Shadow Evocation and resist energy

[Celanian]

Ok, a shadow demon hits a party for 45 damage with a shadow fireball. The party has resist energy (fire) 20 up at that moment.

This is my understanding of the situation:

If they make their will save, they take 20% of 45 or 9 damage, but are not protected by the resist fire since they know it's not an actual fire attack.

If they fail their will save, they take 45 damage minus the 20 resist fire for a net of 25 damage since they think the fire resistance will protect them.

Is this accurate?

[RainyDayNinja]

The damage they take is still actual, real fire damage (regardless of whether they disbelieve or not), not an illusion of damage. They will still be protected by the fire resistance.