Creating Custom Explosion Generators (CEGs) and using them with Units in Spring, via COB, is quite easy. This tutorial will show you how to do so.

Step 1: Link your CEGs to your Unit.

CEGs need to be linked to a Unit's data to be generated via COB.

To do so, create a section in your Unit's TDF like this:

[SFXTypes]
{
   ExplosionGenerator0=custom:MyNiftyExplosionGenerator;
}

This tells Spring that the CEG called MyNiftyExplosionGenerator is attached to this Unit, and allows COB to call it. If you have more than one, then the next one uses a 1 instead of a 0, e.g. ExplosionGenerator1=custom:MyNiftyExplosionGenerator; ... and so forth.

Step 2: Calling the CEG via COB

The easiest way to do this is to use a #DEFINE statement, using the appropriate number for the type of Explosion you want to invoke. So, what I typically do is put in lines at the start of the COB, like this:

#DEFINE MyNiftyExplosionGenerator 1024+0

This means that, wherever in the COB I call MyNiftyExplosionGenerator, Spring will call the appropriate CEG.

To actually call the CEG, just use the following:

emit-sfx MyNiftyExplosionGenerator from PieceName;

It's just that simple :-) Just make darn sure you've gotten everything right before you use this, or you will cause to Spring to crash!