Custom FX Setup Tutorial

A tutorial by rowanstaff

As more people make mods more custom FX displays will come out and many Freedom Force players will wonder "How can I add these wonderful FX to my Freedom Force game?" It is actually quite simple.

First, this is NOT a tutorial on making custom FX in 3ds max. The purpose of this tutorial is to demonstrate how to use a custom FX created in a mod for use in your mod / Freedom Force game.

Second, I do not condone using custom material without the author's consent. Unless the author has allowed you to add the material to your mod release, don't add it. If you do get permission, give the author credit.

So, you have a custom FX in someone's mod and you want to copy it, with permission, for your own use? Fist thing, unzip or install the mod, as normal, in it's own mod folder. For this exercise we will be using three folders. They are as follows:

Freedom Force\ElseMod -- ElseMod is the folder where the other person's mod goes when it is unzipped / installed.
Freedom Force\MyMod -- Your mod folder where the FX will go if you plan to distribute it with your mod.
Freedom Force\data\art\library\fx -- The data directory where you will place the FX files if you plan to use them in your everyday Freedom Force games.

At this point unzip / install the mod to ElseMod.
Open ElseMod and find the art\library\fx folder. Open it and you should see a _textures folder and several other folders. _textures contains the art that is layered onto the FX mesh to create the visual appearance of the FX. The other folders contain the .nif meshes that the textures are layered onto. It may not make a lot of sense unless you've designed in 3ds max, but it gives you an idea what those files are doing here. Copy all the folders.
Now leave ElseMod. Go to your MyMod folder and Create the following folders if they aren't already created: art\library\fx and copy into the fx folder everything from ElseMod's fx folder. In all instances where I say to use MyMod, use data if you are planning to place the fx where they can be used in your everyday Freedom Force playing.
If you plan to use ElseMod's custom powers as well some book- keeping comes into play. Open FF Edit and point it toward ElseMod. Open the FX tab and note all the custom power FX made using the custom FX files. Write down the name, the nif folder name, and the start-core-end locations.
Point FF Edit at MyMod and create power FX the same as used in ElseMod. Your diligent book-keeping pays off! Now you should have a custom FX ready to plug into powers in your custom heroes and editor crafted characters.

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