Thicker clouds and Fog

[Midway]

Please thicken up some of the clouds and fog more.  Not all, maybe half of them or a third of them.  It would be fun to hide in them occasionally.

 

[ACE]

So you can hide in them

[MK-84]

I would like to see a little more cloud cover.  I suspect it might make my pc take a poop though

So +1
and -1

[Krusty]

Actually you already can hide in cloud banks as-is. It's happened a number of times in FSO. The thing is what you see in the MA is the wispy layers. The kind you hide in are the blobby kind. Those, if set up at all, will roll across a map.

It's already in-game. We just don't have rolling walls of clouds in the MAs so much.

[Midway]

Actually you already can hide in cloud banks as-is. It's happened a number of times in FSO. The thing is what you see in the MA is the wispy layers. The kind you hide in are the blobby kind. Those, if set up at all, will roll across a map.

It's already in-game. We just don't have rolling walls of clouds in the MAs so much.

Then can we add them to MA more often?

 

[Krusty]

Well we can't do it. The clouds/weather is kind of built with a special tool. It goes with a terrain file, but is separate from it. Somebody on the HTC side does it. Getting it in FSO or scenarios requires advance coordination. For the random map rotation on the MAs I don't think it's worth the effort. Also if I recall, once it blows across the map that's it. It's gone. So it's really not a full-time cloud rotation deal. <-- I could be wrong but I seem to recall comments to that effect.

[PFactorDave]

As for fog, there is a map (sorry I don't recall which) with a particular Port that gets fogged in somewhat dramatically.  First time I experienced it, it was pretty cool.

[kvuo75]

As for fog, there is a map (sorry I don't recall which) with a particular Port that gets fogged in somewhat dramatically.  First time I experienced it, it was pretty cool.

it's smpizza..the cloud/fog bank seems to rotate from port to port on that map

[Drano]

What Krusty says is how I understand it. Pretty sure in FSOs they would have to set up the arena well ahead of frame start time in order to let the intended "weather" spread across the map properly.

As to thick fog I remember two different events we had, one was in the North Sea and the other the Aleutians that had some kickin fog to fight in.

[ImADot]

The cloud editor allows you to create both cloud "layers" (like the kind at the default height of 15,000 feet), and cloud "banks" (the groups of puffy clouds). Layer types have a few types (thicknesses) and can be whatever alt you want. Puffy clouds have a few types and can have more/less "puffs" for each group.  If saved with the source of the map, this cloud file will be the default for the terrain.  If you provide a separate cloud file to be added to the terrain folder on the server, it will override any default clouds built into the terrain. At least that's my understanding.

With puffy clouds, you can also set the speed, direction, altitude, duration and respawn times. So, you can set up locally heavy clouds that move fast and die off after 100 miles, then respawn again 30 minutes after they die. Then you can have another set of clouds somewhere else that are few and slow-moving, that go on for 200 miles, and respawn immediately after they die.

There is a maximum number of "live" clouds that are allowed - mainly for playability - because it's a tax on CPU resources to track and render.

[SmokinLoon]

I'd like to see MORE vaiables in the MA's.  More and thicker clouds and some wind.  Why is there no wind???

[des506]

the clouds or fog in Ma is just a thin opaque layer of white... i would like to see bushier clouds,or even flying thru pockets of rain in the clouds. if thats even possible from a programing point of view?!

i would love wind sheers on landings... but its a case of +1 -1.... trying to land a crippled plane with wind sheers is just a plain way to lose your perks.. and it would make landing hard for those who do not fly with rudders..thats just my thoughts..

[VonMessa]

How does one fly without a rudder?

[cobia38]

Please thicken up some of the clouds and fog more.  Not all, maybe half of them or a third of them.  It would be fun to hide in them occasionally.

 

  why would you want to hide ? seems kinda timid,allmost like running but not as fast 

[Greebo]

The main constraint on clouds for an MA terrain is no more than 900 generated over the whole map at any one time. The cloud editor can run a test to determine how many are being generated and it can get quite tricky to time different cloud "fronts" so the peak doesn't climb above this number. A terrain designer also has to be careful not to put too many in one spot, due to framerate considerations.

One reason you don't get ground level wind in the MA is CVs. It isn't practical to expect everyone to turn CVs into wind whenever they want to take off. I'd like to see wind at higher altitude though, to force bombers down to more realistic bombing alts.