VFX – Part 3: Assigning and Testing Effects
This is Part 3 of the VFX tutorial. In this part, we'll learn how to create a MultiEffectInfo (MEI) file, assign it to a spell using the Stats Editor, and test our effect in-game.
There are multiple ways to assign an effect, depending on the desired results. Following Part 2 of this tutorial, we will assign our newly made effect to a new Target spell to demonstrate the process.
Creating a New Target Spell
Assigning an effect to a spell is done in two steps:
- Creating a MultiEffectInfo (MEI) file, which is essentially a collection of effects to be used in a specific phase of said spell or status, containing information about the bones they’re attached to, the textkey events that trigger them, and the conditions they need to satisfy to be displayed (tags).
- Assigning the MEI to the spell in the Stats Editor.
Creating a MEI
Open the MEI Editor via the Editor's main toolbar.
ⓘ The MEI Editor can be very slow. When you select an effect in the central panel, make sure that the panel has had time to update to your choice before editing it, otherwise you might cause unwanted changes on your previous selection. The update can take upwards of 10 seconds.
Before you create new MEIs, you might want to create your own file structure in your mod. First, you will need to select your mod folder. By default, it should already be created and visible when you open the MEI Editor. In our case, our mod/project is called Test_Documentation.
Select your mod and press the Create New Group icon (the folder with a + symbol on it) and name it Spelldata_Target.
You will then be able to create a new MEI by clicking the Create New File icon (the big + symbol). Name it Test_Paladin.
Here is an overview of the MEI Editor window:
- The left panel is the list of MEIs.
- The central panel is the list of effect resources used in the selected MEI.
- The right panel contains the properties or conditions attached to the selected effect. Each of them should have a description in a tooltip when you hover over them.
You can now assign your effect to the new MEI. To do so, select the Test_Paladin MEI.
In the central panel, press the Add New Item (the + symbol) button to add a new Empty item.
Select this new item and, in the Visual section that will appear in the far right panel, look for the Resource ID parameter and press the little down arrow to search for VFX_Prepare_Paladin_Test_01. Select the effect resource name and set it.
We want the effect to play at the Root of the character. To do this, we need to fill in the TargetBones parameter in the Transform section with the name of the bone we want the effect to play on.
Press the ellipsis button on the right of the TargetBones parameter. It will open a window. From the dropdown list, select the Dummy_Root bone and press Add. It will add it to the list of bones that the effect will attach to. (It can be multiple bones.) When it’s done, press the OK button and it will update the TargetBones parameter.
ⓘ You can also type the bone if the one you need doesn’t appear in the dropdown list.
ⓘ The TargetBones parameter is used in most cases. Prepare, Cast and Status effects all predominantly use the TargetBones parameter. In some cases, like for a beam effect done via the MEI Editor, you might want to specify both the SourceBones and the TargetBones parameters.
Don’t forget to save your MEI when you’re done with it (top left buttons).
Your MEI should now be ready to assign to the stats of a spell.
Assigning the MEI to a Spell in the Stats Editor
To demonstrate how to do this, we will create a new spell that will be really basic and parented to another existing spell from the main game.
ⓘ For a more complete guide on how to make a spell in the Stats Editor, please refer to Making a Basic Spell.
Open the Stats Editor.
Locate the folder of your project/mod and press the small + button next to the SpellData folder. Select the Target type. It will create a Target spell, to which we will add a new spell entry.
ⓘ In the screenshot above, the Target type was already created, so it is greyed out in the context menu, but available under the SpellData folder.
By default, one stat entry row will be created. Simply fill in PaladinTestSpell as the Name of the new spell and press Enter to accept it.
To assign basic behaviour to the spell we just created, we will give it a Parent spell. We will be using the True Strike spell as the parent. Click on the Parent cell and search for the TrueStrike spell name. You can type TrueStrike and you should be able to find it quickly.
We can now move on to the PrepareEffect column on the right and, just like we did for the Parent, click in the cell to open the dropdown and type the name of your MEI, in our case Test_Paladin, to link it to the Prepare phase of the spell.
With the PrepareEffect now set, we can test out the spell and see if our effect is working. Simply save the stats by clicking on the Save and Export button in the top left of the Target file.
To apply a CastEffect, TargetEffect, and more, follow the above steps again. You simply need to make an MEI, set up the parameters in it, and add the MEI to the corresponding column in the stats file.
Testing the New Spell
In this section, we will look at how to test the newly made spell to see if our PrepareEffect is showing up properly. For this tutorial, we have been using the level called WLD_Campfire_E, which can be found in the Act_1A_WLD level folder.
With the level WLD_Campfire_E open, launch Game Mode via the Switch Game/Editor button.
When you launch the game this way, you will already have one of the Origin characters assigned to you to move and play around with.
Press Ctrl+Shift+F11 to open the debug console.
Using this window, you will be able to give your character the spell you just created. Simply type addDebugSpell Target_PaladinTestSpell in the bottom part of the console and press Enter on your keyboard. You should now see the spell in your hotbar. It should be named True Strike and have the same icon and description as the original spell, since we haven’t changed these elements.
Select it – your newly made effect should play during the Prepare phase of the spell. If it does, it means that you have successfully assigned your first effect!
Conclusion of Part 3
After following this tutorial, you should now be able to play around with the Effect Editor and assign the effects to spells. You can now move on to Part 4, which covers more advanced information, such as how to plug your VFX into projectile spells and how to add effects to characters and scenery.
