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Lantern Flower Fx

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-05

Overview​

lantern_flower_fx is a pair of prefabs (lantern_flower_fx_held and lantern_flower_fx_ground) that generate animated petal effects associated with the lantern flower item. It is not a reusable component but a standalone prefab factory—each instance spawns temporary FX entities (petals) that decay naturally or are killed explicitly. It runs only on the client side (except for initialization) and never persists to disk.

Usage example​

This prefab is not added via inst:AddComponent. Instead, it is instantiated directly when the lantern flower is equipped or placed:

-- Example of instantiating the held variant (used internally by the game)
local held_fx = SpawnPrefab("lantern_flower_fx_held")

-- Example of instantiating the ground variant
local ground_fx = SpawnPrefab("lantern_flower_fx_ground")

Dependencies & tags​

Components used: None identified.
Tags: Adds FX to all spawned entities.

Properties​

No public properties are exposed on the prefabs themselves. Instances may carry internal state such as ismoving and killed, but these are not part of the public API.

Main functions​

Theprefab functions themselves (heldfn and groundfn) are the core API. They are passed to the Prefab constructor and return fully configured entities.

heldfn()​

  • Description: Creates and configures the held lantern flower FX entity. It spawns animated petals periodically using DoTaskInTime and starts a periodic task to track parent movement.
  • Parameters: None.
  • Returns: inst (entity) — a non-persistent FX entity.
  • Error states: Does nothing on dedicated servers (only client-side logic is executed); returns early if TheNet:IsDedicated() is true.

groundfn()​

  • Description: Creates and configures the ground-placed lantern flower FX entity. It plays the petal_pre animation, switches to petal_loop, and exposes a KillFX method for external cleanup.
  • Parameters: None.
  • Returns: inst (entity) — a non-persistent FX entity.
  • Error states: If POPULATING is true (e.g., world generation), it sets a random initial frame for petal_loop.

CreatePetal(petalemitter, variation, step)​

  • Description: Helper function used by heldfn to spawn individual animated petals. Sets up animation state, listens for animation completion, and positions the petal relative to the emitter.
  • Parameters:
    • petalemitter (entity) — parent emitter entity reference stored on the petal.
    • variation (number) — animation variant index (1–7).
    • step (number) — step index used for movement state determination.
  • Returns: inst (entity) — newly created petal FX entity.
  • Error states: Returns nil-equivalent if CreateEntity() fails (theoretical only).

KillFX(inst)​

  • Description: Called externally (via inst.KillFX) to remove the ground FX entity. If the entity has been alive for more than zero time, it sets killed = true to trigger fade-out; otherwise, it removes the entity immediately.
  • Parameters: inst (entity) — the FX entity to kill.
  • Returns: Nothing.

OnPetalAnimOver(inst)​

  • Description: Callback triggered when a petal animation completes. Handles visibility toggling based on parent movement state and updates position/orientation to match the emitter.
  • Parameters: inst (entity) — the petal entity whose animation just ended.
  • Returns: Nothing.
  • Error states: Removes the petal if petalemitter is no longer valid.

OnGroundAnimOver(inst)​

  • Description: Callback for the ground FX entity after animation completes. Manages transitions from petal_pre → petal_loop → petal_pst.
  • Parameters: inst (entity) — the ground FX entity.
  • Returns: Nothing.
  • Error states: Removes the entity only after petal_pst completes and killed is true.

CheckMoving(inst)​

  • Description: Periodic task used by held FX to determine if the parent entity is moving; sets ismoving boolean.
  • Parameters: inst (entity) — the FX entity.
  • Returns: Nothing.

Events & listeners​

  • Listens to: animover — used to trigger cleanup or state transitions when animations complete.
  • Pushes: None identified. (No events are fired by this prefab.)