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i was wondering if theres any way i could set up a jetpack effect to, instead of being set to the spine of the model, be set to the foot of a model. i would attach the effect to both feet, reskin the shoe to have thruster effects on it, and set up the odf with the lines for the jetpack.


my question is: is there a code to set an effect to play on a certain part of a player model, and if so what is it?

If you want to attach the effects to any part of the model, they would always have to be playing. And heh, are you making an Iron Man unit or something? 8D

i was worried they would always be playing...

a friend of mine said that my trooper should have jump jets, i was working with a storm trooper model that i wanted to keep, and wanted to do something other than just the average jetpack style of flying, so i thought jet boots would be pretty good.

i actually worked with trying to make an effect for it all ready but the effect seems to be centered on the upper spine of the unit so when you look left, right, up, or down the effect follows, so with jet boots looking down i have an effect floating around about a meter behind me.

also, does anyone know if theres a way to change where the jetpack effect is centered at or what it follows?



note: an iron man mod would be pretty cool, but as my xsi trial has run out and i don't really make models all that much i won't be making one anytime soon.

The center of the effect is located and the unit's ground dummy. The reason the flames appear at the jetpack is due to the particle emitters' spawn locations in the effect.


Actually, no, after checking Particle Editor, I can infer that the effect is centered at the root of the jetpack mesh chunk.

but how would it be centered at the jet pack's mesh chunk if the unit has no jet pack?

also do you know how to change where the effect is centered?

it's located at bone_ribcage.
Don't know how you'd move it to another bone, I assume it's hard coded.

In particle editor you can move them farther down and try to line them up with the boots, but I think they will still attach to bone_ribcage, so they wouldn't stay with the feet.

kinetosimpetus wrote:In particle editor you can move them farther down and try to line them up with the boots, but I think they will still attach to bone_ribcage, so they wouldn't stay with the feet.

i did that and they didn't stay at the feet, they just followed where the ribcage bone was.

i was wondering if this was hardcoded when i started and i guess it is too.

It's easiest just to modify the default jetpack effect. Open the Particle Editor then move your effect to where you think will be in mid-air, test, go back and adjust in the particle editor, test, repeat until perfect. I had to do that with Durge's jetpack since it was wider and less tall than the default.

There's a rebel trooper in Mav's DTII mod that has repulsor-boots, or something similar. As Tean said, just moving the effect to match up with the feet is the best way to go, since the feet don't really move in the jet animation.

as i said before thats what i already did, since the effect is centered on the ribcage though it follows it when i turn or look up and down it causes the effect to move around when the feet aren't, so if i set up the effect perfectly all i have to do to mess it up is look up or down.

also, if you notice in DT2 the effects for the repulsor boots are rings that appear under the unit, that, to me, makes the problem of the effect moving around a bit not be bad because its not like having a flame fly back and forth when ever you look around, it just seems a bit more natural as the rings follow the unit's direction and don't appear at the repulsors itself but right under it making it a perfect cover-up/work around for jet boots.

Dakota wrote:so if i set up the effect perfectly all i have to do to mess it up is look up or down.

Since when did you care about perfection?

You are going to have to expect minor imperfections like this most of the time if you implement things that weren't somewhat in the original game. With you, jetpack effects but at the feet of the unit. For me, muzzle flash effects but on vehicles and turrets. I can say the exact same thing as you as quoted above in this scenario. Overall, if there is absolutely no way to fix this, then I'm afraid you just got to live with it.

You can attach it to the hip bone, then. I don't think that pitches up and down.

I highly doubt it would work, but you could create a custom skeleton and position the ribcage bone down between the foot bones, make it a child of one of them, create the real ribcage bone at its normal position, and name it bone_ribcage_2 or the like. You'd pretty much have to create an all-new animation set for the unit, though, so I don't really if it would be entirely worth it.

Personally, this is something that I would actually be willing to try.

Teancum wrote:You can attach it to the hip bone, then. I don't think that pitches up and down.

i laughed a bit when i saw this, my question is how do i attach it to things.





note: if there is absolutely no way other than entirely changing the skeleton (don't have working xsi for now) then i could just attach it to the little cylinder like pack on the back of the storm trooper at his hip, but in our hearts we will always know jet boots are cooler. that is unless you are a jetpack fan like some people we know... :jango:

Dakota wrote: that is unless you are a jetpack fan like some people we know... :jango:

Like me!

As for attaching effects to hardpoints I know there is something in the FAQ somewhere on the many hundreds of pages of GT... one will just have to look around.

Tears2Roses wrote:

Dakota wrote: that is unless you are a jetpack fan like some people we know... :jango:

Like me!

As for attaching effects to hardpoints I know there is something in the FAQ somewhere on the many hundreds of pages of GT... one will just have to look around.

we've thought of that, if we attach an effect to a hardpoint though it will be permanently on. we are trying to figure out how to move where the jetpack effect is centered.

Dakota wrote:we've thought of that, if we attach an effect to a hardpoint though it will be permanently on.

You know what else is permanently on in the stock game? The engines of the Theta-class shuttle the Imperials use in space maps. You can attach glowing meshes to your unit instead as an alternative solution.

how would i do that?


also a second question, anyone notice how the thrusters on vehicles have effects that change size while flying? would i be able to attach effects to the feet set up like the thrusters on starfighters so that it would be a small effect when not going fast and then a big effect when flying or do the thruster lines not work on units, only vehicles?

edit: doesn't work

Dakota wrote:

Tears2Roses wrote:

Dakota wrote: that is unless you are a jetpack fan like some people we know... :jango:

Like me!

As for attaching effects to hardpoints I know there is something in the FAQ somewhere on the many hundreds of pages of GT... one will just have to look around.

we've thought of that, if we attach an effect to a hardpoint though it will be permanently on. we are trying to figure out how to move where the jetpack effect is centered.

Oh, ok, I get you know. And I don't have a clue how to move the jetpack. Good luck, hopefully you get something working.

Dakota wrote:how would i do that?


also a second question, anyone notice how the thrusters on vehicles have effects that change size while flying? would i be able to attach effects to the feet set up like the thrusters on starfighters so that it would be a small effect when not going fast and then a big effect when flying or do the thruster lines not work on units, only vehicles?

edit: doesn't work

You may want to simply make the unit into a flyer or hover, though you wouldn't be able to immediately spawn as it. Actually, hmm... Maybe you could create a sort of a dummy unit that, when units spawn as it, those units would be forced into the vehicle. Hmm, this is a concept that I must try... "I'll be back..."