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Mod Release CannonFX 3.0

This looks brilliant! The effects certainly look more natural, and I'm particularly happy to see the smoke moving further away from the ship.
I'll be happy to test this, when finished, on my laptop. It was new last month, and has a Core i5 with integrated graphics, so I can let you know how the new effects perform on a more average machine. ;)
 
Will try to package it together in the coming days, in the meantime here's another something to wet your appetites further! :D
And even though you can't really see it due to the speed, I re-worked the timing on the cannon fire so that the flame rapidly expands with the initial ejection of gases and then fizzles out, just like a real cannon! No more expanding and fading blob of fire!

Not really sure where to improve from here. :)
 
You can use F9 to hide the interface on the screen for when you're making movies so that you see more of the scene.

In any case, it looks even better than it used to! And it already WAS very good to begin with.
AFTER you did your prior work, that is. Not before. ;)
 
Yeah its just that fraps uses F9 to record by default lol.
Actually recoreded it initially for myself to play back slowly and check things over in slow motion afterwards, but I just liked how well it turned out that I decided to upload it lol.
 
Ah, yes. That complicates matters. But then perhaps using [L] to get rid of some of the "experience text message" could still be of some assistance?
 
I remapped the Fraps keys to "pageup" for screenies and "pagedown" for movies. No conflict.
 
Here you go! A test version!!!

Ive tried to integrate it as best I can with the build mod(beta 2.3) and I "think" i included all the needed files, but still...
USE AT OWN RISK! lol

Still got some tweaking to do, not entirely satisfied yet with the powder embers texture.
 

Attachments

  • Merciless's_cannonFx-3.0.zip
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I was experimenting with different video settings last night and found that supersampling gives the best IQ, until I fire my cannons. Then the FPS drops from 60 to 10 until the smoke clears. Multisampling does not have this problem. Lessee what this new smoke does.
 
The following was just posted elsewhere:
SRACon17 said:
uhm, can anyone tell me which files i should tweak to minimize the smoke from cannon fire? because whenever i fire my cannons in first person view and look directly at the smoke, the game lags heavily.. help will be very much appreciated :)
Click to expand...
Do you think you could reduce the amount of smoke on setting #1 for people who experience performance issues like that?
 
Well there is good news and bad news on that.

The good news is that ive just restored the "stock" PoTC cannon smoke to setting #1.
The bad news is that I cannot find a specific setting for smoke levels, instead it seems to be directly tied to the "Real Cannons" mod. =/
But maybe i'm just not seeing the seperate option?
 
Amount of smoke? I figured that would be defined in the particle effects?
 
Just got done doing some testing. It seems to be set on "2" by default and I changed it to "3".
I saw the embers but never got them on a screenie.
In the 2nd shot if you look carefully you can see that the smoke is drifting halfway to the other ship. The ship firing is using fast loading 9 pounders.
There is lots of stuff flying around!
Over time and especially if there are a lot of large ships the FPS slowly drops. Look in the lower right hand corner of the last screenie for the FPS.
FX3-1.jpgFX3-2.jpgFX3-3.jpgFX3-4.jpg
 
Ah, found the answer to my dilemma.

InternalSettings.h
Code: 
// ======================================
// LOG, LOOKS & EFFECTS:
// ======================================
 
#define SHIPHIT_PARTICLES                2        // INT - The higher the setting the more effects (choose a lower setting if you get performance problems)
                                                // 0: Stock PotC (red-orange explosion on hit)
                                                // 1: Minimal hit effects (small puffs of gray smoke)
                                                // 2: Recommended hit effects (puffs and splinters)
                                                // 3: Excessive hit debris effects (plumes of planks and barrels, water splashes, flashes and smoke - ship explosions extensive)
#define USE_PARTICLES                    2        // Sets the amount of effects in the Greenford's haunted Abbey and various other particle situations
                                                // 0: Off
                                                // 1: Few effects
                                                // 2: Full effects
USE_PARTICLES is the string that determines how much cannon smoke there will be.
I have now done some editing and created a brand new value used exclusively for the cannon visual effects.
Code: 
#define USE_PARTICLES_CANNONS                2        // Sets the realism of the cannon visual effects.
                                                // 0: Low - Stock POTC cannon smoke
                                                // 1: Medium - Realistic cannon smoke
                                                // 2: High - Extremely Realistic cannon smoke, high-end computer recommended.

Ideally this option should be placed in BuildSettings.h to make it more accessible to people, though i'm not sure how to do that.

And THIS is what it will now look like under setting "0", Just a muzzle flash and a small puff of smoke, stock PoTC smoke, except i gave it a grey color to maintain an element of realism.
gunsmokelight.jpg
 
UPDATE!(Man I'm fast)
Setting "2" will no longer use the old cannon effects I made, but rather it will use a "light"version of the new ones.

This means that the particle count and duration will be exactly the SAME as it was, adding no extra load to the system.
However, the smoke will use the new texture and the updated "behavior" of the smoke, but there will be no sparks/embers.
 
How many different particle-related settings will we be having? Personally I always like not having too many different settings.
And which settings would we want changable through the Options>Advanced Options menu?
 
Now you had me running around. Buildsettings????? Got it now.

Since this stuff has a very direct effect on appearance and performance I would suggest it all be put Advanced Options just to keep down the number of people complaining about performance hits. Or else add a line in the FAQ about where these settings are and how to set them.
 
I think Advanced Option is the best place for it to be, and i'm trying to figure out how to make it appear.
I got the new USE_CANNON_EFFECTS string added to buildsettings.h and it works through manual edit.
I also added this to SettingsDescribe.txt
Code: 
USE_PARTICLES_CANNONS{Cannon Smoke Visual Effects}
settingUSE_PARTICLES_CANNONS1
{
Low - Simple Smoke Puffs(recommended if experiencing low performance in sea battles)
}
settingUSE_PARTICLES_CANNONS2
{
Medium - Realistic Cannon Smoke, Light Version
}
settingUSE_PARTICLES_CANNONS3
{
High - Realistic Cannon Smoke, Full version(High-end system recommended)
}
settingUSE_PARTICLES_CANNONS4
{
#Set the visual complexity of the cannon smoke in sea battles
}

But I can't seem to make the new setting actually appear in the Advanced Options menu?

And btw, heres a new small comparison preview between the 3 different settings for the Cannon Effects. :)
 
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