Particles

Optimizations

Particle handling has been greatly optimized in Ares. Pixel particles – that is types having BehavesLike= set to either Spark or Railgun – were known to cause lag even with relatively few particles involved. That is, even sparse railgun beams created a noticeable slowdown. Also, Smoke particles are created frequently throughout a game.

In Ares the optimization is activated automatically if all of the following are true. If any one is false, the optimization will not be applied and the particles will be handled like in earlier versions. That is, mixing and matching is still possible.

1. [ParticleSystem]►BehavesLike= is either Spark, Railgun, or Smoke
2. The ParticleType set as [ParticleSystemType]►HoldsWhat= has the exact same setting
3. The ParticleType does not use alpha images or line trailers

Note

Note that mixing Spark and Railgun will prevent the optimization from being applied.

The game’s existing particles have been optimized also, and even if the optimization is not applied, particles will be handled more efficiently.

New in version 0.C.

Changed in version 0.D.

Damage Range for Gas Particles

Gas particles could only damage objects residing on the same cell as itself, no matter how big the particle’s image was. Ares allows customizing this.

[ParticleType]►DamageRange= (double - cells)

The particle damage is applied to all objects in this range around the gas particle. If less or equal to 0.0, all objects in the cell the gas particle is on are affected. Each object is affected at most once. Defaults to 0.0.

New in version 0.C.

Custom Palettes for Shape Particles

Particles drawing shape images – that is types having BehavesLike= set to Gas, Smoke, or Fire – now support to be drawn using a custom palette.

[ParticleType]►Palette= (filename with .pal extension)

The palette used to draw an image particle of this type. Defaults to ANIM.PAL.

New in version 0.C.