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Shuriken particles and KSP part tools 1.4 onwards


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Shuriken particles and KSP part tools .

So it's all changed , Anybody any clues on how to set it up? 

  The actual KSP emmiter script only seems to serve as an interface for the new unity particles?  it doesn't seem to have any effect  on particle generation size or direction

What does this setup particle system  button do? if anything , as it seem non functional, or at least for me , in a brand new U2017, with the latest part tool updates, there's no indication of anything changing or being set up.
9Dj0w31.png

Fortunately  there''s plenty of unity info on the how to of using the Shuriken  particles and creating effects. which is handy, but no real help in getting it done for KSP.  KSP particle shader shaders which i presume we still have to use? have fewer options than unity 3 types for KSP as opposed to 12 for Shuriken  and certainly in the editor do not look anywhere near as nice (subjective)

I noticed (thanks JR) that smokescreen has adopted the new system,  however whats not clear form github is , if the code changes act as an interface between new an old particles , or do we in fact have to replace the old FX and emitters completely
Any clues, tips, advice, secret handshakes, special rituals  needed etc would be most appreciated

SM

@JPLRepo any chance of one of the fine devs putting together a guide to the particles, similar to the one for the new font system

 

Possibly useful links to help fellow lost mod makers

https://www.raywenderlich.com/148158/introduction-to-unity-particle-systems

http://johnstejskal.com/wp/how-to-create-realistic-smoke-in-unity/

Edited by SpannerMonkey(smce)
reluctant ping
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Hi,

Quote

@JPLRepo any chance of one of the fine devs putting together a guide to the particles, similar to the one for the new font system

I wholeheartedly second this after trying to wrap my head around the new system for the last days -frustration quitting twice and repeatedly banging my head against my desk-. It seems to me that the new ingame behavior of the particles is governed by both, the old script and the shuriken system. It furthert seems as if movement in regards to worldspace is mainly triggered by the old system (setting a world velocity vx+>0 produces a straight stream), whereas shuriken is responsible for the fine tuning (setting a local velocity in shuriken affects the stream but the settings in the old script seem to override it). I'm at a total loss how both systems interact as unity is showing the particle stream as I want it to behave, whereas ingame these settings seem to be overriden by the old script, yet the particle size seems to be governed by both... :confused:

Cheers   

Edited by E.Nygma
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On 3/22/2018 at 7:08 PM, SpannerMonkey(smce) said:

I noticed (thanks JR) that smokescreen has adopted the new system,  however whats not clear form github is , if the code changes act as an interface between new an old particles , or do we in fact have to replace the old FX and emitters completely

The KSP code act as a proxy. The old emitter works as they used to (I guess there may be some visual diff since the underlying system changed)

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Yeah sorry. So as sarbian said. The existing code interfaces between shuriken and the old API. so in Unity you can create shuriken FX and the mu exporter will convert them into the KSP Particle Emitter within the mu. When they are loaded by KSP it reverses this process.
I'll try to answer your specific questions when I get a chance next week.

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Hi again and thanks sarbian and JPLRepo!

So I made a particle system that looks pretty in Unity:oZW0ECP.png

the particles are forming a randomized stream like they're supposed, I exported it to KSP and got this:

FWovh81.png

the particles are gigantic and just blink on/off in a static spheroid around the part...

What am I doing wrong?

 

Cheers

Edited by E.Nygma
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2 hours ago, E.Nygma said:

What am I doing wrong?

The system stayed compatible with old model so the number of parameters that are actually saved in the model is limited to a subset of what Shuriken can do. You should only edit the config from the "KSP Particle Emitter" component in the Editor. Anything changed in the "Particle System" component is unlikely to get saved.

I plan to extend SmokeScreen to allow loading a full emitter from an asset bundle, which would let you use all (?) of the Shuriken parameters, but for now my priority is rewriting MJ UI.

Edit: and it seems to simulate the actual result in play mode

Edited by sarbian
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Quote

The system stayed compatible with old model so the number of parameters that are actually saved in the model is limited to a subset of what Shuriken can do. 

Ah, thanks for the clarification! It's a pity, but keeping compatibility for a whole bunch of mods  is of course a top priority. 

 

3 hours ago, sarbian said:

I plan to extend SmokeScreen to allow loading a full emitter from an asset bundle, which would let you use all (?) of the Shuriken parameters,

that would be a boon, but i understand that MJ is a priority. Till then, I'll wait and see what I can do with the current system.

3 hours ago, sarbian said:

Edit: and it seems to simulate the actual result in play mode

Considering what you wrote it IS an accurate simulation of the whole bunch of zeros in the KSP script :wink:. Thanks again and

 

Cheers

Edit: @SpannerMonkey(smce), this seems to answer your questions as well?

 

Edited by E.Nygma
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Thanks guys for your responses, it at least gives some indication ,  But, it's a less than satisfactory solution,  as can be clearly  witnessed in game,  ( and it's just not my opinion)  even Squads FX look pretty horrible and they're supposed to understand how to get the best out of it. 

It seems that they went for a great system then crippled it,  we really cant use the shuriken with it''s crippled capabilities,  and get anywhere near the results that we got with the old system.  fair enough, we had an awful long time in which to get used to using it, but at least  despite all it's deficiencies, what you saw in the editor would be pretty close to what you would see in the game, some variance , but nothing you couldn't work around.  So far anything that's looked half respectable in the editor , once transferred into game , is reduced to glowing snowballs , that looks  like a "my first FX" attempt.

You'll have to forgive my negativity, however when looking at  a good few hundred items,  all with custom FX that all look horrible,  it's difficult to be very positive.. That said i discovered at stupid AM this morning that the old system is still working, importing, and very subjectively looks much better than the diminished shuriken variety . ( I'm guessing this is because it's losing less in the conversion process)

Not trying to rattle anyone's cage here :) just have an abiding hate of things that dont't come with even basic  instructions  ( even a readme attached to part tools is better than nothing)

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On 24/03/2018 at 9:40 PM, sarbian said:

The system stayed compatible with old model so the number of parameters that are actually saved in the model is limited to a subset of what Shuriken can do. You should only edit the config from the "KSP Particle Emitter" component in the Editor. Anything changed in the "Particle System" component is unlikely to get saved.

 

So, I read this as suggesting we'd be best off using an old Unity 5 install with the old part tools to avoid confusing ourselves with settings that won't save anyway.  Especially if everything gets converted to the old before converting to the new.

How much of ksp is not spaghetti at this stage?  :)

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