Classic Unstable (unstable=1)

Introduction

The Classic Unstable effect (unstable=1) simulates a crackling, volatile blade that looks like it could fall apart at any moment. Think of a saber that constantly boils with energy across its full length rather than flickering from one particular end.

Unlike the Fire effect (unstable=2), which concentrates its activity at the base and drifts upward, Classic Unstable distributes sparks uniformly across the whole blade. That gives it a chaotic, full-blade instability look instead of an organic flame-like movement.

Under the hood, the effect works like a cellular heat simulation. Random sparks inject heat into the blade, while a continuous cooling process tries to pull it back down. That tug-of-war creates the unstable flicker.

Enabling Classic Unstable

In your blade profile, set:

unstable=1

That is enough to activate the effect. Everything else in this guide is optional tuning.

Core Parameters: Cooling & Sparking

These four parameters are the backbone of the Classic Unstable look. They decide how hot the blade gets, how quickly it cools, and how often new sparks appear.

hcool — High Cooling

Default: 70

This is the maximum amount of heat that can be removed from a pixel each frame. Higher values cool the blade faster and make the flicker shorter and sharper.

lcool — Low Cooling

Default: 20

This is the minimum cooling applied each frame. Each pixel loses a random amount of heat between lcool and hcool. A bigger gap creates more uneven fade-out behavior across the blade.

Tip: Keeping lcool low, usually between 5 and 20, is an easy way to preserve character while you tune the effect’s aggressiveness with hcool.

sparkf — Sparking Force

Default: 120

This controls the probability that new sparks ignite on a given frame. Higher values mean sparks appear more often.

sparkd — Spark Density

Default: 10

This defines what percentage of the blade length can receive new sparks when a spark event occurs. A value of 10 means up to 10% of the blade’s pixels can be sparked in one frame.

Note: Even at sparkd=1, the firmware still guarantees at least one spark per event, so the blade never stays completely dark on a spark cycle.

Drift Mode

drift — Heat Drift

Default: 0

When drift is off, heat stays where it appeared and fades in place. When drift is enabled with drift=1, heat moves along the blade in a random direction each frame. That makes the blade feel more like it is roiling and boiling instead of just fizzing in place.

drift=0    # sparks stay where they appear
drift=1    # heat drifts randomly up or down each frame

This is one of the main differences between Classic Unstable and Fire. Fire uses a directional drift, while Classic Unstable uses a random one, so the motion feels more chaotic.

Color Controls

The unstable effect builds a heat map internally. These settings decide how that heat map becomes visible color on the blade.

ecolor — Effect Color

This is the effect color used by the unstable effect, also known as the wet color. It appears in the hot areas of the blade.

ecolor=1023,320,0,0

This example gives a warm orange effect color. The channels are Red, Green, Blue, and White, and on CFX they can go up to 1023.

mapping_color — Color Mapping Mode

Default: 0

Legacy Mode is great for two-tone unstable blades, such as a blue blade with red or orange unstable flickers.

Heat Map Mode is better when you want a thermal, fiery, or lava-like progression.

mapc — Color Mapping Strength

Default: 50

This controls how strongly the effect color influences the blade.

mapb — Brightness Mapping Strength

Default: 50

This controls how strongly the heat value affects brightness.

Tip: mapc and mapb are independent. You can build a blade with strong color change but subtle brightness motion, or the other way around.

Audio Reactivity

mapping_unstable — Reactivity Source

Default: 1 (Audio)

With audio reactivity enabled, louder sounds make the blade more active. Cooling is reduced, sparking is boosted, and the unstable effect intensifies during swings, clashes, and lockups.

mapping_audio — Audio Sensitivity Range

This setting fine-tunes the audio response range.

mapping_audio=low,high

A narrower range makes the effect respond more aggressively to small changes in sound volume. A wider range makes the effect react more gradually.

Refresh Rate

refreshfx — Effect Refresh Rate

Default: 12

This is the effect update interval in milliseconds. Lower values update the effect more often, making it smoother and more alive.

Putting It All Together: Recipes

Recipe 1: Subtle Unstable Shimmer

A gentle unstable blade that mostly looks solid with occasional flickers.

unstable=1
sparkf=50
sparkd=5
hcool=100
lcool=10
drift=0
mapping_color=0
mapc=30
mapb=40
mapping_unstable=1

Recipe 2: Kylo Ren Crackle

A very active unstable blade with strong color shifting and visible chaos. Works especially well with a red base color and a bright orange or yellow ecolor.

unstable=1
sparkf=180
sparkd=20
hcool=60
lcool=5
drift=1
mapping_color=1
mapc=180
mapb=200
mapping_unstable=1
ecolor=1023,800,0,0

Recipe 3: Calm Volcanic Glow

A slower, deeper unstable look with more glowing than crackling.

unstable=1
sparkf=80
sparkd=8
hcool=40
lcool=5
drift=0
mapping_color=1
mapc=120
mapb=100
mapping_unstable=0
refreshfx=25

Recipe 4: Full Chaos

Maximum instability for a blade that looks completely out of control.

unstable=1
sparkf=220
sparkd=40
hcool=50
lcool=2
drift=1
mapping_color=1
mapc=255
mapb=255
mapping_unstable=1
refreshfx=8

Quick Reference Card

Tuning Tips

1. Start with defaults and change one parameter at a time. Cooling, sparking, mapping, and drift interact strongly.
2. Separate color and brightness tuning. For pure brightness flicker, lower mapc and raise mapb. For color change without deep dark spots, do the opposite.
3. Add drift last. It makes the effect much more dynamic, so it is easiest to understand after you already like the static version.
4. Audio reactivity amplifies everything. If the blade already looks intense at rest, it can become washed out during loud moments. Lower sparkf or raise hcool if needed.
5. Heat Map mode gives the richest gradients, but it works best when ecolor is chosen deliberately.
6. refreshfx is subtle but useful. A higher value can give the blade a slower, heavier unstable pulse.

Crystal Focus X firmware guide · Unstable Effects Collection · Part 1 — Classic Unstable (unstable=1)