Classic Spell Effects Do Not Come Out of Hands

Dibalamin · #1 04-03-2009, 09:35 AM

This would most likely be source based. The source needs to be told to find the player/mob and attach that particle effect to the models hands.

That is the simple version =p

Since the primary focus of the project is move forward (as it should be), the back stuff gets archived and forgotten.

I truly wonder though, how easy this would be to fix? C++ ain't my forte...at all, ever, however.

Tabidzukare · #2 04-20-2009, 01:03 AM

What you have to think about is this:

If deleting the file brought back the old graphics, but changed the positioning of said graphics, then IT (meaning the deleted files) should contain the positioning information. Since just by deleting the file no one changed any source code, yet the position changed.. that's why it would lead me to believe it's not hard coded.

Even if it is hard coded, I have some ideas how to get around it. Namely the fact that the 'newspells.edd/eff' positioned itself properly right. If position data ISNT stored in the .edd/.eff files, then wouldn't changing the file name of the original spells.eff, into newspells.eff change this..

Another thought. The 'newspells' use two files a .edd/.eff, while the old spells are just an .eff file.. that could mean positional data is stored in the .edd file, in which case if you keep the .edd file and rename the original spells.eff to newspells.eff it might preserve the correct position.

I have several more thorough ideas but until I get home I can't try. Good luck guys, lets not settle for "no" as an answer, get in the files and make this work. I know we can do it, if we all share our thoughts and tests.

**trevius** · #3 04-20-2009, 05:43 AM

If I was to guess, I would say that this is probably a limitation of the Titanium client. More than likely, whatever was used to tell the spell effects where to source from has been removed in newer clients since effects are obviously handled at least somewhat differently.

Though, if the client is still able to receive the hand location for old spells, my best guess would be that the info would be somewhere in the spawn structure or one of the other structures. It almost sounds like it just doesn't know at all where or who to tie the effects to, so it just sends them to 0 0 0. Otherwise, I would guess that it is something coded into the newer versions of eqgame.exe that can't be corrected in any normal way.

Tabidzukare · #4 04-20-2009, 09:17 AM

Thanks so much Trevius for your insight. I went ahead and did some tests myself, just to see if anything yielded .. well.. anything! Here's what I did..

Quick notes- T.Ed = Titanium Edition, VE = Velious Era, (actual) means not renamed from my first experiement (the T. Ed spells/spellsnew.eff/edds)

TEST 1
Using
- spells.eff --> spellsnew.eff (renamed)
Not Using:
- spellsnew.eff (actual)
Results:
No spell graphics OR sounds whatsoever.
Notes:
Now having observed more closely the file structure .eff appears to be sound storage files... if that's true.. why then does deleting of all things an .eff file restore the old particles.. intriguing to say the least.

TEST 2
Using
- spells.eff (actual)
- spellsnew.EDD
Not Using
- spellsnew.eff (actual)
Results:
Classic Spell Graphics (CSG), Not Bound To Hands (NBTH)
Notes:
Restored the visualization of spells -- whats interesting about that is that, by restoring a .eff (supposed sound archive..) the graphics returned. Making use of the .edd file for the new spells changed nothing readily visible. (Haven't tried a renamed spells --> spellsnew.eff + spellsnew.edd)

TEST 3
Using
- spells.eff (actual)
- spellsnew.edd
- Folder: SpellEffects (VE)
Not Using
- Folder: SpellEffects (T.Ed)
- spellsnew.eff (actual)
Results:
CSG NBTH
Notes:
At this point seeing no direct connection with spells.eff/.edd I started looking closer at the folders. I compared them to what existed back with a fresh trilogy install and now. Many things were missing however they did share (relating to spells) a single 'SpellEffects' folder. While this test yielded no difference. Take a look INSIDE of the folder. There's a 'paths.ini' and inside it details information such as offsets of spell effects and the control of the graphics themselves, it's text based even replacing it with a velious paths.ini though didn't yield anything. I'll be digging into this file later and seeing if I can't change anything with it, but for now it remains an entertaining mystery.

TEST 4
Using
- spells.eff (actual)
- Folder: SpellEffects (VE)
Not Using:
- Folder: SpellEffects (T.Ed)
Results:
CSG NBTH
Notes:
ActorEffects doesn't exist in the Velious install, so I'm thinking it only matters to the 'new spells' as it didn't effect anything visually by removing it.

TEST 5
Using (All Velious Era)
- spells.eff
- Folder: SpellEffects
Not Using (All Titanium Edition)
- Folder: SpellEffects
Results:
CSG NBTH
Notes:
There was an additional Velious file called spdat.eff... I thought it might contain something, so I added it.. sadly there was no effect, perhaps sp here means split paw?? Well.. I'm no professing to be smart here One notable exception here is including spellsnew.eff yielded 'new' graphics for a few spells like Siphon Strength, yet NOT for Lifetap which was changed visually at the same time.

TEST 6
Using (Velious Era)
- spells.eff
- Folder: SpellEffects
Not Using:
- Folder: SpellEffects (T.Ed)
Results:
CSG NBTH
Notes:
Well.. I'm hitting a brick wall (repeatedly!) though I'm sure some more enlightened individuals will note this with sympathy and perhaps a bit of humor as well...

TEST 7
Using
- spells.eff (VE)
- Folder: SpellEffects (VE)
Not Using:
- SPOffsets.ini from Folder: Resources (T.Ed)
Results:
CSG NBTH
Notes:
Another pleasing mystery as paths.ini, this SPOffsets.ini contains information on offsets of spells based on player characters.. it has the ability to alter X/Z if i recall correctly though deleting it had no effect whatsoever on the old graphics. Perhaps altering this while using the new graphics could prove that something internal is using this information (in which case we couldn't alter it .. easily)

Final thoughts
Though my tests were in essence, useless.. I've learned a few things.
The spell particles themselves, appear to be controlled by the text file paths.ini which links the .tga files in SpellEffects together to form an effect based on a line.

The particles in the .tga files don't relate to the graphics coming from the hands that I can see..

Ok - so two separate entities. Now, the curious thing is that .eff files seem to alter the appearance of the graphics despite them also controlling sounds. There remains one set of files in the SpellEffects folder (.dds if I remember correctly) and these could possibly be the hand emissions.

On a side note here. I haven't had time to look at the tool that views spell particles.. but in that video are there hand emissions floating with the various effects?? If not, the first big thing is to locate where these hand graphics are and try to identify a link between them. Even if we can just mess up the hand portion of the graphics we'll at least know what affects them and see about controlling it.

I'll try more on these leads later.. but holy smokes batman did this post absorb 40 minutes of my day..

Dibalamin · #5 04-20-2009, 02:26 PM

The following is actually serious:

When Erudites cast Ice Comet with old graphics, the hand graphics are in their ass. I mean literally shooting from their ass. I'm serious.