[MOD] Smoke & fire: Combat effects and Prolonged smoke and fire for crashed aircraft, static aircraft & large blocks (buildings)

[Stonehouse]

Combat effects mod

Smoke and fire combat effects is an evolution of a very old version of JSOFlyer69s original effects mod that I have personalised over time and made available to the community in 2023 in response to a request for better smoke and fire effects for burning aircraft by @Mysticpuma. Credit to JSOFlyer69 for any original textures etc that remain in this mod unchanged. At the time I made it available on a largely as-is and unmaintained basis although I did do some tweaks as result of constructive feedback at the time. With the forum changeover as the mod wasn't a mod I was supporting it was left behind but Mysticpuma decided to resurrect it in the new forum late in 2025. Due to some comments and feedback in that thread I did some more tweaks. Three pages of back and forth resulted in the mod being promoted to being fully supported going forward and the version you see here. It is mainly aimed at aerial combat but does include some surface and naval effect tweaks as well. It has been synchronised with my Additional Warships mod so you can ignore JSGME warnings about files and folders being common to Combat effects and Additional Warships.

See here for recent back history around the development of the mod (including pics and videos) as well as a link to the original 2023 thread. 

Prolonged smoke and fire mods.

The prolonged smoke and fire mods are intended to prolong the smoke and fire effect for a crashed aircraft, destroyed static aircraft and large blocks (which generally in IL2 editor speak equates to large buildings in this instance) 

Note that the crashed aircraft effect recycles the "smoke_volume" effect script and that the stock smoke volume effect is a pretty feeble greyish coloured smoke column. I've altered the script to use one of the smallest darker city fires as looking around at pics of aircraft crashes from the WW2 period when they burnt on impact you tended to get quite thick black smoke off the fire. 

Note stock time to live for the effect is 60 secs. I've made it 900 secs or 15 minutes. It's possible that if there are very large numbers of crashed aircraft sites that performance will be impacted. However, so far with 8-10 fires all going I have not seen any issue.

The mod for smoke and fire for destroyed static aircraft is similar but slightly different effects are used. 

For smoke and fire for large blocks (again these are blocks from the Mission Editor block category plus the destructible buildings embedded on the map I believe)

• The intent of the mod is aimed at buildings, and I am hoping that by only playing around with the 50m, 80m, 120m and cathedral demolition effects I have limited the impact to buildings. It may however go further than intended and it would be good to know this plus the details of the block destroyed that gets the modded effect that looks bad. This requires using the mission editor to identify the block/object.
• Blocks nearly all use the same collection of effects (this includes static vehicles etc) with each effect definition for each block and consists of the following static emitters:
  • Buildingdemolition05.txt
  • Buildingdemolition10.txt
  • Buildingdemolition30.txt
  • Buildingdemolition50.txt
  • Buildingdemolition120.txt
• The exception I have noted so far are bridges (which use similar but different bridge demolition files) and large cathedrals like Notre Dame Damiens which uses the BuildingDemolition_Cathedral.txt static emitter
• Block detail objects use DetBuildingDemolition05.txt, DetBuildingDemolition10.txt, DetBuildingDemolition30.txt and DetBuildingDemolition50.txt
• For the majority of blocks the building demolition file selected to create the effect is based on the destruction radius of the destroyed block. So, a tiny block with a 5m destruction radius will use the 05 file while a large block with a 120m radius will use the 120 file.
• As mentioned above I have (tried to) limit the effect of this mod to larger buildings by only altering 50m, 80, 120m and cathedral sized blocks. This (I believe) will mean things like static vehicles will not be affected.
• I ended up using just cityfiresmall01 and cityfire01. These are looped effects so don't go away. 50 and 80m use cityfiresmall01 and 120m and cathedral use cityfire01. 
• While so far unconfirmed it is possible that the effects generated by the mod may always have the smoke blowing north (as happens with effects spawned by the Dynamic Effects and Units mod) - I'm hoping however as these are created from within the game's normal destruction logic that the modded effects will pick up the ambient wind direction instead as occurs with the stock smoke from block destruction.

Notes:

• Smoke column should remain for the mission once created. "Always visible" attribute has not been set for large blocks as this caused some performance issues in extreme cases. Therefore, for large blocks the graphics engine stops generating the smoke once players are far enough away but will start generating them again if they come back close enough.
• Fire effects loop unfortunately. This is similar to the situation with the prolonged smoke and fire mod and so far, I haven't found a way around it other than have the whole effect given by the mod fade out very quickly like the stock smoke for destroyed static aircraft.
• Effects and textures are completely separate to the game so I'm hoping for very low maintenance requirements for the mod.
• I changed the name of the Smoke and fire for crashed aircraft mod for the new forum, so the mods conform to a uniform naming style.

JSGME ready

Smoke and fire for crashed aircraft

https://www.mediafire.com/file/wjsn43kv34u3qnl/Smoke_and_fire_for_crashed_aircraft.zip/file

(7.002 compatible)

Smoke and fire for destroyed static aircraft

https://www.mediafire.com/file/dgeffus9v83vh13/Smoke_and_fire_for_destroyed_static_aircraft.zip/file

(7.002 compatible)

Smoke and fire large blocks

https://www.mediafire.com/file/ywcfgll3rb44lmw/Smoke_and_fire_large_blocks.zip/file

(7.002 compatible)

Smoke and fire Combat Effects

https://www.mediafire.com/file/ybk6b2oia9a9kn6/Smoke_and_fire_Combat_effects.zip/file

(7.002 compatible)

 

Changelog:

3rd Mar 2026 - Added Combat Effects and rebadged thread accordingly.

26 Nov 2025 - Made available for new forum

Edited March 3 by Stonehouse
see changelog

[ErvinVonRitter]

Hi and thank you for all ur mods I'm getting an error message about data/luascripts/worldobjects already added by the AAA mod when i try to activate the 3 mods via JSGME should i go ahead anyway and press ok

[Stonehouse]

17 hours ago, ErvinVonRitter said:

Hi and thank you for all ur mods I'm getting an error message about data/luascripts/worldobjects already added by the AAA mod when i try to activate the 3 mods via JSGME should i go ahead anyway and press ok

Folder level warnings can be ignored in all cases. File level ones are what you need to be careful of. I always advise how to handle file level clashes between my mods so people know what to do. In your case you can go ahead and press ok and ignore the warning.

[Stonehouse]

Believe all these are ok post 7.001. Note that due to the system the devs use I believe the new maps are automatically covered by the mods without change. I saw no new static aircraft models so no changes were required for the destroyed static aircraft smoke and fire mod.

[Stonehouse]

no changes post 7.002

[Stonehouse]

Added Combat Effects mod

[AcesDarthBubu]

Not sure whether there is something that this smoke and fire large block mod can be done to address the sudden large plume of smoke appearing during the transition of a large building being bombed and destroyed. Found the lack of a slow build up of black smoke bit immersion breaking.

Edited March 4 by AcesDarthBubu

[Stonehouse]

52 minutes ago, AcesDarthBubu said:

Not sure whether there is something that this smoke and fire large block mod can be done to address the sudden large plume of smoke appearing during the transition of a large building being bombed and destroyed. Found the lack of a slow build-up of black smoke bit immersion breaking.

Not sure, it's been a while since I looked at the guts of that mod. From memory it is several animations working in sequence with their own timings. Also building are set up with different levels of effect for different levels of damage and building size as I mention in the first post, so it possibly depends on how much damage is inflicted in the same instant. I seem to recall that tinkering with the timings was particularly problematic.

Could you please do me a favour and save me some time and zip up a track of the exact effect you are talking about in action, so I have a base line to work from? 

Thanks.

[AcesDarthBubu]

3 minutes ago, Stonehouse said:

Not sure, it's been a while since I looked at the guts of that mod. From memory it is several animations working in sequence with their own timings. Also building are set up with different levels of effect for different levels of damage and building size as I mention in the first post, so it possibly depends on how much damage is inflicted in the same instant. I seem to recall that tinkering with the timings was particularly problematic.

Could you please do me a favour and save me some time and zip up a track of the exact effect you are talking about in action, so I have a base line to work from? 

Thanks.

Happy to provide the track file. Will get back to you. Thanks for willing to look at it.

[AcesDarthBubu]

Hello @Stonehouse, i presumed this is the trk file you needed. Let me know if you need the mission file as well. Only your mod is loaded (not sure if it affects anything)

https://www.mediafire.com/file/wsgn63uykic7u4s/SYN_Generated.2026-03-04_20-33-29_00.rar/file

 

[Stonehouse]

53 minutes ago, AcesDarthBubu said:

Hello @Stonehouse, i presumed this is the trk file you needed. Let me know if you need the mission file as well. Only your mod is loaded (not sure if it affects anything)

https://www.mediafire.com/file/wsgn63uykic7u4s/SYN_Generated.2026-03-04_20-33-29_00.rar/file

 

There should be a folder in the tracks folder with the same filename as the trk file. So folder SYN_Generated.2026-03-04_20-33-29_00 - I need that folder and its contents as well please.

[AcesDarthBubu]

Attaching again with the folder as requested. 

https://www.mediafire.com/file/7rfvivwj08kczzu/Tracks.rar/file

[Stonehouse]

On 3/4/2026 at 3:16 PM, AcesDarthBubu said:

Not sure whether there is something that this smoke and fire large block mod can be done to address the sudden large plume of smoke appearing during the transition of a large building being bombed and destroyed. Found the lack of a slow build-up of black smoke bit immersion breaking.

OK looking at the track I think I can recognise the effect you mean and I have started to reacquaint myself with the mod's workings and trying to remember my decisions and the reasoning behind them. The stock effects do go through some animation stages before displaying the full-blown fire but have a finite lifespan. I was trying to end up with smoke columns that have a much greater lifespan. I believe I originally struggled for a long time trying to extend the lifespan while preserving the stages (which is essentially what you are asking for). I need to recheck, but I think the lifespan was expressed in seconds, but the game equated this to a number of frames at a reference fps. So, a duration of 20 was 600 frames at 30 fps say. In hindsight this might probably be the reason why effects change when you do time acceleration as noticed by Mysticpuma a little while ago when discussing the combat effects.

Anyway, I believe the issue I fell over was that each animation is assigned a range, but this is portions of a total range between 0 and 1. If there were multiple stages to the effect you would have more than 1 range. Note that an animation itself may appear to have "stages". For example, it might begin with a small amount of smoke that gets thicker over time, but this still happens within a range as I remember. 

EG:

duration=60
range=0,0.33
range=0.34,0.66
range=0.67,1
 

So, stretching the duration would also mean that each stage lasts longer. You would think then that reducing the ranges for some and increasing it for others would get you where you want to be. Plus, looping the set up to get prolonged smoke and fire with the animation stages looks really bad because you would see the fire start, build, get to max size, die out and then repeat over and over. So looping effects like these is no good.

The only way to get prolonged smoke and fire for blocks from effects like these, is to somehow get the whole animation package to last longer but alter the time of life of each animation stage such that you get the desired result. ie same length build up but very, very long max fire with same length dying out stage. I could not get this to work for me at the time.

So, I took an alternate approach and based just the large building demolitions (size 50, 80 and 120 and the cathedral size) on the city fires map emitters. These come in a couple of sizes and are set up in stock to loop (ie infinite length effect) and I massaged the textures and epl and efx file to get to where we are now.... building (block) fires that last until the end of a mission but don't go through stages. 

I will go back and see if I now can do any better with animation stages and a stretched duration, but it will take quite a while and may very likely come to nothing. Basically, I'll give it a go as time permits but can't promise any success. I will first have to reinvent the testing mod I created previously as I seem to have lost it moving PCs. Having to wait for aircraft to bomb things will make it too time consuming to consider.

 

Edited March 5 by Stonehouse

[AcesDarthBubu]

Wow. Thank you for giving such a detailed explanation into how your mod works and what thought process and actions taken by you on arriving on the state of the current mod. I am amazed at the amount of work and thoughts given into it. 

I am fine if the end result remains the same, perhaps an ask from me is how to revert this effect back to vanilla while retaining all other effect within mod. If its as simple as just reverting some parameters, that will do as well.

[Stonehouse]

2 hours ago, AcesDarthBubu said:

how to revert this effect back to vanilla while retaining all other effect within mod

Pretty much just don't use the prolonged fire and smoke for large blocks mod. You will then go back to stock effects that will build up, burn for some minutes (can't recall how long the main fire and smoke lasts but it isn't long) and then it dies out with a very odd collapsing white smoke ring with a red texture in centre. Kind of looks like a red centered donut that puffs up and out and then collapses. I assume it is meant to represent dust etc from a building collapse. You will still get sort of mediumish smoke but lose the dramatic large smoke columns though sorry.

Edited March 5 by Stonehouse

[VISHNU]

WOW @Stonehouse, I think you totally NAILED it!!   Plus, I haven't noticed any stutters in VR, like the previous earlier version.    Also, NO CTD's!

 

Thanks for your hardwork!!

[JMax]

1 hour ago, VISHNU said:

WOW @Stonehouse, I think you totally NAILED it!!   Plus, I haven't noticed any stutters in VR, like the previous earlier version.    Also, NO CTD's!

 

Thanks for your hardwork!!

Yes!! I find the Stonehouse mods essential.

[Stonehouse]

Give this a go. WIP version of updated smoke and fire for large blocks. Differences:

• Reverted to original smoke and fire textures so not sure if I like the loss of the big dramatic smoke columns. Original ones look a bit underwhelming unless there is a reasonable brisk breeze.
• Didn't like the expanding and collapsing whitish grey smoke rings at the end of the effect so replaced this with village smoke effects to create a look like smaller fires have broken out and created a smokey region around the original fire.
• I don't believe it is an infinite effect anymore but is still very long. I think it somehow relates to frames, so I find it hard to be precise but at around 130fps I was seeing at least 20mins. The village smoke doesn't start until the very end. Due to the long durations, I wasn't able to sit and watch it all the time, so what happens at the end of the effect is a bit of an unknown. So, if testing and you have time to watch the effect from start to finish it would be interesting to get the feedback.
• It will mention folder and file level clashes with the combat effects mod (and possibly other mods depending on what you run) when you enable this in JSGME, you can safely ignore the warnings. The mod contains all it needs but I guess it may overwrite some other effects mod by someone else if you are using one.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/f5xhnhhdvweq03n/Smoke_and_fire_large_blocks_-_WIP.zip/file

[VISHNU]

13 hours ago, Stonehouse said:

Give this a go. WIP version of updated smoke and fire for large blocks. Differences:

• Reverted to original smoke and fire textures so not sure if I like the loss of the big dramatic smoke columns. Original ones look a bit underwhelming unless there is a reasonable brisk breeze.
• Didn't like the expanding and collapsing whitish grey smoke rings at the end of the effect so replaced this with village smoke effects to create a look like smaller fires have broken out and created a smokey region around the original fire.
• I don't believe it is an infinite effect anymore but is still very long. I think it somehow relates to frames, so I find it hard to be precise but at around 130fps I was seeing at least 20mins. The village smoke doesn't start until the very end. Due to the long durations, I wasn't able to sit and watch it all the time, so what happens at the end of the effect is a bit of an unknown. So, if testing and you have time to watch the effect from start to finish it would be interesting to get the feedback.
• It will mention folder and file level clashes with the combat effects mod (and possibly other mods depending on what you run) when you enable this in JSGME, you can safely ignore the warnings. The mod contains all it needs but I guess it may overwrite some other effects mod by someone else if you are using one.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/f5xhnhhdvweq03n/Smoke_and_fire_large_blocks_-_WIP.zip/file

Just tried this, looks great.   If anything weird happens I'll let you know.

[AcesDarthBubu]

Ignore this. 

Edited Monday at 02:21 PM by AcesDarthBubu

[AcesDarthBubu]

Gave it couple of try on the WIP smoke and fire for large block mod, the fire and smoke now transition naturally and it looks really great. Although not as dramatic as the earlier mod but a city on fire still looks great and menacing from afar. I say this is quite perfect for me. Thank you. 

[Stonehouse]

13 hours ago, AcesDarthBubu said:

Gave it couple of try on the WIP smoke and fire for large block mod, the fire and smoke now transition naturally and it looks really great. Although not as dramatic as the earlier mod but a city on fire still looks great and menacing from afar. I say this is quite perfect for me. Thank you. 

 

On 3/9/2026 at 9:16 AM, VISHNU said:

Just tried this, looks great.

 

I've been looking at it as well and the smoke development v's insta smoke has grown on me enough to offset the loss of the large smoke columns. So thinking I will update the release version of the smoke and fire large blocks mod to be this new one sometime next week. 

 

[Mysticpuma]

Hi Stonehouse, what's the best order to install these in? Obviously the aircraft smoke and fire effects will go in last 😁

[Stonehouse]

13 hours ago, Mysticpuma said:

Hi Stonehouse, what's the best order to install these in? Obviously the aircraft smoke and fire effects will go in last 😁

I'll be synchronising things between the 4 smoke and fire mods so eventually you can disregard any warnings about file level clashes. You can already ignore any folder level clashes you see. At present I would do the crashed aircraft, static aircraft and large blocks (assuming the WIP one here) in any order and combat effects last. Once I get a sec to tidy up the WIP large blocks one and sync all the textures I believe it will be possible to load them in any order simply ignoring any warnings.