effect

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Effects are a multi-purpose tag used for responses to various events like material impacts, sound effects, projectile detonations, and more. They are made up of parts which can can spawn sounds, particles, lights, decals, and even new objects.

Structure and fields

Field Type Comments

flags bitfield

Flag	Mask	Comments
deleted when attachment deactivates	`0x1`
required for gameplay cannot optimize out	`0x2`
must be deterministic	`0x4`	Cache only H1A only Prevents culling of effects that are important for synchronous networking determinism.
disabled in remastered by blood setting	`0x8`	H1A only

loop start event uint16→

loop stop event uint16→

maximum damage radius

float

Cache only

locations

Block

HEK max count: 32

Field	Type	Comments
marker name	`TagString`

events

Block

HEK max count: 32

Field Type Comments

skip fraction float

delay bounds

Bounds

Unit: seconds

Field	Type	Comments
min	`float`
max	`float`

duration bounds

Bounds^?

Unit: seconds

parts

Block

HEK max count: 32

Field Type Comments

create in enum

Option	Value	Comments
any environment	`0x0`
air only	`0x1`
water only	`0x2`
space only	`0x3`

violence mode enum

Option	Value	Comments
either mode	`0x0`
violent mode only	`0x1`
nonviolent mode only	`0x2`

location uint16→

flags bitfield

Flag	Mask	Comments
face down regardless of location decals	`0x1`
unused	`0x2`	Cache only
make effect work	`0x4`	Cache only

type class

uint32

Cache only

type

TagDependency (6)

velocity bounds

Bounds^?

Unit: world units per second

velocity cone angle float

angular velocity bounds

Bounds

Unit: degrees per second

Field	Type	Comments
min	`float`
max	`float`

radius modifier bounds Bounds^?

a scales values bitfield

Flag	Mask	Comments
velocity	`0x1`
velocity delta	`0x2`
velocity cone angle	`0x4`
angular velocity	`0x8`
angular velocity delta	`0x10`
type specific scale	`0x20`

b scales values bitfield^?

particles

Block

HEK max count: 32

Processed during compile

Field Type Comments

create in enum^?

violence mode enum^?

create enum

Option	Value	Comments
independent of camera mode	`0x0`
only in first person	`0x1`
only in third person	`0x2`
in first person if possible	`0x3`

location uint16→

relative direction Euler2D

Field	Type	Comments
yaw	`float`	Rotation to the left or right around the Z (vertical) axis.
pitch	`float`	Rotation up or down.

relative offset Point3D

Field	Type	Comments
x	`float`
y	`float`
z	`float`

relative direction vector

Vector3D

Cache only

Field	Type	Comments
i	`float`
j	`float`
k	`float`

particle type TagDependency: particle

flags bitfield

Flag	Mask	Comments
stay attached to marker	`0x1`
random initial angle	`0x2`
tint from object color	`0x4`
interpolate tint as hsv	`0x8`
across the long hue path	`0x10`

distribution function enum

Option	Value	Comments
start	`0x0`
end	`0x1`
constant	`0x2`
buildup	`0x3`
falloff	`0x4`
buildup and falloff	`0x5`

count Bounds

Field	Type	Comments
min	`uint16`
max	`uint16`

distribution radius

Bounds^?

Unit: world units

velocity

Bounds^?

Unit: world units per second

velocity cone angle float

angular velocity

Bounds^?

Unit: degrees per second

radius

Bounds^?

Unit: world units

tint lower bound ColorARGB

Field	Type	Comments
alpha	`float`
red	`float`
green	`float`
blue	`float`

tint upper bound ColorARGB^?

a scales values bitfield

Flag	Mask	Comments
velocity	`0x1`
velocity delta	`0x2`
velocity cone angle	`0x4`
angular velocity	`0x8`
angular velocity delta	`0x10`
count	`0x20`
count delta	`0x40`
distribution radius	`0x80`
distribution radius delta	`0x100`
particle radius	`0x200`
particle radius delta	`0x400`
tint	`0x800`

b scales values bitfield^?

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the following individuals for their research or contributions to this topic:

Kavawuvi (Invader tag definitions)
MosesOfEgypt (Tag structure research)