[1.12.x] Waterfall - a framework for continuous, mesh-driven engine effects (October 9)

[SpaceFace545]

3 hours ago, bobjonesisthebest:D said:

Do you ever plan to add EXTREME over expanded nozzle support, for example a terrier engine on eve sea level?

you can change that in the configurator. It lets you mess with the templates as much as you want.

[whitespacekilla]

On 10/23/2021 at 9:48 AM, Knight of St John said:

Well, if there are any bugs like that, then they should get posted here, and we'll fix them in time.
So, be my guest :-)

No one understood what I was saying so my communication is most likely the problem here.

Moving from StockWaterfallEffects 0.5.0 to 0.5.1 (as seen in this comparison), you changed `NEEDS[Waterfall&!ReStock]` to merely `NEEDS[Waterfall]` on every engine that has a potential Restock model. In effect, you moved from avoiding applying your effects on conflicting models when Restock was installed to applying your effects and assume WaterfallRestock would take care of it. This works fine (if a little wasteful when the MM cache isn't being used) if and only if WaterfallRestock is installed. If the user hasn't installed WaterfallRestock (which I am not condoning or recommending) the Restock engines will get StockWaterfallEffects effect applied to a Restock model, which will be wrong. This could be considered a regression.

I'm half-asking if I understand the change correctly and half-arguing that the pre-0.5.1 way to protect against this, :NEEDS[!Restock...], was superior because even if a user failed to install the proper mods, they just wouldn't get Waterfall effects instead of getting the wrong Waterfall effects.

I'm not reporting any bona fide bugs in StockWaterfallEffects.

Edited October 30, 2021 by whitespacekilla

[Nertea]

54 minutes ago, whitespacekilla said:

No one understood what I was saying so my communication is most likely the problem here.

Moving from StockWaterfallEffects 0.5.0 to 0.5.1 (as seen in this comparison), you changed `NEEDS[Waterfall&!ReStock]` to merely `NEEDS[Waterfall]` on every engine that has a potential Restock model. In effect, you moved from avoiding applying your effects on conflicting models when Restock was installed to applying your effects and assume WaterfallRestock would take care of it. This works fine (if a little wasteful when the MM cache isn't being used) if and only if WaterfallRestock is installed. If the user hasn't installed WaterfallRestock (which I am not condoning or recommending) the Restock engines will get StockWaterfallEffects effect applied to a Restock model, which will be wrong. This could be considered a regression.

I'm half-asking if I understand the change correctly and half-arguing that the pre-0.5.1 way to protect against this, :NEEDS[!Restock...], was superior because even if a user failed to install the proper mods, they just wouldn't get Waterfall effects instead of getting the wrong Waterfall effects.

I'm not reporting any bona fide bugs in StockWaterfallEffects.

It's an improvement based on the user need of wanting to have effects for non restock edited engines. This request is more common than all other requests so it should not be discounted.

The prior options were to ask users to do config surgery if they wanted this, which was not ideal. You're right that it creates a possible issue in a certain combination of mods, but that combination is fundamentally an installation error so I am not concerned about handling that case. 

Other options included upstreaming SWFEs templates into the base mod, replicating those effects in WFR or creating new custom effects for WFR for those engines. All of those options require more maintenance work than the new model.

In this way, both WFR and SWFE can continue to evolve and iterate without stepping on any toes.

 

[VCamProbe]

So I want to add some plume effects to custom made engines and engines from other mods like kspie, anyone know how to do this?

[whitespacekilla]

On 10/30/2021 at 3:47 PM, Nertea said:

It's an improvement based on the user need of wanting to have effects for non restock edited engines. This request is more common than all other requests so it should not be discounted.

The NEEDS[!Restock...] qualifier is per part. It can just be left out for parts Restock doesn't change the model on. Are you saying I've misunderstood the architecture and the original approach was not to add effects to any engine when Restock was installed? Or even that Restock adds/removes remodeled engines too often to do this safely? Is it common for Restock users to disable mesh updates for certain engines and then you'd like them to get StockWaterfallEffects applied? I'm missing something here and I doubt it's really worth your time to explain to me but I still feel like we're talking past one another so I'm having trouble letting it go.

21 hours ago, VCamProbe said:

So I want to add some plume effects to custom made engines and engines from other mods like kspie, anyone know how to do this?

The easiest way to get started is by using pre-built `EFFECTTEMPLATE` definitions. Waterfall comes bundled with a bunch of them at `GameData\Waterfall\Templates\`. So does StockWaterfallEffects (these are really complicated ones with beautiful, realistic looking shock cones etc.). Pick a template either based on engine type/performance/fuel type, similarity to another engine it's applied to, affection for how the template looks on other engines, or just plain whimsy. You'll add this effect template in your own MM config. Here's a config I made to add a kerolox lower effect template to all Rattite engines (a few clusters are available) in SpaceY/SpaceY Expanded.

Spoiler

// Apply this to all parts named "SYengine[any character]mR[any character]", this is crafted to catch all ratites so they can share the same plume
@PART[SYengine?mR?]:NEEDS[Waterfall]:FINAL // It's my patch so I'm safe to have it run final, if I were redistributing...
{
  !MODULE[EngineLightEffect] {} // Clean up the old effects

  @EFFECTS { // Clean up the old particle effects
    @running_closed {
      !MODEL_MULTI_PARTICLE {}
    }
  }

  MODULE {
    name = ModuleWaterfallFX // Your new waterfall module
    // This is a custom name
    moduleID = ratiteFX // This can help you identify the engine if you're modifying multiple effects at the same time

    // List out all controllers we want available
    // This controller scales with atmosphere depth
    // These 3 controllers are pretty universally helpful
    // atmosphereDepth determines expansion
    // throttle scales with % throttle
    // random adds some noise
    // Most effect templates are already set up to take these 3 so just plan on using them
    CONTROLLER
    {
      name = atmosphereDepth
      linkedTo = atmosphere_density
    }
    // This controller scales with effective throttle
    CONTROLLER
    {
      name = throttle
      linkedTo = throttle
    }
    // this controller generates a random value in the range specified
    CONTROLLER
    {
      name = random
      linkedTo = random
      range = -1,1
    }
    // -----------------------------------------------------
    // Past here should be generated with the ingame editor!
    // -----------------------------------------------------
    TEMPLATE {
      templateName = waterfall-kerolox-lower-2 // Find these at Waterfall\Templates\
      overrideParentTransform = thrustTransform // Find the right ID to override by browsing the original part file, you are looking for thrustVectorTransformName in the ModuleEnginesFX module block
      position = 0, 0.5, 2 // Main tweak you'll figure out in game
      rotation = 0, 0, 0 // Rarely changed, asymmetrical/non-circular engines maybe
      scale = 1.35, 1.35, 3 // Main tweak you'll figure out in game
    }
  }
}

So, you'll start by applying that cleanup and waterfall module, substitute the template name that makes sense, and either use position and scale from a similar engine as a starting point or zero them out (x,y,z triplets). Then, launch the game (I use CKAN to maintain a "Waterfall Studio" game version with minimal mods installed so it loads fast and I can find the parts I'm editing quickly), start a sandbox game, and put together a silly structure with the engines you want. You really don't need anything but the engines because you can use the waterfall editor to "override" the atmosphere depth and throttle. In flight mode, click the waterfall mod button. It will bring up the currently active waterfall modules (this is why you have to add them BEFORE you try to tune them). From here, you'll be tuning the position and scale (and very rarely, rotation) of the engine effects until they sit at a good looking spot with the right scale for the engine bell they are used for. Be sure and test a range of throttles and atmo depths. Once you have a position and scale you like, there's a button to export position, scale and rotation (or you can note them manually). Either way, you need to overwrite the x,y,z triplets from position, scale, and rotation with the ones you find in the flight scene.

Like I said, StockWaterfallEffects contains some beautiful but complex and harder to reuse effects with more layers built in. Once you get comfortable using the templates from the base waterfall set, you might look at StockWaterfallEffects' templates. The in-game waterfall editor will give you a way to interact with the various layers of each effect template, such as turning them on and off, so you can see what they do. Building your own effect template is more complicated but it's basically just compositing simpler effects to get something more complicated and beautiful.

Edited October 31, 2021 by whitespacekilla

[VCamProbe]

1 hour ago, whitespacekilla said:

The NEEDS[!Restock...] qualifier is per part. It can just be left out for parts Restock doesn't change the model on. Are you saying I've misunderstood the architecture and the original approach was not to add effects to any engine when Restock was installed? Or even that Restock adds/removes remodeled engines too often to do this safely? Is it common for Restock users to disable mesh updates for certain engines and then you'd like them to get StockWaterfallEffects applied? I'm missing something here and I doubt it's really worth your time to explain to me but I still feel like we're talking past one another so I'm having trouble letting it go.

The easiest way to get started is by using pre-built `EFFECTTEMPLATE` definitions. Waterfall comes bundled with a bunch of them at `GameData\Waterfall\Templates\`. So does StockWaterfallEffects (these are really complicated ones with beautiful, realistic looking shock cones etc.). Pick a template either based on engine type/performance/fuel type, similarity to another engine it's applied to, affection for how the template looks on other engines, or just plain whimsy. You'll add this effect template in your own MM config. Here's a config I made to add a kerolox lower effect template to all Rattite engines (a few clusters are available) in SpaceY/SpaceY Expanded.

  Hide contents

// Apply this to all parts named "SYengine[any character]mR[any character]", this is crafted to catch all ratites so they can share the same plume
@PART[SYengine?mR?]:NEEDS[Waterfall]:FINAL // It's my patch so I'm safe to have it run final, if I were redistributing...
{
  !MODULE[EngineLightEffect] {} // Clean up the old effects

  @EFFECTS { // Clean up the old particle effects
    @running_closed {
      !MODEL_MULTI_PARTICLE {}
    }
  }

  MODULE {
    name = ModuleWaterfallFX // Your new waterfall module
    // This is a custom name
    moduleID = ratiteFX // This can help you identify the engine if you're modifying multiple effects at the same time

    // List out all controllers we want available
    // This controller scales with atmosphere depth
    // These 3 controllers are pretty universally helpful
    // atmosphereDepth determines expansion
    // throttle scales with % throttle
    // random adds some noise
    // Most effect templates are already set up to take these 3 so just plan on using them
    CONTROLLER
    {
      name = atmosphereDepth
      linkedTo = atmosphere_density
    }
    // This controller scales with effective throttle
    CONTROLLER
    {
      name = throttle
      linkedTo = throttle
    }
    // this controller generates a random value in the range specified
    CONTROLLER
    {
      name = random
      linkedTo = random
      range = -1,1
    }
    // -----------------------------------------------------
    // Past here should be generated with the ingame editor!
    // -----------------------------------------------------
    TEMPLATE {
      templateName = waterfall-kerolox-lower-2 // Find these at Waterfall\Templates\
      overrideParentTransform = thrustTransform // Find the right ID to override by browsing the original part file, you are looking for thrustVectorTransformName in the ModuleEnginesFX module block
      position = 0, 0.5, 2 // Main tweak you'll figure out in game
      rotation = 0, 0, 0 // Rarely changed, asymmetrical/non-circular engines maybe
      scale = 1.35, 1.35, 3 // Main tweak you'll figure out in game
    }
  }
}

So, you'll start by applying that cleanup and waterfall module, substitute the template name that makes sense, and either use position and scale from a similar engine as a starting point or zero them out (x,y,z triplets). Then, launch the game (I use CKAN to maintain a "Waterfall Studio" game version with minimal mods installed so it loads fast and I can find the parts I'm editing quickly), start a sandbox game, and put together a silly structure with the engines you want. You really don't need anything but the engines because you can use the waterfall editor to "override" the atmosphere depth and throttle. In flight mode, click the waterfall mod button. It will bring up the currently active waterfall modules (this is why you have to add them BEFORE you try to tune them). From here, you'll be tuning the position and scale (and very rarely, rotation) of the engine effects until they sit at a good looking spot with the right scale for the engine bell they are used for. Be sure and test a range of throttles and atmo depths. Once you have a position and scale you like, there's a button to export position, scale and rotation (or you can note them manually). Either way, you need to overwrite the x,y,z triplets from position, scale, and rotation with the ones you find in the flight scene.

Like I said, StockWaterfallEffects contains some beautiful but complex and harder to reuse effects with more layers built in. Once you get comfortable using the templates from the base waterfall set, you might look at StockWaterfallEffects' templates. The in-game waterfall editor will give you a way to interact with the various layers of each effect template, such as turning them on and off, so you can see what they do. Building your own effect template is more complicated but it's basically just compositing simpler effects to get something more complicated and beautiful.

You rock man!

[VCamProbe]

2 hours ago, whitespacekilla said:

The NEEDS[!Restock...] qualifier is per part. It can just be left out for parts Restock doesn't change the model on. Are you saying I've misunderstood the architecture and the original approach was not to add effects to any engine when Restock was installed? Or even that Restock adds/removes remodeled engines too often to do this safely? Is it common for Restock users to disable mesh updates for certain engines and then you'd like them to get StockWaterfallEffects applied? I'm missing something here and I doubt it's really worth your time to explain to me but I still feel like we're talking past one another so I'm having trouble letting it go.

The easiest way to get started is by using pre-built `EFFECTTEMPLATE` definitions. Waterfall comes bundled with a bunch of them at `GameData\Waterfall\Templates\`. So does StockWaterfallEffects (these are really complicated ones with beautiful, realistic looking shock cones etc.). Pick a template either based on engine type/performance/fuel type, similarity to another engine it's applied to, affection for how the template looks on other engines, or just plain whimsy. You'll add this effect template in your own MM config. Here's a config I made to add a kerolox lower effect template to all Rattite engines (a few clusters are available) in SpaceY/SpaceY Expanded.

  Reveal hidden contents

// Apply this to all parts named "SYengine[any character]mR[any character]", this is crafted to catch all ratites so they can share the same plume
@PART[SYengine?mR?]:NEEDS[Waterfall]:FINAL // It's my patch so I'm safe to have it run final, if I were redistributing...
{
  !MODULE[EngineLightEffect] {} // Clean up the old effects

  @EFFECTS { // Clean up the old particle effects
    @running_closed {
      !MODEL_MULTI_PARTICLE {}
    }
  }

  MODULE {
    name = ModuleWaterfallFX // Your new waterfall module
    // This is a custom name
    moduleID = ratiteFX // This can help you identify the engine if you're modifying multiple effects at the same time

    // List out all controllers we want available
    // This controller scales with atmosphere depth
    // These 3 controllers are pretty universally helpful
    // atmosphereDepth determines expansion
    // throttle scales with % throttle
    // random adds some noise
    // Most effect templates are already set up to take these 3 so just plan on using them
    CONTROLLER
    {
      name = atmosphereDepth
      linkedTo = atmosphere_density
    }
    // This controller scales with effective throttle
    CONTROLLER
    {
      name = throttle
      linkedTo = throttle
    }
    // this controller generates a random value in the range specified
    CONTROLLER
    {
      name = random
      linkedTo = random
      range = -1,1
    }
    // -----------------------------------------------------
    // Past here should be generated with the ingame editor!
    // -----------------------------------------------------
    TEMPLATE {
      templateName = waterfall-kerolox-lower-2 // Find these at Waterfall\Templates\
      overrideParentTransform = thrustTransform // Find the right ID to override by browsing the original part file, you are looking for thrustVectorTransformName in the ModuleEnginesFX module block
      position = 0, 0.5, 2 // Main tweak you'll figure out in game
      rotation = 0, 0, 0 // Rarely changed, asymmetrical/non-circular engines maybe
      scale = 1.35, 1.35, 3 // Main tweak you'll figure out in game
    }
  }
}

So, you'll start by applying that cleanup and waterfall module, substitute the template name that makes sense, and either use position and scale from a similar engine as a starting point or zero them out (x,y,z triplets). Then, launch the game (I use CKAN to maintain a "Waterfall Studio" game version with minimal mods installed so it loads fast and I can find the parts I'm editing quickly), start a sandbox game, and put together a silly structure with the engines you want. You really don't need anything but the engines because you can use the waterfall editor to "override" the atmosphere depth and throttle. In flight mode, click the waterfall mod button. It will bring up the currently active waterfall modules (this is why you have to add them BEFORE you try to tune them). From here, you'll be tuning the position and scale (and very rarely, rotation) of the engine effects until they sit at a good looking spot with the right scale for the engine bell they are used for. Be sure and test a range of throttles and atmo depths. Once you have a position and scale you like, there's a button to export position, scale and rotation (or you can note them manually). Either way, you need to overwrite the x,y,z triplets from position, scale, and rotation with the ones you find in the flight scene.

Like I said, StockWaterfallEffects contains some beautiful but complex and harder to reuse effects with more layers built in. Once you get comfortable using the templates from the base waterfall set, you might look at StockWaterfallEffects' templates. The in-game waterfall editor will give you a way to interact with the various layers of each effect template, such as turning them on and off, so you can see what they do. Building your own effect template is more complicated but it's basically just compositing simpler effects to get something more complicated and beautiful.

Success! I was able to implement the effects perfectly with your instruction. Only thing now that I can't figure out is how to save the color, For example I want to use the shockcone effect from the methalox raptor template, I'm able to apply it the the engine and scale it aswell as recolor it how I want, the problem is I can't find a way to save the color without it effecting every engine that uses the same effect.

[whitespacekilla]

16 hours ago, VCamProbe said:

Success! I was able to implement the effects perfectly with your instruction. Only thing now that I can't figure out is how to save the color, For example I want to use the shockcone effect from the methalox raptor template, I'm able to apply it the the engine and scale it aswell as recolor it how I want, the problem is I can't find a way to save the color without it effecting every engine that uses the same effect.

A better Waterfall artist than me will have to tell me if I get this wrong but I'm not aware of a built-in way to inherit waterfall templates. However, ModuleManager allows you to copy and override config nodes easily enough.

Spoiler

+EFFECTTEMPLATE:HAS[#templateName[waterfall-methalox-lower-raptor-1]] { // + operator duplicates a node/value
    @templateName = my-cool-custom-template-name // @ operator edits a node/value
    @EFFECT[nameOfTheEffectIWantToEdit] {
        @MODEL,0 { // @ for edit, `,0` for the first one, seems like they only have one model but this gets the intent across
            @COLOR:HAS[#colorName[_StartTint]] { // You can use `,0` but colorName is probably safer over time
                @colorValue = 0.7,0.4,0.2,1
            }
            @COLOR:HAS[#colorName[_EndTint]] {
                @colorValue = .9,.9,.9,.9 // I don't think anyone really wants to make this grey
            }
        }
    }
}

This actually points out a quirk in many mod introduced config nodes, where they use an identifying name and name it something other than `name`. The MM syntax is simpler if `name` is used (don't have to use `HAS[#theName[someName]]` syntax). Maybe someone knows why authors opt for this.

Edited November 1, 2021 by whitespacekilla

[VCamProbe]

.

Edited November 2, 2021 by VCamProbe

[VCamProbe]

8 hours ago, whitespacekilla said:

A better Waterfall artist than me will have to tell me if I get this wrong but I'm not aware of a built-in way to inherit waterfall templates. However, ModuleManager allows you to copy and override config nodes easily enough.

  Hide contents

+EFFECTTEMPLATE:HAS[#templateName[waterfall-methalox-lower-raptor-1]] { // + operator duplicates a node/value
    @templateName = my-cool-custom-template-name // @ operator edits a node/value
    @EFFECT[nameOfTheEffectIWantToEdit] {
        @MODEL,0 { // @ for edit, `,0` for the first one, seems like they only have one model but this gets the intent across
            @COLOR:HAS[#colorName[_StartTint]] { // You can use `,0` but colorName is probably safer over time
                @colorValue = 0.7,0.4,0.2,1
            }
            @COLOR:HAS[#colorName[_EndTint]] {
                @colorValue = .9,.9,.9,.9 // I don't think anyone really wants to make this grey
            }
        }
    }
}

This actually points out a quirk in many mod introduced config nodes, where they use an identifying name and name it something other than `name`. The MM syntax is simpler if `name` is used (don't have to use `HAS[#theName[someName]]` syntax). Maybe someone knows why authors opt for this.

I was able to find a line of code that allowed me to achieve what I wanted

        FLOATMODIFIER
        {
            name = BrightnessT
            controllerName = throttle
            transformName = Cylinder
            combinationType = REPLACE
            useRandomness = False
            randomnessController = random
            randomnessScale = 1
            floatName = _Brightness
            floatCurve
            {
                key = 0 0 0 0
                key = 0.5 0 0 0
                key = 1 1 0 0
            }
        }

I just made some modifications to this as well as duplicate it and change some other values and it was able to work

[VCamProbe]

9 hours ago, whitespacekilla said:

A better Waterfall artist than me will have to tell me if I get this wrong but I'm not aware of a built-in way to inherit waterfall templates. However, ModuleManager allows you to copy and override config nodes easily enough.

  Reveal hidden contents

+EFFECTTEMPLATE:HAS[#templateName[waterfall-methalox-lower-raptor-1]] { // + operator duplicates a node/value
    @templateName = my-cool-custom-template-name // @ operator edits a node/value
    @EFFECT[nameOfTheEffectIWantToEdit] {
        @MODEL,0 { // @ for edit, `,0` for the first one, seems like they only have one model but this gets the intent across
            @COLOR:HAS[#colorName[_StartTint]] { // You can use `,0` but colorName is probably safer over time
                @colorValue = 0.7,0.4,0.2,1
            }
            @COLOR:HAS[#colorName[_EndTint]] {
                @colorValue = .9,.9,.9,.9 // I don't think anyone really wants to make this grey
            }
        }
    }
}

This actually points out a quirk in many mod introduced config nodes, where they use an identifying name and name it something other than `name`. The MM syntax is simpler if `name` is used (don't have to use `HAS[#theName[someName]]` syntax). Maybe someone knows why authors opt for this.

Actually I found something even easier... After you finish editing how you want it through color, rotation, scale, etc. You literally pross "Generate template from and copy to clipboard" And it will copy the whole template for you to paste into your cfg...........

[Nertea]

On 10/31/2021 at 2:12 PM, whitespacekilla said:

The NEEDS[!Restock...] qualifier is per part. It can just be left out for parts Restock doesn't change the model on. Are you saying I've misunderstood the architecture and the original approach was not to add effects to any engine when Restock was installed? Or even that Restock adds/removes remodeled engines too often to do this safely? Is it common for Restock users to disable mesh updates for certain engines and then you'd like them to get StockWaterfallEffects applied? I'm missing something here and I doubt it's really worth your time to explain to me but I still feel like we're talking past one another so I'm having trouble letting it go.

In my opinion, the best solution is the one that does not require SWFE or WFR to be aware of each other. What you propose requires SWFE to be aware of Restock. The currently implemented solution does not. 

As to your questions. 

1. Yes that was the original effect, all patches were like that. 
2. It is common for users to disable restock patches, or more than I would like :shrug:

On 11/1/2021 at 6:41 PM, VCamProbe said:

Actually I found something even easier... After you finish editing how you want it through color, rotation, scale, etc. You literally pross "Generate template from and copy to clipboard" And it will copy the whole template for you to paste into your cfg...........

Yes this is generally easier than trying to patch the very complex templates with MM. 

[dudefan]

this mod might be responsible for engine sounds not working properly, 

 

[Nertea]

Reviewed the linked thread, doubt that is the case.

[ashtorak]

Hi, I am new to the forum and also somewhat new to KSP, even though I have seen some videos and streams. I wanted to contact Nertea, but didn't find another way then to register here. Unfortunately I cannot send DMs yet. I guess, I can make it public as well then.

I started working on a standalone sim focused on Starbase in Unity and found your framework quite useful for a nice Raptor flame. Great mod btw!

I just wanted to make sure and ask if it's ok to use this stuff outside KSP for a free to download (pay what you like) game? I am not sure how it works with these non-commercial licenses and if this even is an issue outside of KSP. Also, I don't know, if it's ok to post links here when you are a new member. If you are interested, you should find my stuff easily with a search machine.

In the end I really used only a few shaders, the cylinder and a template by Zorg, and then programmed the modifiers as needed in Unity myself. I am also considering doing a write up sometime so other people can see how one sets this up in Unity. If somebody is interested.

I noticed that sometimes values in the templates are out of the shaders property ranges. I haven't looked much into the UI, but I assume this is because you can save arbitrary values to the config files. This is somewhat confusing when recreating an effect. There might be modifiers with a curve which don't do anything for the whole range. So you start wondering what was the intention there^^

Anyway, thanks for your work! 

[dudefan]

On 11/8/2021 at 5:42 PM, Nertea said:

Reviewed the linked thread, doubt that is the case.

as it turned out better timewarp mod was the culprit. thx for checking it out nevertheless

[Nertea]

On 11/8/2021 at 1:37 PM, ashtorak said:

Hi, I am new to the forum and also somewhat new to KSP, even though I have seen some videos and streams. I wanted to contact Nertea, but didn't find another way then to register here. Unfortunately I cannot send DMs yet. I guess, I can make it public as well then.

I started working on a standalone sim focused on Starbase in Unity and found your framework quite useful for a nice Raptor flame. Great mod btw!

I just wanted to make sure and ask if it's ok to use this stuff outside KSP for a free to download (pay what you like) game? I am not sure how it works with these non-commercial licenses and if this even is an issue outside of KSP. Also, I don't know, if it's ok to post links here when you are a new member. If you are interested, you should find my stuff easily with a search machine.

In the end I really used only a few shaders, the cylinder and a template by Zorg, and then programmed the modifiers as needed in Unity myself. I am also considering doing a write up sometime so other people can see how one sets this up in Unity. If somebody is interested.

As long as you abide by the terms of the license you are probably fine. You should review: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

On 11/8/2021 at 1:37 PM, ashtorak said:

I noticed that sometimes values in the templates are out of the shaders property ranges. I haven't looked much into the UI, but I assume this is because you can save arbitrary values to the config files. This is somewhat confusing when recreating an effect. There might be modifiers with a curve which don't do anything for the whole range. So you start wondering what was the intention there^^

Anyway, thanks for your work! 

You can generally set a shader param using an out of range value, those are more for the UI. 

 

[ashtorak]

8 hours ago, Nertea said:

As long as you abide by the terms of the license you are probably fine. You should review: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

ok, would be nice if we could talk directly about this, but I can't send direct messages yet. You can contact me anywhere, if you want. Else, I will send you a message here, when I have my 5 posts together^^

8 hours ago, Nertea said:

You can generally set a shader param using an out of range value, those are more for the UI. 

Ah and in the curve settings there is no range check. I guess not every curve has to make sense then or sometimes it looked better when it was out of the given boundaries. I think the out of range cases were mostly for atmospheric modifiers. Maybe they need a larger range here and there? But I haven't used them at all as I am operating only at sea level / ignoring atmosphere.

[Knight of St John]

On 10/27/2021 at 5:59 PM, bobjonesisthebest:D said:

Do you ever plan to add EXTREME over expanded nozzle support, for example a terrier engine on eve sea level?

probably not for my configs. return on investment is a little low for that :-)

Edited November 15, 2021 by Knight of St John

[GuessingEveryDay]

I just realized something... Say I decide the plume I've been working on is worse than the original plume is there a way to revert the changes without restarting the game, or is it just going to the center then going back?

[Nertea]

Some significant work by @Nessus_ and @Knight of St John this update. I'll let them describe further but:

Waterfall 0.7.0.

 

• New shaders: Waterfall/Additive (Volumetric), Waterfall/Additive Cones (Volumetric), Waterfall/Additive Echo (Dynamic) by KnightOfStJohn
• Added new workflow: volumetric for new shaders
• Fixed randomness seed for different effects on different parts not working right
• Made material labels a little clearer in the Material Editor

[Beetlecat]

sheeeeeet.

This is gonna be good

[scivirus]

WaterFall works as intended but it removes Smoke trail .its seem that its not a BUG and indeed normal   .making it mod Pointless

[Nertea]

Cool beans bro.

Waterfall 0.7.1

• Changed the default blend mode of all additive-type effects to One One, this is controlled by a new Settings item called EnableLegacyBlendModes
• Fixed the Thrust controller which was not working right (al2me6)
• Fixed material picker texture name throwing an error (al2me6)
• Fixed color editor window being too wide

[RyanRising]

For someone not well versed in shaders, what does it mean that the additive blend mode is One One?