Classic Spell Effects Do Not Come Out of Hands

[Fifflefluff]

I think this might be a well-known issue, but on the two servers I've seen recently (Project 1999 and Vallon/Tallon Zek) that have made efforts to bring back the classic spell effects, they haven't been able to get the particle effects to come streaming out of the characters' hands like they should. This is pretty awkward, and it robs a lot of spells of their classic charm. I've tried searching for information about it here on EQEmu's forums, but nothing definitive has come up. I did find one thread that mentioned there was another server that had the same problem:

Originally Posted by Semedaien

Old Spell Effects (except on hands).

However, I was unable to find any other threads that discussed the problem.

My own observations on Project 1999 yielded some interesting results that might also already be known. I was in the Greater Faydark, grouped with a friend of mine, when I noticed these blue sparks coming out of thin air in the middle of the zone:



^casting Salve in Greater Faydark (by actually casting the spell I'd memmed)

This happened whenever I or the player I was with cast a spell (the spell "Salve," to be exact). The location of the spot from which the particles were flowing was right around 0, 0, 0. When I asked my groupmate to try casting the same spell while he was far away in another part of the zone, I did not see any particles flow from 0, 0, 0. That kind of makes sense, though, since you wouldn't expect the client to render particle effects for a spell being cast by someone beyond clip range, anyway.

Later, in Neriak Foreign Quarter, I observed the same phenomenon:



^Casting SoW in Neriak Foreign Quarter (by clicking on Yttrium Studded Leather Boots in inventory)

Here, the particles were located on the ground rather than in the air, but the location was still right around 0, 0, 0. I see NPC spell effects appear here, too, for example when the X`Ta sisters (Timpi, Tempi, and Tompi, the three necromancers who stand on top of the parapets and speak in rhyme) cast their spells.

I also tested to see if the phenomenon happened on the Vallon/Tallon Zek server, and sure enough, it did. I saw particles behaving in exactly the same way in exactly the same spots in both the Greater Faydark and Neriak Foreign Quarter.

So, it would seem as though the particle effects that should be coming out of player/NPC hands is indeed in the game, even with the Titanium client (which is what I was using, of course). And it seems like all one would have to do is tell the client to make those spell particle effects appear on the players'/NPC's hands, going in the right direction. Needless to say, it would be fantastic if someone were to fix this problem, since it would mean bringing back a significant and essential visual component of Classic EQ -- so does anybody have any thoughts on where one might start to find a solution?

[Secrets]

I don't know if it still works, but you can try deleting spellsnew.eff and spellsnew.edd, prior to titanium this worked, I haven't tested it but it should bring the old spell particles back. I remember reading this years ago, so i'm going off memory.

[Xzerion19]

Secrets,

You are correct, that does bring the old spell effects back but what he is referring to is the graphics that used to come out of your hands will instead come out of a random place in each zone on the ground. The effect particles work just fine, its the ones from the hands that do not match up right.

[Zard]

It may not be random...tutorialb also shows these particle effects at location 0 0 0. does anyone think or have any thoughts as to if the fix may be in the files of the everquest game directory....or might it take a programmer to get into the code to tell these particle effects where they really belong?

[Fifflefluff]

Originally Posted by Secrets

I don't know if it still works, but you can try deleting spellsnew.eff and spellsnew.edd, prior to titanium this worked, I haven't tested it but it should bring the old spell particles back. I remember reading this years ago, so i'm going off memory.

Yes, I removed these files before playing on either of the servers. In fact, in order to play on the Project 1999 server, I removed all of the following files from my EverQuest root directory:

spellsnew.edd
spellsnew.eff
arena.eqg
arena_EnvironmentEmitters.txt
lavastorm.eqg
nektulos.eqg
Nektulos_EnvironmentEmitters.txt

I also replaced the spells_us.txt with the spells_us.txt provided by Nilbog here. There's a similar spells_us.txt replacement necessary for playing on Vallon/Tallon Zek.

[nilbog]

sorry for backwards npc here.. but i believe what he is talking about is the spells shooting out of their hands like this

[Fifflefluff]

Yeah, that's what I meant.

[Slaya21]

so still no update on this huh?? what a shame :(

[aaron1231]

I know that If you delete the files to restore old spell graphics there is a Hand issue.. Hopefully someone can resolve that...

But I was going back to the good ol' graphics for my Bard spells, They are breathtaking I think... BUT!!!

Only Selos works!, All other bard spell effects dont work! Only the Selos/charm/sleep spell effect (the white orb style effect) works, The healing/clarity line style doesnt work, nor the others!!!

So, Who ever figures out How to Fix the Hand problem should look into this for all us Bards!!

Thanks..

[Tabidzukare]

Hi Aaron,

It's interesting that you have that sort of result with the bard songs.. Perhaps there is more in depth testing to be done regarding this... because for me (I can't remember what config) the bard songs were the *only* thing that worked.. I have a level 28 Bard on my own ML server, and the effects for the songs I use work fine... Melodic Binding, Selos, Bruscos Bellow / Dissonance line as well as the attack lines. I'll try out the healing line and report back what's going on there later today (I should have time).

The ice comet, comment is interesting is also. We need to find out more external links that control origins for spells or at least where those graphics are controlled!!

Keep up your work everyone, either we'll crack this issue or we'll learn enough to know it's out of our hands (legally).

[trevius]

Tabidzukare,

From what you reported from your testing, it now sounds to me like the paths.ini file may be used for the client to reference for certain things. I haven't looked at the file yet, but if there are actual offsets in there, it may be that this file is where it tells the client where to look in memory when doing some actions. If so, and if this is where the hand info originally came from, then maybe it is still in memory somewhere, but wasn't updated in this file because they don't use it like that anymore. And, if that is true, then if you can figure out which one is to set the hand location, then it may still be possible to set the correct offset in that file so that it points to the right place in memory. But, that also assumes that the memory for hands is still being set at all. Considering how lazy SOE is about removing old unused code and files, it is fairly possible that this could be done with the right expertise.

That idea is assuming alot of stuff that I don't easily have a way to check, but it is something to maybe consider. It would take someone with more offset knowledge than myself to have any clue where to find this info in memory, though. Since this is purely speculation at this point, I don't want you to get too hung up on it, but figured it would be worth mentioning.

Also, the .eff files are effect files and they probably contain multiple effects within each file. You can probably think of them like a .zip file with a bunch of sound and graphic files in them. I don't know that for sure, but that is essentially what the .S3D and .EQG files are.

[Tabidzukare]

Trevius!

Thanks so much again for taking the time to share your insight into this issue. I will certainly begin testing now on altering data within the paths.ini file for original spells and whether or not it has an effect. I won't have time perhaps for a day or so with work and what not to do proper testing.

I'm putting attention out to others interested in the results of these tests but who have been as of yet... un-interested in helping to produce them to help me out a bit. I have only a slow 8 year old laptop I do work on outside of work and while I can go in and test spell offsets (by posting at a 0 0 0 mark and watching for a difference) by myself, after about 3 log outs from my own ML server my machine starts begging for mercy and I have to shut down for a few minutes. In addition the more minds working on this problem the faster it will get resolved.

Again thanks for your helpful information I have several ideas from it and only wish I could test and post results more quickly. Whether or not 'victory' over this problem is at hand or not knowledge certainly is and one way or the other we can at least put it to rest definitively. (This of course is assuming we will stick to 'legal' means of affecting this ability to display spells properly i.e. not altering the client itself. Which I for one plan on sticking to (legality that is..))

Kindest Regards ~~

[trevius]

LOL, when you said offsets, I was thinking of the Memory kind, which is not the case in the path.ini file. I finally checked out the file and after looking at it and the path.tga file in the same directory, it appears that it is only used for the "find NPC or Player" path thing. The glowing trail that you see that leads you to something you have selected to find. I don't think that should have anything to do with the hands thing. So, you can probably ignore that file.

[Tabidzukare]

Wow, that's great to know as that will save a ton of time. The next task however is finding out whether or not the hands animation is stored separately of the bursting effects. I'm thinking it has to be but the two might be stored within the .eff file. I'll look into it more in depth but does anyone know off-hand whether or not there is a way to open or manipulate the .eff files themselves?? Also, I'll try manipulating that paths.ini file regardless and seeing whether or not altering it changes anything about that line for the Finder. Hehe, it's so interesting to see where all the little pieces of the game come from. Thanks again for that information Trevius.

Kindest Regards~

[Telin]

Has anyone figured out a way to force the titanium client to put together the classic spell effects properly? I have played around a bit on the spell files. I can change particles by changing the names of the .tga or .dds files. The classic spell particles mostly use the .tga files. I don't know how to begin building layers to the spell animations. For example it looks like you can combine spelb1, spelc1, and speld4.tga from the spell effects folder together to recreate the generic buff spells from the hands. And spelb2, spelc3, and speld4.tga for the firework on the target.