Better raindefault rain, I can hear it but barely

[dmarkwick 261]

I got annoyed with the default rain, I can hear it but barely see it even when it is bucketing down. I made a set of new rain textures that greatly improves this, without obscuring your vision any. If anyone would like better rain (i.e. rain you can actually see) then use this small modification:

DMRain

Just contains 4 replacement textures, no readme with it just this instruction:

1. Back up your ArmA\Addons\Ca.pbo

2. Un-PBO the Ca.pbo file.

3. Find the ArmA\Addons\Ca\data\data folder

4. Paste the 4 new textures in, replacing the old ones.

5. Re-PBO the Arma\Addons\Ca folder, overwriting the old Ca.pbo file.

6. Enjoy the new "fat rain" (as Forrest Gump would call it).

*EDIT*

Oops sorry for the confusing title. Looks like some of the text got transposed somehow, I wondered where it went

[dmarkwick 261]

Screeniepoos:

[DeathRow 0]

Thanks alot man ive always had a pet pev with the rain.

[Mabes 0]

*EDITED*

Edit: I didn't read all of your post. Never mind

[dmarkwick 261]

Thanks alot man ive always had a pet pev with the rain.

No probs the rain in ArmA is not great even with new textures, but it is better at least. I can also do new lightening bolts too, the default ones are a little cartooney.

Unfortunately I couldn't make them an addon, I tried redirecting the config texture paths but it just threw up an error, and I couldn't find any .p3d file to hack.. So for now they're replacements in the actual Ca.pbo file itself.

[.kju 3245]

you post your config please. it should work via config replacement too.

[SASR Sabre 0]

Thanks, ive always wanted the rain to have something more, wether it was visual or sound, its just needed something.

[ArmaVidz 0]

That's awesome. Could've used this for my Saving Private Ryan vid !!!

Nice work again man.

[G_H_Play_AKA_BOSS 0]

Sweet dude like it.

[Average Joe 0]

Could someone through up a short vid of it in action please? Im at work

[cole 0]

Really nice, are you going to add this rain to your SmokeEffects? I dont wanna mess with pbo's and adding it to your SmokeEffects addon would make it epic

[Ateryu82 0]

Can't really make anything out from that screenie but I will definately try this!

[NoRailgunner 0]

Would be nice to have this rain as replacement too!

[dmarkwick 261]

you post your config please. it should work via config replacement too.

The config that I tried was this:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">class CfgWorlds

{

class DefaultWorld

{

class Weather

{

class Overcast

{

class Weather1;

class Weather2;

class Weather3;

class Weather4;

class Weather5;

};

};

};

class CAWorld: DefaultWorld

{

class Rain

{

texture = "\DMSmokeEffects\Images\rain_ca.01.paa";

raindrop = "\ca\data\raindrop.p3d";

speed = 1;

levels[] = {8,2};

};

};

};

which was derived from the original config which is this:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">class CfgWorlds

{

class DefaultWorld

{

class Weather

{

class Overcast

{

class Weather1;

class Weather2;

class Weather3;

class Weather4;

class Weather5;

};

};

};

class CAWorld: DefaultWorld

{

class Rain

{

texture = "ca\data\data\rain_ca.01.paa";

raindrop = "\ca\data\raindrop.p3d";

speed = 1;

levels[] = {8,2};

};

};

};

As you see I only replaced the texture path. The p3d file in the next line only points to an RVMAT file, which itself has no helpful information inside, no file references that I could see. So there's no p3d file to hack as in the other config settings I've changed.

The only thing I could think of was that the RVMAT file needs to be in the same directory as the PAA files, but I only spent about an hour on this so I just replaced the default textures with my own and it worked, so I posted it up as a solution that worked.

Either that or there's a problem with the "\" in front of "\DMSmokeEffects", but it was late so I just posted and in any case other references I did in the config uses a "\" in front so I didn't think it would be that.

*edit*

I also tried messing with the Levels parameter, in the hope of getting "deeper" rain, but it didn't work the way I thought it would. As there's only 2 layers of rain ingame I changed the "2" to "4" but it only seemed to shrink the rain effect, it didn't add any layers that I could see.

[.kju 3245]

so did you get an error message or did it just not work?

also what about your cfgPatches part

did you check replacements of the sky and rain in OFP?

maybe there is a bit more into it.

also as far as i know the inheritance should look like this:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">class CfgWorlds

{

class DefaultWorld;

class CAWorld: DefaultWorld

{

class Rain

{

texture = "\DMSmokeEffects\Images\rain_ca.01.paa";

raindrop = "\ca\data\raindrop.p3d";

speed = 1;

levels[] = {8,2};

};

};

};

ps: how did you get the code with indentation posted in here?

[dmarkwick 261]

so did you get an error message or did it just not work?

I got a file cannot be loaded/found message.

also what about your cfgPatches part

Umm, cfgPatches? all my other stuff works without cfgPatches so I haven't had any cause to learn anything about it. If you can tell me what it is I can probably improve my stuff generally.

did you check replacements of the sky and rain in OFP?

maybe there is a bit more into it.

I never did any OFP stuff so I wouldn't know.

also as far as i know the inheritance should look like this:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">class CfgWorlds

{

class DefaultWorld;

class CAWorld: DefaultWorld

{

class Rain

{

texture = "\DMSmokeEffects\Images\rain_ca.01.paa";

raindrop = "\ca\data\raindrop.p3d";

speed = 1;

levels[] = {8,2};

};

};

};

rgr that thanks

ps: how did you get the code with indentation posted in here?

Spaces

[jasono 0]

I assume that I can't use a mod folder to overwrite the current ca.pbo instead of actually modifying that. I would prefer it to be honest, but its not a problem if not.

[dmarkwick 261]

I assume that I can't use a mod folder to overwrite the current ca.pbo instead of actually modifying that. I would prefer it to be honest, but its not a problem if not.

Right now it's just a replacement job unfortunately. I'm sure it's just Muppetry on my part, and as soon as I work it out it will become part of the general DMSmokeEffects addon.

So don't forget to back up the Ca.pbo file, 'cos you'll be putting it back as it was eventually

[=(+)=TheVoodoo 0]

much more useful install without messing around with pbo's:

create in your arma directory the subdirectory path \ca\data\data\ and place alle *.paa from the zip inside.

it should look like this ArmA\ca\data\data\*.paa

thats all, the game will use the modified textures automatically.

if you dont want to use it anymore, just delete them from this folder.

[dmarkwick 261]

much more useful install without messing around with pbo's:

create in your arma directory the subdirectory path \ca\data\data\ and place alle *.paa from the zip inside.

it should look like this ArmA\ca\data\data\*.paa

thats all, the game will use the modified textures automatically.

if you dont want to use it anymore, just delete them from this folder.

rgr, so the game will use uncompressed data before compressed data?

[.kju 3245]

Pbo files normally don't and should not have compression.

The pbo file itself is only a container.

In ArmA there is also the $pboprefix$. Once you set one the

name of the pbo becomes meaningless (for all? / most path

references) as well.

Only cpp, sqm, (sqs in ArmA?), (sqf in ArmA?) should be compressed.

Sound files, textures, wrp (only binarized - ArmA?), p3d (only

binarized - ArmA?) should NOT.

This info might be outdated in ArmA and not perfectly correct.

In general don't use compression at all. Compress files with rar

or zip to reduce the download size. Thats all.

excellent hint TheVoodoo - cheers!

[dmarkwick 261]

pbo files normally don't and should not have compression.

only text files or binarized files (bin, ODOL p3ds, binarized wrp) do

have and cpp, sqm, (sqs?), (sqf?), p3d, wrp should be compressed.

textures should NOT.

excellent hint TheVoodoo - cheers!

Rgr that. By compression, I meant PBO'd, not actual compression

[Maddmatt 1]

Pbo files normally don't and should not have compression.

The pbo file itself is only a container.

In ArmA there is also the $pboprefix$. Once you set one the

name of the pbo becomes meaningless (for all? / most path

references) as well.

Only cpp, sqm, (sqs in ArmA?), (sqf in ArmA?) should be compressed.

Sound files, textures, wrp (only binarized - ArmA?), p3d (only

binarized - ArmA?) should NOT.

This info might be outdated in ArmA and not perfectly correct.

In general don't use compression at all. Compress files with rar

or zip to reduce the download size. Thats all.

excellent hint TheVoodoo - cheers!

ArmA, unlike OFP, shouldn't use any compression at all. This applies to all file types.

[=(+)=TheVoodoo 0]

rgr, so the game will use uncompressed data before "compressed" data?

thats the way it is

i figured that out few month ago, messing around with replacements.

[Symbiot 0]

Good work DMarkwick !!!