2 renders from 2 other odf files. An odf file can be made completely of renders if you want. Allowing you to move all renders into 1 file for easy tweaking.

[TheJamsh]

Love to do that with an explosion, attach it to a weapon with a 0.1 fire rate, and see how long it takes it to kill a new computer 

BZ2 just cuts off the oldest particle first it too many are drawn by the same type of object IIRC. And i think hes talking about the stock 'flame' effect.

Theres a big nono when doing special effects, and that is to use LARGE particles. As soon as they get big, they are harder for BZ2 to draw than a few smaller ones. It sounds a bit odd, but thats what i see here, which is why i tend to use lots of little effects, rather than a few large ones.

Small is better anyway, it makes your effect more random. Of course, you can use large ones for some weapons, like the slam cannon in this video that i made a few months ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTh29z0yETk

This waterfall effect that i did however, uses a few smaller effects to generate the watery steam and ripples:
http://www.bzuniverse.com/~betadudes/unprotected/ST_Rock_Pools.7z