UPDATE, Jan 5, 2024: I've altered the LiveTime and FinishTime values so as to make for a longer period of visibility near one's plane and not carry the visibility quite so far into the distance. I also added an alpha channel to the textures, which makes for a better balance between surface brightness and opacity.
This update completely replaces the previous version.
Get it here:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/nc73lfi8byxux6w/%25210_WxTech_3D_tracer_smoke.7z/fileFrom the included readme file:
3D tracer smoke for all game versions, by WxTech
Some folk prefer particle based ('3D') tracer smoke effects, because the trail-based versions exhibit the unattractive 'flat ribbon' artifacts when seen end on. This is much more likely for the tracer smokes from one's own guns.
The various version of such '3D' tracer smokes I've tried over the years have not been particularly satisfactory. One common detracting element has been the 'straightness' of the stream of particles. From time to time I've struggled myself with creating something I'm happy enough about. In this offering I've come closest so far in my efforts to cook up something that I'm content enough to actually use.
This is a general treatment which applies to all relevant weapons fired by the player and AI. The visibility distance is not very long, and so there should not often be instances where a large number of guns are in close enough proximity and firing simultaneously so as to badly impact the game engine limits.
There a couple of other tracer smokes used exclusively by ground-based weapons. I leave them as they are rendered in your game at present.
I have striven for a balance between appearance and resource friendliness. It's impossible to employ enough particles to get anything like a continuous trail. And it defeats much of the purpose to crowd the paricles into a rather short trail. And so the need for a suitably long trail conflicts with the limits on the number of particles which can be simultaneously drawn. When seen from any kind of side aspect the unavoidable 'beads on a string' aspect is very apparent. But when firing one's own guns, the largely end-on aspect makes for a more convincing trail. I've adjusted the .eff file parameters, and utilized an assymetric texture in rotation, to introduce some lateral departure from a straight line, thereby effecting a more organic liveliness--or so I hope!
WxTech,
Dec 27, 2023
Author
Topic: 3D tracer smoke (Read 2227 times)
