Lightning Bolts

Environmental reference

FXMaster+Filter effectAPI type: lightningbolts

Preview

Preview shows Lightning Bolts with the Horizontal Lightning Mode enabled

Map maker

Map:Angela's Maps

Animated horizontal or top-down lightning bolts with branching and flash synchronization.

Environmental filters change the Scene surface or atmosphere. They can cover the full Scene, be limited to Regions, and be moved within the effect stack.

Reference	Value
Package	FXMaster+
Effect kind	Filter effect
Category	Environmental
Runtime type	lightningbolts
Exposed parameters	32

Important controls

• Lightning Mode: Selects whether the effect creates horizontal bolts, top-down strikes, or both supported presentations.
• Trigger Chance: Controls the chance that a scheduled lightning event actually produces a visible bolt.
• Period: Sets the approximate time between automatic lightning events. Higher values create longer gaps.
• Branchiness: Controls how many secondary branches split away from the main bolt.
• Sync with Lightning Flash: Triggers the core Lightning flash at the same time as a bolt so the scene brightens with the strike.
• Audio Aware: Allows bass-heavy audio peaks to trigger Lightning Bolts. Use Audio Channels to choose what it listens to and Audio Bass Threshold to control sensitivity.
• Above Darkness: Presents the luminous contribution from Lightning Bolts above Foundry scene darkness. This option is available only on compatible luminous filters.

Setup notes

• Lightning Mode selects the bolt presentation; Top Down controls become available for overhead strikes.
• Trigger Chance and Period control occurrence, while Line Width, Branchiness, Bolt Length, Jitter, Glow, and Brightness shape each bolt.
• Sync with Lightning Flash coordinates the bolt with the core Lightning filter.
• Above Darkness presents the luminous bolt contribution above Foundry scene darkness.

Bundled preset usage

Preset	API name	Availability	Variants
Hurricane	hurricane	FXMaster+	Normal, Top Down
Thunderstorm	thunderstorm	FXMaster+	Normal, Top Down

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.

32 exposed parameters1 Scene-only1 Region-onlylightningbolts 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 color	color	#d6f2ff (enabled)	—	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
Lightning Modei mode	multi-select	Horizontal	Horizontal, Top Down, Mixed	Always
Sync with Lightning Flashi syncFlash	checkbox	On	—	Always
Trigger Chancei triggerChance	range	1	0–1 · step 0.05	Shown when Sync with Lightning Flash = On or Audio Aware = On
Variable Bolt Counti topDownBoltsVariable	checkbox	On	—	Shown when Lightning Mode includes Top Down or Lightning Mode includes Mixed
Line Widthi thickness	range	2.2	1–3 · step 0.1	Shown when Lightning Mode is empty or Lightning Mode includes Horizontal or Lightning Mode includes Mixed
Top Down Scalei topDownScale	range	0.15	0.1–1 · step 0.01	Shown when Lightning Mode includes Top Down or Lightning Mode includes Mixed
Top Down Boltsi topDownBolts	range	5	1–5 · step 1	Shown when Lightning Mode includes Top Down or Lightning Mode includes Mixed
Branchinessi branches	range	1	0–1 · step 0.01	Always
Bolt Lengthi length	range	0.5	0.1–1 · step 0.01	Always
Speedi speed	range	0.28	0.01–1 · step 0.01	Always
Jitteri jitter	range	0.65	0.05–1 · step 0.01	Always
Brightnessi brightness	range	1.3	0–4 · step 0.1	Always
Opacityi opacity	range	1	0–1 · step 0.05	Always
Glowi glow	range	0.65	0–1 · step 0.01	Always
Periodi frequency	range	5000	100–30000 · step 100	Shown when Audio Aware = Off
Durationi spark_duration	range	520	80–5000 · step 5	Always
Audio Awarei audioAware	checkbox	Off	—	Always
Audio Channelsi audioChannels	multi-select	Environment	Music, Environment, Interface	Shown when Audio Aware = On
Audio Bass Thresholdi audioBassThreshold	range	0.75	0–1 · step 0.01	Shown when Audio Aware = On
Above Darknessi aboveDarkness	checkbox	Off	—	Always
Directional Movementi directionalMovement	checkbox	Off	—	Shown when Lightning Mode is empty or Lightning Mode includes Horizontal or Lightning Mode includes Mixed
Directioni direction	range	0	0–360 · step 5	Shown when Lightning Mode is empty and Directional Movement = On or Lightning Mode includes Horizontal and Directional Movement = On or Lightning Mode includes Mixed and Directional Movement = On
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
Edge Fade %i fadePercentRegion only	range	0	0–1 · step 0.01	Always

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({
  filters: [{
    "id": "apiMacro_wikilightningbolts_f",
    "type": "lightningbolts",
    "options": {
      "mode": "side",
      "thickness": 0.5,
      "branches": 0.5,
      "brightness": 0.8,
      "frequency": 0.5
    }
  }],
});

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

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