ELSC (File Format)

This file format is almost completely documented Properties beyond MP1 need to be discovered and documented

The ELSC particle script format is used to build electrical effects in the Metroid Prime series. Electrical effects are commonly used to dynamically draw lightning and electrical arcs.

Whenever a new particle instance is generated, a Bézier curve is subdivided into segments. The central vertices are then displaced using a random fractal algorithm. The instance's color and line-width is updated over its lifetime.

Properties

Particle generator properties are assembled into a particle script file tagged with ELSM. Any of the following properties are loaded into a description class for constructing an arbitrary number of particle generators.

FourCC	Type	Description	Scope	Notes	MP1	MP2	MP3	DKCR	DKCTF
LIFE	IntElement	Particle System Lifetime	System Init	Count of frames to emit new particle instances	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖
SLIF	IntElement	Segment Lifetime	Particle Creation	Count of frames for newly generated instance to last	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖
GRAT	RealElement	Generation Rate	System Update	Count of particles to generate per frame; remainder is accumulated across updates	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖
SCNT	IntElement	Instance Count	System Init	Maximum count of particle instances and child generators for system	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖
SSEG	IntElement	Segment Count	System Init	Maximum count of line segments per instance	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖
COLR	ColorElement	Swoosh Color	Particle Creation and Update	Modulation color evaluated for swoosh-based instances	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖
IEMT	EmitterElement	Initial Emitter	Particle Creation	Position source for instance start-point; Velocity is used to form Bézier points to curve instance	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖
FEMT	EmitterElement	Final Emitter	Particle Creation	Position source for instance end-point; Velocity is used to form Bézier points to curve instance	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖
AMPL	RealElement	Length Amplitude	Particle Creation	Randomized coefficient of fractal displacement as product of recursive segment length	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖
AMPD	RealElement	Direct Amplitude	Particle Creation	Separately randomized coefficient of fractal displacement	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖
LWD1	RealElement	Line Width 1	Particle Creation and Update	Enables line 1 (overdrawn with same verts) and specifies its width in 480p pixels	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖
LWD2	RealElement	Line Width 2	Particle Creation and Update	Enables line 2 (overdrawn with same verts) and specifies its width in 480p pixels	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖
LWD3	RealElement	Line Width 3	Particle Creation and Update	Enables line 3 (overdrawn with same verts) and specifies its width in 480p pixels	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖
LCL1	ColorElement	Line Color 1	Particle Creation and Update	Specifies line 1's color	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖
LCL2	ColorElement	Line Color 1	Particle Creation and Update	Specifies line 2's color	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖
LCL3	ColorElement	Line Color 1	Particle Creation and Update	Specifies line 3's color	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖
SSWH	SWHC	Child Swoosh	System Init	Use swoosh system to draw effect; computed fractal points are set into swoosh's history; Omitting LWD* properties will only draw the swoosh	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖
GPSM	PART	Start Child Particle	System Init	Draw particle system positioned at instance's start-point	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖
EPSM	PART	End Child Particle	System Init	Draw particle system positioned at instance's end-point	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖
ZERY	bool	Zero Y	Particle Creation	Zero Y component of newly created particle vertices	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖