Particles

C_ParticleFx

Emitter

Type	Name	Description	Unit	Relevant if
float	ppsValue	Particles per Second (Value)	count/sec		particles produced per second
string	ppsScaleKeys_S	Particles per Second: Scale Keyframes			set of factors by which ppsValue is scaled in the course
bool	ppsIsLooping	Particles per Second: Is Looping?
bool	ppsIsSmooth	Particles per Second: Is Smooth?		ppsScaleKeys_S.size > 1
float	ppsFPS	Particles per Second: Frames per Second	1/sec	ppsScaleKeys_S.size > 1	how fast should the list of factors in ppsScaleKeys_S be traversed
string	ppsCreateEm_S	Particles per Second: Create Emitter			another PFX, which is additionally generated
float	ppsCreateEmDelay	Particles per Second: Create Emitter Delay	msec	ppsCreateEm_S not empty	this delay generates the effect called in ppsCreateEm_S

Shape

Type	Name	Description	Unit	Relevant if
enum	shpType_S	Shape type			On which body should the particles be produced. Possible values are "POINT" for a point, "LINE" for a vertical line, "CIRCLE" for a flat circle, "BOX" for a square and "SPHERE" for a sphere. The value "MESH" is also possible for any mesh.
enum	shpFOR_S	Shape: Frame of Reference			Should the effect be aligned with the world coordinate system "WORLD" or the effect "OBJECT"? If "WORLD" is selected, the rotation of the particle effect object has no influence on the start position of the particles
string	shpOffsetVec_S	Offset Vector	(cm,cm,cm)
enum	shpDistribType_S	Distribution Type		shpType_S=="LINE" or shpType_S=="CIRCLE"	For lines or circles, "WALK" can be used to make the particle source "walk" evenly along the line / circle. Otherwise, there is only the random distribution "RAND". The value "UNIFORM" does not seem to work and "WALKW" behaves the same as "WALK"
float	shpDistribWalkSpeed	Shape: Distribution Walk Speed	~100 * loops/sec	shpDistribType_S == "WALK"	The speed at which the circle or line will rotate
bool	shpIsVolume	Shape: Is Volume?		shpType_S=="BOX" or shpType_S=="SPHERE"	If set, particles are also generated within a sphere or cuboid rather than just at the boundary surfaces
string	shpDim_S	Shape: Dimension	(cm,cm,cm)	shpType_S!="POINT"	The size of the emitter must be specified according to the type. For the circle or the sphere the diameter, for the line a length and for a cuboid three edge lengths
string	shpMesh_S	Shape: Mesh		shpType_S=="MESH"	If the emitter is a mesh, it must also be specified which. This can happen here.
bool	shpMeshRender_B	Shape: Render the Mesh?		shpType_S=="MESH"	If the emitter is a mesh (the particles are created on it) that does not automatically mean that the mesh is also rendered along. This is specified separately here.
string	shpScaleKeys_S	Shape: Scale: Keyframes		shpType_S!="POINT"	A number of factors by which the size of the emitter is scaled over time (so a sphere with the value "1 2" would be twice as large during the duration of the effect).
bool	shpScaleIsLooping	Shape: Scale: Is Looping?		shpScaleKeys_S.size>1	Should all the factors in shpScaleKeys_S be re-started from scratch in the list after going through all the factors?
bool	shpScaleIsSmooth	Shape: Scale: Is Smooth?		shpScaleKeys_S.size>1	Should the factors in shpScaleKeys_S be hard on each other or should they be superimposed linearly?
float	shpScaleFPS	Shape: Scale: Frames per Second	1/sec	shpScaleKeys_S.size>1	How fast should the list of factors in shpScaleKeys_S be traversed?

Direction

Type	Name	Description	Unit	Relevant if
enum	dirMode_S	Direction: Mode			Is the direction of the particles explicitly stated ("DIR"), randomly selected ("RAND") or are the particles heading for a target ("TARGET")?
string	dirFOR_S	Direction: Frame of Reference		dirMode_S=="DIR"
string	dirModeTargetFOR_S	Direction: Target: Frame of Reference		dirMode_S=="TARGET"	Should the position of the target be determined with the coordinate axes of the world "WORLD" or the effect "OBJECT"? If "WORLD" is selected, the rotation of the particle effect object has no influence on the target of the particles
string	dirModeTargetPos_S	Direction: Target: Position	(cm, cm, cm)	dirMode_S=="TARGET"	Coordinates of the target to which the particles are to be heading (only has an influence on the direction of flight during production!) For example, particles can be deflected by gravity!)
float	dirAngleHead	Direction: Angle Head	degree	dirMode_S=="DIR"	Direction in which the particles fly, conceivable as the angle to "left" (+) or "right" (-).
float	dirAngleHeadVar	Direction: Angle Head Variance	degree	dirMode_S=="DIR"	The actual value of dirAngleHead is randomly scattered in the interval [dirAngleHead - dirAngleHeadVar, dirAngleHead + dirAngleHeadVar]
float	dirAngleElev	Direction: Angle Elev	degree	dirMode_S=="DIR"	Direction in which the particles fly, conceivable as the angle to "up" (+) or "down" (-)
float	dirAngleElevVar	Direction: Angle Elev Variance	degree	dirMode_S=="DIR"	The actual value of dirAngleElev is randomly scattered in the interval [dirAngleElev - dirAngleElevVar, dirAngleElev + dirAngleElevVar].
float	velAvg	Direction: Velocity	cm/msec		Speed of the particles
float	velVar	Direction: Velocity Variance	cm/msec		The actual velocity of the particles is randomly scattered in the interval [velAvg - velVar, velAvg + velVar].
float	lspPartAvg	Lifespan of Particles: Average	msec
float	lspPartVar	Lifespan of Particles: Variance	msec		The actual lifetime of the particles is randomly scattered in the interval [lspPartAvg - lspPartVar, lspPartAvg + lspPartVar].
string	flyGravity_S	gravity	(cm/msec^2, cm/msec^2, cm/msec^2)		Gravity in the direction of the three coordinate axes of the world. There is no FrameOfReference value to make the gravitation in the coordinate system of the object work
int	flyCollDet_B	Collision Detection policy			Collision detection knows different modes: 0 = no collision detection; 1 = the particles are decelerated and reflected; 2 = the particles are accelerated and reflected; 3 = the particles stop; 4 = the particles are removed

Visual

Type	Name	Description	Unit	Relevant if
string	visName_S	Visual: Name			Name of the texture that each particle has
string	visOrientation_S	Visual: Orientation			Orientation of the particles to the camera: "NONE" = The particles always look exactly to the camera; "VELO" = the particles appear smaller, the more the flight direction and the direction of view coincide. The particles seem to "point" in the direction of flight (but are still aligned with the camera); "VELO3D" = The particles are aligned in the direction of flight, they are aligned with the camera only with the remaining degree of freedom
bool	visTexIsQuadPoly	Visual: Is Texture a Quad Poly?			When set, not only the top right corner of the texture is rendered, but a whole rectangle. This beats double the alpha-poly boundary, but looks much better depending on the texture.
float	visTexAniFPS	Visual: Texture Animation: Frames per Second	1/sec	Texture has multiple frames	If the texture has multiple frames ("* .A0.TGA", "* .A1.TGA", ...) then the number of texture changes per second can be selected.
bool	visTexAniIsLooping	Visual: Texture Animation: Is Looping?		Texture has multiple frames	As a rule, an animated texture should loop, that is, when the last frame is reached, it should start again at the first. This can be stated here
string	visTexColorStart_S	Visual: Texture Color: Start	(R,G,B)		Factors ("[R] [G] [B]") for each color channel. "255 255 255" (white) would take the texture as it is, whereas "255 128 0" (orange) scales the green channel to half and the blue channel to 0. With the given example factors, a white smoke could be colored to an orange smoke.
string	visTexColorEnd_S	Visual: Texture Color: End	(R,G,B)		Like visTexColorStart_S only the value for the end of the lifetime of the particle. Between birth and death, visTexColorStart_S merges linearly with visTexColorEnd_S.
string	visSizeStart_S	Visual: Size: Start	(cm, cm)		Size of the particles. For (visOrientation_S == "NONE"), the first value for the X direction is on the screen, the second for the Y direction. For other values of visOrientation_S, the second value is the size in the direction of flight
float	visSizeEndScale	Visual: Size: End Scale			The size of the particles changes linearly during the lifetime, so that they are at times visSizeEndScale so big
enum	visAlphaFunc_S	Visual: Alpha-Function			Different fade modes. "NONE" and "BLEND" have a masking crossfade, such as when multiple painted slides are overlaid. "ADD" adds the colors of each face to those of the background, so there would be red (1, 0, 0) + green (0, 1, 0) ⇒ yellow (1, 1, 0). However, a fully saturated color channel remains full: red + red ⇒ red; So there is a risk of overexposure. "MUL" multiplies the color channels of the surface with the background, for example, gives orange (1,0,5,0) times green (0, 1, 0) ⇒ dark green (0, 0.5, 0); in other words, if multiplied by green, nothing is allowed to pass green. Usually, particle effects use the "ADD" mode. "MUL" is hardly used for PFX because of the peculiarity that only the background is edited without the effect itself having an appearance.
float	visAlphaStart	Visual: Alpha: Start	0-255	visAlphaFunc_S=="ADD" or visAlphaFunc_S=="BLEND"	When the blending mode is "BLEND" or "ADD", the alpha channel of the particle texture is scaled. visAlphaStart is the starting value for this factor and is reduced or increased linearly to visAlphaEnd until the dead of the particle. visAlphaEnd is often 0, so that the particles do not disappear abruptly
float	visAlphaEnd	Visual: Alpha: End	0-255	visAlphaFunc_S=="ADD" or visAlphaFunc_S=="BLEND"	see visAlphaStart
float	trlFadeSpeed	Trail: Fade Speed	unit/msec		Particle effects can create a trail in their trajectory that slowly fades. trlFadeSpeed is the speed with which this track disappears
string	trlTexture_S	Trail: Texture		trlFadeSpeed>0	Texture of the trail
float	trlWidth	Trail: Width	cm	trlFadeSpeed>0	Width of the trail
float	mrkFadeSpeed	Mark: Fade Speed	unit/msec	flyCollDet_B!=0	"Marks" are patches created when a particle effect collides with the level mesh on the level mesh. mrkFadeSpeed is the speed with which these spots disappear
string	mrkTexture_S	Mark: Texture		mrkFadeSpeed>0	Texture of mark
float	mrkSize	Mark: Size		mrkFadeSpeed>0	Size of mark
string	flockMode				unknown
bool	useEmittersFOR	use Emitters Frame of Reference?		Effect is moving	When set, the particles are "children" of the emitter. So they move as the emitter moves (rather than just following their own movement)
string	timeStartEnd_S	Start- and Endtime of Rendering	(time,time)		Time interval in which the effect is rendered. For example, fireflies could be given the interval "22 3" so that they can only be seen between 10:00 pm and 3:00 am during the night.
bool	m_bIsAmbientPFX	Is Ambient PFX?		Player has deactivated Ambiet-PFX in the options	Ambient PFX can be disabled in game options