RagnaHighArc Posted October 8, 2009 Author Share Posted October 8, 2009 I haven't found any tutorials on working with shader effects and particles. All i found was the page in the CS Wiki. You can also use Oblivion's shader effects as templates or examples. http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/Effect_Shader But here are the settings i used. Particle Shader box - checked Source Blend Mode - Source Alpha Dest Blend Mode - Source inverted Alpha Blend Operation - Add Z Test Function - Normal Particle B R U Time - 0 Full Particle B T - 0.25 Particle B R D T - 0 Full Particle B R - 0 Persistant Particle B R - 0 Particle LifeTime - 1 - +/= 0.01 Initial S A N - 200 Acceleration A N - 0 Initial V - 0, 0, 0 Acceleration || -300.0, 0.0, 0.0 Scale Key 1 - 7 || Time - 0.0 Scale Key 2 - 7 || Time - 0.99 And all the Color Keys are set to 1.0 at 0.0 Time. The Color Keys affect the texture color and/or visibility according to the time values. The Time values are 0.0 to 1.0. "0" being at the start of the particle's life cycle and "1" being at the end of it's life cycle. The texture i used is just a blurred gray rectangle with a black background with an alpha channel created off the color black( FFFFFF in HTML and 000000 in hex), saved as a dds file and loaded into the Particle Shader side. I managed to create an effect in which particles seem to appear from outside the object and then have them flow into the object by playing with the color keys Color Key 1 Color Alpha - 0 || Color Key Time 0.5 - That says that in the 1st half of their life they're invisible. Color Key 2 Color Alpha - 1 || Color Key Time 0.5 - That makes them appear at full visibility half way into their life. And i forgot what i did with the Color Key 3... And to create the effect of particles flowing inward into the object or player, we need to adjust a few things Initial Speed Along Normal - 300.0 === That would make the particles burst out Acceleration Along Normal - -450(i think...) === That should make the particles accelerate negatively along their path. I'm still not sure what the currect formula is to create the particle explosion and implosion, but i think its InitialSpeedAlongNormal * 1.5 and then make that number a negative value. So, what i did was to make the particles invisible at first, then when they started to move inward, i made them appear. I was planning on using that effect to make a staff mod that would charge up power the longer you hold the attack button, but i don't think it's possible to make specific frames of animation play longer than normal. without altering the kf files. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paladicprince Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 You seem to have some basics down. I might suggest putting what you do know into some form over at the cs wiki. Worst case scenario someone else fills in all the gaps. Thanks a bunch I'll go mess with that now. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RagnaHighArc Posted October 8, 2009 Author Share Posted October 8, 2009 Yeah maybe i will... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RagnaHighArc Posted October 9, 2009 Author Share Posted October 9, 2009 holy poo i'm an idiot.... I mentioned a few post ago that i was trying to get a shader to emit particles that point north and south with a line texture acting as the particle. Well, i just realized that all i had to do was turn the texture 90 degrees, in a paint program, so that the line becomes a vertical line instead. man... major brain fart... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paladicprince Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Aw I tried to mention that but I readm y post and it didn't mean what I thought it meant at the time >< I've got to stop forum browsing at five AM with no sleep. Glad you got it working! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RagnaHighArc Posted October 10, 2009 Author Share Posted October 10, 2009 Actually, it doesn't work at all. Since the texture is set to always face the player, the effect gets destroyed the moment the camera angle changes. And now the only way to create that speed effect, like the ones in animations and cartoons, is to make a 3dmodel of thin colored bars that would appear behind the player while he/she's moving fast... but i don't feel like doing that right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grmblf Posted October 10, 2009 Share Posted October 10, 2009 What a pitty it doesn't work, sounds like you've put big efford on it. And what about adding a blur effect or some of the 'expand' shader effects in this mod to give the feeling of speed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RagnaHighArc Posted October 10, 2009 Author Share Posted October 10, 2009 Yeah i tried to make it work, but the shader particles were never meant to imply direction. When i realized that fact, i instantly remember something i read that said that... oh well... at least i gained a poo load of experience. Hey grmblf, that mod you mentioned alters the oblivion shaders, so if i incorporate that mod into mine then i'll end up changing other people's settings, but there is another way. The Oblivion Graphics Extender plugin for OBSE would let me use custom shaders full screen, but ...then i would have to learn how shader files are made... :( /// Oh crap. people already made blur effects with OBGE! i did a search for "blur" at http://www.tesnexus.com/ and i found a few. Funny thing is that i had already downloaded those mods a while ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paladicprince Posted October 10, 2009 Share Posted October 10, 2009 Yeah I hate it when I get a great idea for a mod, start working on it. Then go to play oblivion regularly and realize I already have a mod that does the same thing >.> But I'm with you, at least I gained experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RagnaHighArc Posted October 10, 2009 Author Share Posted October 10, 2009 Hey you mentioned something about a chargeable spell mod, right? Well... http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=27557 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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