Aligned VFX for NPC/player customization: Overhyped or underused?

[Legacy_OldTimeRadio]

               Or somewhere in between?

The idea sounds really promising but I'm wondering how hard you can lean on it before the wheels pop off.  Are there downsides to using lots of aligned VFX on a player/NPC/creature/etc. to customize it?  If so, what are they?  Any specific to a multiplayer environment?

I've gathered that if you want to do lots of aligned VFX on a player there's some trickery with GetEffectCreator() and creating objects to apply the effect so you can remove specific effects as you need to.  Which is good.  I also understand the effects probably need to be applied in a certain way and may need to be re-applied in certain circumstances.  Okay.

But I've also read some comments (which I may be taking out of context) which imply that as creatures/NPC's/players move into and out of visual range the effects might get screwed up?

Those are the two big issues I can think of.  Are there others?  What experience do you folks have with doing such a thing?

Thank you!
               
               

               

                     Modifié par OldTimeRadio, 27 octobre 2012 - 04:38 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_WebShaman]

               Well, no shiny metal colors - a big *bleh*  Also, the amount of work involved just to get something done in multiple colors - not very user friendly (for the Player, that is).

On the other hand, it is the ONLY way to get open faced helms to work, currently.  And basically I think vfx's have almost unlimited "slots" - so one just has to do the work.  And there are a lot of things one could do with vfx's - like beards, mustaches, make-up, facial tatoos, smoking pipes, glasses, etc.  If one was up to it, one could basically do everything facially, I guess.  Just have sort of a blank head (totally) and have vfx eyes, lips, eyebrows, hair, etc.  Would probably be a ton of work, however.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_NWN_baba yaga]

               i know a few cases where it adds some ambience to the game. When someone smokes a pipe or the use of the cold-breath effect in very cold areas. For dragons and other fire spitting creatures some smoke coming out their nostrils. Nasty undeads with a green/ brown smell vfx out their deseased mouth, etc. or yeah dog pee lol

...uhem i totaly misread your thread OTR...customisations '>
               
               

               

                     Modifié par NWN_baba yaga, 29 octobre 2012 - 10:04 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_henesua]

               I really like them.
One example: TAD uses them well in Aenea. Instead of changing the neck slot for a quiver, he uses a VFX. The advantage is that it causes less lag than the neck component option. When you switch body parts, all other clients get a little lag. VFX does not cause this problem AFAIK.

Another example - the horns in Ippenshiers  are very nice to play with. In Arnheim it added pizaz to goblin-touched characters... and potentially I can use different appearance types as the head aligned VFX is the key element and works on all the typical ones for PCs.

There are so many uses for them too. I;d like a the ability to VFX familiars on shoulders etc.... And I wish there were more nodes, like hands and feet for swapping on and off different things.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_OldTimeRadio]

               Thanks for the replies, everyone!

So aside from actually wrangling these effects from a scripting standpoint, it doesn't seem like there are any big potholes?  If this really is the case, could be a heck of a CCC theme.  Just little model tchotchkes for aligned VFX.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par OldTimeRadio, 01 novembre 2012 - 12:05 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Pearls]

               im sure theres something to do with scaling and animations that resulted in us using much less vfx than planned, i dont do 3d models though
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Asymmetric]

               Only drawback I can think of, is that sometimes they are not removed correctly using the RemoveEffect() function. The effect is actually removed (i.e you cannot find it via GetFirstEffect() and GetNextEffect() ), but it is sometimes still displayed on the client side. That is true for every VFX and is usually fixed after an area transistion. So it's not really a serious issue.

I once ran into problems while scripting a small riddle using the VFX_BEAM_* effects on placeables. I was applying them to placeable and ended up destroying them, when I needed to remove the effect as RemoveEffect() is unreliable.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Asymmetric, 01 novembre 2012 - 11:45 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_henesua]

               Good to know. Thanks, Asymmetric.