Bats

Animals reference

FXMasterParticle effectAPI type: bats

Animated bat swarms with orbit, directional movement, lateral drift, and optional shadows.

Animal effects add moving subjects to a Scene without creating tokens. Scale and Density control the population, while the available movement controls determine how they travel around the map.

Reference	Value
Package	FXMaster
Effect kind	Particle effect
Category	Animals
Runtime type	bats
Exposed parameters	26

Important controls

• Orbit: Makes bats circulate around the effect area instead of only crossing the canvas in a straight or drifting path.
• Directional Movement: Makes bats travel in the configured Direction instead of relying only on the effect’s default random movement.
• Shadow: Adds a separate projected shadow beneath bats to give the effect more depth against the map.
• Shadow Only: Hides bats and renders only their projected shadows.
• Density: Changes how many bats are visible or spawned at once. It does not change their size.

Setup notes

• Orbit works well when bats should circle a cave chamber, tower, or other focal point. Directional Movement is better when they should cross a wider map.
• Shadow Only can suggest bats passing above the ground without showing the bat sprites themselves.

Bundled preset usage

No bundled preset currently uses this effect directly. Add it through Particle Effects or the Direct Effect API.

Parameters

The table combines the settings available for this effect in Scene and Region contexts. Scene-only and Region-only badges identify controls limited to one context. Hover or focus an info button to see what the parameter changes on the canvas. Select it to keep the card open. Each card also includes the default, range or choices, context, availability, API key, and control type.

26 exposed parameters1 Scene-onlybats API type

iHover or focus an info button to see what the parameter changes on the canvas. Select it to keep the card open. Context badges identify Scene-only and Region-only controls; unbadged parameters are available in both. Hover or focus an availability condition to highlight the parameter that controls it.

Parameter	Control	Default	Range or choices	Availability
Below Tokensi belowTokens	checkbox	Off	—	Always
Below Tilesi belowTiles	checkbox	Off	—	Always
Below Foregroundi belowForeground	checkbox	Off	—	Always
Levelsi levelsScene only	scene-levels	All Levels	—	Always
Tinti tint	color	#FFFFFF (disabled)	—	Always
Sound FXi soundFxEnabled	checkbox	Off	—	Always
Sound FX Soundsi soundFxManualSoundIds	multi-select	Rule default	—	Shown when Sound FX = On and the matching enabled SoundFX rule uses Multi-Sound Mode = Manual with at least two configured sounds
Orbiti orbit	checkbox	Off	—	Always
Orbit Distancei orbitDistance	range	0.5	0–1 · step 0.01	Shown when Orbit = On
Shadowi dropShadow	checkbox	Off	—	Always
Shadow Onlyi shadowOnly	checkbox	Off	—	Shown when Shadow = On
Shadow Positioni shadowRotation	range	315	0–360 · step 1	Shown when Shadow = On
Shadow Distancei shadowDistance	range	70	0–300 · step 1	Shown when Shadow = On
Shadow Bluri shadowBlur	range	2	0–20 · step 0.5	Shown when Shadow = On
Shadow Opacityi shadowOpacity	range	1	0–1 · step 0.05	Shown when Shadow = On
Lateral Movementi lateralMovement	range	0	0–1 · step 0.05	Hidden when Orbit = On
Directional Movementi directionalMovement	checkbox	Off	—	Hidden when Orbit = On
Directioni direction	range	—	0–360 · step 5	Shown when Directional Movement = OnHidden when Orbit = On
Directional Spreadi spread	range	0	0–20 · step 1	Shown when Directional Movement = OnHidden when Orbit = On
Scalei scale	range	0.27	0.1–1 · step 0.01	Always
Speedi speed	range	0.27	0.1–1 · step 0.01	Always
Lifetimei lifetime	range	0.27	0.1–1 · step 0.01	Always
Densityi density	range	0.474	0.001–1 · step 0.001	Always
Opacityi alpha	range	1	0–1 · step 0.1	Always
Darkness Activationi darknessActivationEnabled	checkbox	Off	—	Always
Darkness Activation Rangei darknessActivationRange	range-dual	{"min":0,"max":1}	0–1 · step 0.01	Shown when Darkness Activation = On

Direct-effect API example

The Direct Effect API creates a separate row shown through Manage API Effects. Add a stable apiMacro_…_p or apiMacro_…_f ID when later macro calls need to update or stop the same row.

const created = await FXMASTER.api.effects.play({
  particles: [{
    "id": "apiMacro_wikibats_p",
    "type": "bats",
    "options": {
      "belowTokens": false,
      "tint": {
        "value": "#FFFFFF",
        "apply": false
      },
      "orbit": false,
      "directionalMovement": false,
      "scale": 0.27
    }
  }],
});

await FXMASTER.api.effects.particles.stop(created.particles);

For complete API behavior, scene targeting, stack ordering, and toggle groups, see the Direct Effect API guide.