[Mod] X4 Fire and Smoke

[Moonrat]

Thanks. WIll have a look into it.

Sorry more pain for you, I'm also seeing these every now and again...
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[=ERROR=] 317.06 [Mesh::Mesh] could not find a valid meshsource for mesh extensions\x4_fireandsmoke\assets\fx\misc\sefx_damage_l_high_fire01_data\anim_bridge_02-lod3.xmf!
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[=ERROR=] 317.06 AssetManager::GetAssetIntern() invalid handle(255:16777215)
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[=ERROR=] 317.06 [Mesh::Mesh] could not find a valid meshsource for mesh extensions\x4_fireandsmoke\assets\fx\misc\sefx_damage_l_high_fire01_data\anim_bridge_01-lod3.xmf!
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[=ERROR=] 317.06 AssetManager::GetAssetIntern() invalid handle(255:16777215)
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[=ERROR=] 317.06 [Mesh::Mesh] could not find a valid meshsource for mesh extensions\x4_fireandsmoke\assets\fx\misc\sefx_damage_l_high_fire01_data\anim_bridge_04-lod3.xmf!
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[=ERROR=] 317.06 AssetManager::GetAssetIntern() invalid handle(255:16777215)
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[=ERROR=] 317.06 [Mesh::Mesh] could not find a valid meshsource for mesh extensions\x4_fireandsmoke\assets\fx\misc\sefx_damage_l_high_fire01_data\anim_bridge_03-lod3.xmf!
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[=ERROR=] 317.06 AssetManager::GetAssetIntern() invalid handle(255:16777215)
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[=ERROR=] 317.06 [Mesh::Mesh] could not find a valid meshsource for mesh extensions\x4_fireandsmoke\assets\fx\misc\sefx_damage_l_high_fire01_data\anim_bridge_15-lod3.xmf!
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[=ERROR=] 317.06 AssetManager::GetAssetIntern() invalid handle(255:16777215)
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[=ERROR=] 317.06 [Mesh::Mesh] could not find a valid meshsource for mesh extensions\x4_fireandsmoke\assets\fx\misc\sefx_damage_l_high_fire01_data\anim_bridge_17-lod3.xmf!
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[=ERROR=] 317.06 AssetManager::GetAssetIntern() invalid handle(255:16777215)
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[=ERROR=] 317.06 [Mesh::Mesh] could not find a valid meshsource for mesh extensions\x4_fireandsmoke\assets\fx\misc\sefx_damage_l_high_fire01_data\anim_bridge_10-lod3.xmf!
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[General] 317.06 ======================================
[=ERROR=] 317.06 AssetManager::GetAssetIntern() invalid handle(255:16777215)

[Max Bain]

Thanks. WIll be fixed in the next version. But its not critical. Its just the fire effect from the XL shields when they got destroyed. Wont happen too often anyway.

[Perkel]

Whoa this looks amazing ! Nice work mate !

[adzipp]

Station explosions dosent changed, is it possible to add the XL explosions to the stations? they are ugly like hell right now...

[Phiolin]

Just dropping in to say that the work that has been done here is quite amazing. Watching Ks and Vs blow up is lots of fun thanks to the great explosion optics now.

[Max Bain]

@all: thank you for your feedback

Station explosions dosent changed, is it possible to add the XL explosions to the stations? they are ugly like hell right now...

You sure you have the actual version? Because in the latest I added station explosions. If it does not work on your side, you must make something wrong. Dont use Nexus Vortex download manager for example. It breaks a lot of X4 mods.

[Chris0132]

Can confirm I noticed station explosions recently, they look good. I also really like the sound work, the rumbling of explosions going off in the background really adds to the feel of combat.

If I was to make an aesthetic request, would it be possible to experiment with more lighting/luminosity effects to increase the contrast a little? The fire parts are often a little obscured by the smoke.

I also wanted to ask whether the dynamic lighting could be used to perhaps illuminate other objects when ships explode? I don't know if there's a hard limit on how far a light source can cast or whether it would cause visual bugs, but if ship explosions resulted in brief, bright lights being cast onto other craft in the scene, it would help to give a sense of positionality when they happen off screen, as other ships and stations light up relative to the source.

I used to do particle work in Source which has a great editor which makes things a lot easier, but I always found that lighting and increasing the contrast between light and dark parts of the effect really helped them pop, especially against dark backgrounds which a lot of sectors have.

[Max Bain]

Can confirm I noticed station explosions recently, they look good. I also really like the sound work, the rumbling of explosions going off in the background really adds to the feel of combat.

If I was to make an aesthetic request, would it be possible to experiment with more lighting/luminosity effects to increase the contrast a little? The fire parts are often a little obscured by the smoke.

I also wanted to ask whether the dynamic lighting could be used to perhaps illuminate other objects when ships explode? I don't know if there's a hard limit on how far a light source can cast or whether it would cause visual bugs, but if ship explosions resulted in brief, bright lights being cast onto other craft in the scene, it would help to give a sense of positionality when they happen off screen, as other ships and stations light up relative to the source.

I used to do particle work in Source which has a great editor which makes things a lot easier, but I always found that lighting and increasing the contrast between light and dark parts of the effect really helped them pop, especially against dark backgrounds which a lot of sectors have.

There are already some light sources, but they might be too few and/or too small sometimes.

But there is a problem with light sources and the effects system. Whenever I use random effects (effectsets), and I do this very often, the game picks one effect out of a set. But these effects can be smoke, an explosion, debris or fire. It is not possible to say the engine to add a light source to only the explosions and fire. The light would be an individual effect in the set and sometimes you would end up having just a light spot instead of an explosion or so.
So I can not add light sources to every effect where you would expect them. At least I have no Idea how to do it.

If anyone know how to add a set of effects into an effectset as one unit (so for example inside an effectset there would be 2 sets of effects and the effectset would take one of these sets which can hold several effects themselve) that would be great.

[Chris0132]

Could it be implemented perhaps as part of the big final explosion effect with the circle wave that comes out? So when a ship makes its final death explosion it also made a big light that would light up other ships and stations briefly?

[Max Bain]

Could it be implemented perhaps as part of the big final explosion effect with the circle wave that comes out? So when a ship makes its final death explosion it also made a big light that would light up other ships and stations briefly?

The shock waves are random and therefore I can not add lights to them. I will check if something else can be done (maybe always a light source no matter if there is a shockwave or not), but this might look odd so then I wont add it.
You can extract the effects file yourself and try something out. Its not that easy as you might think.

[Chris0132]

If it isn't possible I of course defer to your experience. It looks very good anyway.

[Max Bain]

If it isn't possible I of course defer to your experience. It looks very good anyway.

I am not really experienced in this area, really. It was all more like try and error, so it might be possible what you want. But I dont know how . Maybe in the future someone will tell me how

[maseren]

Question regardin this mod. I love the concept, but question could it be having such a huge impact on my PC that it takes a 2080Ti and i9-9900K and my FPS is down to 22. Granted this is not the only MOD that could be causing it, because if my guess is correct this mod only comes in to play WHEN something explodes correct? thanks for any help.

[ScandyNav]

Question regardin this mod. I love the concept, but question could it be having such a huge impact on my PC that it takes a 2080Ti and i9-9900K and my FPS is down to 22. Granted this is not the only MOD that could be causing it, because if my guess is correct this mod only comes in to play WHEN something explodes correct? thanks for any help.

From my experience most of the times when fps drops by on huge number, it comes from trade scripts. Usually one trader which logic become broken.

[maseren]

Question regardin this mod. I love the concept, but question could it be having such a huge impact on my PC that it takes a 2080Ti and i9-9900K and my FPS is down to 22. Granted this is not the only MOD that could be causing it, because if my guess is correct this mod only comes in to play WHEN something explodes correct? thanks for any help.

From my experience most of the times when fps drops by on huge number, it comes from trade scripts. Usually one trader which logic become broken.

Like tatertrader and supply mules by chance?

[Buzz2005]

xr ship pack kills your fps

[ScandyNav]

Like tatertrader and supply mules by chance?

Yes, that was mule. One of them having some problems and my game drops to 20 fps. It was luck that i found quick which one causing problem.

[Max Bain]

xr ship pack kills your fps

Do you have any proof or some kind of statistic that you can share? Or how do you come to that conclusion?
I strongly doubt so.
Even when XR SHip Pack adds some more ship entities to the game, the number of ships is most likely only at the start of the game higher than in vanilla. After the first battles, no race should have much more ships than in vanilla and therefore the fps should not be effected much (if at all).
In my game (60+ hours) I had fps like in vanilla, so above 50 in general and above 25 in asteroid belts with a Ryzen 3600, 16GB and 1070gtx. And sure, I use Fire and Smoke as well...

This is of course only true for PCs that dont have problems playing vanilla X4. If you already have low fps in vanilla, then sure, this will eat even more resources and will drop your fps even more.

[Buzz2005]

personal experience, every time I put that mod I get fps loss and stuttering, new game more then late game but I still get fps and stuttering even if I put it late game after a while

3600x,16gb dd4 and 1070 I played with lots of settings still the same

After I remove it or start without it all goes back to normal

Now probably not all have that experience but I would say all have at least some fps loss with xr ship pack, maybe not noticeable to some

I saw your mod list, pretty much the same as me but you do have the best cpu out there for the game
All other mods imo cant kill fps that much or at all
Mostly mods that add jobs kill fps

Hope this helps, don't take it as gospel

EDIT: sorry mistaken you for the original poster, that has a mod list and specs in tech section

[Max Bain]

personal experience, every time I put that mod I get fps loss and stuttering, new game more then late game but I still get fps and stuttering even if I put it late game after a while

3600x,16gb dd4 and 1070 I played with lots of settings still the same

After I remove it or start without it all goes back to normal

Now probably not all have that experience but I would say all have at least some fps loss with xr ship pack, maybe not noticeable to some

I saw your mod list, pretty much the same as me but you do have the best cpu out there for the game
All other mods imo cant kill fps that much or at all
Mostly mods that add jobs kill fps

Hope this helps, don't take it as gospel

EDIT: sorry mistaken you for the original poster, that has a mod list and specs in tech section

I have the exact same PC as you have. There must be something wrong on your end. I even play with 1440p and I also use the LOD extended mod that makes objects visible from greater distance. No stutters and just sometimes lower fps in the mid 20 in asteroids or open when the map is open.
I really think that something else is producing your stutters.

Edit: It is not true that other mods can not kill fps. Check your logfile for example. I once had a mod that wrote several hundred thousands! of lines to the log file because it was buggy and it broke my performance totally. After removing it the performance was 10 times better. In fact it was the old XR Effects mod that this mod completely replaces .