[C#] Can't manage to draw particle FX

[ikt]

Hey there,

 

I'm trying to draw particle FX in C#, but it simply does not seem to show up. The exact same code _does_ work in another mod in C++, so I must be calling a wrong function, I think.

 

First, the C++ variant, which works.

 

// PtfxHandles is a vector of ints, gV has a valid Vehicle member, boneIdxs is also a vector of ints
                RequestEffectLibrary("veh_impexp_rocket");
                GRAPHICS::_USE_PARTICLE_FX_ASSET_NEXT_CALL("veh_impexp_rocket");
                gV.PtfxHandles[i] = GRAPHICS::_START_PARTICLE_FX_LOOPED_ON_ENTITY_BONE(
                    "veh_rocket_boost",
                    gV.Vehicle,
                    -0.15f, 0.0f, 0.0f,
                    0.0f, 0.0f, -90.0f,
                    boneIdxs[i], 1.5f,
                    false, false, false);
                GRAPHICS::SET_PARTICLE_FX_LOOPED_EVOLUTION(gV.PtfxHandles[i], "boost", 0.0f, 0);
                GRAPHICS::SET_PARTICLE_FX_LOOPED_EVOLUTION(gV.PtfxHandles[i], "charge", 1.0f, 0);
                GRAPHICS::SET_PARTICLE_FX_LOOPED_ALPHA(gV.PtfxHandles[i], 255);

void RequestEffectLibrary(const char* lib) {
    STREAMING::REQUEST_NAMED_PTFX_ASSET((char*)lib);
    while (!STREAMING::HAS_NAMED_PTFX_ASSET_LOADED((char*)lib))
        WAIT(0);
}

 

And the C# variant, which does not work.

 

                    RequestEffectLibrary("veh_impexp_rocket");
                    Function.Call(Hash._0x6C38AF3693A69A91, "veh_impexp_rocket"); //USE_PARTICLE_FX_ASSET
                    v.PtfxHandles[i] = Function.Call<int>(Hash._START_PARTICLE_FX_LOOPED_ON_ENTITY_BONE,
                        "veh_rocket_boost",
                        v.Vehicle,
                        -0.15f, 0.0f, 0.0f,
                        0.0f, 0.0f, -90.0f,
                        boneIdxs[i], 1.5f,
                        false, false, false);
                    Function.Call(Hash.SET_PARTICLE_FX_LOOPED_EVOLUTION, v.PtfxHandles[i], "boost", 0.0f, 0);
                    Function.Call(Hash.SET_PARTICLE_FX_LOOPED_EVOLUTION, v.PtfxHandles[i], "charge", 1.0f, 0);
                    Function.Call(Hash.SET_PARTICLE_FX_LOOPED_ALPHA, v.PtfxHandles[i], 255);

    void RequestEffectLibrary(string lib)
    {
        Function.Call(Hash.REQUEST_NAMED_PTFX_ASSET, lib);
        while (!Function.Call<bool>(Hash.HAS_NAMED_PTFX_ASSET_LOADED, lib))
            Wait(0);
    }

I really don't see (pun not intended) what's going on. It seems the particle effect is spawned, as my car was set on fire, but no visual effects were drawn.

 

[Guest]

I haven't used the native to put particles on a vehicle bone, so I've not used those evolution natives... well, other than the alpha one. I honestly can't see why that wouldn't work, unless it's getting hung up in that RequestEffectLibrary function.

 

I've got _SET_PTFX_ASSET_NEXT_CALL in my code, which is just the same as _0x6C38AF3693A69A91 from what I can see.

 

The only other difference is my request code is slightly different but that shouldn't really matter. I do this:

	Function.Call(Hash.REQUEST_NAMED_PTFX_ASSET, FxLibrary);

	if (Function.Call<bool>(Hash.HAS_NAMED_PTFX_ASSET_LOADED, FxLibrary))
	{
		// Spawn the particle code here...
	}

So it's not waiting for it to load, it just doesn't spawn anything until it does.

 

Unless the calls through SHVDN work slightly different, I'm not too sure.

 

Edit: Well I have tried several different ways now and I can't get that effect to appear either. Then again, I don't know if it's for a specific vehicle and a specific bone. I tried it on the voltic2 and the exhaust bone. The particle gets generated, because it creates a valid ID but I get nothing visible.

 

Another Edit: I noticed there's also a _START_PARTICLE_FX_LOOPED_ON_ENTITY_BONE_2 but I can't get it to work with that either.

Edited April 29, 2019 by Guest

[ikt]

I'm incredibly stupid. The function is SET_PARTICLE_FX_LOOPED_ALPHA(int ptfxHandle, float alpha).

 

Alpha should be between 0.0f and 1.0f. Not 0 and 255.

 

It probably just happened to work in C++ because it implicitly set it to 255.0f. Not sure what it did with my 255, probably turn it into its integer representation.

 

Thank you for taking a look at it and confirming the rest was good.

[Guest]

How on earth did I miss that? I wouldn't mind, in my ground effects, I have this:

public void EvolveAlpha()
{
	Alpha = Math.Max(Math.Min(Alpha, 1f), .1f);
	Function.Call(Hash.SET_PARTICLE_FX_LOOPED_ALPHA, ID, Alpha);
}

But I store all the colours in XML like this, because they're easier to understand as colour values.

<Colour>250,240,219,64</Colour>

I must have looked at the XML and thought... 64, that's an int, so 255 must be right. Glad you figured it out anyway.

Edited April 30, 2019 by Guest