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FSXA effectParams

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Can anyone please explain why, with the following effectParams, the effect doesn't display at any time during a 24 hour period?

Code: 
      <Effect
         effectName="fx_Blueedge.fx"
         effectParams="DAWN=1,DAY=0,DUSK=1,NIGHT=1"/>

If I omit the effectParams it displays at all times of the day and night.
 
If I remember correctly you can't have day/night AND dawn/dusk parameters on the same effect. Why you ask? Because the engine if F'ing stupid.

You have to make two objects and assign day/night parameters to one, dawn/ dusk to another.

I generally make a small box, call it X, clone it, call the clone y, and then clone these two and place them wherever I need the light to be. Then run two multiple effects attach scripts, one for X: day night, one for Y: dawn/dusk.
 
Hi George:

As Shaun alludes to above, and AFAIK, a quirk of the FS Effects engine (since FS2000 or earlier ?) is that one cannot "place" an individual Effect with more than (1) pair of parameters at a time, from within a "Basic-type" *.FX file. ;)


XML Placing or Attaching to an 'AttachPoint', a FS Effect Controller *.FX file, or a *.FX file with integral "Controller-type" code which 'calls' other "Basic-type" *.FX files ...may allow more adaptability for FS Developers, and may also prove more efficient for run time performance.

IIUC, a FS Effect Controller *.FX file, or a *.FX file with integral "Controller-type" code which 'calls' other "Basic-type" *.FX files can ex: "call" another *.FX file more than once ...and pass unique parameters with each "call".


The FS default "Fireworks" *.FX files are an excellent example of how adaptable (and FPS efficient ?) the FS Effect engine can be when we use the proper syntax and file management protocol. :idea:




BTW: One also can't mix day and dawn Effect parameters; IIRC these "gotchas" are not clearly documented in SDK docs. :banghead:


Using syntax acceptable to the BGLComp.xsd criteria, "allowed" Effect parameter pairs are: :pushpin:

* Day/Night

...or:

* Dusk/dawn

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=644206


PS: Another "gotcha" with Effects is that the *.FX files and any mapped files (ex: Textures, *.Wav files etc.) must be in their specified path locations when FS first starts (not just by re-indexing the Scenery Library during a flight) ...in order for Effects to be detected, registered, and executed at run time via any means other than that of the FSX SDK VisualFxTool.dll (aka Special Effects Tool)

Hope this helps ! :)

GaryGB
 
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When you say xml placement is better for performance, do you mean instead of using the multiple attach scripts?
 
Hi Shaun:

Although I haven't personally used the "multiple attach script" referenced in this wiki:

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/wiki/ind...he_Effect_using_a_script_for_multiple_objects



...I suspect that 'multiple objects attach script' imputes a redundant function burden on the FS rendering engine for a FSX format *.MDL file resulting from that script being used in ex: GMAX /3DSMAX to generate the *.X file code prior to running XtoMDL and processing by BGLComp to place the MDL . :scratchch

So, my best 'guess' would be that the effective FS run time performance with "Placing the Effect using a script for multiple objects" ...'might' be lesser than with just (1) attached FS Effect Controller *.FX file, or a *.FX file with integral "Controller-type" code which 'calls' other "Basic-type" *.FX files externally to the execution of a MDL file instance. :twocents:


Perhaps Arno or others here may have experience with this option, and could offer a more authoritative opinion on performance with the "multiple attach script" for "Placing the Effect using a script for multiple objects via "effectboxwriter.ms" :confused:

[EDITED]

PS: Some additional info which may be of incidental interest to use of FS Effects for lights at airports:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/torgo3000/archive/2006/01/25/418037.aspx

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6674

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc526978.aspx#AttachedObject

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc526976.aspx#TheAttachTool

[END_EDIT]


Hope that offers some additional info worthy of consideration ! :)

GaryGB
 
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Gary,

Can you explain why using a controller would be more efficient than having duplicate effects with different parameters?

By definition, a controller implies that FSX reads two files anyway.
 
Hi George:

Not being a programmer, I'd have to say that probably someone like Arno or Dick Ludowise might have more insight into the inner workings of the rendering engine when processing a MDL file versus Effect *.FX code to render "light" Effects which result from the code we configure inside FS Effects *.FX files. :teacher:


I suspect that "instancing" versus repeated file reads is used at run time in FSX for certain code from both MDLs and the Effect objects generated from processing of *.FX files.


[EDITED]

And there does seem to be file I/O taking place with execution of *.FX files, as I have seen in SysInternals' Process Monitor (aka "ProcMon") filtering for 'FSX.EXE' events, based on my observation that Effect driven playing of sounds in FSX results in mapped *.WAV files being loaded and unloaded repeatedly when flying circuits in an area with locally active Effect sound placment BGLs.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx

[END_EDIT]


Thus, it certainly may be that each method has its Pros and Cons, with different Effects involving a commensurate measure of "efficiency" and "in-efficiency" ...depending on what the FSX rendering engine has to deal with at run time. :confused:


But certainly, IIUC, file I/O which reads / re-reads an entire file at run time (rather than specific sections of a file) imparts one of the biggest performance challenges to the FS rendering engine.

Again, as a non-programmer, I'm not sure that *.FX files themselves are read / re-read at run time by virtue of needing to be "all in their places with bright shining faces" ...when FS itself first initializes; to me, that suggests a virtual Effect object 'library' is being created somewhere from which 'instances' may be spawned after processing of the *.FX code instructions.



And from another standpoint of "efficiency", I personally find it convenient during the development process, to be able to tinker with Controller-type *.FX file(s) and any "called" Basic-type *.FX file(s) mapped by a actively working placement BGL, or attached to a MDL.

IMHO, it is easier to test different Effects loaded via different *.FX files "called" by a working Controller placed at a specific geographic location ...without having to instead create multiple MDLs mapped to different *.FX files.

PS:

Golf-HotelDelta said:
By definition, a controller implies that FSX reads two files anyway.
Click to expand...

I also thought I had a working 'definition' of there being 2 types of *.FX files: a "Controller-type", and a "Basic-type".

And thus I thought, by inference, use of a Controller would always require that (at least) 2 files must be read. :scratchch


Then.... Dick Ludowise (thankfully) showed me that a single *.FX file can contain both types of code ! :eek: :p

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19185&highlight=chicken

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/showpost.php?p=126024&postcount=12


Hope these ideas might be of some help ! :)

GaryGB
 
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