So with that short spiel said, I should step off my soap box and start writing about what the subject of this post is, Visual Effects on Placeables.
A long time ago I read a thread on Bioware forums about applying visual effects to placeables. I can't recall the author, however they laid out the basics for applying effects and thoughts on how to apply them. I must admit after having a look at what you could do with effects I was rather excited.
Applying a visual effect to a placeable, means you are no longer bound by the texture that is set to that placeable. Instead you can choose a Duration type effect from the visualeffects.2da and reskin your object ingame.
I took the basics from the bioware thread and then customised them to be set on enter to an area, using variables to determine if effects were on, and which objects to apply them to. Nothing really exciting in that department, but the results have blown me away.
I was able to make objects of ice, or crystal, blue gems or more importantly reskin objects with Stoneskin and Greater Stoneskin. This means all the bolders, stones and rocks on the tolset, could finally look the same. Some images below of a Henge that I decided to make, based on some comments in the Mystara Dev forums.
This is an image of the basic placebale, viewable in the toolset, hence the red grid and nothing exciting. Due to effects being applied in game, you need to work with the visualeffects.2da and identify an effects that you want to apply. I like to use the glow effects on stones, as they become crystal, or stone on objects that really need to be stone. The stone in the center has the Ghostly Pulse effect, meaning it fades in an out of view. The stones around the center stone, have been reskinned to a basic stone skin. The capped stones, have a Grey Glow applied to them, so that they shine in the dark and are semi transparent.
Following images capture what these reskinned objects look like in game, one the effects apply.
If people are interested, I can put up the code for apply the effects, but if not, well there is no point. I find the application of the effects rather fun and easy to do.
