Custom Effects

Overview

No code, more effects. Custom Effects is a library for mod authors: nine new SL_Effect types and one SL_ItemExtension, each one usable straight from your XML.

Effects and extensions

SL_UseSkill

Makes a character cast a skill they already know, either the one who triggered the effect or the one it hit, waiting until they are free to act.

<SL_Effect xsi:type="SL_UseSkill">
  <Delay>0</Delay>
  <SyncType>OwnerSync</SyncType>
  <OverrideCategory>None</OverrideCategory>
  <SkillID>8100102</SkillID>
  <Target>Owner</Target>
  <MaxWait>3</MaxWait>
</SL_Effect>

It goes through Item.TryQuickSlotUse — the same path as pressing a quickslot key — so the game handles requirements, cooldown, costs, animation and networking.

To make another player cast a skill from a projectile or blast, have the hit give them a short hidden status that carries SL_UseSkill; on the projectile itself, SL_UseSkill fails part of the time in co-op.

SL_LearnSkillHidden

Teaches a skill permanently without it appearing in the skill menu, for skills your mod triggers itself rather than ones the player casts.

<SL_Effect xsi:type="SL_LearnSkillHidden">
  <Delay>0</Delay>
  <SyncType>OwnerSync</SyncType>
  <OverrideCategory>None</OverrideCategory>
  <SkillID>-88002</SkillID>
</SL_Effect>

The skill is genuinely learned, castable and networked — it simply never shows in the menu. It survives saves and reloads.

SL_Banish

Sends a character beyond the veil (inert, untouchable, untargetable and unseen) for a duration, then returns it exactly as it was.

<SL_Effect xsi:type="SL_Banish">
  <Delay>0</Delay>
  <SyncType>MasterSync</SyncType>
  <OverrideCategory>None</OverrideCategory>
  <Duration>10</Duration>
</SL_Effect>

Use MasterSync on enemies. Ends early if the character dies, restoring it as a lootable corpse.

A banished character is silent and cannot start an attack while it is away. An attack it had already begun is not cancelled — it is held exactly as it was and resolves normally when the banish ends.

Damage already under way still lands: DoTs applied before the banish keep ticking, and a banished creature can die from them. What it cannot take is a fresh hit — its hitboxes are gone.

Loading a save mid-banish releases the creature immediately rather than starting the duration over, and in co-op a client that joins while a banish is running follows the host's banish rather than running a clock of its own.

SL_PlayVFXOnWeapon

SL_PlayVFX, but able to land on weapons the vanilla hook silently refuses.

<SL_Effect xsi:type="SL_PlayVFXOnWeapon">
  <Delay>0</Delay>
  <SyncType>OwnerSync</SyncType>
  <OverrideCategory>None</OverrideCategory>
  <VFXPrefab>VFXRunicBlade</VFXPrefab>
  <HitPos>false</HitPos>
  <ParentMode>This</ParentMode>
  <DontInstantiateNew>false</DontInstantiateNew>
  <AllowSkinnedMesh>true</AllowSkinnedMesh>
  <Slot>Keep</Slot>
</SL_Effect>

Everything else behaves exactly as SL_PlayVFX.

SL_PlayVFXOnChar

SL_PlayVFX, but it puts the VFX on the affected character instead of wherever the prefab expects to hang from.

<SL_Effect xsi:type="SL_PlayVFXOnChar">
  <Delay>0</Delay>
  <SyncType>OwnerSync</SyncType>
  <OverrideCategory>None</OverrideCategory>
  <VFXPrefab>VFXBoonEthereal</VFXPrefab>
  <HitPos>false</HitPos>
  <ParentMode>This</ParentMode>
  <DontInstantiateNew>false</DontInstantiateNew>
  <Offset>
    <x>0</x><y>0</y><z>0</z>
  </Offset>
  <Detach>Character</Detach>
  <DetachLifetime>5</DetachLifetime>
</SL_Effect>

Everything else behaves exactly as SL_PlayVFX.

SL_PlayVFXPulsed

SL_PlayVFX that can blink its VFX off and on again at given times, so a long-lived effect can mark moments instead of merely existing.

<SL_Effect xsi:type="SL_PlayVFXPulsed">
  <Delay>0</Delay>
  <SyncType>OwnerSync</SyncType>
  <OverrideCategory>None</OverrideCategory>
  <VFXPrefab>HexHauntedVFX</VFXPrefab>
  <HitPos>false</HitPos>
  <ParentMode>This</ParentMode>
  <DontInstantiateNew>false</DontInstantiateNew>
  <PulseAt>
    <float>8.68</float>
    <float>15.4</float>
    <float>19.98</float>
  </PulseAt>
  <PulseLength>0.4</PulseLength>
  <HardClear>true</HardClear>
  <StopAt>0</StopAt>
</SL_Effect>

Everything else behaves exactly as SL_PlayVFX.

If the log says no PulseAt times and no StopAt were read, or reports 0 pulse times, the entries were dropped — each must be a <float> element.

SL_PlayTimedSound

SL_PlaySoundEffect that stops after a given time, instead of running until its clip ends or the status does.

<SL_Effect xsi:type="SL_PlayTimedSound">
  <Delay>0</Delay>
  <SyncType>OwnerSync</SyncType>
  <OverrideCategory>None</OverrideCategory>
  <Sounds>
    <Sounds>ENV_MagicSourceLoop</Sounds>
  </Sounds>
  <Follow>true</Follow>
  <MinPitch>1</MinPitch>
  <MaxPitch>1</MaxPitch>
  <StopAfter>10</StopAfter>
  <FadeIn>0</FadeIn>
  <FadeOut>0.15</FadeOut>
</SL_Effect>

Follow, MinPitch and MaxPitch behave exactly as SL_PlaySoundEffect.

SL_ReliableVisuals

A marker. It does nothing on its own. Put one on a status effect and that status's VFX and sounds play on every client, not only on the one that owns the affected character.

<SL_Effect xsi:type="SL_ReliableVisuals">
  <Delay>0</Delay>
  <SyncType>OwnerSync</SyncType>
  <OverrideCategory>None</OverrideCategory>
  <IncludeBlasts>false</IncludeBlasts>
</SL_Effect>

WARNING: IncludeBlasts changes gameplay, not just visuals

A blast normally deals damage, and playing one on a client that does not own the character is a gameplay change rather than a visual. Turn this on only for a blast you have deliberately made inert — RefreshTime -1, HitOnShoot false — and are using purely for its particles.

if (m_statuses.TryGetValue((UID)_statusUID, out status))
    status.OnReceiveActivatedEffects(_affectedCharacter, _activatedEffectsInfos);

SL_RemoveStatusParentOwner

SL_RemoveStatusEffect, but on the character who fires the blast or projectile, or wields the weapon, instead of the one it hits.

<SL_Effect xsi:type="SL_RemoveStatusParentOwner">
  <Delay>0</Delay>
  <SyncType>Everyone</SyncType>
  <OverrideCategory>None</OverrideCategory>
  <CleanseType>StatusSpecific</CleanseType>
  <SelectorValue>RunicStealth</SelectorValue>
  <Requires_AffectedChar>true</Requires_AffectedChar>
</SL_Effect>

Put it in an SL_ShootBlast's BlastEffects, an SL_ShootProjectile's ProjectileEffects, a weapon's HitEffects or an imbue's effects with OverrideCategory Hit. On a skill's or a status's own effects it removes from the caster or the bearer, exactly as SL_RemoveStatusEffect would.

SL_ItemVFX

Puts a vanilla weapon's own particles on any item. It goes in an item's <ItemExtensions>.

<ItemExtensions>
  <SL_ItemExtension xsi:type="SL_ItemVFX">
    <VFX>
      <VFX>Obsidian</VFX>
    </VFX>
    <Fit>Auto</Fit>
    <Offset><x>0</x><y>0</y><z>0</z></Offset>
    <Rotation><x>0</x><y>0</y><z>0</z></Rotation>
    <Scale>1</Scale>
    <SizeMultiplier>1</SizeMultiplier>
    <ShowInHand>true</ShowInHand>
    <ShowSheathed>true</ShowSheathed>
    <ShowOnGround>true</ShowOnGround>
    <ShowOnBag>false</ShowOnBag>
  </SL_ItemExtension>
</ItemExtensions>

• Purely visual and local: nothing is sent over the network or saved, and every client shows it for itself
• The log names where each item's particles came from and how they were fitted: SL_ItemVFX: <item> (<ID>) - Obsidian from 2000260, 1 emitters, Fit=Auto (Stretch) ratio=1.13.

Compatibility

• Requires SideLoader
• Mods built on Custom Effects must list it as a dependency, or SideLoader drops their XML
• Tested in single player and in co-op; in co-op every player needs the mod installed

Thanks and credit

• Thanks to my dear friend Rogismund, who sits through the most tedious co-op sessions hunting online bugs with me
• Thanks to Sinai for SideLoader and for all their incredible work
• Thanks to Joh-Benji and Proboina for all the help they have given me!
• Thanks to the entire modding community that has tirelessly made (and is making!) my favourite game go from epic to legendary

Contacts

• Join our Outward modding community Discord server
• If you have any bugs to report or want to give feedback, here's my Discord workshop channel