Campfire mod

[EggChen]

Guys there is a campfire mod here, basically it disables and starts campfires only when an NPC is sitting nearby.

http://www.gsc-game.com/main.php?t=comm ... =16#237026

It works very well but one problem. If you are by the fire when an NPC arrives/leaves the switch is instant.

I wondered, any scripter think they could tweak it so that the change only happens if the Actor is over a certain distance away? I've been looking at the functions in the AI pack armour script to see how they did it, but I have not figured it out yet.

[Matt_B]

would it be possible to have a transition included in the fire effect, like have the particle textures fade in/out, or gradually spawn?

[EggChen]

Possibly, I'll have a look at it.

The problem though is the light is seperate to the particle. So that would turn on instantly still... either way good idea, I'll try it.

Still, I still use this mod as I feel the odd occasion you see "the switch" is not too bad compared to finding deserted camps.

[nandersen]

Perhaps the checking and switching on/off of the fire could happen only as the player approaches the camp i.e. comes within the switch distance?

[EggChen]

To be sure, I think it should be a script change rather than a particle tweak.

I looked at the particle tweak, you can improve the start of a fire, but when it is switched off, the fire dies instantly... still does not look good.

I would say either your idea nanderson, or my earlier one, using a function like the ai pack armor script... deny the change while the actor is within a certain distance.

You think you could do either of those?

[EggChen]

I have found the latest version of this mod, unfortunately I don't speak Russian....

However, looking at the script changes and the particle file included it seems the switch on/off of the fire does not happen instantly anymore. There is an inbuilt timer in the xr_Kamp function now.

When a camp was vacated, the fire died slowly, probably about 1 minute or so... have not seen a camp populated yet to see how the fire starts now. Either way, definite improvement.

Here you go : http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?3zjyiydm4ym

[Nightwatch]

Good idea, I was tempted by it, but now I'm having second thoughts. I'm thinking that when approaching a Camp, even it's empty, the burning campfire gives a sort of a "recently occupied place" -not abandoned long ago- where the residents may return at any time. It helps to keep the tension up.

[EggChen]

Its pretty good, but the inclusion of a particle.xr makes it a bitch to merge!!! If you try it out, and think of adding it to NEWSA, let me know. I have done my own campfire particles for the start and death of the fire

I have now seen the start of a campfire, no NPC animation or anything, but the campfire grows slowly, almost the reverse effect of the dying campfire.

It will never be perfect, because the script switches on/off the anomaly at a certain point, which switches on/off the light. So the light does not just fade in/out like the flame particles. Still it works to prevent the worst problems....

You can now talk to a loner by a campfire, and the fire does not switch off instantly. Or if a camp detects a threat, the fire does not magically turn off while they run away. Also, yes the dying campfire is a sure sign of recent activity.

[Nightwatch]

Thanks for the additional info, and fr your offer of help to include it into the particle.xr. that's an offre no san eperson should refure.
The Kampfire Mod (correct spelling? with K not C?) sounds really interesting, but at this point I think I'm finding a perpetual burning fire more attractive as I believe it gives an impression that people may still be around, though the camp itself at that time may be empty. To keep the vanilla style permanent fire is visually nice as well, I believe, as it looks spooky (in a nice way) to approach a place with a burning campfire from a distance.

[EggChen]

Well if anyone tries this mod out let me know, I have just rebuilt the "death" of the fire, the campfire mod had about 4 or 5 different sizes of fire which gradually die out to leave smoke....

So far mine has about 25 different stages of fire overlapping and fading out, I may have got carried away.

Just need to rebuild the fire "birth" in the same way, luckily it is just rearranging the order of the 25 effects.

Unfortunately, it is built into my particle file (which is a modified PE3 file). So it would be an absolute bitch to merge, but if you don't use something like NEWSA or AMK, the file could be dropped in easily enough.

Let me know if you want it (its pretty good if I do say so myself).

Nightwatch - If you ever change your mind, I could add it to NEWSA

[Nightwatch]

Thanks, It's assuring to know that your expertise is always there buddy.

[ket]

I looked at this mod - I don't like it. It needs changing so campfires are not so willing to go out. For example a script with some kind of timed event would be perfect, if a NPC does not return to the fire within 30 minutes (in-game not real time) the campfire starts to go out. This way instead of fires switching on and off like light switches things would seem much more natural, some campfires burned out, others not.

[shadow_state]

Hey Egg, buddy, great find. I remember testing the old version of this.

But, how do I get this to work with my Reb version of PE3?

[EggChen]

Hey shadow, nice to see you here!!

Well good and bad news I'm afraid buddy. I built a (in my opinion) better version of the fire effects (birth and death) into PE3. However it does not have your custom Electro effect in it. Unfortunately at the moment I cannot add it either, I am on a crappy laptop with no access to Stalker or the SDK.

So you could use it, but would lose your effect. Unless some kind soul could tweak the particle file for you. It is actually really easy to add your effect into PE3, simply tweaking my electro and pointing it at the ball lightning effect in vanilla.

As for using it, well you just would need to add/merge the scripts into Reb, I found it pretty easy to do. Let me know if you need the PE3 files and I'll e-mail them. I'd even be happy to help you tweak the electro effect, but it would all be from memory at the moment, and you would need the SDK.

FYI - Reason I can't help further is my PSU "popped" taking my motherboard with it, and I am trying to RMA & rebuild, etc. Could be a couple more weeks

Edit: In response to Ket's comments, it still is not perfect, but with my tweaked effects and script (I increased the timing) the campfire takes much longer to die out, so you never really see the switch anymore. I agree though it would be better, and simpler if this switch only ever happened at a distance greater than switch_distance for example, that way you would never see it.

[shadow_state]

Soz to hear about your rig bro,

Yeah, that is a kind offer. If you could send me the new PE file and a link to a tutorial on how to do it, and your new script file, that would be fantastic.

I had it merged in sweet as, but it crashed as soon as the first time a fire died out and it went looking for it's particle.

[EggChen]

Thanks buddy, you'll have mail later.

[Russo]

whatever i look, i find something similar, i have something similar, but its by day/night cycle, also the player can active campfire, u can see in one of my videos.

so maybe if u make it work by day/night, it would fix range problem and would look better, dunno, though in my version it also check player position, but i didnt make any effect .

[EggChen]

That sounds like a good idea too, makes sense to light them at night.

I'm interested in the check player position bit (no need for blushes, that check probably means you don't need a transition effect).

I'll take a look at your script when you release, but it may be beyond me to understand it.