AsBirthRule - Revision history

Fre-Ber: /* Headings */

2006-08-06T21:46:11Z

‎Headings

Fre-Ber: /Colour/

2006-08-06T20:18:10Z

‎Colour

Fre-Ber: /picky picky/

2006-08-06T20:06:13Z

‎picky picky

Fre-Ber: /* Particle properties */

2006-08-06T19:35:30Z

‎Particle properties

Fre-Ber: /* blah */

2006-08-06T19:16:35Z

‎blah

Fre-Ber: /* Added more info about particle effect images.

2006-08-06T19:06:11Z

/* Added more info about particle effect images.

Fre-Ber: /* Oops, forgot the table rows */

2006-08-06T18:55:57Z

‎Oops, forgot the table rows

Fre-Ber: /* Initial description */

2006-08-06T18:54:29Z

‎Initial description

New page

The asBirthRule files define a particle effect. A particle effect is an effect where many, small objects are spewed out from a point at certain occasions. For weather effects, the particles can be rain drops, for colliding with a parking meter, the particles may be coins.

The format is ASCII-based and consist of a block enclosed by ''{'' and ''}''.

The files start with a definition of the type of banger data given. None of the MM2 files use anything but type ''a'', like this:
type: a

Next comes the main asBirthRule block:
asBirthRule {
...
}

This block can contain several tag-value parameters:
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Tags of the asBirthRule block
!tag!!format!!Description
|-
|Position||float float float||Position where particles originate
|PositionVar||float float float||Variance in position, the origin is randomly modified within this range
|Velocity||float float float||Velocity and direction of the particles when created
|VelocityVar||float float float||Variance in velocity, the velocity is randomly modified within this range
|Life||float||Life-time of the particles
|LifeVar||float||Variance in life-time
|Mass||float||Mass of a particle
|MassVar||float||Variance in particle mass
|Radius||float||Size of a particle
|RadiusVar||float||Variance in particle size
|Drag||float||Unknown
|DragVar||float||Variance in drag
|Damp||float||Unknown
|DampVar||float||Variance in damp
|DRadius||float||Unknown
|DRadiusVar||float||Variance in dradius
|DAlpha||float||Unknown
|DAlphaVar||float||Variance in dalpha
|DRotation||float||Unknown
|DRotationVar||float||Variance in drotation
|InitialBlast||int||Unkown, maybe number of particles created immediately on activation
|SpewRate||float||rate of new particles per second?
|SpewTimeLimit||float||Maximum time, in seconds, for particle creation
|Gravity||float||Gravitational factor for particles, for Earth conditions enter -9.8 or thereabaouts
|TexFrameStart||int||Index of the first frame of particle animation in the image
|TexFrameEnd||int||Index of the last frame of particle animation in the image
|BirthFlags||int||Unknown
|Height||float||Unknown
|Intensity||float||Unknown
|Color||int||Unknown
|}

The global particle effects use the texture image named "TODO: I could have sworn that I saw an image where the indices matched all of the default vehicular particle effect, now I can't find it", but object collision particle effects may use other images, see [[dgBangerData]].

@@ Line 59: / Line 59: @@
 |InitialBlast||int||Number of particles created immediately on activation
 |-
-|SpewRate||float||rate of new particles per second?
+|SpewRate||float||Number of new particles per second?
 |-
 |SpewTimeLimit||float||Maximum time, in seconds, for particle creation

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 {| class="wikitable"
 |+ Tags of the asBirthRule block
-!tag!!format!!Description
+!Tag!!Format!!Description
 |-
 |Position||float float float||Position where particles originate

@@ Line 75: / Line 75: @@
 |Intensity||float||Unknown
 |-
-|Color||int||Unknown
+|Color||int||Controls colour of the particles in some mysterious way that only Stereo understands
 |}

@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 |MassVar||float||Variance in particle mass
 |-
-|Radius||float||Size of a particle
+|Radius||float||Size of the invisible sphere containing all particles
 |-
-|RadiusVar||float||Variance in particle size
+|RadiusVar||float||Variance in containing sphere
 |-
 |Drag||float||Unknown
@@ Line 45: / Line 45: @@
 |DampVar||float||Variance in damp
 |-
-|DRadius||float||Unknown
+|DRadius||float||Size of the particles
 |-
-|DRadiusVar||float||Variance in dradius
+|DRadiusVar||float||Variance in particle size
 |-
-|DAlpha||float||Unknown
+|DAlpha||float||Transparency of the particle
 |-
-|DAlphaVar||float||Variance in dalpha
+|DAlphaVar||float||Variance in particle transparency
 |-
-|DRotation||float||Unknown
+|DRotation||float||Particle rotation speed, about what axis?
 |-
-|DRotationVar||float||Variance in drotation
+|DRotationVar||float||Variance in particle rotation
 |-
-|InitialBlast||int||Unkown, maybe number of particles created immediately on activation
+|InitialBlast||int||Number of particles created immediately on activation
 |-
 |SpewRate||float||rate of new particles per second?

@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 |Position||float float float||Position where particles originate
 |-
-|PositionVar||float float float||Variance in position, the origin |-
+|PositionVar||float float float||Variance in position, the origin
 is randomly modified within this range
 |-

@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 |Gravity||float||Gravitational factor for particles, for Earth conditions enter -9.8 or thereabaouts
 |-
-|TexFrameStart||int||Index of the first frame of particle animation in the image
+|TexFrameStart||int||Index of the first frame of particle animation in the image, see below
 |-
-|TexFrameEnd||int||Index of the last frame of particle animation in the image
+|TexFrameEnd||int||Index of the last frame of particle animation in the image , see below
 |-
 |BirthFlags||int||Unknown
@@ Line 78: / Line 78: @@
 |}
-The global particle effects use the texture image named "TODO: I could have sworn that I saw an image where the indices matched all of the default vehicular particle effect, now I can't find it", but object collision particle effects may use other images, see [[dgBangerData]].
+Some of the global particle effects use the texture image named "TODO: I could have sworn that I saw an image where the indices matched all of the default vehicular particle effect, now I can't find it". This image, and all particle texture images, are divided into rectangular frames used for animation. All frames are equal in size and they are numbered for easy access in the asBirthRule. Animation sequences must be made up of consequtive frames in the image, but the image may contain other frames for different particle effects.