ARMA 3 - TrueSky Weather, Effects

[looter 10]

I am wondering, since ArmA 3 is using the TrueSky middle-ware for its cloud rendering, will it be using some of the other features of the technology as well, such as its weather and fancy lighting effects, or are these too expensive to use in the engine?

Video of some of the TrueSky features.

Edit: Just so everyone is clear, ArmA 3 IS using truesky middleware.

Edited March 3, 2013 by Looter

[johncage 30]

if they license it, that means they have full access to its features, so it would make sense that all realism oriented features are included.

[vegeta897 13]

Is there a source confirming that Arma 3 uses this?

[dunedain 48]

First time I hear about this... Well at least if ArmaIII uses this we may get some proper rain rendering. :rolleyes:

[looter 10]

Is there a source confirming that Arma 3 uses this?

I'm not going to go post-hunting right now but ArmA 3 uses Take On's sky rendering, and take on helicopters uses truesky as far as i know.

[PuFu 4600]

AFAIK, arma3 does NOT use TrueSKy. They do appear in the client list, but the link sends you to the BI Sim and VBS2 page.

[looter 10]

AFAIK, arma3 does NOT use TrueSKy. They do appear in the client list, but the link sends you to the BI Sim and VBS2 page.

Interesting...Would definitely like some developer comments on this, whether this is being used in ArmA 3 or not and if so if the weather is implemented.

[PuFu 4600]

i stand corrected:

↪Technical / game engine features:

-Viewdistance of 20km+

-Volumetric Clouds (http://www.simul.co.uk/truesky) that affect the flightmodel

-Render to texture (

mirrors, displays, MFD's etc

-Heavy mod support: Mod everything you want in the game

-TOH will include a debug console

-TOH will support EyeFinity, Triple monitors and TrackIR

-Normal Mapping (http://takeonthegame.com/full/wp-content/gallery/social-media/NORMALMAPPING.gif?9d7bd4)

-dynamic colouration scripts

-destroyable environemt (Trees etc)

-"Shooting (http://takeonthegame.com/full/wp-content/gallery/social-media/CAMERA.jpg?9d7bd4)" out of the chopper

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?123577-Take-on-Helicopters-Confirmed-Features

[gammadust 12]

There are weather related script commands (humidity, lightnings, wind*, gusts, rainbow) if they're directly related with the Truesky implementation we can only guess atm.

[sproyd 2]

I'm very interested as to what TrueSky does to performance - I found TOH (demo only) did not run near as well as A2:CO at the same settings. Obviously they are different games but I didn't expect TOH to run slower (rather expected it to be faster without AI, less objects, low polygon count Seattle skyscrapers vs Chernarus rounded terrain etc). Could this have been due to TrueSky and all the intricacies involved with it affecting flight models?

[k3lt 3]

I certainly hope it's not too heavy on CPU.

[AlexVestin 24]

That's too cool to make me believe it's in the game till I see it :p

[nodunit 397]

Looks like the clouds from TOH to me. Performance varies but there are 4 or 5 options for cloud detail to tweak the detail and coverage based on weather conditions.

The same is in Arma 2 and yes it does have lighting effects on clouds based on sun position as evidenced by these ingame images http://www.arma3.com/images/screenshots/large/arma3_screenshot_19.jpg There are plenty of others showing the clouds having different lighting and even colorations but you will have to find those yourself.

[metalcraze 290]

I'm very interested as to what TrueSky does to performance - I found TOH (demo only) did not run near as well as A2:CO at the same settings. Obviously they are different games but I didn't expect TOH to run slower (rather expected it to be faster without AI, less objects, low polygon count Seattle skyscrapers vs Chernarus rounded terrain etc). Could this have been due to TrueSky and all the intricacies involved with it affecting flight models?

Those clouds are really taxing however newer GeForces seem to handle them quite well even maxed out.

[sproyd 2]

Those clouds are really taxing however newer GeForces seem to handle them quite well even maxed out.

Thanks. I thought that TrueSky's claims of minimal CPU and GPU usage seemed a bit too good to be true. It is an excellent looking effect though I must say - can anyone link me a YouTube video of how this looks in-game in TOH? I'd be even more interested to see how this looks with fixed wing flight - How amazing would it be on an overcast day to take your F35 (or what have you) straight through the 3D cloud cover up into the blue!!!! I really hope there are massive cloud stacks as well because that would just be freaking awesome - like this .

[metalcraze 290]

Clouds look quite epic

[Zyromkiru 10]

The clouds are nice but also have defects. I don't know if this will be fixed since it's from another source that they are getting the clouds from but when turning the clouds change and I will lose it in game if I see this constantly....

[sproyd 2]

Clouds look quite epic

OH MY GOD that's brilliant.

---------- Post added at 09:53 ---------- Previous post was at 09:52 ----------

The clouds are nice but also have defects. I don't know if this will be fixed since it's from another source that they are getting the clouds from but when turning the clouds change and I will lose it in game if I see this constantly....

OH MY GOD that's horrific. Surely they can fix that. WTF is going on???

[maddogx 13]

OH MY GOD that's horrific. Surely they can fix that. WTF is going on???

Depends on what is causing the issue. BIS can only fix it if the problem is caused by some kind of misconfiguration in their implementation. If the TrueSky middleware itself is the problem, they would have to pester the creators for a fix.

FYI, the problem is less pronounced in first person mode. It's most noticable in 3rd person with wide viewing angles.

[FanBF2 13]

If ArmA3 include TrueSky, can we expecting a better rendering for the rain ?

I don't expect ultra-mega-effects-of-the-death like racing games but something a little more realistic.

[looter 10]

Went ahead and edited the OP so that everyone is on the same page, ArmA 3 does indeed use truesky. Confirmation is as simple as confirmed features thread or watching any of the gameplay videos and looking at the cloud transformation bug present in TKOH.

[wipman 1]

Hi, i would be more worried about the HDR than by the sky or the sky's effects; on the ArmA 2 aswell as on the ArmA this was a big problem and even a gameplay breaker issue, as at certain times of day it flatten too much the colours making it all too dark or too bright. Is as when you enter on a building... there's dusk outside, but when you enter on the house... shudently everything becomes bright as "the light at the end of the tunnel"; giving everything unreal light values that impede a correct response time at threats or that unable you to distinguise forms or colours.

They'd made it react as a digital camera instead as the human eye and that's bad for the gameplay. The sky and enviromental effects as wind or rain only affects to the performance, but not to the gameplay as the über-bad HDR does on the ArmA2. Let's C ya

[purepassion 22]

bad HDR

has been fixed :)

[nodunit 397]

The HDR was caused by the sky more or less. If you're anywhere and you don't have the sky in the scene then HDR throws a shitfit to try and illuminate it. That however does not appear to be the case judging by the screenshots and video.

[Dwarden 1125]

the HDR lighting is done completely different to OA/TOH ...

the over-bright whole screen bug known from OA where it was caused by small region of brightness or looking into ground is gone

about the 'clouds' pouring bug with angle of view change / rotation ...

this is sort of related tot he TrueSky middleware and you can see it in all games using it

play for example WarThunder http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?142789-War-Thunder-MMO&p=2288495&viewfull=1#post2288495

and You will spot it there too

I have little idea how it might be possible to lower this effect but would need discuss it with graphics programmers ;)