Sporecloud

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-07

Overview

The sporecloud prefab represents a floating, glowing spore effect that functions as a transient environmental hazard. It applies periodic damage via the aura component and spoil effects on nearby food items via the perishable component. It also manages fading in/out animations, light effects, and particle overlays. The component is primarily used by the Toadstool mob and is non-persistent (persists = false), meaning it does not survive world saves or loading.

Usage example

local cloud = SpawnPrefab("sporecloud")
cloud.Transform:SetPosition(x, y, z)
-- Automatically starts life cycle with fade-in, active period, and disperse
-- Optional: force immediate disperse
cloud.FinishImmediately()
-- Optional: force immediate full visibility
cloud.FadeInImmediately()

Dependencies & tags

Components used: combat, aura, perishable, timer Tags added: FX, NOCLICK, notarget, sporecloud

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
_state	net_tinybyte	0	Networked state: 0 = init, 1 = active, 2 = disperse
_fade	net_smallbyte	0	Networked fade progress (0 to 2 * FADE_FRAMES + 1)
_fadetask	task handle	nil	Task for updating fade animation
_inittask	task handle	nil	Task to run InitFX on spawn
_spoiltask	task handle	nil	Periodic task to spoil nearby items
_basefx	entity or nil	nil	Base animation entity (only on non-dedicated clients)
_overlayfx	table	{}	List of overlay FX entities
_overlaytasks	table	{}	Task handles for delayed overlay spawns

Main functions

FadeInImmediately()

• Description: Immediately sets the cloud to full visibility by setting fade state to FADE_FRAMES and triggering fade updates.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: Nothing.

FinishImmediately()

• Description: Stops the disperse timer and triggers immediate cloud disintegration.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: Nothing.

DisableCloud()

• Description: Disables the aura effect, cancels spoil task, and removes the sporecloud tag.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: Nothing.

DoDisperse(inst)

• Description: Handles the full disperse sequence: cancels timers, triggers fade-out, plays post-animation, kills loop sound, spawns overlay death animations, and removes the entity after a delay.
• Parameters: inst (entity) — the sporecloud instance.
• Returns: Nothing.

TryPerish(item)

• Description: Applies spoil damage to an item if it is in a valid context (not in limbo or in a closed container/storage).
• Parameters: item (entity) — item with perishable component.
• Returns: Nothing.

DoAreaSpoil(inst)

• Description: Finds and spoils all valid food items within the aura radius.
• Parameters: inst (entity) — the sporecloud instance.
• Returns: Nothing.

Events & listeners

• Listens to: animover (to transition from pre to loop animation), statedirty (client-side state sync), fadedirty (client-side fade sync), timerdone (to trigger disperse).
• Pushes: statedirty, fadedirty (via net_tinybyte / net_smallbyte triggers).