Better Smoke V22 for DCS 2.9

Taz, any chance you can do anything with the water 'eruptions'? They also seem a touch over the top. Ta

Didn't realize so many people had issues with all kinds of particles. Hope is to get to them all... eventually.

Another revelation... you can't modify existing textures but you can "add" new textures without breaking IC? I tested this for couple minutes but can anyone confirm this? Just add new image (or copy existing one) in

C:\Program Files\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World OpenBeta\Bazar\ParticleEffects\textures\

And see if you run into any issues during MP? Make sure the server you join has pure texture "Yes"

If this is true, I really don't see what the point is. If you can add new textures and edit the lua that points to the texture without breaking IC. Maybe I'll get banned for exploiting IC.

But I think this is implemented because of clouds. Someone probably exploited the clouds by removing them to give them advantage during dogfights. ED blocked the cloud.lua then people exploited the cloud textures. And ED decided to block all textures... is my guess. Because cloud.lua is only lua blocked in Config/Effects/ParticleSystem2

Awesome smoke stuff! I love it! :pilotfly:

An infinitely major improvement over default, V3 should be the new and ONLY norm.

Preview of vehicle dust. Thanks to those who suggested vehicle dust. Didn't realize how ridiculous they were.

I tried to make the dust trail longer and bigger but more transparent. So visibility isn't sacrificed too much from distance. Default dust for tank actually disappears at 1500 meters and I increased it to 7000 meters so visibility from distance is actually improved.

All these are achieved by tweaking some numbers in lua files. I really wouldn't mind if ED takes these values and implement in default so people don't have to download a mod.

In exchange for some cool forum title :music_whistling:

But then there are so many more to tweak... yet.

Taz, any chance you can do anything with the water 'eruptions'? They also seem a touch over the top. Ta

BTW, what's water eruptions? When shells hit the water?

Thanks alot Taz for your work, it´s incredible how much more immersion the new version provides ingame.

Thank you Taz. Got to try it yesterday. AWESOME!!!! Finally it looks like a battlefield!!!

Cheers!

Sent from my ANE-LX1 using Tapatalk

Excellent!!

Great job TAZ!! :thumbup::thumbup:

looks so much better smoke...or should it be called "Best Smoke" Mod :)

Thank you for the Vehicle dust too!! looking great!! since KUKY and somewhat by Mustang, no has touched it... looks way more realistic now!!

I think the (fireVehicle) smoke is a bit too grey than black, it turns grey too early.

maybe you can increase a bit the black smoke height before it turns grey?

Can you control how long each type of vehicle burns and/or type of fire? so they wont all look the same. (I think I've seen it in some file/mod before)

edit : in config\world\world.lua

So much negelction by ED for years now... they should be thanking you by adopting your work into the game and reward you like some skinners I know of... (with miles, not money, but still)...

Or hire you... :smilewink:

[Don't get me wrong - I love ED for DCS, but they could have done so much better with the core sim by now.

At least Nick Grey is taking some positive action now. we'll see....]

Cheers

Please Taz, improve helicopter dust... please please.

Your work is amazing better tress+better smoke, thank you for improving the realism and inmersion :thumbup:

This whole Taz1004's improvement project gave me an idea which has bothered me for a while.

Is there any way to improve the jet wash effect on ground? I mean that dust and water spray which comes from the engines when aircraft pulls hard up on very low altitudes, creating dust clouds etc on ground. Currently it's mostly very weak and doesn't work at all on certain surfaces and aircrafts.

This whole Taz1004's improvement project gave me an idea which has bothered me for a while.

Is there any way to improve the jet wash effect on ground? I mean that dust and water spray which comes from the engines when aircraft pulls hard up on very low altitudes, creating dust clouds etc on ground. Currently it's mostly very weak and doesn't work at all on certain surfaces and aircrafts.

Possibly. Problem is I don't think I have any jets that can create jet wash. I only have A10C, Blackshark and Caucasus. I only came back to DCS 3 months ago ;)

Played LOMAC, FC, Blackshark and been absent for long time. If you can create that effect with Frogfoot, please send me a track file and I'll see if I can do anything.

Otherwise, maybe once I buy another jet. But I usually buy new one after I'm done playing previous ones and I haven't even had enough time to play the A10C and Blackshark since I've been modding most of the time. Or perhaps during a free trial :lol:

Given your work on trees and now this, I'm sure the community would happily all chip in to a "Taz module fund"

Given your work on trees and now this, I'm sure the community would happily all chip in to a "Taz module fund"

Can't accept that. Then I'd be obligated :D

Good point

Is it just me or the new smoke do not follow wind direction?

Is it just me or the new smoke do not follow wind direction?

Seems to be working for me. Just tested with 10 m/s wind.

Great job TAZ!! :thumbup::thumbup:

looks so much better smoke...or should it be called "Best Smoke" Mod :)

 

Thank you for the Vehicle dust too!! looking great!! since KUKY and somewhat by Mustang, no has touched it... looks way more realistic now!!

 

I think the (fireVehicle) smoke is a bit too grey than black, it turns grey too early.

maybe you can increase a bit the black smoke height before it turns grey?

Can you control how long each type of vehicle burns and/or type of fire? so they wont all look the same. (I think I've seen it in some file/mod before)

edit : in config\world\world.lua

 

So much negelction by ED for years now... they should be thanking you by adopting your work into the game and reward you like some skinners I know of... (with miles, not money, but still)...

Or hire you... :smilewink:

 

[Don't get me wrong - I love ED for DCS, but they could have done so much better with the core sim by now.

At least Nick Grey is taking some positive action now. we'll see....]

 

Cheers

Thanks for the feedback. Brightness... really depends on the setting and lighting. As you can see from screenshot above and from my videos, they're fairly dark. It could be that my gamma is on the lower end of scale. Also some shader mods seems to brighten them too. And then they're supposed to go grey as they age.

The World.lua file, Kuky didn't adjust any burn time except KAMAZ truck's fire which was set at 10 by default. And increased burn time for unlisted vehicles which I don't think is relevant. And he increased trash on ground time and changed dates by season. Maybe I'll adjust burn time later but I have nothing to go by as far as how long something's supposed to burn. Would fuel truck burn longer than SAM or Artillery? By how much? IDK...

As for them being neglected, maybe not. Maybe they gave them too much attention... sorta. There are 6 or 7 ParticleEffects, ParticleSystems and Effects folder scattered around the main directory. And they're all slightly different particle system and most of them seems to be obsolete. Makes it difficult for me to track down the source of correct particles. I think I saw some FumeFX files too but could be wrong.

I can only guess but I think whenever something needed to be improved, they implement new system. When all it needed was some tweaking. The tank dust for example, had particles that was shooting into the ground. I can understand that ED are busy with bugs and new modules and stuff tho.

Possibly. Problem is I don't think I have any jets that can create jet wash. I only have A10C, Blackshark and Caucasus. I only came back to DCS 3 months ago ;)

Played LOMAC, FC, Blackshark and been absent for long time. If you can create that effect with Frogfoot, please send me a track file and I'll see if I can do anything.

 

Otherwise, maybe once I buy another jet. But I usually buy new one after I'm done playing previous ones and I haven't even had enough time to play the A10C and Blackshark since I've been modding most of the time. Or perhaps during a free trial :lol:

Tried it with Su-25T in Caucasus. Managed to get some dust in the air, water was not so successful.

test.trk

As far as I know, diesel burns for hours. A burning car left alone, will really burn a long time. Don't know about armour though. My 2 cents.

Cheers!

Sent from my ANE-LX1 using Tapatalk

I tried out v3 today and it's pretty nice, but the burn/smoke times need to be upped by a lot imo.

The v4 dust trails look amazing! Can't wait for those.

Seems to be working for me. Just tested with 10 m/s wind.

Hmmm, I'll double check with my mission parameters then. I reverted to the default smoke, just to verify the default did follow wind.

I'll give it another shot when I'm back from work.

Thank you for the amazing mod.

Tried it with Su-25T in Caucasus. Managed to get some dust in the air, water was not so successful.

Thanks for the track file. That smoke is actually same ridiculous smoke as helicopter dust. Unfortunately, the file is encrypted. And I am fairly certain that is old particle system and never been updated.

/Bazar/Effects/PFX/high/smokecloud.pfx

I've been searching for a source that is calling that pfx to see if I can replace it with another but so far unsuccessful. Next step is to find the texture that particle is calling and reduce its opacity but that will most likely run into IC issues.

For now, we just have to hope ED updates that particle or just delete that file if it's annoying.

Does that happen on all maps? Not just Caucasus correct?

Not sure what it's from, but I couldn't help but notice as I was circling for another round of attacks, there were bursts of smoke coming from the target area and it was the same particle animation as when a target gets hit... the initial wide plume before the burning starts, but nothing was getting hit. It almost looked like tanks were "popping smoke". I had engaged some targets previously, perhaps it was happening as vehicles finished burning out, but it was quite noticeable, 2 or 3 puffs of smoke around the area for no apparent reason. Anyone else notice? I'll try and get a track.

Not sure what it's from, but I couldn't help but notice as I was circling for another round of attacks, there were bursts of smoke coming from the target area and it was the same particle animation as when a target gets hit... the initial wide plume before the burning starts, but nothing was getting hit. It almost looked like tanks were "popping smoke". I had engaged some targets previously, perhaps it was happening as vehicles finished burning out, but it was quite noticeable, 2 or 3 puffs of smoke around the area for no apparent reason. Anyone else notice? I'll try and get a track.

No need for track. I'm aware and already been fixed for v4. Just missed a value.