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PuffinFlight avatar image
PuffinFlight asked FlyingRaccoon commented

Visual Effects on static simobjects or scenery objects

Hi.

I was wondering if, with the new visual effects editor it is possible to attach effects to static sim objects or scenery objects already?


I mean I have the effect ready. I have static SimObject that works just fine, but I am unable to make them work both, together. What is weird, is that when I put my scenery with these static sim objects into the sim they can be seen but without effects. Now when I open my project and go to Visual Effects Editor and click the effect I've used for them on the effects list it triggers all objects at once. Without using Inspector and spawner. It just appears and works as intended, but only in the editor.


It looks like there is no trigger for static sim objects in-game. Is it not implemented yet, or am I stupid as usual and missed something. Code for effect condition is 1 0 > so it should trigger every time.

sceneryfx
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FlyingRaccoon avatar image FlyingRaccoon ♦♦ commented ·
Hi PuffinFlight,

Did you build your package after editing the xml files?
If not, you can witness a difference in the behaviour when opening the effect with the VisualEffectEditor.

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PuffinFlight avatar image PuffinFlight FlyingRaccoon ♦♦ commented ·
I did. The effect works, but it's not being triggered by the sim. Only when I select that effect in the editor window it triggers all my simobjects to emit it. As I said before. Not by inspector and spawner, just by selecting it on the list. Like it's not loaded in memory and when I select it's being loaded and my simobjects suddenly remember that they should emit it.
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FlyingRaccoon avatar image FlyingRaccoon ♦♦ PuffinFlight commented ·
Hi Puffin,

Ok then I would need a sample project so I can reproduce this issue and identify what's happening.
Can you provide me with a scenery/fx package causing your issue please ?

Regards,
Sylvain

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5 Answers

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MagnanimousHippo avatar image
MagnanimousHippo answered PuffinFlight commented

Hello Puffin,

We suggest you try adding an intermediate directory with your company name for the output path of your VFX asset group inside your package in the inspector of the project editor. It should look something like this:

1624290948841.png

1624291007015.png

This will allow the game to properly identify your asset group and load the VFXs it contains. It should also prevent name collision with other packages that could overwrite each other.

Ideally this will be done automatically by the devmode tools in the future to avoid easy mistakes like this.

Regards,
Matthieu


1624290948841.png (94.0 KiB)
1624291007015.png (147.1 KiB)
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PuffinFlight avatar image PuffinFlight commented ·

Thank you so so much for that. It worked. I had a unique folder name in my mod but the structure was wrong apparently. Now everything works as intended.


Here it is in action ;)

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PuffinFlight avatar image PuffinFlight commented ·

My last message didn't pass. Maybe because of video.

I just wanted to thank you very very much for your help. It works as intended, and I've managed to add smoke effects to my chimneys. I had a unique directory name but the folder structure was wrong. There are some other issues, but as they're most likely bugs not connected with effects, I will post them in a different place.

Once again thank you and have a great day.

we-love-vfr-region2-msfs-addon-7.jpg


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MagnanimousHippo avatar image MagnanimousHippo ♦ PuffinFlight commented ·
Hey Puffin !

Thanks for your feedback on this issue, we hope you have a great experience playing the sim :)

Regards,
Matthieu

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SonantAlpaca avatar image SonantAlpaca ♦♦ PuffinFlight commented ·
Wow it looks really cool on your video! Thanks for using the VFX tool and sharing with us ! :D
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PuffinFlight avatar image PuffinFlight SonantAlpaca ♦♦ commented ·
No, thank you for making it possible. I'm still working on making it more realistic and limiting the FPS load (which is low already).
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RazorTula avatar image
RazorTula answered tsgucci commented

I support the theme of visual effects. In particular, I wonder if it is possible, for example, to attach smoke effects to chemical plants? After all, it would give realism to the flights.

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PuffinFlight avatar image PuffinFlight commented ·
That's exactly what I'm trying to do. Attach smoke effect to hundreds of chimneys that I add with my mod. I'm close. I just need to somehow trigger these effects.
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tsgucci avatar image tsgucci commented ·

And red obstacle lights on the top of the buildings. So far I could not find solution for this.

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luicid avatar image
luicid answered luicid commented

Hi PuffinFlight,

How did you manage to attach the visualeffect smoke to the simobject? Did you find any tutorial ?
I try to find my "test cube simobject" but I coulldn't find it in the SimObjects list of the spawn windows.. (As my cube is showing correctly in my scene/simObjects
If you have any good doc about that ?
I'm little tired to try reverse enginering since since few days..

Thanks :)

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MagnanimousHippo avatar image MagnanimousHippo ♦ commented ·

Hello luicid !

A new page has just been pushed to the documentation to explain how to attach your visual effects to SimObjects: https://docs.flightsimulator.com/html/index.htm#t=Content_Configuration%2FVisualEffects%2FVisual_Effects.htm . If it says "Coming in a future update" try to view it in incognito mode or completely clear your browser's cache.

Is the spawn window you are referring to the spawner tab from the Template/Instances debugger window of the VFX Editor ? How did you instantiate your SimObject into the world exactly ?

Regards,
Matthieu

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luicid avatar image luicid MagnanimousHippo ♦ commented ·
Hi Matthieu,


All it's good, I was abble to add smoke in game in an empty in blender
All works very well

Thank you :)


Have a nice day

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ezkampf avatar image
ezkampf answered PuffinFlight commented

Smoke was created inside the sim or 3d software?

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PuffinFlight avatar image PuffinFlight commented ·
Except placement of objects, which is done by my custom system, all smoke effects were done in the sim in Visual Effects Editor. It's a great and quite easy to use tool.
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Dav3.- avatar image
Dav3.- answered FlyingRaccoon commented

Could I make lights with the effects editor?

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FlyingRaccoon avatar image FlyingRaccoon ♦♦ commented ·

This is a different question and it was answered here : FX and lighting - MSFS DevSupport (flightsimulator.com)

Regards,
Sylvain

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