Realistic Clouds

[JG_deserteagle540]

Ok, random in QMB. Thanks to let me know.

That is what I play most of the time.

[von_Michelstamm]

I’ve decided I prefer the extra detail of the vanilla cumulus clouds (that you can fly through) and lack of boiling/banded rippling, but prefer everything else in your mod (color, lighting, high level cloud texture, etc).

Do I just put all the individual folders within summer and winter into a new folder named something else (ie backup) to get the best of both worlds?

thanks!

[rowdyb00t]

@von_Michelstamm

  yes just remove the cloud files only in the summer and winter folders 

[rowdyb00t]

Here's a newer version of the clouds. They have more detail than before, let me know what you guys think.   data v.8.zip

 

 

 

 

[rowdyb00t]

@von_Michelstamm

   Try version 8 see what you think.

[hayraddin]

I tried your mod and it looks fantastic! My only reason for not using it would be that it changes dramatically the lighting of the environment.

I've taken a few screenshots to compare both with and without mods, and with your mod I can save up to 10fps by having max clouds quality to 2 instead of 3 and they still look amazing, but, as I said, it seems to remove the blue global illumination from the terrain/landscape.

 

The screenshots to compare:

 

With:

Without:

 

And another angle:

 

With:

Without:

 

 

Is there anyway to keep the original lighting with the nice blue global illumination/atmosphere or whatever it causes that blue tint?

Thanks very much, and good job! Its an amazing mod!

 

Edited January 26, 2020 by hayraddin

[rowdyb00t]

@hayraddin

  I use the “old sky color” of the skydome with the mod and also have adjusted the lighting to amplify the cirrus clouds and give a more realistic feel to lighting. The sky color is easy to change back however, and also the lighting. Open up my mods folder data/graphics/sky, then within the sky folder you will have a summer and winter folder. Open these folders and at the bottom of both you’ll have light.bmp and skydome , simply remove these two or delete them to get the vanilla lighting and skydome back. 
  You might just remove the skydome first to see if you like the way the lighting is. 
 

   By the way I think you mixed up the first two pics

Edited January 26, 2020 by rowdyb00t

[hayraddin]

 

I think I found it, comparing the original sky files with the modified ones, saw that the option FogCorrection=0.45, was changed to 0.6 or higher values in your mod. Reverted it back to 0.45 and I got the same haze.

 

Original:

 

 

Mod:

 

 

 

Mod with adjusted haze:

 

 

This way I have the better cloud shape but maintain the atmosphere of the original.

Edited January 26, 2020 by hayraddin

[rowdyb00t]

@hayraddin

    Yes the mod also adjusts the haze is certain sky.ini files. There is 50 different options for the games weather conditions. I have made some lighter and some heavier also tweaking the color a bit. The reason was it seemed not so realistic to have so much blue, especially on the winter maps. The sky we have now is a bit to much for me. 
   It’s very time consuming but in each sky.ini file, open with notepad. Then scroll to the bottom and there is a line that I believe is fog density. The stock game has it set to 0.45 I think. This you will need to change it to this in each one. 
  Also, when you removed the skydome did you notice the change?

[hayraddin]

I noticed a change in brightness only, the clouds are less gloomy/bright without your Skydome and light, and the Sky is more saturated.

I think I like it more with the desaturated Sky, the only thing off for me was the lack of haze. (May be because of my work, I'm an environment artist in VFX for movies and we always add haze to everything haha)

 

Im going one by one and changing the fog density back to 0.45 in my files ?

Thanks very much for the help ?

 

[Yankee_One]

Just a question:

 

do better clouds and better overcast interfere with each other when installed simultaneously?

 

 

[rowdyb00t]

3 hours ago, Yankee_One said:

Just a question:

 

do better clouds and better overcast interfere with each other when installed simultaneously?

 

 

   Install version 8 first, then better overcast 

[Goffik]

3 hours ago, Yankee_One said:

Just a question:

 

do better clouds and better overcast interfere with each other when installed simultaneously?

 

They work together, as long as you install them correctly. Install the better clouds first, and the overcast mod second. If you're using JSGME then it'll warn you of a conflict, but just ignore it. If you're installing manually, it'll ask you to overwrite some files. Again, just go ahead and do so.

 

Once done you'll get the benefit of both better clouds and better overcast together.

 

Edit: Ninja'd. :p

Edited January 27, 2020 by Goffik

[Yankee_One]

Thank you very much guys for the fast response!!!

 

Much appreciated!

 

S!

[rowdyb00t]

@hayraddin

 

The line you’ll need to change is the FogCorrection =0.45

Sorry, hopefully you haven’t went through all of them. 

[JG_deserteagle540]

I just gave it a try to install  the modified overcast with JSGME & the stock Il2 clouds. This works great!

The new overcast definitely improves the sky. Great work!

[rowdyb00t]

 

[hayraddin]

Is this a new version incoming? Or just a video of the latest v8? 

Also do you use max clouds quality to ultra or just high?

Looks awesome!

[rowdyb00t]

@hayraddin
No that’s the current version. 
I use high quality. Ultra makes the clouds look cartoonish

[rowdyb00t]

Here’s another vid ( recent version ) of overcast. I have been tweaking the lighting in the mod a bit, trying to get different lighting for certain weather conditions. 
 

 

[Yankee_One]

13 hours ago, rowdyb00t said:

Here’s another vid ( recent version ) of overcast. I have been tweaking the lighting in the mod a bit, trying to get different lighting for certain weather conditions. 
 

 

 

Hi rowdyb00t,

 

there is a huge problem with your mod?

 

I LOVE IT and they are fantastic and stunning!?

 

This is for sure a "must have"

 

Thanks a lot for sharing them i enjoy it every time i fly. I do not want to fly any more without clouds!

 

 

 

[kendo]

Something i'm unsure about - should the graphic presets file (listed on Page 1 with the other downloads) always be used with the clouds and overcast mods? 

[rowdyb00t]

@kendo

 I would recommend it but you don’t have to. The main reason is because the devs changed the cloud samples to 64 with the cloud update. It used to be 128 but you can change it to 256 or 512 if you want. I like also being able to tweak my graphic settings

[rowdyb00t]

Evening lighting. Let me know what you think

 

 

[Beebop]

S P E C T A C U L A R !  Double Plus Good!

I like it.  I like it a lot!  ??

Watched it in full screen and the results of your work really shine through.

It could make me like flying late in the evening.

Will be watching for a release date.

[Goffik]

2 hours ago, rowdyb00t said:

Evening lighting. Let me know what you think

 

Looks really good to me mate. Like Beebop, I might have to start flying in the evenings all the time just to experience this once you've released it.   Keep up the outstanding work, this is the only "must-have" mod in my list.

[JG_deserteagle540]

It looks very cool

[hayraddin]

Awesome!

Are you just tweaking lighting intensity/color on each weather file? or also playing with the sky.dds texture?

 

[rowdyb00t]

1 hour ago, hayraddin said:

Awesome!

Are you just tweaking lighting intensity/color on each weather file? or also playing with the sky.dds texture?

 

I have 3 different light.bmp’s im using at the moment with a mixture between the current skydome and old skydome. I have not changed anything in the skydome. 
  For example, some of the clear and light cloud days with light haze use the current skydome which brings the blue sky almost to the horizon. 
 For the hazier days, heavy clouds and overcast, I use the old skydome which is more gloomy mixed with a different lighting. 
 

 

This is 6am. Maybe a little too much?

 

Edited February 18, 2020 by rowdyb00t

[Beebop]

I like this too. But (opinion warning), be careful with the haze please.  One thing that always tweaked me about 1946 was that Oleg seemed to think that it was always foggy before 0800 or so.  Not every morning is foggy, often, especially in cold climes, early morning is crystal clear.  If you could make fog an option like cloud density that would be fine.  I would like to fly sometimes with an early morning fog, other times, like in winter, just a clear crisp sky as the sun breaks the horizon.

If that isn't possible or feasible, I still like where you are headed with this.  Keep up the good work and I'll be one of the first to download and use the results.

[rowdyb00t]

19 minutes ago, Beebop said:

I like this too. But (opinion warning), be careful with the haze please.  One thing that always tweaked me about 1946 was that Oleg seemed to think that it was always foggy before 0800 or so.  Not every morning is foggy, often, especially in cold climes, early morning is crystal clear.  If you could make fog an option like cloud density that would be fine.  I would like to fly sometimes with an early morning fog, other times, like in winter, just a clear crisp sky as the sun breaks the horizon.

If that isn't possible or feasible, I still like where you are headed with this.  Keep up the good work and I'll be one of the first to download and use the results.

 I do agree. I haven’t changed anything on Version 8. I’m just working with the lighting and sky some. Also a bit with the cirrus clouds. 

[rowdyb00t]

   I have some pics here to share. These are on Lapino in the summer. The comparisons are noon and 6am. Some of the days are with a clearer atmosphere. I've 3 different lightings now, mixing them with two variations of the skydome. Previously I was using the old sky color with the mod, but I went ahead and added the vanilla game version skydome. I did however adjust it some, eliminating the candy blue to a more natural sky blue. I felt the old sky color would more suit a heavier atmosphere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here I have the same concept as above but in the winter. The pics are of 12:10 and 8:10

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 22, 2020 by rowdyb00t

[Beebop]

I like these very much.  I almost went and got a sweater looking at the winter ones.

Once this gets released all I'll need is a VR headset, an air conditioner (year round), and cans with some heated castor oil,  avgas and burnt cordite in the same room with me and I'll be there.

 

You and Liz own the skies of IL-2 IMO.  Between you two you have made an already great looking game look a whole lot better.  ?

 

Thanks for all your hard work.

[rowdyb00t]

    I have updated the first post with the newest version

NOTE: you must uninstall the better overcast, it is included in it as one package

Please let me know if anyone finds any issues, thanks 

 

[bzc3lk]

50 minutes ago, rowdyb00t said:

    I have updated the first post with the newest version

NOTE: you must uninstall the better overcast, it is included in it as one package

Please let me know if anyone finds any issues, thanks 

 

 

I think you are missing the Data and Graphics folders in your download for the latest version.  Version 9  has Clouds.V.9/Sky,  should be Clouds.V.9/Data/Graphics/Sky folder order.

[rowdyb00t]

13 minutes ago, bzc3lk said:

I think you are missing the Data and Graphics folders in your download for the latest version.  Version 9  has Clouds.V.9/Sky,  should be Clouds.V.9/Data/Graphics/Sky folder order.

yes I forgot!! I will fix it

 

:FIXED

Edited February 23, 2020 by rowdyb00t

[Marianggello]

Beautiful clouds rowby, thank you for new update, these pictures look like old oil paintings with landscapes. ?

[LizLemon]

Winter skydome.dds looks great during sunrise but is too dim during the day. Compare the relative brightness of the landscape to the sky. Skydome1 has the opposite issues, suitable brightness during the day but the sort of stock garish sunrise. Maybe combine the two using layer masks, and slightly tweak the hue of skydome1 during the day. Both skydomes have a near black sky at night in the direction opposite the sun/moon.

 

Light.bmp all have issues - most have banding in them and some have strange edge artifacts. These are trivial things to fix and you should be checking theis before release. Additionally the ambient color should more or less be the average color of the sky, at least as far as hue is concerned. And as I've said before the color of direct sunlight is the ambient color + sun color.. All of you light.bmps have the wrong color temp throughout the day because of this. Again figure out the ambient color you want (take the average of the skydome) then subtract that from your target sun color.

[Goffik]

9 hours ago, rowdyb00t said:

I have updated the first post with the newest version

 

I noticed that a textures folder has been added in the sky folder, which wasn't in your previous versions. Can you explain what this part of the mod does please? It conflicts with other mods I have installed so I'd like to make an informed choice on install order. (JSGME)

Edited February 23, 2020 by Goffik

[rowdyb00t]

@Goffik

  You can remove the textures folders and it won’t effect the mod. I seem to have forgot to remove these. Only thing they have in them is a correct sun size and a better sunglow, also an adjusted lens flare. Sorry about that.