Particles


 single: Particles; Optimizations for Spark, Railgun, and Smoke

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 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.

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 Particles; Damage range for Gas

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.

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 single: Particles; Palettes for Gas, Smoke, and Fire

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.

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