Lantern Winter Fx

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

Overview

This file defines two prefabs (lantern_winter_fx_held and lantern_winter_fx_ground) that generate and animate snowflake visual effects for the lantern during winter. The heldfn variant spawns dynamic snowflake particles continuously while the lantern is held, whereas the groundfn variant renders a looping snow animation on the ground surface. Both prefabs are non-persistent, client-only FX entities with no networked state.

Usage example

-- Example: Spawn the held variant (typically handled automatically by lantern logic)
local held_fx = SpawnPrefab("lantern_winter_fx_held")
-- The held variant begins emitting snowflakes automatically on the client.

Dependencies & tags

Components used: animstate, transform, network
Tags: Adds FX tag to all spawned entities; checks FX tag internally via inst:AddTag("FX").

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
killed	boolean	false	Flag indicating whether this FX entity has been signaled for removal (used by KillFX).
ismoving	boolean	false	Tracks whether the parent entity is moving (used in held variant to toggle visibility).
prevpos	vector3?	nil	Stores previous world position for movement detection.
snowflakeemitter	entity?	nil	Reference to the emitter entity in the held variant.
anim	string	""	Animation name used for snowflake particles (e.g., "snowfall1").
step	number	0	Step index used to determine particle behavior in the held variant.

Main functions

KillFX(inst)

• Description: Signals the FX entity for removal. If the entity has been alive for > 0 seconds, it sets inst.killed = true; otherwise, it removes the entity immediately.
• Parameters: inst (entity) — The FX entity instance.
• Returns: Nothing.

IsMovingStep(step)

• Description: Helper function to determine whether a given step index corresponds to a moving animation state.
• Parameters: step (number) — Step index (0–7).
• Returns: true if step is 1 or 2; false otherwise.

OnSnowflakeAnimOver(inst)

• Description: Handles animation completion for individual snowflake particles. Manages visibility (based on movement state), position sync to emitter, and animation restart. Removes the entity if the emitter is invalid.
• Parameters: inst (entity) — The snowflake particle instance.
• Returns: Nothing.

CreateSnowflake(snowflakeemitter, variation, step)

• Description: Creates and configures a single snowflake FX entity. Sets up animation, tags, transform, and listeners.
• Parameters:
  snowflakeemitter (entity) — Parent emitter entity.
  variation (number) — Animation variation index (1–7).
  step (number) — Step index affecting visibility/movement logic.
• Returns: The created FX entity instance.

CheckMoving(inst)

• Description: Periodically checks if the parent entity has moved by comparing current world position to prevpos. Updates ismoving and prevpos.
• Parameters: inst (entity) — The emitter entity (typically the held FX entity).
• Returns: Nothing.

heldfn()

• Description: Constructor for the held variant. Spawns a periodic task to emit snowflakes in cycles, tracks movement, and runs CheckMoving every frame on non-dedicated servers.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: The held FX entity instance.
• Error states: On dedicated servers, returns an empty entity without FX initialization.

OnGroundAnimOver(inst)

• Description: Handles loop transitions for the ground FX animation (e.g., snow_pre → snow_loop → snow_pst).
• Parameters: inst (entity) — The ground FX instance.
• Returns: Nothing.

groundfn()

• Description: Constructor for the ground variant. Initializes the ground snow animation with snow_pre, snow_loop, and snow_pst states. Supports populating with random frames for variety.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: The ground FX entity instance.
• Error states: On non-master simulations, returns the entity before completing server-side setup.

Events & listeners

• Listens to: animover — Triggers post-animation logic (handled by OnSnowflakeAnimOver for held particles and OnGroundAnimOver for ground FX).
• Pushes: None.