WorldBuilding/MissionEditor/Adding Precipitation

From TDN

This page is a Work In Progress.

Introduction

Environment effects are really useful for doing Rain, Snow, and just about anything else that can fall from the sky in large amounts.

[edit]

PrecipitationData

In order for precipitation to work in the engine, you need to add a PrecipitationData datablock somewhere in script. Some versions of Torque have environment.cs already, which is where I suggest you put it. If you don't, then you can create a new one by going to "./[Mod]/Server/Scripts" and adding it there. Don't forget to exec the script in Game.cs!

An example of a PrecipitationData datablock:

datablock PrecipitationData(myRain)
{
   dropTexture = "~/data/enviroment/myRainDrop";
   splashTexture = "~/data/enviroment/myRainSplash";
   dropSize = 10;
   splashSize = 0.1;
   useTrueBillboards = false;
   splashMS = 250;
};

The example above creates myRain, assigns the drop and splash textures, and the sizes for both. You can edit useTrueBillboards and splashMS, but it isn't really needed.

[edit]

Adding it to your Mission

We now need to specify in your mission file the precipitation that is being used. An example:

   new Precipitation(rain) {
      position = "0 0 0"; //Doesn't matter where it goes
      rotation = "1 0 0 0"; //Doesn't matter either
      scale = "1 1 1"; 
      nameTag = "Rain"; //Give it a name
      dataBlock = "myRain"; //Use the datablock that we created earlier
      minSpeed = "12"; //How Slow?
      maxSpeed = "19"; // How fast?
      minMass = "0.05"; //How small?
      maxMass = "5"; //How Big?
      maxTurbulence = "0.1"; //How turbulent?
      turbulenceSpeed = "0.2";
      rotateWithCamVel = "1"; // Do you want the precipitation to always face the camera?
      useTurbulence = "1";
      numDrops = "2000"; // How many drops should be seen at once? Be careful with this one!
      boxWidth = "30";
      boxHeight = "50";
      doCollision = "1"; //Want the precipitation to go through interiors?
   };

Look at the comments, and determine what your settings should be.

[edit]