(Question) How to trigger an effect?
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Hello!
I'd like to make a mod where when my helicopter is low to the ground it kicks up dust, i think this is already in game but it's not very good.
I was using Menyoo and in the effects area in Spooner i saw there was an effect called 'Dust impact' i believe, i'd like to make that trigger when in close proximity to the ground, rooftop.How do i go about making this?
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@RANDAMTHANGAH Sounds like it would make a good script mod. PM one of the many talented scripters here, see what they think & just ask you be credited for your idiea.
id love to have that aswell.
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@RANDAMTHANGAH I was actually looking at this last night but I can't find a particle effect that will loop properly... or I might just not be doing it right. Particles are a pain because some need an entity, some need to be on something moving etc... so many I try just don't seem to do anything.
Here's a short video, the first tyre burnout effect looks like it has potential, this can be scaled up and possibly altered in colour, not sure yet. If I manage to find anything more, I'll post back more information here. The second one generates nice clouds of smoke but it needing to launch a flare is a downside.
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@LeeC2202 Ahh thank you very much!
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@RANDAMTHANGAH So a bit more research is not proving too promising with this so far. The most suitable effect I have found up to now (the first in that video) is designed to attach to car wheels and isn't a looped effect. The problem with that is you have to keep firing off new effects to keep the effect active and to create a big enough effect, that could come with a performance hit.
The other thing I discovered is that the effect from inside the cloud, is far less than the effect from outside. So I can completely cover the helicopter in smoke in the third person view, but when you sit inside the cockpit and fire the effect, you see very little. There's also no way to change the smoke colour from what I can see. All attempts so far have just turned the smoke black.
I do have some ideas how to do this but to do it in a way that I would consider acceptable, it's going to require a fair amount of research and coding. I won't hack something simple in, if it's going to work, then it has to work properly. That would probably involve multiple effects emitters that perform raycasting to determine the surface types they are over, so that they only fire when they are over valid materials that would generate the effect.
The problem with that, is trying to determine what is classed as a valid material that would generate the dust cloud. As you can imagine, there are a lot of materials in this game. If this works in the desert for instance, it should work anywhere there is sand, dirt etc... so that's a lot of materials.
I am going to expand this particle test-bed mod to add some entities into the mix, Peds, vehicles, objects etc... both static and moving. That might give me a few more ideas on what I can use and how. I might be able to con the system with invisible entities, to let me use more effects... not sure yet.
The biggest problem I have is that with my tendency to lose interest in a project at the drop of a hat, I can't guarantee anything with this as far as an end result goes. Hopefully, someone more knowledgeable (with GTAV modding) and reliable will turn up and can solve this much quicker... I haven't done anything with particles before, so I am starting from scratch.
That's the most honest assessment I can give so far. I'll post more information as and when I find any.
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@LeeC2202 That video is really cool!
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@RANDAMTHANGAH Okay, so this is my current line of thinking... using an existing system I already had working for my other mod, the plan is this... well, watch this video first and it will make what I am about to say easier to understand.
The idea is that I have a set of rotating entities that track the helicopter at a fixed height above the ground. Once they get within a certain distance, they will trigger the smoke effect shown in that first video. They will trigger it at intervals at a rate that will hopefully, create a continuous swirl of turbulence around the helicopter. The closer they are to the ground, the more the effect will scale up, creating a bigger cloud.
As you can see, I have it tracking single and double-rotor helicopters, which gives me a solid base to work from. This is all just speculative testing so far though. I have no idea how well the particle spawning will work. The annoying thing is that I can't find any way to get the rotation speed of the rotor blade, so I will have to see if any other value gives me something related to that. If I can get that, it gives me a bit more to work with.
If this starts to go well, I might move this into a WIP thread and directly reference this thread as the source of the request. That's pretty much what I did with my camera mod.
More updates will follow as things either progress or go sideways.
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@LeeC2202 You're the best! Thank you for looking into this all, as far as i can see really great work so far! I wouldn't even know where to begin.
I wish you well in future progress and i hope you do get this into a WIP stage! Also thank you for saying you'll referance this thread, despite me being no help at all
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@RANDAMTHANGAH The biggest help a creator can get, is a healthy dose of inspiration... trust me, that is more help than you can imagine.
And I always credit inspiration when it's due.
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@RANDAMTHANGAH So here's the progress so far...
Edit: And as you might have noticed... a WIP thread has been born.
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Oh man... What happened to this? ;-;
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@RANDAMTHANGAH He uploaded the mod but then removed all his mods from the site. Disagreement, if I remember correctly.
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Here are some links to info about the mod from the author:
http://gtavmodding.digital-essence.co.uk/modpages/he.html
http://gtavmodding.digital-essence.co.uk/modpages/helc.html
http://gtavmodding.digital-essence.co.uk/modpages/AirVehicleEffects.htmlYou can still download the mod, although it is against the author's wishes. Google
"Helicopter Effects" gta 5
