I don't think Atom noticed this was in the Source engine discussion smile -
Oops! Fail.
In that case, my previous replies in this thread can be ignored,
But, i had the exact same issue when working on my Space Shuttle mod for the Ep 1 source engine. Env_steam is actually perfect for this but I could'nt get it done because there's no way to specify a custom material for this entity.
Unless...
I pulled Daubster's leg and asked him if he had a solution. He explained to me how to add an new material from the env_steam entity by adding a couple of lines in c_steamjet.cpp which is the C++ sourcefile of the env_steam entity. That worked, as seen in this thread:
http://twhl.co.za/forums.php?thread=14114I have'nt tried it in any of the newer version of the source engine yet, and it's possible there's a better entity for this now.
I think the superior particle system is what you should be using for this kind of effect, however, getting a fully functional particle effect from it is pretty tough. Creating a particle from scratch without any help from a tutorial or something is pretty much a no-go. This is the reason why my shuttle project development is
slow on hold: i have no idea how to use the particle system and im unable to find any tutorial about it.
So i can't help you any further. Sorry for giving you false hope.