Help with Exhaust Emitter showing in 2D only.

[+ianh755]

Hi there, I'm updating the Tornado Storm Shadow bunker buster and, as it's powered by a jet engine (like the Tomahawk etc), I gave it a jet exhaust plume which I'd taken from the TSR2 Olympus (between dirty/clean) but during flight but the effect looks 2d, i.e as you move around in external view the effect "rotates" so it's always flattened. Any idea's on how to make it 3D?

 

 

here's the Modded Olympus effect -

 

[EffectType001]

Name=stormshadoweffect

 

Element[01].ElementType=HOLD_EMITTER

Element[01].ElementName=stormshadowexhaust

Element[01].StartTime=0.000000

Element[01].StartTimeDeviation=0.000000

Element[01].EjectTime=0.015

Element[01].EjectTimeDeviation=0.05

 

[EmitterType001]

Name=stormshadowexhaust

EmissionType=POINT_EMITTER

UpdateType=NON_MOVING

MaxVisibleDistance=12000.0

EmissionRate=0.015

EmissionVolume=0.01,0.01,0.01

EmissionVelocityTableType=CONSTANT

EmissionVelocity=0.0,0.0,0.0

EmissionVelocityDeviation=0.0

ParticleUpdateType=SIMPLE_POINT

ParticleRenderType=SPRITE

ParticleRandomOrientation=TRUE

ParticleLifeTime=2.0

ParticleLifeTimeDeviation=0.5

ParticleWeight=-0.1

ParticleRandomness=0.03

ParticleDragFactor=1.00

ParticleInheritence=1.0

ParticleWindFactor=0.4

ParticleColorTableType=TABLE

ParticleColor[01].Time=0.000000

ParticleColor[01].Value=0.400000,0.400000,0.400000,0.000000

ParticleColor[02].Time=0.016000

ParticleColor[02].Value=0.400000,0.400000,0.400000,0.100000

ParticleColor[03].Time=0.250000

ParticleColor[03].Value=0.500000,0.500000,0.500000,0.050000

ParticleColor[04].Time=1.000000

ParticleColor[04].Value=0.600000,0.600000,0.600000,0.000000

ParticleSizeTableType=TABLE

ParticleSize[01].Time=0.000000

ParticleSize[01].Value=0.500000

ParticleSize[02].Time=0.01000

ParticleSize[02].Value=0.800000

ParticleSize[03].Time=0.01000

ParticleSize[03].Value=0.800000

ParticleSize[04].Time=0.500000

ParticleSize[04].Value=2.500000

ParticleSize[05].Time=1.000000

ParticleSize[05].Value=15.000000

TextureMaterial=SmokeTrailMaterial

 

 

[smokeTrailMaterial]

EffectShaderName=effectLightLevel.fx

DepthBufferCheck=TRUE

DepthBufferWrite=FALSE

IgnoreRenderOrder=FALSE

AlphaTestEnabled=FALSE

LightEnabled=FALSE

UseLightLevel=TRUE

SpecularEnabled=FALSE

EmissiveEnabled=FALSE

AmbientColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000

DiffuseColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000

ZBufferOffset=0.000000

PriorityLevel=3

BlendOp=BLEND_SRC_ALPHA

NumTextureStages=1

TextureStage[01].TextureName=smoketrail.tga

TextureStage[01].MipMap=FALSE

TextureStage[01].FilterEnabled=TRUE

TextureStage[01].StageColorOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE

TextureStage[01].StageAlphaOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE

Edited February 12, 2012 by ianh755

[+NeverEnough]

Hey IanH, I took a look at the original Olympus Effect and the different exhaust effects I've done and none of them include the [EffectType001] section. They all start with the [EmitterType001] section.

[+ianh755]

I had to add that as the "Engine" entry in the weapon data.ini is looking for a Rocket Booster Effect rather than an Exhaust Emitter and it didn't work without it (unless I'm being a total biff!). I swapped the emitter data with the "dirty exhaust emitter" from the Tornado pack and the 2d is gone but now it's repeating flat squares so it looks like I'll just have to keep trying different emitters until I get one I like!

[Fubar512]

You're using a variant of the "cleanexhaustemitter" effect. That emitter billboards a flat, ribbon-like exhaust effect, hence the appearance of a 2-dimensional ribbon that appears to rotate with a change in viewing angle.

 

The fix is to replace it with another effect, that works with a circular effect, such as this one, that's meant to emulate a very clean exhaust, mostly a sort of heat-blur with a hint of a smoke trail:

 

CleanEmitter.zip

 

Please note that you'll have to change the emitter name on whatever aircraft or weapons you want to use this effect on, to "cleanemitter", as opposed to the "cleanexhaustemitter" that they're probably using now.

[+ianh755]

Cheers Fubar, that's absolutely spot on!