Skinning a lightning effect

[darwin]

I'm trying to make a black lightning effect. Here's what I've done:

- I've taken the forked lightning .blp file and edited the alpha channel so that the outsides are black (and therefore transparent) (WORKS)
- I've edited the alpha channel part that shows lightning so that it is entirely white and therefor visible.

As a test, I made the lightning layer (the regular layer) completely red. The result is a lightning shape that is pink. There appears to be an additional transparent effect applied to the lightning effect. I cannot make a solid red lightning bolt.

When I try to make black lightning (the regular layer painted black; but the alpha channel white) it is entirely transparent.

Does anyone know how to do this? It's as if the regular layer is being treated as an alpha channel so that any black areas in the lightning are transparent.

 

[PurgeandFire]

You may have to resort to editing the model. A lot of them have the colors integrated either through particle emitters or geoset anims. One great example is the shimmering portal--you can edit the textures used but you'll notice it still ends up pink.

Find the lightning model used and look through it. Check out:
http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/3d-modeling-tutorials-282/customizing-game-sfx-238124/

You'll want to look at the particle emitters (Windows -> Node Manager) and Geoset Animations (Windows -> Geoset Animations). Just double click them and you should find the colors.

About the black-transparency thing, it is most likely due to the material layer's mode. Go to "Windows -> Material Manager" in Magos. Double click the material layer that uses your texture and check the layer mode (it is probably either additive, add alpha, or transparent--this is off memory so I don't remember the specifics). Change the mode to "Blend" and see if that works for you.

You might be wondering how to make the model use your effect, right? Just go to "Windows -> Texture Manager", right click to import the texture. Then go to "Windows -> Material Manager", click on the material layers, and change the texture to use your imported one.

 

[darwin]

Excellent, this sounds promising!

But I'm having trouble finding the .mdx file for forked lightning. I searched the mpqs with my Warcraft3Viewer. I found:

Abilities\Spells\Other\ForkedLightning\ForkedLightningTarget.mdx

But I think that's the target effect not the lightning. When I look at the textures used it just gives a dust, a glow, and Textures\LightningBall.blp which is not the lightning effect .blp.

 

[PurgeandFire]

I could be wrong. I assumed there was a model. You can also modify lightning through modifying LightningData.slk. For more info, see:
http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/...s-278/how-customise-lightning-effects-203171/

It may help. However, I'm not sure if you'll be able to fix the black-transparency thing unless you can find the base model.