WIP - JTD SkyFog

[dmarkwick 261]

I don't understand what I see on that last pic (I like that pic btw). I see clouds on top but you said the tree need to pop up in a grey background. Have you changed the sky texture with some grey in the bottom?

Well what you see is a JTD gray sky blended with a BIS sky which has had the mountains removed and the horizon smoothed. So trees don't pop in same as the pure-gray. Actually they could pop in if the fog were set at maximum, but not when they're set at some lesser - but still high - setting. This is due to nearer trees being (of course) much bigger and impinging on the upper BIS sky. So a subtle blend is needed, making sure that the more fog there is, the more gray the sky needs to be until it eventually needs to be full-gray, which seems realistic to me.

edit:

Is it possible to simply add a new weather effect in the game or you really need to use an existing weather and tweak it?

No, I did eventually add in a new weather effect :) so there are now no longer any lost weather effects. The only thing is that the JTD gray sky texture is at level 0, however as the old BIS first weather level is set at 0.01 there is really very little chance of seeing accidental gray skies :)

But still, it will be an issue that mission makers will perhaps need to be aware of if they habitually like to set the slider all the way over to the left. Say for middle-east maps or something.

But maybe it won't be such an issue - to make this addon effective dynamically (i.e. with changeable weather (Silola ;))) I'll need to implement a weather-watching loop that will constantly monitor the fog level and make adjustments accordingly. One of the automatic adjustments could be that any "zero weather setting" mission is automatically set to 0.01 given a fog value < [some level].

Also, as another improvement to the way the addon works dynamically, I'm trying to get weather level 1 to be the same. Although fog mostly happens on mild weather IRL, I know a lot of people set it the other way, more fog for more adverse weather. Also, it's quite difficult to get rain on minimum weather setting, whereas I also know that it often rains in foggy, but mild, weather conditions :)

So there won't be harsh weather changes when thick fog comes in, if the weather is already adverse the weather will be set to JTD 1, and if the weather is already mild it will be set to JTD 0. Every value in between will be a BIS weather.

[dmarkwick 261]

hehe

I suspect he changed the sky texture so that near the horizon it is the appropriate shade of gray, then transitions to the normal texture. :D

Yep :) but this is as a result of the JTD_ClearHorizons addon, without that there are false mountains that will show through... :)

[TRexian 0]

But... they don't "pop".... :D

[=kct=blackmamba 44]

just watched your video on armaholic

what are u,.. a magician... this looks great

[dmarkwick 261]

just watched your video on armaholic

what are u,.. a magician... this looks great

Try the alpha release (couple pages back) & see if you like it :)

It looks like, to make this an effective addon, that some amount of weather management will be required. More info later, but it might expand into something quite substantial :)

[=kct=blackmamba 44]

ok im downloading right now

Edited February 2, 2010 by =KCT=BlackMamba

[VirusLIVED 10]

DMarkwick, I am frequenting this topic discussion waiting for official releases... we are counting on you! (not trying to add pressure or anything :D)

[dmarkwick 261]

Latest test results:

Y75BJGC4mhA

[AnimalMother92 10]

looking nice

[frag 0]

DMarkwick ...WOW ...the transition is really smoother now.:eek:

I am following this peace of art since the fist post. You have talent man.

At the beginning of your last video, when you were climbing the hill (the part where you have no fog) ...the fog comes in in like 5 seconds (over 3-4 thickness step transition).

Did you do that on purpose so we should see the difference? In fact what I am asking is: Can you do the transition over lets says ....a minute ...so it would be realllllllyyy smooth and realistic?

The fog looks amazing ...way better that the vanilla one!

[dmarkwick 261]

At the beginning of your last video, when you were climbing the hill (the part where you have no fog) ...the fog comes in in like 5 seconds (over 3-4 thickness step transition).

Did you do that on purpose so we should see the difference? In fact what I am asking is: Can you do the transition over lets says ....a minute ...so it would be realllllllyyy smooth and realistic?

The fog looks amazing ...way better that the vanilla one!

Oh yeah for sure. There are BIG plans for the implementation of this :) this last video test is necessarily artificially short so I can get a lot of tests done in a short time, and also to display the effects in a video shorter than 90 minutes :D

[beton 2]

This is really great...

i have the feeling this fog is also giving me more fps. This is a must have addon.

[kremator 1065]

Looking great .... you just need to work your magic on JTD NoPoppingTrees :)

[dmarkwick 261]

OK, the bad news.

JTD_SkyFog is cancelled :(

The good news - it's been transmogrified into the JTD_WeatherAndClimate project.

There is just no way to implement JTD SkyFog without at least some form of weather adjustment, and as many people will know, once you affect the weather you cancel all older weather commands. So some real-time management is necessary.

[TRexian 0]

Dammit! All the cool projects get cancelled..... :(

What - no rant about why you're cancelling it? :D ;)