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Waterplant Pollen

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

Overview​

The waterplant_pollen.lua file defines two prefabs: waterplant_pollen_fx (land-based pollen cloud) and waterplant_pollen_fx_ocean (ocean variant that emits fish-attracting chum pieces). The ocean variant uses the timer component to schedule dispersal after a fixed duration, while the land variant simply vanishes after ~35 frames and triggers the ocean variant. It is part of the environmental FX system for water plants (e.g., watering flowers in the Forest/Caves).

Usage example​

-- Land-based pollen effect
local land_pollen = SpawnPrefab("waterplant_pollen_fx")
land_pollen.Transform:SetPosition(x, y, z)

-- Ocean-based pollen effect (produces chum pieces periodically)
local ocean_pollen = SpawnPrefab("waterplant_pollen_fx_ocean")
ocean_pollen.Transform:SetPosition(x, y, z)
-- Disperses automatically after TUNING.WATERPLANT.POLLEN_DURATION seconds

Dependencies & tags​

Components used: timer Tags added: FX, NOCLICK, notarget, pollen, chum (ocean variant only)

Properties​

No public properties — both prefabs are self-contained FX entities with no mutable state exposed for external modification.

Main functions​

spawn_ocean_pollen(inst)​

  • Description: Called once (~35 frames after creation) for the land variant; spawns the ocean variant at the same position and conditionally signals the source flower if nearby fish count is low.
  • Parameters: inst (Entity) — the land-based pollen instance.
  • Returns: Nothing.

on_piece_removed(piece)​

  • Description: Listener for onremove events on chum pieces; decrements the chum piece count and spawns a replacement if dispersal has not yet started (i.e., persists == true).
  • Parameters: piece (Entity) — the removed chum piece.
  • Returns: Nothing.

spawn_chum_piece(inst)​

  • Description: Spawns a new chum piece (chumpiece) in a random position around the pollen cloud if the piece count is below MAX_PIECES (5), and only if the spawn point is underwater.
  • Parameters: inst (Entity) — the ocean pollen instance.
  • Returns: Nothing.

on_timer_done(inst, data)​

  • Description: Handles the "disperse" timer completion; disables persistence, stops sound, removes chum tag, triggers fade-out, and schedules removal.
  • Parameters:
    • inst (Entity) — the ocean pollen instance.
    • data (table) — timer data, expected to contain name == "disperse".
  • Returns: Nothing.

on_ocean_removed(inst)​

  • Description: Cleanup handler for when the ocean pollen is removed; forcibly removes all active chum pieces.
  • Parameters: inst (Entity) — the ocean pollen instance.
  • Returns: Nothing.

client_fading_dirty(inst)​

  • Description: Starts a periodic task to reduce the opacity of the animation over time when the fadingdirty event is received (client-side only, non-dedicated servers).
  • Parameters: inst (Entity) — the ocean pollen instance.
  • Returns: Nothing.

update_fade(inst)​

  • Description: Periodic task (called every frame) that decreases the alpha value of the OverrideMultColour to fade out the visual effect.
  • Parameters: inst (Entity) — the ocean pollen instance.
  • Returns: Nothing.

Events & listeners​

  • Listens to:

    • animover — for land variant; triggers self-removal when animation ends.
    • timerdone — for ocean variant; fires on_timer_done on "disperse" completion.
    • onremove — for ocean variant; fires on_ocean_removed to clean up chum pieces.
    • fadingdirty — for ocean variant (client-side only, non-dedicated servers); triggers fade task.
    • onremove (on chum pieces) — via on_piece_removed listener added during chum piece creation.

  • Pushes:

    • None — the prefab does not fire custom events. The land variant indirectly signals pollenlanded on the source flower if present and low-fish conditions are met, but this is done via :PushEvent("pollenlanded") on the flower, not the pollen instance itself.