a little help about explosion textures/sprites if you will?

[TheJamsh]

basically i found some nice explosion 'sprites' on the internet under a google search and was hoping to use them in my mod (they are free). i have a few questions about them before i get them into my mod.

Firstly, do i have to set a layer of transparency on them? or does BZII choose black automatically?

Secondly, if i DO have to set transparency, why is it that when i do this in GIMP it looks absolutely fine, then i stick it into the game or open it in XNview and it turns into a really ugly looking texture, with a different hue and almost looks posterised.

Thirdly... if im correct, "srcalpha invalpha modulatealpha" is used when the texture is not viewable is that right (or looks like just a white square)? and "one one modulate" for when the texture is an image you can look at?

FINALLY, my explosion ground effects dont seem to want to work. ive included a sample from one of my explosions and im interested to know why the draw_planar effect isnt drawing a coloured/black/whatever scorch mark on the ground.

Code Select Expand


[Flood1]
simulateBase = "sim_smoke"
lifetime = 0.3
renderBase = "draw_emit"
emitName = "xcgenxpl.flood1e"
emitDelay = 0.1
emitDelayVar = 0
emitVelocity = "0 0 0"
emitVariance = "0 0 0"

[Flood1e]
simulateBase = "sim_smoke"
lifeTime = 1.5
renderBase = "draw_planar"
textureName = "ring.tga"
textureBlend = "one one modulate"
startColor = "255 255 255 250"
finishColor = "250 250 250 0"
startRadius = 2.0
finishRadius = 23.0
animateTime = 1.5


ive also tried doing this the following way, not with an emitter:

Code Select Expand


[ring]
simulateBase = "sim_null"
lifeTime = 3.0
renderBase = "draw_planar"
textureName = "grndchar.tga"
textureBlend = "srcalpha invsrcalpha modulatealpha"
startColor = "250 250 250 255"
finishColor = "250 250 250 0"
startRadius = 32.0
finishRadius = 8.0
animateTime = 3.0



my light effect isnt working in the explosion class either. anyone fix that?

Code Select Expand


[Light]
simulateBase = "sim_null"
lifeTime = 1.7
renderBase = "draw_light"
startColor = "248 192 20000"
finishColor = "255 180 100 0"
startRadius = 140.0
finishRadius = 100.0
animateTime = 1.7
attenuateConstant = 1.0
attenuateLinear = 2.0
attenuateQuadratic = 1.0


thanks fellows!

[Zero Angel]

"one one modulate" uses typically greyscale files as the texture -- the brighter the part of the texture the more opaque it appears when rendered in-game, the darker, the more transparent. I havent tried using a 32-bit image (one with an alpha/trasparancy channel) in a one one modulate, but I dont imagine that it would turn out well.

"srcalpha invalpha modulatealpha" uses 32-bit images (ones with transparancy), and will retain the colors that the texture uses. If you use a normal image that doesnt have build in transparancy or transparancy support, then the render will appear as a completely opaque block.

[TheJamsh]

ah okay, well im saving my textures as 24bit .TGA's in photoshop so should be okay.

can anyone sort out those things?

also im using photoshop 7.0. how can i create some flamaes and things? i want textures like the sprites in ZEMOD

[Zero Angel]

This is the first result of the google search "photoshop flames"
http://www.rnel.net/search/photoshop/flame-tutorials-1

[OvermindDL1]

PNG has wonderful transparency support, and the BZ2 DXT converter works well with them.
Generated by OvermindDL1's Signature Auto-Add Script via GreaseMonkey

[Steeveeo]

Soon along the lines here I am going to release a smoke texture pack, probably along with the release of SRV, so you can also use them when they do come out.

[TheJamsh]

cool

[General BlackDragon]

i always use this: ononemodulate for anything i want to use color, that does NOT have a transperancy. this basically is for any texture that u dont want to have any black, as it autoassigns black to transparent.

scralpha blablabla one is used for anything u want to have black in it, and can use alpha channels.

If u need more help, give me the files, i'll make them work.