Problem with FE2 effects

[Eugene2]

Why there is no exhaust smoke in FE2 ? In FE1 exhaust smoke is visible.

[+VonS]

I recommend tinkering with the following three entries for "ExhaustEmitterName" in the data inis of aircraft, installed in FE2:

CleanExhaustEmitter (misleading name since this is the "dirtiest" emitter in FE2, gives a wide, thin stretch of greyish smoke behind the aircraft)

InlineExhaustEmitter (usually gives a thin, white stream of smoke, as if from an exhaust stack, especially good for inline engines and a favorite of Geezer's if I remember correctly)

RotaryExhaustEmitter (basically gives no exhaust effect)

(If I can dig up my old, long post for correct order of install effects in FE2...I will re-link it here.) EDIT: Here is the link (to an old post) that suggests a good order for effects installation in FE2 - if certain effects are missing, etc. (https://combatace.com/forums/topic/88700-fe2-bad-framerates/?tab=comments#comment-716531).

 

Von S

Edited April 27, 2020 by VonS
Modified info.

[+Wrench]

are they older effects inis, like for, and imported from, FE1? If so, check inside and see if they have the proper statements for DX10. There should be statements, probably near the bottom, that would have ****.fx. The effects shaders and stuff. 

just thinking out loud

[Sky High]

I can report the same as Eugene. No exhaust effects. I've tried stock, Laton, Ojcar and Stary effects and combinations of both, but no success.

[+VonS]

On 4/28/2020 at 10:06 AM, Sky High said:

I can report the same as Eugene. No exhaust effects. I've tried stock, Laton, Ojcar and Stary effects and combinations of both, but no success.

I've uploaded a couple of short FE2 vids at this link, embedded on my RB3D on a Mac website. There is a subtle exhaust effect from the rotary on the M-S type N in one of the clips (no exhaust on the Nieup. 17 in the other clip, since it's using the rotaryexhaustemitter entry). Apologies beforehand to all for the slight vid. quality degradation - originally recorded in game bar on Win10, then slightly compressed when converted to H.264 format in VLC Player (yes VLC Player can do compressing/conversion) - and then uploaded.

Several updated effects files that are now linked to and/or include correct "dx10" calls can be found in relevant folders in the ver. 9.9 FM update pack, by the way. If necessary I can double-check the files more specifically over the next couple of days and will post back if I find any helpful info. (currently trying to get the awful internal padlock view to work properly in my IL2-1946 vpmodpack install - unfortunately it doesn't seem to glue itself permanently to the chosen target - something that only FE2 and WOFF seem to be good at - and ROF so-so).

EDIT: RB3D on a Mac website no longer online - no time to maintain that site anymore since I've moved over full time to FE2 and WOFF for my WWI flight sim. needs.

Von S 

 

Edited October 2, 2020 by VonS
RB3D on a Mac website has been retired.

[Silberpfeil]

Not really sure if this is what you're looking for, but see below from stock TW Salmson2A_DATA.INI file - under [ENGINE] subfile, there is an entry for ExhaustEmitterName=InlineExhaustEmitter2 which appears to give a pretty reasonable effect.

 

[Sky High]

I notice the planes in my install all have ExhaustEmitterName=InlineExhaustEmitter in the Engines section of their Data.inis, but I noticed I had no file of this name in any of my effects mods. Therefore, I found one in my Stary Effects install in my Korea Mod, placed it in my FE2 Effects folder, but still no exhaust smoke.

[Sky High]

10 hours ago, VonS said:

I've uploaded a couple of short FE2 vids at this link, embedded on my RB3D on a Mac website (https://naissuswest.wixsite.com/rb3donamac?wix-vod-comp-id=comp-k9ku0clv). There is a subtle exhaust effect from the rotary on the M-S type N in one of the clips (no exhaust on the Nieup. 17 in the other clip, since it's using the rotaryexhaustemitter entry). Apologies beforehand to all for the slight vid. quality degradation - originally recorded in game bar on Win10, then slightly compressed when converted to H.264 format in VLC Player (yes VLC Player can do compressing/conversion) - and then uploaded.

Several updated effects files that are now linked to and/or include correct "dx10" calls can be found in relevant folders in the ver. 9.9 FM update pack, by the way. If necessary I can double-check the files more specifically over the next couple of days and will post back if I find any helpful info. (currently trying to get the awful internal padlock view to work properly in my IL2-1946 vpmodpack install - unfortunately it doesn't seem to glue itself permanently to the chosen target - something that only FE2 and WOFF seem to be good at - and ROF so-so).

Von S 

 

 

Padlock works perfectly in my European Air War and BoBII installs!

[Silberpfeil]

Saw that the initial post of Eugene2 was showing a FE1 Camel with black exhaust, so I went into FE2's CamelF1_150 and changed the ExhaustEmitterName= to display "InlineExhaustEmitter2" and trailing is the result:

 

Looked pretty reasonable, so then I tried the same combination on Eugene2's no-exhaust FE2 SPAD_13 and got this result:

A little less distinct, but it's there - so, the file gives the desired effect.  Looked in my Effects folder and it's not there, so I'm guessing that maybe it's an original TW FE2 file?

 

[Sky High]

Silberfeil, this unfortunately doesn't seem to work in my FE2.

[+VonS]

The only other thing I can think of and that might help is to compare the relevant emitters listed in the particlesystem.ini file that resides in "Flight," with comparable emitter ini files that reside in "Effects." In the TW sims, as far as I remember, individual emitter ini files in "Effects" override the same emitter calls listed in particlesys - unless such ini files are missing from Effects - then the calls in particlesys take over. In my case, I don't have individual exhaust emitter inis in Effects, but I have some relevant calls in particlesys (also good is to check some of the smoke effects in particlesys too) - here's what I have in particlesys and that might be relevant checking over in your installs, if you're missing engine exhaust effects:

[ExhaustMaterial]

EffectShaderName=effectLightLevel.fx -----> forgot to include this previously (since I incorrectly copied over my old particlesys file for dx9 only)

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=smoke.tga
TextureStage[01].MipMap=FALSE
TextureStage[01].FilterEnabled=TRUE
TextureStage[01].StageColorOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE
TextureStage[01].StageAlphaOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE

[EmitterType002]
Name=DirtyExhaustEmitter
EmissionType=POINT_EMITTER
UpdateType=NON_MOVING
MaxVisibleDistance=18000.000000
EmissionRate=0.2500000
ParticleUpdateType=RANDOM_MOVING
ParticleRenderType=CONNECTED_SPRITE
ParticleLifeTime=20.000000
ParticleWeight=0.00000
ParticleWindFactor=0.5
ParticleColorTableType=TABLE
ParticleColor[01].Time=0.000000
ParticleColor[01].Value=0.400000,0.400000,0.400000,0.000000
ParticleColor[02].Time=0.008000
ParticleColor[02].Value=0.400000,0.400000,0.400000,0.200000
ParticleColor[03].Time=0.125000
ParticleColor[03].Value=0.500000,0.500000,0.500000,0.100000
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=0.800000
ParticleSize[02].Time=0.01000
ParticleSize[02].Value=0.800000
ParticleSize[03].Time=0.500000
ParticleSize[03].Value=40.000000
ParticleSize[04].Time=1.000000
ParticleSize[04].Value=80.000000
TextureMaterial=SmokeTrailMaterial

[EmitterType003]
Name=CleanExhaustEmitter
EmissionType=POINT_EMITTER
UpdateType=NON_MOVING
MaxVisibleDistance=8000.000000
EmissionRate=0.5000000
ParticleUpdateType=RANDOM_MOVING
ParticleRenderType=CONNECTED_SPRITE
ParticleLifeTime=6.000000
ParticleWeight=0.00000
ParticleWindFactor=0.9
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=0.800000
ParticleSize[02].Time=0.005000
ParticleSize[02].Value=0.400000
ParticleSize[03].Time=0.250000
ParticleSize[03].Value=10.000000
ParticleSize[04].Time=0.500000
ParticleSize[04].Value=20.000000
TextureMaterial=SmokeTrailMaterial

Also, in the options.ini file, don't forget to toggle the following two values if using dx10 calls/shaders, such as available in the relevant folders of my FM update pack:

UseAdvancedShaders=1
ForceDX9=FALSE

Von S

EDIT: Correct shader statement now included; a dx10-friendly particlesys file is included in the FM update pack, by the way.

Edited April 29, 2020 by VonS
Added shader statement since I incorrectly copied over my dx9 particlesys file entries in this post, instead of dx10 ones.

[+Wrench]

missing the shader statement in the "materials"

[ExhaustMaterial]
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=smoke.tga
TextureStage[01].MipMap=FALSE
TextureStage[01].FilterEnabled=TRUE
TextureStage[01].StageColorOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE
TextureStage[01].StageAlphaOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE

SF2 & FE2 require those

[Sky High]

I've tried everyone's very helpful recommendations, but still no change for me.

[+VonS]

The best thing to do therefore is to make a copy of your user directory/folders for FE2 - store them somewhere safe - and then start FE2 without the user directory in its expected location. This will "build up" a stock user folder. Then, some quick flying to check if exhaust effects are present for such aircraft as the SPAD and Fokk. Dr.1 that come stock in FE2 - this will rule out any possible corruption with effects/files in your custom user directory for FE2. Hopefully we will be able to narrow down where the problem is. Keep us posted.

Von S

Edited May 1, 2020 by VonS
Modified info.

[Eugene2]

Many thanks for All. The problem is over after adding the line from Wrench's post :

[ExhaustMaterial]
EffectShaderName=effectLightLevel.fx
DepthBufferCheck=TRUE
DepthBufferWrite=FALSE ... etc...

[Sky High]

3 hours ago, Eugene2 said:

Many thanks for All. The problem is over after adding the line from Wrench's post :

[ExhaustMaterial]
EffectShaderName=effectLightLevel.fx
DepthBufferCheck=TRUE
DepthBufferWrite=FALSE ... etc...

 

I tried that, but it didn't work. I must try VonS' suggestion.

[Sky High]

Using VonS' method, I discovered my problem. It was caused by a file called 'InlineExhaustEffect' in my Effects Folder. When I removed it, I got my exhaust smoke back. 

Additionally, my trial-and-error has brought home to me that TK's stock effects are quite good in themselves. 

Thanks to everyone on the thread. It has been a great learning experience.

 

Mick.

[Sky High]

One further thing. I noticed planes with rotary engines had no exhaust fumes at all. So, I copied (after appropriate backing up) my InlineExhaustEmitter file and renamed it as RotaryExhaustEmitter. I then opened it and renamed the internal file name from InlineExhaustEmitter to RotaryExhaustEmitter. I then replaced the original RotaryExhaustEmitter file with this new one.

This gave my rotary planes an exhaust trail similar to the inline ones. I considered this exhaust trail to be excessive for the rotaries, so I cut and pasted the text of the data properties from the original RotaryExhaustEmitter file into the newly created one until I got a trail that was more to my satisfaction, in my case, a shorter trail. It requires a bit of trial and error and be sure to have back-ups of all these files.