New clouds for FU3...

[Guest cornclose]

Ok, I've done some digging in sky.res and have decoded most of the sky textures which resviewer can't, which obviously means I can now change them.Before I embark on such a project, I'd like some feedback as to what anomalies there are in the FU3 weather (some which I know of but some which I might not), and what else in the weather system (in terms of textures) you like or do not like.I don't intend to replace all of the textures, just elements of them to make the sky better, or at least different.I will be using some of my textures from the FS2000/2002 and X-Plane cloud addons for this, and developing some new ones to suit the purpose.So, any suggestions or ideas ?RegardsChris E, ENGLANDhttp://www.circle-software.co.ukAvoid AGP texturing = Better Performance ;)

[Christopher Low 5,331]

Chris,This is an excellent idea. That horrible high cloud texture that I mentioned on another thread has to be replaced.......as soon as possible. I also think that there should be a bit more variety when it comes to cloud shape, since they all seem to look the same ! Is this possible ?Chris Low,ENGLAND.

[Hans_Petter 1]

That's interesting! I'd say the main thing is to soften the transition between cloud classes, to limit the effect in the image that you posted. I don't know if that's possible though.Some clouds look a bit too solid and "toyish" and it might be an idea soften their sides and bases. We get well-defined white mushrooms drifting around and a little less substance might look more convincing.More solid clouds tend to be wider on top and coalesce into larger units. Hans Petter

[Christopher Low 5,331]

One thing that does annoy me about the weather engine is the ridiculous speed at which weather changes. It can be raining with a completely overcast sky, and then suddenly the rain stops, the clouds lighten......and then almost disappear completely. This all happens in the space of SECONDS ! :-eekIs this something that can be amended ?Chris Low.

[Guest Ansgar]

Hello Chris,to increase the cloud models quality is an wonderfull idea and very important upgrade to FU3!!!A long time ago I stated this, but I myself didn

[Guest glidernut]

Chris E,You have decoded most of the sky textures, WOUW!! No one els has ever managed to penetrate the seacrets of the sky.res.you must be sumthing speshal.If you can make any changes at all, then its a big leep forwerd for FU3.I agree with Hans Petter, if we can see throo the clouds a bit more,thay would be much beter.Can we hav a grater variety, or can we only change wat we hav ?The model of the cloud with the face in it that meny peopl dont like,is too small. So if you use this model it will only ever cuver a smallpart of the sky.From the point of vew of gliding, every cloud has a thermal under it,exept for the 2 very high flat cloud models and that extreemly bigone that you only ever get one of.Mor clouds meens mor thermals.We need at leest 5 tims mor clouds for good thermal soring.But even if we had mor clouds "which we dont" the frame rate would betoo mutch for eny grafics card to cope with.But if you can make the clouds invisibl, or almost invisibl, useing asfewer poligons as posibl, then we are harf way to a gliding paradise.If you are in a decoding frame of mind, this observation might be usfal to you.The clouds with thermals atached to them also hav terbulansatached to them, but the lift under a cloud decreeses in strenth withdecreesing altitued to 0 at sea level.But the amaount of terbulans under a cloud is constent regardles of altitued.Both terbulans and lift are alined verticaly with the cloud, regardlesof wind speed, and both reech the top of the cloud. glidernut.:-wave

[Guest]

Personally, I was never that keen on the stodgy, yet ever morphing cumulous. I have to say, I always liked the way FS2002 handled its clouds. I don't know if that's heresy, here abouts. But I liked them, none the less.

[JimmiG 244]

The high cloud texture is pretty ugly. Another thing that annoys me is that the clouds get kind of spotty when viewed close-up. Maybe make them a bit more white and smoother...

[Guest glidernut]

Chris E,Just incase it helps, hear are 2 snaps of the same high cloud thatwe all know and like so much.The second snap is taken from so high, that you can see all of the UK-South under the cloud.Seeing the hole of the cloud model like this might help you recognizethe textures in resviewer as bilonging to this cloud model.glidernut.:-wave

[Guest R_Driscoll]

You must have caught quite a good thermal for that second shot!RobD.

[Guest Quaxo]

Gottedammerung,No, it's in no way heresy... Everyone here knows that the other sim has many strong points. After all, it's a modern program. It would be silly to just ignore those good points.But none the less, most of us prefer the "general flight feeling" and the nice satellite textures of FU3... and its friendly interface! :-)Cristian

[Guest Staggerwing]

Just some cloud shots to look at :-)http://forums.avsim.com/user_files/16516.jpghttp://forums.avsim.com/user_files/16519.jpghttp://forums.avsim.com/user_files/16521.jpghttp://forums.avsim.com/user_files/16522.jpghttp://forums.avsim.com/user_files/16524.jpg

[Guest cornclose]

Thanks folks, I'll try to answer each point :->>That horrible high cloud texture that I mentioned on another thread has to be replaced.as soon as possible.Can do that...>>I also think that there should be a bit more variety when it comes to cloud shape, since they all seem to look the same ! Is this possibleI think so, I've found a lot of different textures with the same image in them.>>I'd say the main thing is to soften the transition between cloud classes, to limit the effect in the image that you posted. I don't know if that's possible though.Probably not, but by making all the textures slight more 'alike' and using new textures in the duplicate slots I might be able to soften up the transitions.>>Some clouds look a bit too solid and "toyish" and it might be an idea soften their sides and bases....the main reason for me digging in the first place, so yes, that's a priority.>>One thing that does annoy me about the weather engine is the ridiculous speed at which weather changes. It can be raining with a completely overcast sky, and then suddenly the rain stops, the clouds lighten......and then almost disappear completely. This all happens in the space of SECONDS !To alter this behaviour would require the source code I'm affraid. But, I've already been experimenting with the weather settings for the UK region (min/max temperatures, average temperatures etc) and I have changed them somewhat. Although Seattle has similar weather to the UK, it is not identical. I've used data from the met office to get these values right.>>Can we hav a grater variety, or can we only change wat we hav ?Largely changes to what we have, but as stated above, there is evidence of duplicate textures in a number of places, so adding variety might be possible.>>The model of the cloud with the face in it... will never be seen again....>>The high cloud texture is pretty ugly.Which one JimmiG ?>>Another thing that annoys me is that the clouds get kind of spotty when viewed close-up. Maybe make them a bit more white and smoother...Yes, noted.>>Just incase it helps, hear are 2 snaps of the same high cloud thatwe all know and like so much.glidernut, thanks for that, it illustrates it very well. I have already found those cloud textures and hope to create alternative cirrus or altocumulus types for these. I will also experiment with con-trails using these clouds too....If anyone has any more suggestions, please let me know.RegardsChris E, ENGLANDhttp://www.circle-software.co.ukAvoid AGP texturing = Better Performance ;)

[Christopher Low 5,331]

..."the model of the cloud with the face in it.....will never be seen again"....Excellent news. I was never a fan of this kind of pointless feature.Chris Low,ENGLAND.

[Guest Ansgar]

Hi Chris E,yes I have another good idea:Once you have decoded the unknown cloud models it would be ideal if we could edit them in future ourself! So may it be possible to create an editor so we are able to change the clouds themselfe, or ...ideal would be if you/we can tell Gideon Pertzov the structure of the unknown texture models so that he easy could import this function to a new release of his ResViewer?!Only an idea, but this makes it easy also in future to add new cloudmodels at once if we found some better ones.A minimum would be to make an small tutorial how we could replace the textures via hex-editor or something like this (only for developers then, but better than nothing).Best regards and I wish you much success!Ansgar