Arcane University:NetImmerse Format/BSEffectShaderProperty

Effect shaders are a type of shader property used in Skyrim nifs for many special effects like magic effects, and ambient effects like waterfalls, steam, and mist. There is quite a variety of usable effects, from animated textures to animated meshes over particle effects and vertex lighting. Many things can be realized with these basic effect types, given the number of controllers to modify them. Note that like with lighting shaders, effect shaders are one level below the TriShape and there can only be one of its kind in a TriShape, so you might want to use several shapes in your nif (NiNode skinned rigs or BSFadeNode for statics) if you need several effects.

Fields

Unlike lighting shaders, there are no overall types for effect shaders. Therefore, all fields are always present.

• UV Offset: How much to offset the UV map.
• UV Scale: How much to scale the UV map.
• Source Texture: The base texture to use for rendering.
• Texture Clamp Mode: Whether to clamp or wrap the UVs for vertices which fall outside the 0.0-1.0 range. Tiling textures must use wrapping. Non-tiling may use either wrap or clamp, but may be slightly more performant using clamp.
• Lighting Influence: How much the color is affected by ambient light. Ranges from zero (no effect--uses own color only) to 255 (takes all color from ambient light). If this is too low, the shape will appear to glow when in darkness.
• Env Map Min LOD: Unknown.
• Base Color: Influences color of the source texture.^{testing needed}
• Base Color Scale: Multiplier on Base color.

Falloff

Falloff is an effect where the opacity of the shape changes depending on the viewing angle. Useful for shapes where you want it to disappear when looked at from the side, like clouds or mist.

• Falloff Start Angle: The viewing angle at which opacity is equal to "Falloff Start Opacity."
• Falloff Stop Angle: The viewing angle at which opacity is equal to "Falloff Stop Opacity."
• Falloff Start Opacity: Opacity at the "Falloff Start Angle."
• Falloff Stop Opacity: Opacity at the "Falloff Stop Angle."
• Soft Falloff Depth: Unknown.

Tutorials

• Effect shader tutorial