ELSC (File Format)
This file format is almost completely documented Properties beyond MP1 need to be discovered and documented |
The ELSC particle script format is used to build electrical effects in the Metroid Prime series. Electrical effects are commonly used to dynamically draw lightning and electrical arcs.
Whenever a new particle instance is generated, a Bézier curve is subdivided into segments. The central vertices are then displaced using a random fractal algorithm. The instance's color and line-width is updated over its lifetime.
Properties
Particle generator properties are assembled into a particle script
file tagged with ELSM
. Any of the following properties are loaded into a
description class for constructing an arbitrary number of particle generators.
FourCC | Type | Description | Scope | Notes | MP1 | MP2 | MP3 | DKCR | DKCTF |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
LIFE | IntElement | Particle System Lifetime | System Init | Count of frames to emit new particle instances | ✔ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ |
SLIF | IntElement | Segment Lifetime | Particle Creation | Count of frames for newly generated instance to last | ✔ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ |
GRAT | RealElement | Generation Rate | System Update | Count of particles to generate per frame; remainder is accumulated across updates | ✔ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ |
SCNT | IntElement | Instance Count | System Init | Maximum count of particle instances and child generators for system | ✔ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ |
SSEG | IntElement | Segment Count | System Init | Maximum count of line segments per instance | ✔ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ |
COLR | ColorElement | Swoosh Color | Particle Creation and Update | Modulation color evaluated for swoosh-based instances | ✔ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ |
IEMT | EmitterElement | Initial Emitter | Particle Creation | Position source for instance start-point; Velocity is used to form Bézier points to curve instance | ✔ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ |
FEMT | EmitterElement | Final Emitter | Particle Creation | Position source for instance end-point; Velocity is used to form Bézier points to curve instance | ✔ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ |
AMPL | RealElement | Length Amplitude | Particle Creation | Randomized coefficient of fractal displacement as product of recursive segment length | ✔ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ |
AMPD | RealElement | Direct Amplitude | Particle Creation | Separately randomized coefficient of fractal displacement | ✔ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ |
LWD1 | RealElement | Line Width 1 | Particle Creation and Update | Enables line 1 (overdrawn with same verts) and specifies its width in 480p pixels | ✔ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ |
LWD2 | RealElement | Line Width 2 | Particle Creation and Update | Enables line 2 (overdrawn with same verts) and specifies its width in 480p pixels | ✔ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ |
LWD3 | RealElement | Line Width 3 | Particle Creation and Update | Enables line 3 (overdrawn with same verts) and specifies its width in 480p pixels | ✔ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ |
LCL1 | ColorElement | Line Color 1 | Particle Creation and Update | Specifies line 1's color | ✔ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ |
LCL2 | ColorElement | Line Color 1 | Particle Creation and Update | Specifies line 2's color | ✔ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ |
LCL3 | ColorElement | Line Color 1 | Particle Creation and Update | Specifies line 3's color | ✔ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ |
SSWH | SWHC | Child Swoosh | System Init | Use swoosh system to draw effect; computed fractal points are set into swoosh's history; Omitting LWD* properties will only draw the swoosh | ✔ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ |
GPSM | PART | Start Child Particle | System Init | Draw particle system positioned at instance's start-point | ✔ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ |
EPSM | PART | End Child Particle | System Init | Draw particle system positioned at instance's end-point | ✔ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ |
ZERY | bool | Zero Y | Particle Creation | Zero Y component of newly created particle vertices | ✔ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ |