Thank you, the frozen rooms get less than 5fps on a Mobility Radeon x1300, which gets 25fps everywhere else.
Will there be a way for users to choose to omit certain effects from your pack? Some of them I like, but others I’d prefer to use the original. I have no idea how the Source particle effects are stored/used, is why I’m asking.
Particles are stored as a group in a .pcf; for example, BMS\particles\weapon_hgun.pcf stores the first- and third-person muzzle flashes for the Hivehand, while \grenade_hornet.pcf stores the effects for its projectile. Simply don’t use one you don’t want and you’re good to go.
However, I would encourage everybody to let me know what they think could be improved about the WIPs I’m posting; a lot’s going to come down to personal taste, of course, but my stuff always tends to be a lot better when I get a number of detailed opinions, and I’d rather take the extra time to make something everybody likes than do it blind and have people skip half the content.
Sure, if you want my feedback I’d gladly provide it. Although, like you said, everyone’s preferences may differ.
Changes I Like:
Tau Cannon
.357 Magnum
Hornet Impact
Destroyed Anti-Mass Spectrometer Optimization
Changes I Don’t Like:
Shotgun & MP5: I think the muzzle flashes are a little bit exaggerated. Maybe some medium between the default and your current would be best.
Generic Impact Effects: I also think the dust cloud created from these are a bit much and kind of exaggerated. I really prefer the default ones to be honest, they are small, clean, and simple.
Hivehand: The smoke seems just a little bit too much and too thick.
Gibs: Sorry, but I think the bleeding extremities overdo it a little bit and reminds me of an angsty teenager listening to death metal.
Neutral:
9mm Glock: I like the tiny muzzle flash of the original because it reminds me of how weak the gun is, but yours isn’t really too flashy either.
Still, good work on all of them and I greatly appreciate the effort you’re putting into making BMS better. Don’t let my OCD nitpicking get to you too much.
the hivehand “muzzle flash” is definitely too dense. It’s a bit obstructive. Maybe less smoke and even a gooey sprite could give a similar feel while maintaining transparency. Maybe it could spit out some solid-ish chunks along with the “smoke”. For lack of a better term, sparks. Just not sparks, you know? Something that behaves like sparks, but is actually a liquid or something. Like spit.
As for the gib explosion, the red in the sprites is a bit too pronounced. I’d say go darker. The spurts look fine, but maybe they could have a little less throw… or just not spurt with any pressure at all and drip small blood sprites straight down.
I love everything else. I can’t wait till you get to the casserole.
Do you even crit?
It would be awesome if the hivehand’s trail could be more like the hunter’s attack from episode 2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh4t15J2YB8
First is a level-specific effect: the giant splash accompanying the elevator drop in c1a1c. Outside of a few minor improvements, it’s visually similar, but note the gigantic FPS drop in the vanilla effect that’s removed with the new one. I’ve made a lot of similar optimizations, but they don’t translate to video that well (I’ll grab some FPS before/after stats when I’ve made some more progress)
Then it’s another hivehand muzzle flash with a re-done projectile trail. Is this one better?
Also I’ve cut the generic impact down; it’s smaller and more transparent now
Wow I could see the FPS difference on that elevator drop, nice work.
The optimizations are very appreciated. Older systems tend to choke on them particles quite a bit. If it’s not too much trouble could you take a look at the toxic leak at the end of inbound too?
Woah, what the hell was up with the original splash that sent the fps overboard like that?
dsd:
I like the new generic impact a lot, as well as the new hornet trails. Of course, the elevator drop is great as well.
However, while the new Hivehand muzzle flash is a definite improvement and no longer obstructive, I still feel like it’s a little bit too much for my taste. I never really thought of the Hivehand as having a powerful individual shot and that much haze just seems odd to me. If it were up to me, I think a little more transparency and a bit smaller radius would be perfect.
I’d have made it more of a liquid spit effect. I always interpreted the weapon as a mere wasp holder, and the ammunition flew out of the mouth of their own volition.
Sick work, dude! This stuff really belongs in the mod!
That is impressive work on the lift. Have you looked at the Lambda Core teleporter at all? It’s the one bit of the game that kills my laptop: my “tactics” for that area are “Sprint around it so the controllers can’t hit me, do NOT look at the shiney comp-killer effects and gluon-gun the grunts as they teleport in”, and it works well…but I’d love to be able to actually see the teleporter as it charged up with an FPS greater than 5.
also, if you could do something about the re-use of the EP1 citadel core, that would be great.
The citadel core is a model, not a particle effect.
SOMETHING STIL LNEED STO BE DONE
RETEXTURE THE MOTHERFUCKER
Loving the particle re-working, it’s comin along very nicely. Although I think the muzzle flashes of actual guns should be amped up not reduced in intensity. Black Mesa’s weapons all sound very powerful, but don’t quite have the visuals to back em up, hoping you’ll fix this.
About the final Lambda Core teleport… I liked that it looked the same as the one from Episode One. That made them feel connected and a part of the same universe, not to mention put a big smile on my face.
This is a bit off the topic, but if someone could include a “weapon_hgun.pcf” file from “[b]…\SteamApps\sourcemods\BMS\particles[/b]” as an attachment in their post, since mine got corrupted while messing with the Particle Editor, I would be more than thankful.
I forgot to make backups before editing the file and now all effects / particles are missing…
Remember to add it to a .zip archive and upload that, if you want to upload it.
Thanks in advance.