Symbiot's Drop Rain Replacement

[Symbiot 0]

 Rain Was Updated

Here it is.....  

Drop rain replacement

Video -

Download it HERE (1.5mb)

THX to  El nino Foxhound for this Mirror

One more thanx goes to Stavanger for the mirror on Combat-Prison.net

FEATURES :

-Rain starts automatically with original one.

-Visual increasing/decreasing of rainforce.

-MP compatible

KNOWN ISSUES

-Doesn't work with only 1 helicopter and nothing else on the map.

Installation

Extract the ca_symbrain.rar into your ArmA installation Folder.

To turn the mod on, use shortcut with -mod=Ca_SymbRain addition.

Special thx goes to: Voyager[CA\OW], Maxpain[CA\ORCS], Denorc[CA\ORCS], Nightkiller [CA\ORCS], Wass[CA] and all other testers\helpers\vise advisors

OLD VERSION

Quote[/b] ]So, i was really inspired by DMarkwick rain addon, and i've tried to do my own ^^

685kb , just put it in Addons folder (Link updated, new version added.)

http://rapidshare.com/files/51243932/SymbRain.rar.html

I'm waiting for feedback !!!

[canis lupus 20]

looks promesing, testing right away...

[malick 0]

Great ! I'll test it tonight.

I've got problems seeing DM's rain texture : it doesn't change too much from original ArmA texture...

Your looks good, by the way. At least, the players knows when it's raining now !

Malick

[Symbiot 0]

THX !

[malick 0]

Wow, 50 meg for rain ?

I guess we can't miss it now !

Malick

[Zeinger 0]

Wow ! The result is really stunning

[Symbiot 0]

hm, i'we found a few problems in animation, will be changed soon.

[wolfsblut_ 0]

So, i was really inspired by DMarkwick rain addon, and i've tried to do my own ^^

...

Because the AI is not affected by your rain-mod but the human player: do you think your rain-mod makes the playing harder against AI or not?

[-duke- 0]

First off, I want to say that this is by far the best I've seen any rain in ArmA so very great work Symbiot!!!

The only reason I'm providing any critique is because you asked for input on your first post.

I think the speed looks really good as does the blowing rain sweeping in at a 45 degree (ish) angle. The only thing I'm not crazy about is the straight, vertical lines of rain, I'm assuming that is to simulate rain running off the helmet.

I've included the following image for your review. Again, this is not a major critique at all, merely something that I believe looks a bit unnatural.

Cheers.

Symbiot Rain LARGE

Since I'm adding input I guess I'll ask something else that I'm not sure of and too big a n00b to actually do for myself. Is there any way to make rain drip off the barrel of a weapon?

<---EDIT---> I just thought I'd add, is there any way to get the angled rain blowing in from the top left or right corner (depending on wind direction) instead of just dropping straight down?

[armybob2000 0]

Oh i love it, the rain going straight down is a little odd though. Now all we need is someone to make muddied up textures for troops and vehicles and a new wetter sound for going prone.

[Symbiot 0]

-Duke-

Thx for your critique m8.

I'll fix a lot of things.

I don't realy know if it possible to make angled rain depending of wind.

I can make a few versions of rain from any directions but dunno how to make it change because if wind direction.

[=(+)=TheVoodoo 0]

in dukes screenshot i noticed the cut of the texture between upper and lower edge. (you have to watch the hires picture in 100% zoom, above the mountains)

[-duke- 0]

in dukes screenshot i noticed the cut of the texture between upper and lower edge. (you have to watch the hires picture in 100% zoom, above the mountains)

NP Symbiot, glad to help.

@ TheVoodoo, Wow, good eye. I never noticed that until you mentioned it.

I was standing there like a n00b, waiting for the lightening to strike because I felt it would ad as much contrast to the rain effect as possible.

All in all, the new rain adds a lot more to the game than the default rain does so I'm pretty happy with it and will continue to use it in place of the default. That said, I look eagerly await any and all future versions of this mod.

[Symbiot 0]

I'we found one stupid present from BIS,

Even if i try to use 5 or 35 textures, game always use only one texture which moving from top of the screen to the bottom....

tric with rain.001, rain.002....etc dasn't work (((

So it's not my animated texture, i mean not properly animated. Damn.

PS Yeah , i'we just tested with 1 texture, it gives the same effect, so next version will make about 700kb

[=(+)=TheVoodoo 0]

i messed around with the raintextures some time ago... its sad that BIS hadnt implemented propper rain to the gameengine. rain are just stupid textures running from top to bottom along the screen, even if you are indoor. And rain looks horrible at 01:00 o'clock when everything's dark than rain.

[malick 0]

I have the same comment than Duke about the rain.

I would add that I'd prefer the 45° droplets to drop more vertically or maybe in more random angles (+/- 30°). Furthermore, the straight and vertical droplet is too visible, making a line ingame.

Otherwise, it's a good one. Too bad you can't have different textures : why are there 4 of them in the original ca.pbo then ?

Malick

[Symbiot 0]

I have the same comment than Duke about the rain.

I would add that I'd prefer the 45° droplets to drop more vertically or maybe in more random angles (+/- 30°). Furthermore, the straight and vertical droplet is too visible, making a line ingame.

Malick

Try this one, i'll do the final version this evening.

620kb

Link is removed, new version is added.

PS

Quote[/b] ]Otherwise, it's a good one. Too bad you can't have different textures : why are there 4 of them in the original ca.pbo then ?

Dunno maybe because it was taken from OFP, and after they have forget to erase 3 of them. Anyway i've tested with 1, 3, 9, 30 textures - i had always the same rain !

[ColonelSandersLite 0]

Out of mild curiosity, did you check if the game uses a different texture depending on the amount of rain?

[malick 0]

That's really better, thank you Symbiot !

Malick

[Zeinger 0]

Try this one, i'll do the final version this evening.

620kb

Sorry to say that but this one  is just really disapointing to me.

What I liked in yout first version was the "sweeping at different degrees effect of the rain", as if we were in a real storm.

Here, with your new version, the rain just seems to calmly and slowly drop off the screen, just like the vanilla rain, it really lakes dynamism imo.

However it's a good thing that you have removed the straight and vertical lines.

And just to give you ideas :

1°)I don't really know how the rain effect works, I just know it is a texture, but would it be possible to display another texture depending on the angle of the camera ?

e.g : you look staight forward, you have the normal rain texture.

You look to the sky you have another texture displaying rain droplets on the camera, like in metal gear 2, if you know what I mean

2°)You could try to cope with the sound of rain and the sound and the textures of thunder, change those, pack all this and name it "Symbiot weather Overhaul"  

Just ideas if you want to spend more time on this, not requests  

[dmarkwick 261]

The rain is actually 4 textures, basically the same texture but "tiled" so that it drops off the bottom on the fist image and appears on the top of the next. Kind of like the Scooby-Doo thing where they run down endless corridor passing the same lamp & table etc

These 4 textures are then tiled over the player screen in 2 layers, and is static (although the images themselves are animated over 4 frames). I don't know how you would get slanting rain for different directions depending on the wind, but it sounds like losing the default method & coding a brand new one.

[Symbiot 0]

Voila, here it is, almost final version ! 681kb

http://rapidshare.com/files/51243932/SymbRain.rar.html

PS maybe i'll add some colors later.

[456820 0]

The new version is nice however during night it is very hard to see...

http://img485.imageshack.us/img485/3802/untitlednx7.jpg

As seen in that picture viewdistance is reduced a lot. It seems okay with night vision however.

Plus is it possible to kind of slow the rain down, the rain shoots down the screen very fast and looks slightly odd. If it is possible to make it slightly slower it would look much better.

The rain is very good during the day though, you can actually see it as opposed to just hearing it.

[Symbiot 0]

The new version is nice however during night it is very hard to see...

http://img485.imageshack.us/img485/3802/untitlednx7.jpg

As seen in that picture viewdistance is reduced a lot. It seems okay with night vision however.

Plus is it possible to kind of slow the rain down, the rain shoots down the screen very fast and looks slightly odd. If it is possible to make it slightly slower it would look much better.

The rain is very good during the day though, you can actually see it as opposed to just hearing it.

ok, i'll make it a bit slower.

[-duke- 0]

The new version is nice however during night it is very hard to see...

http://img485.imageshack.us/img485/3802/untitlednx7.jpg

As seen in that picture viewdistance is reduced a lot. It seems okay with night vision however.

Plus is it possible to kind of slow the rain down, the rain shoots down the screen very fast and looks slightly odd. If it is possible to make it slightly slower it would look much better.

The rain is very good during the day though, you can actually see it as opposed to just hearing it.

ok, i'll make it a bit slower.

I have a few questions Symbiot that have been nagging at me a bit:

1. Rain direction: I wonder if there is a way to have it coordinate with wind direction because smoke and debris seem to blow with the wind so I'm curious as to why rain can't?

2. Visibility: I think your on the right track if visibility is reduced through rain. This is the way it is in the real world as well, the harder the rain, the worse the visibility. Varying degrees of visibility would be an asset to this mod IMHO. The only worry I have about limited visibility is that it should also affect enemy AI, they already see too damn good.

As for the large, horizontal rain droplets, I fully understand if they are meant to simulate water droplets running from the helmet. Anyone who's worn a hat in rainfall will see the exact same effect as the rain tends to accumulate on any slight vertical surface prior to succumbing to gravity. I believe this is called surface tension.

This effect would also be great if it were timed so it doesn't kick in until rain has had time to start running down a soldiers cover (a few seconds to a minute, depending on rainfall).

Anyway, just some more feedback, take it for what it is. Either way, I really like what your doing with this mod which is why I'm following it as anxiously as I am.

As it is, it's already much better than the default rain so you should be proud.