Adding Custom Effect

While Elin includes a list of prebuilt effects that can be used with PlayEffect or Effect.Get, you can also easily add your own.

Spritesheet Setup

Your custom effect spritesheet must meet the following requirements:

1. Format: The image must be a horizontal spritesheet containing all frames of the animation laid out in a single row.
2. Frame Dimensions: Each frame within the spritesheet must be a perfect square (e.g., 32x32, 64x64, 128x128 etc.).
3. Location: Place the spritesheet directly inside the Texture folder.
4. Effect ID: The filename (without the extension) will be used as the unique ID for your effect.

For example, to create an effect called magic_burst, you would create a file named magic_burst.png and place it in the Texture folder. You could then play it in-game by calling PlayEffect("magic_burst") or customize it with Effect.Get("magic_burst").

Hot Reload Testing

While the game is running, you can modify effect files and use the console command cwl.data.clear_effect_cache to clear the effect cache for hot reloading and applying any new changes.

Modifying Effect Templates

In your code, you can modify your custom effect templates so that all subsequently generated instances of that effect will apply the changes:

Using CWL

using Cwl.Helper.Unity;

var myEffectTemplate = EffectHelper.GetEffectTemplate("magic_burst");

No CWL

using UnityEngine;

var manager = Effect.manager;
if (manager.effects.map is null) {
    var rod = Effect.Get("rod");
    Object.Destroy(rod);
}

var myEffectTemplate = manager.effects.map.GetValueOrDefault(id);