[SOLVED] How to make descending smoke

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Sat42
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[SOLVED] How to make descending smoke

Post by Sat42 »

Hey everyone,

I was playing with smoke generators - technically in UED2.1, but it should be the same in UED2.0 (and I am making a map compatible with UT99) - and I realised that:
- no matter the rising velocity value, the smoke puffs rise at the same speed (0.01, 2 or 1000 - all the same result) but I can live with that
- the smoke only ascends, negative "rising velocity" does not change anything

Is there a way to make the smoke/vapour descend rather than ascend? I want some cooling vapours to descend from a ceiling fan.

NB: I have the smoke generator with bRepeating = True and TotalNumPuffs = 0, tied to a TT_PlayerProximity Trigger set to bTriggerOnceOnly = False so that the smoke is generated continuously (as long as you are within sight of the smoke generator). Just saying in case there is a known bug tied to that setup (for the fixed rising velocity I mean).

Thanks for any help!
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TexasGtar
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Re: How to make descending smoke

Post by TexasGtar »

This is probably not what you are asking but I used a sheet brush with a smoke texture from XbpFX and made it go down in my Bishops Palace map. I don't know how to make smoke from a smoke generator go down. It might be a work around for you to try out and see if it will work for what you are trying to do.
If you want to look at the map it is in it is my DOM-CTC-TheBishopsPalace. You have to go down to the dungeon and find the arc of the covenant to see it but it is just a panning texture , no need to get the big map file to see a texture on a sheet brush, but it looks like smoke going down. Good luck to you in your quest for the answer.
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Sat42
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Re: How to make descending smoke

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TexasGtar wrote: Wed May 20, 2020 1:52 pm This is probably not what you are asking but I used a sheet brush with a smoke texture from XbpFX and made it go down in my Bishops Palace map. I don't know how to make smoke from a smoke generator go down. It might be a work around for you to try out and see if it will work for what you are trying to do.
If you want to look at the map it is in it is my DOM-CTC-TheBishopsPalace. You have to go down to the dungeon and find the arc of the covenant to see it but it is just a panning texture , no need to get the big map file to see a texture on a sheet brush, but it looks like smoke going down. Good luck to you in your quest for the answer.
Hey TexasGtar, thanks for your answer! Indeed, a panning texture won't do in my case, but it is a cool little trick for specific situations which I haven't seen used elsewhere so - I am going to download your map :tu:

Cheers, and yes I hope there'll be a more general solution for descending fumes/vapours.
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Re: How to make descending smoke

Post by papercoffee »

In my Mansion of Chaos map there is a actor used which produces rain inside a building ...we made it so that the rain could also run in opposite direction.
Maybe you can use some of those tricks we pulled of there.
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=12402 The Map
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=12450&p=101605 And the Spoilers.

Play this map alone without bots ...it's more an exploration thing.
Visit the rooms often ...you'll see why. ;)
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Re: How to make descending smoke

Post by Swanky »

It's been a while since I've used those. You might probably want to use either particle effects. I'm not sure which is which anymore but there is a particle system out there, and I've used an actor called JPparticleeffect in my CTF maps (Selket and Peak17). Not sure which is associated with jumppack.u (probably none) and which one is particle effects 42 or 43 (which are what I found in my System folder). Hopefully someone can clear that up (@feralidragon), but that's probably what you're looking for.

€ It's also rusty, but wouldn't an inverted smoke generator actor work, too?
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Re: How to make descending smoke

Post by sektor2111 »

What happens if you are using SmokeHose and SmokeHoseDest ?
I don't recall to have problems with these. Take a look at script

Code: Select all

class SmokeHose extends Effects;

// Shoots out a stream of RisingSpriteSmokePuffs.  The smoke sprites are shot
// in the direction of the SmokeHoseDest actor with the same Tag as this actors
// Event.  The speed, speedvariance, spawning delay and variance, size and
// size variance, as well as the acceleration of the smoke puffs are adjustable.
// The effect can be initially active all the time, or enabled when the player
// is within a trigger's radius.

var() bool   bInitiallyActive;
var() float  SmokeSpeed;
var() Vector SmokeAccel;
var() float  SmokeDelay;
var() float  SmokeDelayVariance;
var() float  SpeedVariance;
var() float  BasePuffSize;
var() float  SizeVariance;
var() int    TotalNumPuffs;

And they forgot to mention that such actors can start generating whatever stuff by using a TimedTrigger with bRepeating=False instead of X number of triggers.
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Re: How to make descending smoke

Post by Red_Fist »

Yes, I was going to say, they have a smokehouse destination actor.
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TexasGtar
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Re: How to make descending smoke

Post by TexasGtar »

Sat42 wrote: Wed May 20, 2020 2:41 pm

Hey TexasGtar, thanks for your answer! Indeed, a panning texture won't do in my case, but it is a cool little trick for specific situations which I haven't seen used elsewhere so - I am going to download your map :tu:

Cheers, and yes I hope there'll be a more general solution for descending fumes/vapours.
Cool. If you do get the map there is a secret area. I guess after 16 years it is okay to divulge it. lol I can't remember if I deleted the brush work or not in this one. I usually did not but being a mappack I might have to save download times.
Spoiler
But if you see a huge greenish cross with a cross shape cut out of the center, you can translocate at the top of the cross where your translocator hits the top of the cross, then translocate and move forward as you're falling into the cross cut out area to find the secret area. You can't get there by jumping into the cut out of the brush as it is too far away. Then you can explore the 2 areas there. Collect every weapon and ammo and see a couple more religious artifacts.
:mrgreen: You'll find your way back which ever route you take (2 routes - short(burning bush and leap of faith) and long (you'll just have to discover this for yourself)) and you can get back to the fragging. Ps. Don't forget to pay the ferryman in the river of hades or you may not get out. Just kidding. You don't have to pay the ferryman. lol
Sounds like the smoke destination actor the guys were talking about should fix you up. I forgot about those and I think the arc has several of those because there is more smoke that swirls up and at the center of the arc so maybe I used them to get that effect on the top of the arc. Can't remember. That smoke is triggered so if you were defending that DOM point you could see if anyone entered the area by the smoke being triggered when someone entered the area. Anyway, it sounds like the other guys maybe have found a solution for you. Good luck and keep mapping!
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Sat42
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Re: How to make descending smoke

Post by Sat42 »

Hi everyone,

First of all many thanks for all the answers!! My problem is solved :D
sektor2111 wrote: Wed May 20, 2020 3:46 pm What happens if you are using SmokeHose and SmokeHoseDest ?
I don't recall to have problems with these.(...)
Red_Fist wrote: Wed May 20, 2020 7:10 pm Yes, I was going to say, they have a smokehose destination actor.
That's right guys, that was the solution I was looking for! :agree1: Thanks for sharing insights sektor2111!

Now I have the vapour/steam going down from the ceiling fan as planned. Only thing is the SmokeHose does not seem to have an option to have an "infinite" production of puffs (unlike the SmokeGenerator) but well I took inspiration from a Project Zephon map and set the number of puffs to 99999999 so for all intents and purposes, it should not run out :P
TexasGtar wrote: Thu May 21, 2020 12:42 am Cool. If you do get the map there is a secret area. I guess after 16 years it is okay to divulge it. (...)
Sounds like the smoke destination actor the guys were talking about should fix you up. I forgot about those and I think the arc has several of those because there is more smoke that swirls up and at the center of the arc so maybe I used them to get that effect on the top of the arc. Can't remember. That smoke is triggered so if you were defending that DOM point you could see if anyone entered the area by the smoke being triggered when someone entered the area. Anyway, it sounds like the other guys maybe have found a solution for you. Good luck and keep mapping!
Haha thanks for revealing the secret! Great map, with lots of nice views (also in conjunction with the skybox) and a neat, appropriately extravagant ark! Indeed you did use SmokeHose actors and one SmokeHoseDest, not just the panned textures, it all comes together really well. Cheers :)
papercoffee wrote: Wed May 20, 2020 3:28 pm In my Mansion of Chaos map there is a actor used which produces rain inside a building ...we made it so that the rain could also run in opposite direction.
Maybe you can use some of those tricks we pulled of there.
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=12402 The Map
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=12450&p=101605 And the Spoilers.

Play this map alone without bots ...it's more an exploration thing.
Visit the rooms often ...you'll see why. ;)
Thank you for making me discover this one, papercoffee! I think the rain actor in there could come in really useful for some other, more outlandish stuff I am considering :tu: I really like some of the creativity here - good for "haunted house" settings :D that Skybox probably provided the biggest surprise and the paintings' behaviour is quite disturbing!

EDIT:
Swanky wrote: Wed May 20, 2020 3:43 pm It's been a while since I've used those. You might probably want to use either particle effects. I'm not sure which is which anymore but there is a particle system out there, and I've used an actor called JPparticleeffect in my CTF maps (Selket and Peak17). Not sure which is associated with jumppack.u (probably none) and which one is particle effects 42 or 43 (which are what I found in my System folder). Hopefully someone can clear that up (@feralidragon), but that's probably what you're looking for. (...)
I will need to look into particle effects at some point, so thank you Swanky for mentioning examples - I still need to look at Selket and Peak17! I wanted to stick to the standard SmokeHose or SmokeGenerator actors so far, but for more specific stuff the particle system will definitely come in useful. Since I also use Unreal 227 I just have to be mindful of compatibility with UT99 (at least for those projects meant to work with both games, which is my desire so far).
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Re: How to make descending smoke

Post by papercoffee »

Sat42 wrote: Thu May 21, 2020 3:57 pm Thank you for making me discover this one, papercoffee! I think the rain actor in there could come in really useful for some other, more outlandish stuff I am considering :tu: I really like some of the creativity here - good for "haunted house" settings :D that Skybox probably provided the biggest surprise and the paintings' behaviour is quite disturbing!
:mrgreen: did you also discover the Mushroom King?
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Re: [SOLVED] How to make descending smoke

Post by sektor2111 »

Is that MushRoom King capable to do some descending smoke ? I'm in for learning...
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Re: How to make descending smoke

Post by Sat42 »

papercoffee wrote: Thu May 21, 2020 5:56 pm :mrgreen: did you also discover the Mushroom King?
I went back to it today and discovered new things this time, including an "underwater" room and snowmen! Not sure about the Mushroom King, there were 2 statues I already encountered on my first play last time which have giant mushroom headpieces.
It took a bit more playing to fully confirm that it must be the same rooms over and over, just changing over time! Honestly no idea how you managed that, even after taking a little peek in the editor! (some new actors I am not familiar with)

@Swanky: checked out Peak17 - cool use of particle effects and awesome looking map in general (love the Skybox also). :tu:
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Re: [SOLVED] How to make descending smoke

Post by papercoffee »

sektor2111 wrote: Thu May 21, 2020 8:20 pm Is that MushRoom King capable to do some descending smoke ? I'm in for learning...
Well... if you eat too much of those mushrooms, you'll certainly see some descending smoke :mrgreen:
Since your answer already solved OPs request...
Sat42 wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 3:31 pm I went back to it today and discovered new things this time, including an "underwater" room and snowmen! Not sure about the Mushroom King, there were 2 statues I already encountered on my first play last time which have giant mushroom headpieces.
It took a bit more playing to fully confirm that it must be the same rooms over and over, just changing over time! Honestly no idea how you managed that, even after taking a little peek in the editor! (some new actors I am not familiar with)
This was Jack Griffin's magic (a member on this forum). He made those new actors which control each zone and make a set of meshes appear, which where placed beforehand (by me). Each mesh has its own coordinates written in a list and the controller actor will look in the list which combination of meshes are placed for each set-up. :omfg:
When you open MyLevel should be everything there. Free for everyone to use.

The Mushroom King appears in the bottom room. It's one of the rarest set-ups.
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Sat42
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Re: [SOLVED] How to make descending smoke

Post by Sat42 »

papercoffee wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 5:07 pm This was Jack Griffin's magic (a member on this forum). He made those new actors which control each zone and make a set of meshes appear, which where placed beforehand (by me). Each mesh has its own coordinates written in a list and the controller actor will look in the list which combination of meshes are placed for each set-up. :omfg:
When you open MyLevel should be everything there. Free for everyone to use.

The Mushroom King appears in the bottom room. It's one of the rarest set-ups.
Nice! :gj: I will have to play some more to come across the Mushroom King... :)
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Re: [SOLVED] How to make descending smoke

Post by Feralidragon »

There being a way to do what you want without custom packages is generally the best way to at least prevent a 3rd party package dependency.

Having that said, if you end up looking for particle emitters, including weather, I don't know what's out there nowadays, but I do recall that existing emitters years ago were very inefficient in terms of memory, CPU and especially online gameplay (they had an impact in servers).

As such, years ago I developed a small package of mine, which I used in almost all my maps since, with particle generators (including weather), which are very efficient in the fields others generally were not, namely: particles are recycled (so the memory stays exactly the same throughout an entire match), they are completely client-side (meaning that the server doesn't even realize they exist during the match), and they're able to do almost everything you generally require, with a fair number of settings you can tweak.

However, depending on what you may want to do in the end, my own package has its own set of limitations which may justify using something else, namely: you cannot trigger then on and off (they're always on), you cannot provide a custom path for them (think having keypoints where the particles are attracted to or repelled by), etc.
They're fairly basic in those types of use cases.

This is a package that has a lot more things (glowing stuff, dynamic coronas, statues with overlays, etc), but if you want a fairly simple and small particles package, with some stuff like snow and rain already in it, you could try it out.


You can see how it's used in some of my maps released over the years:

CTF-CMC-Kullrena: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=12401
There you can find how to use custom smoke particles (I made them orange in that map to match the lava lighting) and also rain.
The skybox also uses smoke emitters to provide an better atmospheric look (clouds).

CTF-Blice: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13704
It's actually my latest map, and it's meant as something to push the engine to the extreme (hence the lag, especially due to the BSP and all glowing stuff), and there you can find how particle emitters are being used for snow fall, normal smoke, and snowy wind.

DM-48SC-InversalLiandri: https://unrealarchive.org/files/c8/c8a2 ... a624f.html (UnrealArchive link since I cannot find the original thread)
It was the first map using this package, and is the most simple maybe to look at: smoke is being used in a very simple way, but also you have snow and snowy wind.

The name of the package is CSMCXExtras: https://unrealarchive.org/files/c5/c57e ... ef11c.html


But then again, I am not sure if there's something out there which is efficient and offers more options already, but if you don't find anything else and you want to at least do these types of things in a efficient way (hundreds to thousands of particles), this may be the one for you.
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