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Contrails

Pat Pattle

Pat Pattle

SOH-CM-2025
Have been messing around with Steve 0-1's contrail aircraft, They look really great but disappear a bit too quickly. Does anyone know what part of the effects entry affects the time they exist?

<high_contrail_1 ClassName="TrackEffect" FlatTrack="0" Lifetime="0" InitialDelay="0" ParticleLifetime="35" FadeInTime=".25" FadeOutTime="12" Minalt="1000" Maxalt="20000" PosX="0" PosY="0" PosZ="0" CountSegments="2000" SegmentLength="12" Width="1.4" WidthGrow="1.5" InitialAlpha="0.3" InitialColor="255 255 255" Alpha=".40" Color="255 255 255" FinalAlpha="0" FinalColor="255 255 255" BlendMode="QuadSprite" Texture="dr_smokeball.dds" ZBias=".03"/>
<high_contrail_2 ClassName="TrackEffect" FlatTrack="0" Lifetime="0" InitialDelay="0" ParticleLifetime="40" FadeInTime=".25" FadeOutTime="10" Minaltitude="1000" Maxaltitude="20000" PosX="0" PosY="0" PosZ="0" CountSegments="2000" SegmentLength="12" Width="3.6" WidthGrow="1.5" InitialAlpha="0.3" InitialColor="255 255 255" Alpha=".50" Color="255 255 255" FinalAlpha="0" FinalColor="255 255 255" BlendMode="QuadSprite" Texture="cloudpuff_4.dds" ZBias=".03"/>
<fx_high_contrail ClassName="GroupEffect" Effect0="high_contrail_1" Effect1="high_contrail_2" Effect2=""/>



BoB_contrails.jpg
 
Here's another shot. I set up a mission where you're on the ground just watching the battle unfold above you. The bombers came in from the lower right and were met by fighters who swung in from the left. The escorts peeled away to intercept. Quite fascinating to watch. every now and then one would come screaming down in flames and land with a 'crump' in the distance. Must have been something like the sights above Kent in 1940.

BoB_contrails2.jpg
 
Not sure what the problem is, they look to me like they are set to be always on. (IIRC lifetime="0" means the effect runs continuously.) If you set that value to some other number the effect will run for that number of seconds. It also depends on how it is triggered in the xdp.
 
I think I missed your meaning the first time. Particlelifetime might be what you want. Making this value bigger will make the contrail linger longer in the sky - note, this will also make the contrail longer.
 
I wonder if increasing FadeOutTime="12" would do the trick? Try something like 300 and see what happens.

I've amended the crater effect in the ETO effects.xml, so that it sticks around for much longer. The frontline starts to look like the Somme after a while! :icon_lol:
 
Fade out won't make it last any longer, it will just make it start fading sooner and more gradually.
 
I wish I had thought of them Ian! I'm not sure who originally came up with the idea but Steve 0-1 Driver made these effects. They're in the ETO install if anyone wants to play with them. There are 3 types, they only appear in the mission builder and not in QC.

The ones I'm playing with here I've copied across and modded for my BoB install, the ETO ones are a B17 and Spit IX.


The fadeout time makes a difference, I put a daft figure of 10000 in and they do stay around longer, or rather take longer to fade away. It needs more tinkering.
 
Now if only we could get them to be altitude/temperature controlled...oh for more effect triggers....
 
There are maxalt and minalt parameters in there (not sure if they're feet or meters) but they don't seem to have an effect. :(
 
Daiwilletti said:
I wonder if increasing FadeOutTime="12" would do the trick? Try something like 300 and see what happens.

I've amended the crater effect in the ETO effects.xml, so that it sticks around for much longer. The frontline starts to look like the Somme after a while! :icon_lol:
Click to expand...

I guess I was wrong about that one, good call.
 
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