Editing smoke from burning/destroyed vehicles

[Wookie]

Hello!

 

Situation: I want to edit the smoke coming from burning/destroyed vehicles for aesthetic reasons. In particular I thought of modifying the smokes height, width, density and "expansion".

 

The respective lua file should be found in DCSWorld\Bazar\ParticleEffects\FireVehicle.lua (Please. correct me if that's the wrong file)

 

Since I am a bloody beginner in lua coding/scripting I have no idea if this is possible and how it works. I figured out the following lines must be the relevant lines (Please correct me if I'm wrong):

 

Name = "SmokeL",

Texture = "SmokeNormAnim.png",

Technique = "TranslucentAnim",

Flags = {"SoftParticles", "Sort"},

InitPositionBox = {Min = {-1.8,0,-0.6}, Max = {1.8,0,3,0.6}},

 

Number = {{0, 3}},

-- NumberRate = {{-2, 1}, {0, 0.33}},

Life = {{0.0, 2.*smokeLifeC}, {1.0, 7.0*smokeLifeC}},

 

ShaderParams = {{0, {-0.2, 0.3, 10, 0}, {0.2, -0.2, 10, 0}}},

 

Velocity = { {0., {-1, 3.6, -1}, {1, 4.5, 1}}},

VelocityOverLife = { {0,1}, {1,1}, {2,1}, {3,1}},

 

ParentVelocity = { {0, 0.1} },

 

Size = {{0.0, 10}, {1.0, 14}},

SizeOverLife = {{0, 1.60}, {0.02, 2.5}, {0.04, 2.0}, {0.07, 5.0}, {0.10, 4.0}, {0.15, 8.0}, {0.21, 6.0}, {0.35, 10.0}, {1, 30.0}},

 

RedOverLife = {{0, 0.7}, {1*fireLife/smokeLife,0.3}},

GreenOverLife = {{0, 0.1}, {1*fireLife/smokeLife,0.3}},

BlueOverLife = {{0, 0}, {1*fireLife/smokeLife,0.3}},

AlfaOverLife = {{0.0, 0.0}, {1*fireLife/smokeLife, 1.0}, {1, 0}},

},

}

 

Honestly, I have no Idea what the different lines mean nor have I an idea about what values to change and what kind of units (seconds, meters etc.) they respresent.

 

Is there somebody that knows lua a little bit or has experience in modifying smoke and could help me with it?

 

I want to create more like a smoke column/pillar that doesn't hover near the ground but rises higher up a little like the smoke effects in the ME just not so dense.

 

Example picture:

[ron533]

You can check this out

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/206950/

 

and here

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=158404

 

It works in 2.5 as well, and very much needed to be embedded in game hopefully one day

[Wookie]

Thanks for the replay. I actually came across those files and also had a look at them to try helping myself, but would not get much smarter from looking at it, since no good explanation is given. Also I was not knowing that it also works in 2.5 since this file is quite different from that ones found in the game directory.

 

However, I was able to get some decent (although not perfect) results from just "turning the knobs and pushing random buttons". Took a while, countless restarts and testing, but I think I worked out the basics without knowing for sure though.

[Razorback]

I find this idea very interesting. Before I've used the kuky mod (under DCS 1.2.0) but the game crashed after a few minutes.

 

My opinion is that two main things are still missing in DCS 2.5 : realistic aircraft sounds (APU, engines,...) despite the fact that some add-ons are giving a more realistic sound environment.

 

The second thing is the smoke generated by destroyed vehicles and/or buildings. For me totally unrealistic...

Sorry but I am unable to help you for that but I really hope that some guys will improve the final result.

Watch out, dense, higher and wider smoke will most likely impact your FPS !

[Wookie]

This is still the case. Since I used the lua files found in Kuky's mod, my game crashes too after 10-15 min. Until now, I thought it may be something different, but this is actually the only thing I changed.

 

 

So the lua files found in Kuky's mod are not working with the currrent version of DCS.

 

 

I guess it's back to "turning knobs and pushing random buttons", until somebody that knows how to do it probably comes around.

[Mustang]

Here is a modified version that I use, see if like it

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Jth9e5ZS71gC_wCzd8qfu6r7ELjuei2A

Edited February 16, 2019 by Mustang

[Wookie]

Thank you very much Mustang!

I will have a look at it and test it ingame.

 

After trying and testing some more, I also have come up with something. If anybody wants to try it, klick the link (DropBox).

 

The smoke is now more column shaped, a little more asythmetric while still being quite dense at a burn time of about 40-45 mins.

 

After two hours of multiplayer testing, no crash to report.

[Wookie]

Here is a modified version that I use, see if like it

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1T1...XZx0pg7k7eTTnF

 

This looks way better than what I came up with. Thanks for sharing!

[Sniper175]

Thank You Mustang!!

Edited January 31, 2019 by Sniper175

[ron533]

Here is a modified version that I use, see if like it

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1T1lGBUAIunAqaSgHB4XZx0pg7k7eTTnF

Excellent update Mustang!

smoke looks more realistic than previous mod.(is it also due to the “haze” in the lua?…)

 

Do you happen to have an improved version for vehicle dust as well?

Thanks!!

Edited January 31, 2019 by ron533

[Razorback]

Here is a modified version that I use, see if like it

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1T1lGBUAIunAqaSgHB4XZx0pg7k7eTTnF

 

 

Mustang,

 

Your modified version is indeed much more better but I would like to have a more dense black smoke.

Could you tell me what I have to change in the Lua file?

 

 

Is it another lua file for the smoke coming from damaged/destroyed building or is it the same as for the vehicle ?

 

 

Thx a lot,

Chris

Edited January 31, 2019 by Razorback