Rail shots and freeze mode/time stop

[Ichor]

If you freeze the game or use some kind of time stop item, the rail shots will stop showing up after a while. They will still fire and do damage, but nothing will be displayed after a couple of seconds or a certain number of shots. The file there will show you what I mean (summon testweapon).

Oh and I'm using r1274.

[Enjay]

I think this may be due to a limit on the number of particles that can be shown/in game at any one time?

[Ichor]

Could be. I didn't know there was a limit.

[Project Shadowcat]

Could be. I didn't know there was a limit.

There certainly is. Don't load up your weapons with too many particles or your maps with enough particle fountains.

[Graf Zahl]

I think this may be due to a limit on the number of particles that can be shown/in game at any one time?

That's certainly it. Question: What to do about it? Nothing or not freeze particle effect. I think the second is also unappealing.

[Ichor]

I'd go with nothing and move the thread for now. I didn't know there was a limit like there was with a thing limit back in the ol' pre-source port days, and thought it was some kind of bug elsewhere.

[HotWax]

Is there a way to separate the particles fired by the player's railgun from other particles generated by fountains or enemy rails? If so, then what about this solution:

The player-fired railgun would be entirely unaffected, meaning the particle effect would appear and animate as normal, allowing the particles to fade out after firing. (AFAIK this is consistent with the behavior of other player-fired hitscans during freeze mode) However, other particles would be frozen where they are. Since the fountains aren't generating new particles, and the enemies with railguns aren't firing, this should not pose a problem because no new particles are being created.

[Enjay]

There are some actors (existing and custom) which can cause a problem with freezing anyway. eg, I found that my flashlight actor (which fires a stream of invisible projectiles with lights attached) becomes useless in freeze mode as all the particles just spawn in one spot and build up a huge light, and even bullet puffs, when dynamic lights were attached to them, could start to have an impact on frame rate. Not a huge issue if freezing is by a cheat but there is, of course, a legit powerup these days. Fortunately, the problem can be avoided for DECORATE actors with the +NOTIMEFREEZE flag and I've certainly come across quite a few actors of my own that benefit from this flag. Perhaps it doesn't make total logical sense with all of them, but the game working illogically but well is a better outcome than the game working logically but not well.

Aaaanyway, that's a long way around to suggesting that some things might be best if they didn't freeze and perhaps the particle effects, including the rail, is one of them. I know that Sparks are often activated by a repeating script and they can build up quite a bit during a freeze.

However, the rail looks very cool frozen in mid air and I've actually been able to use the ability to freeze it as a debugging tool.

Realistically, what are we talking about here? If it's a cheat situation - meh - who cares? If you don't want the effects, don't do it. Realistically, how often is there going to be a time freeze powerup in game where this rail-disappearing effect becomes a problem (especially as the rail still works, it's just invisible)?

Maybe a SV_FreezeParticles option or something?

There are more questions than answers. This has been a stream of consciousness post by Enjay.

[Graf Zahl]

The time freezer artifact is certainly not a cheat.

[Enjay]

I didn't mean to imply that it was. The console command is, and that's the one that is likely to be on for a longer period of time during testing of a map, or whatever - but the console cheat needn't be factored in to the thinking IMO.

The powerup is likely to be used for significantly shorter periods of time. However, it certainly needs to be considered as a legitimate way to freeze the game. As such, ways to minimise problems whilst it is active should be considered IMO.

That's really all I was trying to say on those particular points.

[XutaWoo]

Hey, I like my timefreezer powerup to last for a halfminute.

That was not sarcasm, btw.