Drag & Stab Effects

Introduction

The Crystal Focus X can produce two real contact effects during combat use: drag and stab. These simulate different kinds of blade contact and each one has its own trigger logic, sound file set, color, and visual style.

This guide focuses on how those two effects work, how to configure them, and how to tune them so they feel right on your saber.

How These Effects Differ

Part 1 — Drag Effect

What Is Drag?

Drag simulates the blade tip scraping across the ground or another hard surface. It produces a sustained scraping sound and a visual effect concentrated near the blade tip. The effect continues while the trigger conditions are maintained.

How to Trigger Drag

Drag needs three conditions at the same time:

1. Hold the AUX button, or the activation button on a single-button saber
2. Point the blade downward within the allowed drag angle range
3. Make a clash motion while the button is held

If the angle is correct, the board detects a drag effect instead of a regular lockup. If the blade is outside that angle range, the same button-plus-clash action becomes a normal lockup instead.

To end drag: release the AUX button. If your font includes an end-drag sound, it plays as the saber returns to its normal appearance.

Single-button sabers: The main activation switch doubles as the drag trigger. Hold it and clash with the blade pointing down. The board prevents the saber from powering off while drag is active.

Drag Sound Files

When drag starts, the board can play a startdrag sound first, then the drag loop. While the effect is active, the loop continues. When you release the button, enddrag can play before the effect stops.

If the font has no drag files at all, the board falls back to using regular lockup sounds instead.

Drag naming rule: The first drag loop is always drag.wav with no number. Additional variants start at drag2.wav. Do not use drag1.wav for the main drag loop.

Drag Audio Format

TL;DR: Use WAV, 16-bit PCM, mono, 44.1 kHz recommended, or 22.05 kHz.

Drag Visual Styles

Set the drag visual in your blade profile section of config.txt with style_drag.

style_drag=2

Drag Color

Set the drag color in your color profile with dcolor.

dcolor=1023,320,0,0

That gives an orange drag effect. For CFX color profiles, channel values can go up to 1023. You can also use a dictionary color name:

dcolor=orange

Drag Mapping

mapping_drag controls how external input changes the drag effect intensity or behavior.

mapping_drag=2

Part 2 — Stab Effect

What Is Stab?

Stab simulates thrusting the blade tip straight forward into a target. Unlike drag, stab is a motion-only gesture. No button press is required. It plays a quick impact sound and a tip-focused visual effect.

How to Trigger Stab

Trigger stab by making a quick forward thrust while the saber is on.

• The motion should be mainly along the blade axis
• It should be a straight push, not a wide swing
• The blade should be roughly forward within the configured stab angle range

The board distinguishes stab from swings by looking for linear forward thrust with minimal rotational motion.

Stab Sound Files

When a stab is detected, the board picks one of the available stab sounds at random. If no stab files exist, the saber falls back to a regular clash sound instead.

Because stab is a one-shot effect, it does not use separate start or end transition sounds.

Stab Visual Styles

Set the stab visual in your blade profile section with style_stab.

style_stab=5

Stab Color

Set the stab color in your color profile section with tcolor.

tcolor=1023,1023,1023,0

That gives a white stab effect. For CFX color profiles, channel values can go up to 1023. You can also use a dictionary color name:

tcolor=white

Part 3 — Sensitivity Tuning

Both drag and stab have configurable thresholds and angular ranges. These settings go in the general section of config.txt, outside any profile or font section.

Drag Sensitivity

hdrag=threshold,angleLow,angleHigh

• threshold decides how hard the clash must be to register drag. Lower values make drag easier to trigger. Default: 350
• angleLow is the minimum blade angle for drag detection. Default: 0
• angleHigh is the maximum blade angle for drag detection. Default: 90

This range defines how far downward the blade must point.

hdrag=300,10,80

Stab Sensitivity

hstab=threshold,angleLow,angleHigh

• threshold decides how strong the forward thrust must be. Lower values make stab easier to trigger. Default: 390
• angleLow is the minimum blade angle for stab detection. Default: -20
• angleHigh is the maximum blade angle for stab detection. Default: 20

This means stab is centered roughly around a horizontal blade orientation.

hstab=350,-30,30

Tip: If stab is hard to trigger, lower the threshold and widen the range. If it triggers during normal swings, raise the threshold.

Part 4 — Drag vs. Lockup

Drag and lockup are closely related because both use AUX plus clash. The difference is mostly blade orientation:

• Blade pointing downward within the drag range gives drag
• Blade outside that range gives normal lockup

If your font has no drag sounds at all, the board treats AUX plus clash as regular lockup regardless of blade angle.

Both drag and lockup end when you release the AUX button.

Complete Configuration Reference

Sound Files in the Font Folder

Config Keys

Example config.txt Snippet

# --- General section ---
hdrag=350,0,90
hstab=390,-20,20

# --- Color profile section ---
profile=1
color=0,0,1023,0
dcolor=1023,400,0,0
tcolor=1023,1023,1023,0

# --- Blade profile section ---
style_drag=2
style_stab=5
mapping_drag=2

Troubleshooting

Summary

• Drag is a sustained tip-scraping effect: hold AUX, point the blade down, then clash
• Stab is a quick forward thrust with no button press required
• hdrag and hstab control sensitivity and angle ranges
• style_drag, style_stab, dcolor, and tcolor control appearance
• mapping_drag lets drag react to audio, motion, twist, or time

Crystal Focus X firmware guide · Drag & Stab Effects