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Effect OK in FXEditor won't show in P3D2

pierrot

pierrot

Messages
108
Country
france
Hi all,

I'm still working on lighthouses lighting, and I experimented sort of a light beam (to be further attached to a rotating dummy box).

I am confused because my effect displays correctly when edited with FXEditor, but when I check it afterwards in P3D2 (using FXTool) it doesn't show at all. Even worse, I don't get the whole effect control panel as usual but a very shortened one, as if my syntax or stg was preventing all parameters to be displayed.

I double checked every line but found no mistake (and yes the textures used are present in the right \Effects\texture subfolder)

(Btw. what is weird too is that other effects taken from \Effects folder don't show either.)

What did I do wrong?

Code: 
[Library Effect]
Lifetime=5
Version=2.00
Display Name=Faisceau_phare_blanc
Radius=10000
Priority=0

[Properties]
Cockpit=1
VirtualCockpit=1
Spot=1
Tower=1
Map=1

[Emitter.0]
Lifetime=1,1
Delay=0.00, 0.00
Bounce=0.00
No Interpolate=1
Rate=0.5,0.5
X Emitter Velocity=0,0
Y Emitter Velocity=0.00, 0.00
Z Emitter Velocity=0.00, 0.00
Drag=0.00, 0.00
X Particle Velocity=0.00, 0.00
Y Particle Velocity=0.00, 0.00
Z Particle Velocity=0.00, 0.00
X Rotation=0.00, 0.00
Y Rotation=0.00, 0.00
Z Rotation=0.00, 0.00
X Offset=0,0
Y Offset=0,0
Z Offset=0,0
Pitch=0.00, 0.00
Bank=0.00, 0.00
Heading=0.00, 0.00

[Particle.0]
Lifetime=0.00, 0.00
Type=25
X Scale=0,1000
Y Scale=2,2
Z Scale=0.00, 0.00
X Scale Rate=0.00, 0.00
Y Scale Rate=0.00, 0.00
Z Scale Rate=0.00, 0.00
Drag=0.00, 0.00
Color Rate=0.50, 0.50
X Offset=0.00, 0.00
Y Offset=0.00, 0.00
Z Offset=0.00, 0.00
Fade In=0.00, 0.00
Fade Out=0.00, 0.00
Rotation=0.00, 0.00
Static=1
Face=1, 1, 1

[ParticleAttributes.0]
Blend Mode=2
Texture=fx_2.bmp
Bounce=0.00
Color Start=255, 255, 255, 180
Color End=150, 150, 100, 100
Jitter Distance=0.00
Jitter Time=0.00
uv1=0.00, 0.00
uv2=.5,.5
X Scale Goal=0.00
Y Scale Goal=0.00
Z Scale Goal=0.00
Extrude Length=0.00
Extrude Pitch Max=0.00
Extrude Heading Max=0.00

[Emitter.1]
Lifetime=1,1
Delay=0.00, 0.00
Bounce=0.00
No Interpolate=1
Rate=0.50, 0.50
X Emitter Velocity=0.00, 0.00
Y Emitter Velocity=0.00, 0.00
Z Emitter Velocity=0.00, 0.00
Drag=0.00, 0.00
X Particle Velocity=0.00, 0.00
Y Particle Velocity=0.00, 0.00
Z Particle Velocity=0.00, 0.00
X Rotation=0.00, 0.00
Y Rotation=0.00, 0.00
Z Rotation=0.00, 0.00
X Offset=0.00, 0.00
Y Offset=0.00, 0.00
Z Offset=0.00, 0.00
Pitch=0.00, 0.00
Bank=0.00, 0.00
Heading=0.00, 0.00

[Particle.1]
Lifetime=0.00, 0.00
Type=25
X Scale=1.00, 1.00
Y Scale=1.50, 1.50
Z Scale=0.00, 0.00
X Scale Rate=0.00, 0.00
Y Scale Rate=0.00, 0.00
Z Scale Rate=0.00, 0.00
Drag=0.00, 0.00
Color Rate=0.00, 0.00
X Offset=0.00, 0.00
Y Offset=0.00, 0.00
Z Offset=0.00, 0.00
Fade In=0.00, 0.00
Fade Out=0.00, 0.00
Rotation=0.00, 0.00
Static=1
Face=1, 1, 1

[ParticleAttributes.1]
Blend Mode=2
Texture=Flash_Phare.bmp
Bounce=0.00
Color Start=200, 200, 255, 255
Color End=200, 200, 255, 0
Jitter Distance=0.00
Jitter Time=0.00
uv1=0.00, 0.00
uv2=1,1
X Scale Goal=0.00
Y Scale Goal=0.00
Z Scale Goal=0.00
Extrude Length=0.00
Extrude Pitch Max=0.00
Extrude Heading Max=0.00
 
Weird also : this effect doesn't display from within FXtools but does when attached to stg...

This solves my problem but makes things more difficult since I can't check the zillions trial and error attempts without compiling a piece of scenery and starting P3D again and again. Terrible.

But OK this is not a MCX issue... ;)
 
Also something I don't understand:

I've attached the above effect to a dummy bow which rotates. I also added a visible object to the rotation, to be sure.
I see my object rotating, but my light beam here above, although attached to the same, is displayed always in the same heading relative to me, that is : always facing me.

Is it because of the "Face=1, 1, 1" parameter? And if yes which one must be set to 0 and which one kept to 1 for the beam to rotate with its attach point in an horizontal plane?

Or is it something else yet?
 
Hi,

Yes, I think the Face will make the polygon face the user all the time. On all axes. So I think you would have to set the middle one to zero to have the heading not influenced (if effects use the same axes as mdl files).
 
Yes Arno, that's what I was suspecting although the ESP manual is clear as tar.
It states :
Facing
Pitch, Bank, Heading The direction that the particles face. Pitch, bank, and heading are the constraints for the particles’ facing movement. These are on/off switches because the particles either move in the corresponding direction, or they do not.
To have the particles face the user, set these to 1,1,1. If one of the values is 0, then the particles will be constrained in the corresponding axis. To have the particles remain perpendicular to the ground but still turn and face the user, set them to 0,0,1.

I don't know for sure at all what axis are in which order, and the examples given are not for clarifying things in my troubled mind.

And since the influence of all this bunch of parameters in effects tuning, and their consequences onto the effect actually dispayed, I thought for myself it was better to ask to people who know than repeating numerous trials and numerous errors.

Thanks for helping, I will try and report. :)
 
Uh oh... I have discovered something. If I attach an effect to my dummy rotating box (in Gmax) and then export, and afterwards load my MDL into MCX I can see my box rotating and the attach point circling around. That looks good for a start.

Now, in MCX, I want to edit my effect to give it a dawn/dusk attribute. And a night/day one, too.

A - First weird thing: if I duplicate my "native" attach point (the one coming from Gmax export) the duplicate take an inverse Z orientation (original attachpoint was 0,0,0, _dup becomes 0,0,-180) and no way to manually correct back to 0,0,0 the best I can do is 0,0,-90). Why ???

B - Second annoyance: OK so I can't have my two attachpoints with the same orientation, so I delete them and re-create them from scratch.

But after that... my attachpoint do NOT rotate with my dummy box any more.

Are A and B bugs? Or more likely a consequence of my deep ignorance?

Should I move this post to MCX discussion btw. ?
 
New attachpoints are always static, since they are added to the object root. So that's by design.

Why the cloned attachpoint has a different orientation I don't know, sounds like a bug.
 
Do you have a test object where I can reproduce the issue with the orientation being changed?
 
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