Explosions
Explosions Overview
Explosions are used to display various types of simulated explosions, including both terrain and water impacts, as well as aerial explosions. Nova supports up to 20 simultaneous explosions. Even though explosions usually have a set duration, they still take up a slot until removed via the Entity Control Packet.
Explosions are not placed when weapon impacts occur or entities are damaged. Nova requires the user place the appropriate explosion. Explosions can be configured with DIS traffic.
Explosions Configuration
No configuration needed to enable explosions.
Explosions ICD Interface
Nova Variable | Description |
|---|---|
explosion_hv[i].index | |
explosion_hv[i].type | The explosion type |
explosion_hv[x].active | Incremental trigger |
explosion_hv[x].parent.type | The type of the parent model |
explosion_hv[x].parent.id | The array index of the parent model |
explosion_hv[x].parent.attachment_point | Predefined point on the parent model. Only supported on |
explosion_hv[x].duration | Duration of explosion/splash |
explosion_hv[x].size | Size of the explosion in meters. A value of 0.0 indicates using the default size |
explosion_hv[x].coord[0] | Latitude in degrees or X offset in meters |
explosion_hv[x].coord[1] | Longitude in degrees or Y offset in meters |
explosion_hv[x].coord[2] | Altitude in feet or Z offset in meters |
Explosion Types
The following table shows all available explosion types in Nova. There are no restrictions on placing explosions based on material or terrain. All types can be placed anywhere in the database.
Type ID CIGI Entity Type | Name | Image |
|---|---|---|
0 | None | n/a |
1 20201 | Aerial White |  |
2 20202 | Aerial Black |  |
3 20203 | Aerial Dynamic |  |
4 20204 | Ground White |  |
5 20205 | Ground Black |  |
6 20206 | Ground Dynamic |  |
7 20207 | Fire |  |
8 20208 | Cluster |  |
9 20209 | Flak |  |
10 20210 | AAA |  |
11 20211 | Water Miss |  |
12 20212 | Water Hit |  |
13 20213 | 500 lb bomb |  |
14 20214 | 2000 lb bomb |  |
15 20215 | Tank |  |
16 20216 | Catapult |  |
17 20217 | Aerial 1 with Particles |  |
18 20218 | Aerial 2 with Particles |  |
19 20219 | Aerial 3 with Particles |  |
20 20220 | Ground 1 with particles |  |
21 20221 | Ground 2 with particles |  |
22 20222 | Ground 3 with Particles |  |
23 20223 | Ground with Particles no fire |  |
24 20224 | Ground with Particles on Dirt no fire |  |
25 20225 | Ground Dirt |  |
26 20226 | Water Splash |  |
27 20227 | Water Surf |  |
Explosions CIGI Packets
Explosions are controlled with an Entity Control packet to place the explosion followed by Component Control packets to specify the duration and size.
Entity Control Packet for Explosions
Entity Control Field | Value and Range | Nova Variable Mapping |
|---|---|---|
Entity ID | Host determined | N/A |
Entity Type | 20201 - 20227 | explosion_hv[i].type |
Parent ID | Valid CIGI Entity ID | explosion_hv[i].parent.type explosion_hv[i].parent.id |
Roll | n/a | no roll |
Pitch | n/a | no pitch |
Yaw | n/a | no yaw |
Latitude / X Offset | degrees if absolute meters if parented | explosion_hv[i].coord[0] |
Longitude / Y Offset | degrees if absolute meters if parented | explosion_hv[i].coord[1] |
Altitude / Z Offset | n/a | explosion_hv[i].coord[2] |
Component Control Packet for Explosions
Component Class: EntityV3 (0) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Comp ID | Field | Value and Range | Nova Variable Mapping |
0 | Parent Attachment Point CompState | ID of attachment point, parent model dependent | explosion_hv[i].parent.attachement_point |
1 | Duration CompData[0] as float | Seconds | explosion_hv[i].duration |
Size CompData[1] as float | Meters | explosion_hv[i].size | |
Explosions FX Tuning
Tuning for Explosions is available within the FX files located at E:\CM\software\[SOFTWARE_VERSION]\data\DB\DB_SYSTEM\DB_SYS_DATA\EXPLOSIONS. In that folder, several FX files are broken down by explosion and channel type. The Explosion_base.fx includes the tokens listed below.
Base Explosion Tuning
Token Name | Value and Range | Description |
|---|---|---|
EXPLOSION_SIZE_1 | 40.0 | Scalar applied to the following explosion(s)
|
EXPLOSION_SIZE_2 | 45.0 | Scalar applied to the following explosion(s)
|
EXPLOSION_SIZE_3 | 50.0 | Scalar applied to the following explosion(s)
|
EXPLOSION_SIZE_4 | 5.0 | Scalar applied to the following explosion(s)
|
EXPLOSION_SIZE_500_PND | 40.0 | Scalar applied to the following explosion(s)
|
EXPLOSION_SIZE_2000_PND | 70.0 | Scalar applied to the following explosion(s)
|
EXPLOSION_FADE_TIME | 0.6 | Controls explosion fade. |
EXPLOSION_FADE_RATE | 0.4 | Controls explosion fade. |
EXPLOSION_LIGHT_COLOR_BIAS | 1.0 | Controls explosion color. |
EXPLOSION_HEAVY_COLOR_SCALE | 0.15 | Controls explosion color. |
EXPLOSION_WHITE_COLOR_BIAS | 1.0 | Controls explosion color. |
EXPLOSION_DIRT_COLOR_SCALE | 0.1 | Controls explosion color. |
EXPLOSION_DIRT_COLOR_BIAS | 1.0 | Controls explosion color. |
EXPLOSION_FIRE_SIZE_SCALE | 0.3 | Controls the size of the explosion's fire. |
EXPLOSION_FIRE_SIZE_BIAS | 0.1 | Controls the size of the explosion's fire. |
EXPLOSION_WATER_RINGS | 3 | Number of water rings created by an explosion. |
EXPLOSION_WATER_FACETS | 32 | Number of facets generated for each water ring. |
EXPLOSION_NUM_PARTICLES | 32 | Number of particles created in an explosion. |
EXPLOSION_MAX_PARTICLES_SIZE | 2.5 | Max size of explosion particles. |
EXPLOSION_PARTICLE_LIFE_RATIO | 0.4 | Controls particle aging. |
EXPLOSION_PARTICLE_DRAG | 0.015 | Affects particle trajectory. |
EXPLOSION_PARTICLE_INITIAL_VELOCITY | 22.0 | Affects particle trajectory. |
EXPLOSION_PARTICLE_GRAVITY_FACTOR | 1.0 | Affects particle trajectory. |
EXPLOSION_PARTICLE_SCALE_FACTOR | 0.1 | Affects particle size. |
Channel Specific Explosion Tuning
Some options are available to tune on a channel specific basis, particularly the size and color. For these channel specific parameters, use the fields in Explosion_[CHANNEL].fx.
For most channels, the following options are present
Token Name | Value and Range | Description |
|---|---|---|
EXPLOSION_SIZE_MIN | Minimum explosion size for specified channel | |
EXPLOSION_SIZE_SCALE | Scalar factor for explosion for specific channel | |
EXPLOSION_LIGHT_COLOR_SCALE | Color control | |
EXPLOSION_HEAVY_COLOR_BIAS | Color control | |
EXPLOSION_WHITE_COLOR_SCALE | Color control | |
EXPLOSION_DIRT_COLOR | RGBA color control for dirt based explosion | |
EXPLOSION_FLASH_SIZE_SCALE | Scalar for flash size | |
EXPLOSION_FIRE_COLOR_A | RGBA color control for fire explosions |
NVG Specific Explosion Tuning
For NVG based channels there is also control over the temperature of the categories of explosions
Parameter | Value and Range | Description |
|---|---|---|
EXPLOSION_TEMPERATURE_1 | Temperature value for explosions | |
EXPLOSION_TEMPERATURE_2 | Temperature value for explosions | |
EXPLOSION_TEMPERATURE_3 | Temperature value for explosions | |
EXPLOSION_TEMPERATURE_4 | Temperature value for explosions | |
EXPLOSION_TEMPERATURE_500_PND | Temperature value for explosions | |
EXPLOSION_TEMPERATURE_2000_PND | Temperature value for explosions |