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SWR Productions Forum _ Generals/Zerohour Modding _ ZH ParticleEditor

Posted by: Stalker 19 Feb 2017, 10:21

Hi everyone,

I spent the last month creating a new tool for ZH modders. It's a FX & ParticleSystem editor.
It's basically the Generals particle engine completely re-created in Java. It uses Java3D for rendering so the performance might not be all that great, but chances are if your FX makes it lag it has too many particles anyway ;-) (Exception: Streak particles are kinda slow at the moment)

I wrote up a documentation which is included in the archive:

I'll keep this tool updated at this dropbox location:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/h6psw10k6l5370q/AACEju9NoYXDBoF9b5xnxVRka?dl=0
Edit: New Link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/h6psw10k6l5370q/AACEju9NoYXDBoF9b5xnxVRka?dl=0

Or grab the file here:https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pbuf0lo7y3d8afz/AAAKi5XcXcYSAg5y-VyuuKqua?dl=0</a>


Alternate download link (outdated):
https://app.box.com/s/z65v2xit58rx9dj0qzi7r8kp5y9xtii2

NOTE: If you have a 32bit system, you need to add the contents (4 dll files) of this archive in the ParticleEditor folder (overwrite 1 existing dll)
https://app.box.com/s/12yoyr4p63em9g0tq1g2yiflnfxwquwk

Screenshot:


If you're interested in the source code, let me know.
If you've ever looked at the OFS codes, you'll know what to expect ;-)

CODE
INSTALLATION:
-------------
-Install JAVA and make sure it's set up properly (1.7 is required)
-Extract this archive wherever you want. No install required
-Run the .bat file to launch the program
-Go to Settings->Preferences in the menu bar at the top to Configure your File Paths.
-Read the documentation for more information


Now have fun, create some nice effects and let me know about bugs and feature requests

Posted by: M.P 19 Feb 2017, 11:53

I saw you putting a lot of effort in making this tool. I must say you've done a brilliant job. It certainly will help modders. smile.gif

Posted by: {Lads}RikerZZZ 19 Feb 2017, 12:02

That is something amazing, and you deserve full commendations for your efforts

Posted by: Graion Dilach 19 Feb 2017, 13:50

Ah, you also need to install Java3D for this. I'd mention that in the readme, took me some googling to find out why it crashed on me on first launch.

EDIT: it asks for a j3dcore-ogl-chk library. O_o

EDIT2: Got it working with the https://java3d.java.net/binary-builds.html windows-i586 build, amd64 seems to only have a single file and missing three others.

EDIT3: An angle setup by using text fields would be really nice besides the right-click settings.

Posted by: Stalker 19 Feb 2017, 13:59

QUOTE (Graion Dilach @ 19 Feb 2017, 13:50) *
Ah, you also need to install Java3D for this. I'd mention that in the readme, took me some googling to find out why it crashed on me on first launch.

EDIT: it asks for a j3dcore-ogl-chk library. O_o


Hm, I thought the supplied dll is enough. I'll look into it

EDIT:

I guess I added the 64bit dll only. I'll update the files once I get confirmation that this does the trick

EDIT2:

You need Java3D 32 bit dlls for a 32bit system:
https://app.box.com/s/12yoyr4p63em9g0tq1g2yiflnfxwquwk
Add these 4 dll files to the ParticleEditor folder (overwrite the 64bit dll)

Posted by: Chappi55 22 Feb 2017, 10:28

Looks sexy :v

I might try recreating the particle editor in c#/c++ as I've used java past few years and I'm sick of it :V

Great job on it again. Should help easily debug particles without the need to start the game and screw around with it.

Does it produce OPTIMIZED non laggin ParticleSystem.ini? XD

Posted by: Graion Dilach 22 Feb 2017, 16:14

@Stalker: I was testing that on a 64bit system. My Java could be strict-32bit however though. The program really looks good however.

Posted by: GearsGoAwryMan 25 Feb 2017, 2:19

10/10 managed to make infinitely lasting rainbow puke in +- 5 minutes.

 sshot003.bmp ( 4.21MB ) : 32
 

Posted by: acidbrain 27 Feb 2017, 12:23

Your application looks good too Stalker, more advanced them mine, feel myself a rookie now..tongue.gif

Posted by: Graion Dilach 5 May 2017, 15:42

I am sad that my request for camera settings went overlooked however... with that, this could even be a generic modder tool and not strictly limited to Generals. sad.gif

Posted by: Stalker 5 May 2017, 17:54

I'm afraid the project is pretty much on hold right now.

My free time has been rather limited the last few months and I realised that I'd rather put development time into my mod instead.

Sadly there are still a lot of bugs left and missing features that I'd love to add.
It sucks that I can't really finish this right now, but I just can't justify spending any more time on this at the moment.

The code is on https://github.com/Andreas-W/ParticleEditor, but tbh it's kind of a mess.


EDIT: I added a few bugfixes a few weeks ago. Gonna update the dropbox.

Posted by: adrianeyves 22 Jul 2017, 5:03

All i Can Say is Great Job cool.gif laugh.gif

Posted by: RequiemLux 23 Oct 2017, 14:46

Great work Stalker! Once all major bugs will get squashed I can easily see your program as the standard for creating particles

Posted by: Stalker 23 Oct 2017, 21:03

Thanks. Nice to see you here.

I'm not sure there are many people left who create particles though happy.gif

Posted by: RequiemLux 24 Oct 2017, 0:45

Well I hope that new means to ease the work will breathe new air in the modding community lungs, surely it picked up my interest ^^

Posted by: Ryanjp89 2 Jul 2018, 18:02

I've been looking everywhere for a tool like this. Thank you so much for creating it, and making it available to the community.

I've always made my own textures and particle systems, but it can get very tiring testing them only in-game.

Posted by: Ryanjp89 2 Jul 2018, 18:21

If there are people still modding, I can put together a pack of custom textures I've made over time.

Like custom smoke textures, explosions, flares, fire, etc.

Posted by: SCUDStorm231 6 Aug 2019, 22:13

How to import the textures and edit them? I have set the preference.

Posted by: Ryanjp89 11 Aug 2019, 15:44

QUOTE (SCUDStorm231 @ 6 Aug 2019, 23:13) *
How to import the textures and edit them? I have set the preference.


Put your texture files into a folder, and under preferences set the path to your folder that contains your texture files. You can also extract the default textures from Generals, and set the second path to an additional folder.



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