Storms

[evilsquirrel]

Alright, i assume everyone has noticed in the current master sword that there are certain...flaws...with the weather...

for one, theres the whole...raining indoors, caves being brighter when it rains, rain being greenish...

In source, it'd be nice to have a point entity which controls possible weather in the map, for example..

ms_info_storms

it could store all the things like what storms can occur in this area, chances of said storms becoming active, what direction the storms come from (north south east west)


it'd also be nice to have brush based entities which control which areas weather can occur in (msarea_outdoors / msarea_indoors), or at least having rain and snow come from the skybox.

Weather:

Sunny
Cloudy
Rain
Thunder storm
Thunder storm w/ rain
Thunder storm w/ lightning
Thunder storm w/high winds
Thunder storm w/ rain & lightning
Thunder storm w/ rain, lightning, & high winds
Light snow
Heavy snow
Blizzard (high winds, heavy snow)
Sand storm
Extreme heat


Any i missed?

 

[Lanethan]

Alright, i assume everyone has noticed in the current master sword that there are certain...flaws...with the weather...

for one, theres the whole...raining indoors, caves being brighter when it rains, rain being greenish...

Indeed.

In source, it'd be nice to have a point entity which controls possible weather in the map, for example..

ms_info_storms

Not a bad idea.

it could store all the things like what storms can occur in this area, chances of said storms becoming active, what direction the storms come from (north south east west)

What storms occur? Sure. Chances? Definitely. Direction storms come from? Uhh, what? I've never seen any game bother to try to simulate storms "rolling into areas." So.. doubtful.

it'd also be nice to have brush based entities which control which areas weather can occur in (msarea_outdoors / msarea_indoors), or at least having rain and snow come from the skybox.

It'd be better to write code that would make it determine whether an area was indoors or out... probably by having rain fall only from a skybox, etc. Thats what I'd recommend.

Weather:

Sunny
Cloudy

Not sure, but the differences between these could be very fun to make in Source. Basically, I'd envision making the default skybox a night sky with stars (hear me out on this), but have the engine fade a blue clear sky into the little skybox area over top of this to create day time. Hell, you could have a glowy particle for the sun that could actually move through the skybox area realistically too. Clouds could be similar: small cloudy particles that move through the skybox area slowly, with the engine doing some sort of random generation of them. Sounds better and better the more I think about it.

Rain
Thunder storm
Thunder storm w/ rain
Thunder storm w/ lightning

Sounds good to me.

Thunder storm w/high winds
Thunder storm w/ rain & lightning
Thunder storm w/ rain, lightning, & high winds

Simulating wind... not sure if that's easily implemented in source or not..be cool though, but I doubt it.

Light snow
Heavy snow
Blizzard (high winds, heavy snow)

Works for me.

Sand storm

I like this idea too.

Extreme heat

I'm thinking this would be very hard to simulate in a game.. unless we just make everything have that heat shimmer effect....which could be extremely taxing on the performance.

 

[Crow]

I dunno how you plan to have things work in MS:S, but mebe "extreme heat" could cause a slight tax on your endurance. Aside from that, I'm just as lost as you on how to convey to the player that the current weather is "extremely hot"

 

[evilsquirrel]

theres a wind entity in source... so it should be fairly simple

 

[Orochi]

Guys, weather can be map-based in source by default. Func_precipitation and env_sun, guys. The wind entity isn't fully functional, either. It has no sound, and only serves as a constant physics force on all objects in the level.

 

[evilsquirrel]

was fairly sure that precipitation didnt stop during a map at any point and become sunny...

i know that source has rain built into it, i've used it on several maps - easy atmosphere. problem is, its not dynamicly changing, so you would have a continually rainy thornlands, or always sunny heras, etc.


edit: as for the wind entity, there are plenty of other ways to make sound in source, and so long as it exists it helps...

 

[Orochi]

It runs on entity I/O, ergo all you need is timed entites that fire the inputs to stop and start precipiation. Random weather is easy in source, with logic_case and weather entities. Logic_case can be told to pick a random case from cases you specify, and fire that set of things accordingly.

 

[Netrogor]

Okay... I have a few thoughts concerning current MSC's weather system, and what I believe should be done for the source setup myself....

1) MSC's weather system WAS cool at first, but now it pisses me off at how inconsistent the rain is with the time of the day (if you warp time ahead a few hours, or days... or years... it STILL rains until real-time has passed). I also hate the rain, since it is repetitive, and has successfully driven me insane multiple times, I have chosen to take my wrath out randomly on any nublets I find myself capable of amx_slapping for zero (0) damage.

2) As for MS:S weather setup... I would like there to be rain, but perhaps... if it isn't some light shower that CAN be cmd-"stopsound" assaulted (unlike current rain, which starts back up right after typing stopsound in console)... anyways I would like there to be random sounds of THUNDER in the background... since that'd be AWESOME. Perhaps even a randomized lightning bolt of natural occurrences (or seemingly so) that can kill players.

Sorry, but I only skimmed the first post... so in hindsight, if somebody already mentioned the natural weather related deaths; sorry for not taking notice

 

[evilsquirrel]

stopsound is a cheat in source...so no stopsound for you...

other than that, i dont think the time changes will be at the will of the player in source...either...it'll probably be all in the map, if it can be done in the map as orochi said (well, done very well anyways)...

oh and, with that system - you'd have to make it on each map...so if its done like that, make a map base thats distributed among the mappers...

 

[DarkWasp]

Personaly, I like getting stormed with the rain sound effects.

In reality, getting wet from the rain would be sort of an uncomfotability for your characters... So why cant the spoiled people behind the screen put up with the noise?

Now in source there are soundscapes, and rain colides with brushs.

So

A. It wont rain inside
B. The rain in source has little effect on performance
C. If the soundscapes are done right the rain and wind can be really loud outside, but when you enter a cave or house, you'll feel the relaxing of your ears as the rain and wind muffles to a low volume.

it could store all the things like what storms can occur in this area, chances of said storms becoming active, what direction the storms come from (north south east west)

Source rain CAN be parented so it is possible to have a storm roll in under a set of clouds... OR you could have a comical one foot stream of rain come out from a small constant moving cloud (which can follow a player) geat for enchanted areas.

 

[evilsquirrel]

stopsound's main function is to stop sounds that are looping when they shouldn't and any undesireable echoey effects (think it does those..)

if you stop a sound thats supposed to be playing, it'll most likely start right back up.

 

[PBarnum]

would be cool to have night and day in a single map. have the sun on a func_train and move around 180 degrees in the sky box so it would have the effect of a rotating earth.



same can also be with the moon.

 

[DarkWasp]

would be cool to have night and day in a single map. have the sun on a func_train and move around 180 degrees in the sky box so it would have the effect of a rotating earth.



same can also be with the moon.

Unfortunately the env_sun does not supply light. And dynamic and Light Style lights are VERY expensive to render. It may be better just to have the cheap looking SUDDEN Day to Night effect , just because some computers may hit 2 FPS durring transitions and the mappers will have to fight through a buttload of limmitations.

EDIT: I think it is possible to move the sun like you were saying though, even if the lights dont transition smoothly.

 

[evilsquirrel]

the sun could move, and the transitions could take place at multiple times...not quite as sudden as in the current MSC...because in the current one its...WTF ITS NIGHT!?

 

[DarkWasp]

the sun could move, and the transitions could take place at multiple times...not quite as sudden as in the current MSC...because in the current one its...WTF ITS NIGHT!?

I'm telling you Light Styles (Lights with names or effects flicker,pulse,switch on and off) are EXTREMELY expensive. Unless the devs can use a HDR effect for the fade in and out, some computers will go to Hell and back durring the course of the transition.... MOST computers.

Its a very challenging subject.

Extreme heat

I'm thinking this would be very hard to simulate in a game.. unless we just make everything have that heat shimmer effect....which could be extremely taxing on the performance.

Thats a negative sir! With a coder, extreme heat would be the easiest of effects on the mapper and engine. Garry's Mod uses overlays on the screen to make it look like water falling down the screen. The coder could set a custom sorta blury and wavy animated refraction texture as the overlay as stamina drop rate is doubled.

 

[PBarnum]

why not set up a lot of different lights in the same radial motion and have like 3 at a time be lit up and switch on and off depending on either time or what path_corner the sun hits.

 

[DarkWasp]

why not set up a lot of different lights in the same radial motion and have like 3 at a time be lit up and switch on and off depending on either time or what path_corner the sun hits.

Thats a good idea actauly.