To use a particle effect in the
game, it needs to be exported. Open a particle effect and select
Export from the File menu. The effect is exported into a .RPS (Realtime
Particle Set) which is a stand-alone file, containing the bitmaps and the
needed parameters.
If you have created a large
set of particle effects and bitmaps and then modify one bitmap set, it can
get difficult to re-export them all. To help with this, you can export
particle effects with a command line. You can create a batch file, which
exports all the particles to their respective folders. Here is an example
export command line (NOTE: this is only an example; the paths and
directories need to correspond your setup).
-
ParticleFX.exe -y -e "\particle effects\fire\*.pse"
-d "\database\particles\fire\"
After the effects have been
exported, they need to be plugged into the game’s database thru the
particle script file. This file (particles.txt) can be found in the
game’s data\database\particles\ directory.
Once in the game, the effects are
started with the ps_starteffect message. For further info, consult
the level editor documentation.