[DaBrain]

Your system should have no problem handeling the DDS version of the shockwave.

And your system is ok, you should only upgrade the gfx card... Aint that expansive. 50 bucks for a used GF4 TI.

[FireCrack]

Okay, i'mnotsure ifi'luseit butsend theeff build toFioreCrack {at}gmail {dot}com

normal format of course, i put it like this so web botsdont get my adress

[Eviscerator]

OMG! Is your keyboard broken?

[redmenace]

Originally posted by Eviscerator
OMG! Is your keyboard broken?

I hope that was a joke.

[Roanoke]

hmm, interesting work

[Getter Robo G]

Maybe around tax time I will check in with my computer store (bought it from them) and see how much the cards are going that FIT my motherboard. I was drooling over the ATI 9800pro... MMM 128mb (drools)

[EDIT]

I know there is a table tut, but more specifically, is there a BEAMS 101 tut??? Breaking down exactly what each section does, and how it is effected when you mess with it (you can only use image files here or ani's ect..) Might cut downon experimentation time if people in the know clarify some things. True I still try things on my own, but it would greatly cut down on the amount of frustration (like how come they had lightning beams 2 years ago, and never released, and I can't make this lightning image come out as anything but a straight line?)

Also an animated glowpoint of lightning (yellow for vorlons) would be a good idea...

I tried using the kayser (I think) for lightning for my Yamato's Shock Cannons  BUt as you saw in the last image I posted it didn'yt work it just made the glowpoint disappear.

[redmenace]

BAH just install it your self.

[FireCrack]

Originally posted by redmenace

I hope that was a joke.

joke or not, the keyboard i was typing that on was actualy broken. the keys moved thouigh a length of 2cm and the spacebar took the force of both my hands to push.


Anyways to awnser some questions

I've been trying to make animated looking beams since I was able to make tri-beams but I haven't succeeded yet. Close to what I was trying to do was that Bvas you posted up top Firecrack... If you don't mind I want to take a look at the image you're using to see what I am doing wrong. There are several effect looking images (like lightning, rings, waves, shadow speckled, ect) that I have been wanting to use but they all turn into lined normal beams (like the last two posted above)... Don't mean to highjack, but I asked this like last year and didn't get much of a response.

Basicly i used the two new beam attributes from SCP (i think they're new)

copied from weapon flags thread (SCP faq forum

Beam Additions - Small beams will not vaporize small ships. Sheild hit code is now available for beams, add a "no pierce shields" flag on beams. This has no effect on the original Freespae 2 Campaign.
+Range: 2000 Maximum range of a beam
+Attenuation: 0.5 From 0.0 to 1.0 indicates the point at wich the beam's damage will start to
degrade (in this case the beam will start loseing power half way through).
Beams will also fade along there length now, wich makes them look cooler.
These two are optional strings that go at the end of the $BeamInfo: and
before the $Section:s.

+Tile Factor: 35.0, 1
This has two values the first is the tile factor the second is the tile type. There are currently 3 types,
0 absolute (the texture will tile 'tile factor' number of times no mater how long the beam is)
1 relitive (the texture will tile based on the length of the beam)
2 fited relitive (a better implementation of the relitive tile type, were factor of 1 will tile one time
factor of 2 will yeild 2 tiles ect... and adapt to beam length)

+Translation: 2.0
this is how fast a beam section will move, the values are reversed to what
you would think so this value would apear to be moveing tward the base
rather than away from it

so add
+Tile Factor xx.x, x
+Translation xx.x

to the end of the beam section.

I acomplished the Bvas effect by using this to tile a 1 pixel column of the beam texture across the beam followed by the next column then the next (originaly this is how i thaught beams worked in normal FS2)

so

+Tile Factor 00.1, 0
+Translation 2.0 ;; or whatever speed you want to animate at

[Getter Robo G]

I'll try screwing with that..

This is a small improvement but I took teh 64x64 pink ring texture I wanted and made it 512x64 longer... At lest now you can see the rings BUT only close up, unless you are on top of it you only see the pink line. Before, no matter how close you didn't see the rings...

I copy pasted 6 64x64 textures in a row to fill up the 512x64 length and this is what I came up with. I thought maybe it was being stretched too wide and that might be making it look straight...



am I getting closer?

[FireCrack]

Ok all my textures are 32x32 exept the shivan white lightning, wich is 64x64. Basicly what you have to do is use somthing like

+TileFactor 35.0, 0

That should give you a nice effect.

Keep in mind that the other beam sections might be in the way

[redmenace]

Originally posted by FireCrack


joke or not, the keyboard i was typing that on was actualy broken. the keys moved thouigh a length of 2cm and the spacebar took the force of both my hands to push.


Anyways to awnser some questions



Basicly i used the two new beam attributes from SCP (i think they're new)

copied from weapon flags thread (SCP faq forum



so add
+Tile Factor xx.x, x
+Translation xx.x

to the end of the beam section.

I acomplished the Bvas effect by using this to tile a 1 pixel column of the beam texture across the beam followed by the next column then the next (originaly this is how i thaught beams worked in normal FS2)

so

+Tile Factor 00.1, 0
+Translation 2.0 ;; or whatever speed you want to animate at

Sorry, most people on here do that inorder to protect themselves from haveing their email compromised.

[Getter Robo G]

Cool I'll try it tomorrow after work....

Been trying to get around another nagging problem (missing textures on secondaries) converted some new missiles.  They work in game but won't show textures though in all the maps folders and named correctly (and all 8bit)... I tried to make them ballistic primaries (changed model file from non to missile name) and FRED gave me a huge error message. I guess it didn't like what I was trying to force it to do. I can make new beams and new energy type torps that use bitmaps alone as Primaries (fake secondaries), but I guess not if it uses an actual pof file...  MEh, going back to beams, my head hurts...
 Don't know what I did but standard secondaries lost textures also..? Wierd.. Standard 3.6 with new media files added... maybe that's a conflict?

[NGTM-1R]

Originally posted by Getter Robo G



[/B]

They're...PINK!?

[FireCrack]

ok here's the effects, theres no readme ATM i assume you know where everything goes but just incase

put the .tbl in tables, everything else in effects

http://members.shaw.ca/firecrack/beamz.zip


Oh and as for the bad keyboard thing. i did do that to prevent my email from being comprimised. the absolute gibberish of the first line was due to bad keyboard.

Okay, i'mnotsure ifi'luseit butsend theeff build to

[mitac]

BFPinks.

Well, that's how they looked for me; though I fear compression may ruin it :

[FireCrack]

hmm... are you on d3d or opengl? are you sure you installed the effects? the green beam looks just normal

[Beowulf]

Well done. I'm sold.

[mitac]

That's D3D. .tbl and .pcx files are at the right places. I've yet to check the vasudan beams, but those terrans sure look like they always did.

[Jetmech Jr.]

Were they misses? The beams seem to extend and distort the image (at least for me) whenever they're forced to their maximum range. Try putting somiething closer to the gun, and make sure it impacts.

[DaBrain]

The red glow still has seams...