Realistic Clouds

[rowdyb00t]

                                                                         

 

CUMULONIBUS 3

 

Grey Sky

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NOTES:

 

- Revised 3D overcast with Precipitation.

 

 

-Older versions are still up

 

-Cumulonimbus3 download for any new version ( not recommended for VR ). This replaces all heavy cloud options. The tallest clouds were around 31,000ft . A few weather fronts are in this as well. Add after download of your selected version.

 

 

 

UPDATE NOTES 11/22/2021:

 

-New Version 16.2 with a detailed version and a performance version

- Added some more Cirrus and reworked some of the old.

-Toned down some of the sun bright on the clouds.

-Redesigned some of the cloud formations

-I reworked the domes some more to bring more light 180 degrees from the sun { Too dark in the mornings and evenings} 

 

 

Install: I recommend using JSGME. If not each download has the correct file structure. 
-first install only one version 

- second install any other option. 
- gpreset file is recommended but optional. You can download it first or last. 

- 3D overcast 2 and Cumulonimbus 3 should be added last so they can be easily added or removed with JSGME
 

Edited December 9, 2021 by rowdyb00t

[HappyHaddock]

Looks nice,

 

welcome to the slippery slope that sees you tweaking one little thing, then another, that leads you to realise how they impact on other things that in turn leads you to tweak more settings and before you know it you are dismantling large chunks of the game to untangle the web of inter-dependant factors that combine to create the the look of the natural world in this sim.

 

HH

[rowdyb00t]

Thanks @HappyHaddock  

  You sure are right about that  . It is very time consuming for sure. 

 

 

[OrLoK]

Im liking these a lot. Thanks!

[HappyHaddock]

58 minutes ago, rowdyb00t said:

Thanks @HappyHaddock  

  You sure are right about that  . It is very time consuming for sure. 

 

 

 

I don't know how many hundreds of hours I've "lost" to this sort of work since starting modding ROF in 2014, but my current "project" which only a year ago I niavely thought might need to adjust "more than eighty files" has certainly proved more than that; - I am now well over one thousand files in my WIP project to overhaul the look of the natural environment.

 

I am however getting closer to the sort of flight sim I dreamed of back in the early  1980's and have not yet found anything that this game engine can't handle. I am however finding odd instances that lead me to think that the programmers that first created this game engine can't all still be around to fully explain it to the current dev team as there are odd little faults I am finding in the stock game that can only have come about through content being created by somebody that didn't fully understand the way in which the game engine would handle the content they created.

 

It is certainly surprising how much you can learn through picking apart unused files that linger in the game simply because nobody got around to deleting them, and how much "un-tapped" potential this game engine still has if you really start to push things beyond where the devs have so far taken them..

 

HH

[SCG_ErwinP]

11 hours ago, rowdyb00t said:

Or at least definitely better than the originals

Noob question:

-Why Devs don't work on this kind of stuff. If a third party (person) can do, why they can't?

Why not to improve quality if game's engine allows be improved?

I'm a MP player and I don't use MODs but I like most of MODs that I see.
So, little part of time I'm flying campaing or quick missions (just to test).

[=TBAS=Sshadow14]

Or just leave the files open in a Mods off Section so those of us with higher end system can turn things up if we feel like it,
like terrain.cfg could be altered so its again readable without mods on allowing those with more than 5GB Vram to turn things up higher and see better.
 

[rowdyb00t]

50 minutes ago, SCG_ErwinP said:

Why Devs don't work on this kind of stuff. If a third party (person) can do, why they can't?

Why not to improve quality if game's engine allows be improved?

 A lot of these things are very time consuming and with their files already complete I’m sure they don’t want to waste to much time revisiting something that is “good enough” for now. I’m sure some day they will tweak some of there cloud settings in the future

Edited August 28, 2019 by rowdyb00t

[HappyHaddock]

56 minutes ago, SCG_ErwinP said:

Noob question:

-Why Devs don't work on this kind of stuff. If a third party (person) can do, why they can't?

Why not to improve quality if game's engine allows be improved?

 

As rowdyb00t has already said it is a matter of what is economic for the devs to spend their time on. I'm increasingly of the opinion that the game engine is in in no way a limit on what is possible and that the Great Battles game engine could come close to matching the  look of the unreal or crisis engines if given all the content.

 

However the big first person shooter type console games have budgets to rival blockbuster movies. Flight-sims are a small niche product appealing to very few and so they have a fraction of the developmental budget. This means the producer really has to focus on what will generate a bit more income to keep things afloat financially for the next month or two. This generally means that you can't afford to pay large numbers of programmers to spend months tweaking things you've already sold.

 

Conversely it does mean that when there's only a small team of devs working to tight timeframes to get stuff done and move on, it does make it easier for individual amateur modders to follow behind them putting in the time to make big improvements in a way that would be much harder than if two hundred professional programmers had spent five years and well over a hundred million dollars refining a game before release.

 

I doubt we'll ever get to know the full detail of the business model and turnover under which this sim is produced, but based upon assumptions I'm impressed by how much quality content this small team can keep churning out. By all logical assessments based upon the number of customers and the retail price of this product their total turnover over all their titles would probably only pay for a feasibility study to assess the technical viability of a major new console game.

 

HH

 

 

 

 

[SCG_ErwinP]

Thank you guys @rowdyb00t and @HappyHaddock, make sense!!
All the best for you and devs!

[Semor76]

@rowdyb00t mate, the entire filestructure is missing in your zip pack. ? Personaly, I didn´t have a problem with it but maybe others who aren´t familiar with how Il-2 is builded up.

 

Pro tip: next time, better make it idiot proof & JSGME ready.

 

Cheers.

[rowdyb00t]

Yeah I figured that. I’ll fix that when I’m home. Thanks for the tip @Semor76

[FTC_ChilliBalls]

I agree, I´m an idiot and need my mods to be idiot proof

[sammydee]

No download link for this mod?

[PicksKing]

4 minutes ago, sammydee said:

No download link for this mod?

 

First post, under the last pic. "data.zip"

[sammydee]

Doh! Thank you.

 

[SJ_Butcher]

Have you evaluate to tell the devs about this? I think it's a great achievement if a player did a better job.

Edited October 9, 2019 by SJ_Butcher

[rowdyb00t]

45 minutes ago, SJ_Butcher said:

Have you evaluate to tell the devs about this?

No I have not. I’m still working on the cloud files when I have time, slowly tweaking them to get better results. This weekend I’m going to try to post my updated zip

[Redeye]

This mod is fantastic! Tons and tons better than the originals. Great work!

[Goffik]

Agreed, this mod is brilliant. It's made a huge different to cloud quality and seems to have minimised the weird shimmering too. So much more immersive.

[=gRiJ=Alado]

work in multi?

[rowdyb00t]

1 minute ago, =gRiJ=Alado said:

 

work in multi?

 

Only mods on server

[Marvel]

@rowdyb00t :yes, I know, I am really stupid but where is the link to download the mod?☺️

 

Ciao!

 

Marco

[OrLoK]

8 minutes ago, Marvel said:

@rowdyb00t :yes, I know, I am really stupid but where is the link to download the mod?☺️

 

Ciao!

 

Marco

under the screen shots. litle box in the text "data"

[Hopper64]

I have downloaded it, but can you use JSGME to install it? Thanks for your fine work!

[mazex]

This mod works great - thanks a lot @rowdyb00t!

[rowdyb00t]

48 minutes ago, Hopper64 said:

but can you use JSGME to install it?

Yes

[Hopper64]

Thanks!!

[OrLoK]

really worth a look, makes the game look so much better. Best clouds in any sim as far as im concerned!

 

[Marvel]

10 hours ago, OrLoK said:

under the screen shots. litle box in the text "data"

 

Thanks Orlok!

 

Another quick question: I use OvGME as activator, the folder to activate the clouds is "sky", right?

 

Ciao!

 

Marco

[rowdyb00t]

@Marvel

when you unzip the files, DATA folder goes in your Mods folder in your game directory. Then use GME, it will place all the folders correctly

[HappyHaddock]

 Rowdy

 

I suppose you've seen the devs new announcement about cloud improvements where I suspect we'll both be pouring over every little change and seeing what this will make possible?

 

Who knows it may even allow some of the things you've been asking me about of late, I certainly like the sound of refined edges to the clouds as so far it has been a real fine balance between getting clear edges and having everything too opaque so as to loose visible shaping in the main body, or getting a visible structure to the clouds at the expense of a lot of ghosting around the edges.

 

Still sounds as if the tall cumulonimbus are going to be a stretch for the game engine though.

 

HH

 

Edited October 11, 2019 by HappyHaddock

[rowdyb00t]

HH

   Just finished reading the DD. Sounds good, however I’m wondering if they redesigned the clouds or just fine tuned the file. Looking at the clouds in there pic I’d say they are tweaked and not redesigned. It would be great if they fix the planes disappearing and halo effects. 

    Im excited about this, hopefully this will add some options. 

 

Cheers

[HappyHaddock]

14 minutes ago, rowdyb00t said:

HH

   Just finished reading the DD. Sounds good, however I’m wondering if they redesigned the clouds or just fine tuned the file. Looking at the clouds in there pic I’d say they are tweaked and not redesigned. It would be great if they fix the planes disappearing and halo effects. 

    Im excited about this, hopefully this will add some options. 

 

Cheers

 

I'd agree in that from what has been said it is not a major overhaul of the whole cloud system just tweaks to one or two of the shaders, however as we both know even the smallest change can bring about a big visual improvement.

 

Oh  by the way I keep quite a reference collection of photos of clouds, both my own and other people's but the link you provided me with for Rüdiger Nehmzow's cloud photo's are stunning and quite the inspiration in terms of what we'd both like to be able to recreate in this sim.

 

I've attached one of my best cloud photos which is something I always keep in mind when experimenting with this sim.... one day we'll get to fly these clouds on a PC.

 

Cheers

 

HH

Edited October 11, 2019 by HappyHaddock

[Marvel]

2 hours ago, rowdyb00t said:

@Marvel

when you unzip the files, DATA folder goes in your Mods folder in your game directory. Then use GME, it will place all the folders correctly

 

Thanks! I will try soon as possible!

 

Ciao!

 

Marco

[rowdyb00t]

 

 

 

[Avyx]

Is that a sky or a clouds mod ??

I can't see a difference between the default clouds, and this mod

Data / graphics / sky / with 2 subfolders : summer / winter

 

Edited October 13, 2019 by Avyx

[rowdyb00t]

It’s both. Did you install the mod correctly? Or How did you install it? The default clouds look nothing like the ones I have

Edited October 13, 2019 by rowdyb00t

[Avyx]

I moved the folder I downloaded, into the MODS folder, and than I activated with JSGME

 

[Avyx]

Am I doing something wrong ?

Can't make it work