[kazya3]

Description:

I'm trying to make a “hit effect hud-system” similar to CrossFire game. When the player shoots the enemy and causes damage, there will be some screen effects such as "headshot icon", "1000 Damage icon" .etc to increase the interactive feeling of the game. So I took the time to create some custom screen effects particles.

Here is some pictures:





Questions:

1. [solved]How can i Display my custom screen effect particles to a client i want? I checked some sp code and found use the function "StartMessageOne", but the "msgname" seems can’t custom..
2. [solved]Is it possible to display multiple screen effect particles at the same time?
3.When multiple screen particles are played at the same time, the particles played later are always covered by the earlier ones. I haven't find a way to change this.
4.When the particle stops, there will still be some particle effects left until the end of the life cycle. When I need to switch between multiple effects, I haven't find a way to quickly clear the residual effects..

[King_OXO]

Take the idea from https://forums.alliedmods.net/showthread.php?p=2600832 But if a client needs to download the particles, it will not be possible, only if the client downloads an addon with particle_manifest manually. Because fastdl only works for models and sounds in L4D2, it does not work in .txt, pcf and vpk

[King_OXO]

And to use custom particles, the player needs a particle_manifest, which needs to be in a vpk to replace the original. Valve does not update Source2009 for the player to automatically download the addon via fastdl when we update the same addon that is on the server. So the customer really needs to do everything manually

[kazya3]

Originally Posted by King_OXO Take the idea from https://forums.alliedmods.net/showthread.php?p=2600832 But if a client needs to download the particles, it will not be possible, only if the client downloads an addon with particle_manifest manually. Because fastdl only works for models and sounds in L4D2, it does not work in .txt, pcf and vpk

Thank you for your reminders and suggestions. This plugin is designed for local host && sourcemod players, not for servers, so there is no need to worry about downloading. As you said, the steps for using this plugin on the server side will become too complicated and cumbersome. After I package the files into vpk, players who want to use the plugin only need to install it correctly.

I have also studied the source code of the plugin “custom_particle_screen_effect” before，but I still have some doubts.

PHP Code:

public Action:AttachParticle(target, String:particlename[], Float:time, Float:origin)
{
    if (target > 0 && IsValidEntity(target))
    {
           new particle = CreateEntityByName("info_particle_system");
            if (IsValidEntity(particle))
            {
                new Float:pos[3];
            GetEntPropVector(target, Prop_Send, "m_vecOrigin", pos);
            pos[2] += origin;
            TeleportEntity(particle, pos, NULL_VECTOR, NULL_VECTOR);
            decl String:tName[64];
            Format(tName, sizeof(tName), "Attach%d", target);
            DispatchKeyValue(target, "targetname", tName);
            GetEntPropString(target, Prop_Data, "m_iName", tName, sizeof(tName));
            DispatchKeyValue(particle, "scale", "");
            DispatchKeyValue(particle, "effect_name", particlename);
            DispatchKeyValue(particle, "parentname", tName);
            DispatchKeyValue(particle, "targetname", "particle");
            DispatchSpawn(particle);
            ActivateEntity(particle);
            SetVariantString(tName);
            AcceptEntityInput(particle, "SetParent", particle, particle);
            AcceptEntityInput(particle, "Enable");
            AcceptEntityInput(particle, "start");
            CreateTimer(time, DeleteParticles, particle, TIMER_FLAG_NO_MAPCHANGE);
        }
    }
} 


I noticed that the author used the AttachParticle function to play screen effect particles to the specified client. In the function, I found that the logic is to name the specified client and set it as the parent of the particle, and then play the particle. Can the particle be played by the specified client after "setting client as the parent"? I have some doubts about this.

[kazya3]

I tried the plugin “custom_particle_screen_effect” and the screen particles play for all players instead of the Incapped player when a player Incap.

[kazya3]

Solved. I found a stock from "Lux" to do that.

PHP Code:

/*    "Lux" for the "TE_SetupParticleAttachment" method and code
    https://github.com/LuxLuma/Lux-Library/blob/master/scripting/include/lux_library.inc
*/

/**
 * Sets up a particle effect's attachment.
 *
 * @param iParticleIndex     Particle index.
 * @param sAttachmentName    Name of attachment.
 * @param iEntIndex        Entity index of the particle.
 * @param bFollow        True to make the particle follow attachment points, false otherwise.
 *
 * @error            Invalid effect index.
 **/
stock void TE_SetupParticleAttachment(int iParticleIndex, int iAttachmentIndex, int iEntIndex, bool bFollow=false)
{
    static float vecDummy[3]={0.0, 0.0, 0.0};
    static EngineVersion IsEngine;
    if(IsEngine == Engine_Unknown)
        IsEngine = GetEngineVersion();

    TE_Start("EffectDispatch");

    TE_WriteFloat(IsEngine == Engine_Left4Dead2 ? "m_vOrigin.x"    :"m_vOrigin[0]", vecDummy[0]);
    TE_WriteFloat(IsEngine == Engine_Left4Dead2 ? "m_vOrigin.y"    :"m_vOrigin[1]", vecDummy[1]);
    TE_WriteFloat(IsEngine == Engine_Left4Dead2 ? "m_vOrigin.z"    :"m_vOrigin[2]", vecDummy[2]);
    TE_WriteFloat(IsEngine == Engine_Left4Dead2 ? "m_vStart.x"    :"m_vStart[0]", vecDummy[0]);
    TE_WriteFloat(IsEngine == Engine_Left4Dead2 ? "m_vStart.y"    :"m_vStart[1]", vecDummy[1]);
    TE_WriteFloat(IsEngine == Engine_Left4Dead2 ? "m_vStart.z"    :"m_vStart[2]", vecDummy[2]);

    static int iEffectIndex = INVALID_STRING_INDEX;
    if(iEffectIndex < 0)
    {
        iEffectIndex = __FindStringIndex2(FindStringTable("EffectDispatch"), "ParticleEffect");
        if(iEffectIndex == INVALID_STRING_INDEX)
            SetFailState("Unable to find EffectDispatch/ParticleEffect indexes");
    }

    TE_WriteNum("m_iEffectName", iEffectIndex);
    TE_WriteNum("m_nHitBox", iParticleIndex);
    TE_WriteNum("entindex", iEntIndex);
    TE_WriteNum("m_nAttachmentIndex", iAttachmentIndex);
    TE_WriteNum("m_fFlags", 1);    //needed for attachments to work

    TE_WriteVector("m_vAngles", vecDummy);
    TE_WriteFloat("m_flMagnitude", 0.0);
    TE_WriteFloat("m_flScale", 1.0);
    TE_WriteFloat("m_flRadius", 0.0);

    if(IsEngine == Engine_Left4Dead2)
    {
        TE_WriteNum("m_nDamageType", bFollow ? 5 : 4);
    }
    else
    {
        TE_WriteNum("m_nDamageType", bFollow ? 4 : 3);
    }
} 


[kazya3]

There are still some questions about screen effect particles.

• When multiple screen particles are played at the same time, the particles played later are always covered by the earlier ones. I haven't find a way to change the material levels, there's a Z-Fight.
• When the particle stops, there will still be some particle effects left until the end of the life cycle. When I need to switch between multiple effects, I haven't find a way to quickly clear the residual effects..

[Paimon]

Originally Posted by kazya3 There are still some questions about screen effect particles. When multiple screen particles are played at the same time, the particles played later are always covered by the earlier ones. I haven't find a way to change the material levels, there's a Z-Fight. When the particle stops, there will still be some particle effects left until the end of the life cycle. When I need to switch between multiple effects, I haven't find a way to quickly clear the residual effects..

No way to operate a shown TempEntity, because once you send the TE, it will become client-side. (Based on what I know. Correct me if I’m wrong.)