Wouldn't it be cool if SH5's weather model was like this?

[mookiemookie]

"Our teams at The Weather Channel provide a data feed that allows EA to pull real-time weather for any location chosen as a venue within the game," said Derek Van Nostran, director of marketing for The Weather Channel Interactive.

"We also provided historical data for the past three years so that the EA producers would be able to match realistic weather conditions at every venue for games played at any time of year."http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE57J2SD20090820

[Boris]

Um, I don't get it... where are all these demands for real time weather coming from???
What's the weather outside got to do with the weather in 1942?

[mookiemookie]

Um, I don't get it... where are all these demands for real time weather coming from???
What's the weather outside got to do with the weather in 1942?

Real weather patterns instead of real-time weather.

[Boris]

Real weather patterns instead of real-time weather.

There are no weather patterns... everyone knows weather is random and unpredictable :DL

[mookiemookie]

There are no weather patterns... everyone knows weather is random and unpredictable :DL

And storms last two weeks. :03:

[FIREWALL]

Everybody knows that weather changes are caused by washing your car. :yep:

[Stealth Hunter]

*insert global warming comment here*
*awaits arrival of SUBMAN and friends*

And. Here. We. Go.

[GoldenRivet]

we noticed that in SH3 the cloud layers were sort of a texture which was applied to the "sky" which was more or less just a huge sphere shape surrounding the "map".

no matter how high an aircraft climbs into the sky, he will never reach the clouds because the clouds are just an image of clouds (make sense?)

it would be a huge environmental leap for the clouds to be "volumetric"

meaning that instead of being a part of a texture applied to a sky layer, the clouds would actually vary in height, thickness, and the type and number of clouds would change depending on the weather condition.

for example you might see a thunderstorm on the horizon, you may even see rain coming out of the bottom of the storm... but where you are at that moment might be clear.

I have used the weather in microsoft flight simulator as an example numerous times.

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/5329/fsx2008120220081900hk7.jpg

above: it is obvious that there is 1. volume to the clouds and 2. multiple cloud layers.

as you close in on the surface this will be less obvious of a feature... however from a tactical standpoint it IS a unique feature because

1. If there is a rain shower nearby, you can hide in it to make repairs (ie planes wont fly into the storm and ships wont be able to see you in the storm.

2. aircraft which are flying above the lowest cloud layer should be harder for the watch crew to spot

3. weather forecasting or prediction. weather follows some pretty specific patterns in real life. in SHV if you are cruising on the surface in relatively good weather and calm seas, you can look on the horizon and see thunderstorm clouds like the pic below

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/66/179514634_1ad0f92778.jpg?v=0

note the relatively clear and nice weather... however the thunderstorm on the horizon is apparent. this storm feature could be moving toward you or away from you... it could be developing or dissipating.

finally, lighting and thunder.

in SH3 lightning was just a streak of electrical energy hitting the water - ie cloud to surface lightning. i think an interesting addition to SHV would be cloud to cloud lightning - see image below

http://www.floridalightning.com/images/Thunderstorm_Magic_Oct4_2006.jpg

notice how you really dont see lightning, however its presence is obvious because the entire volume of the thunderstorm cloud is bathed in bright light from within. this temporarily provides enough light to brighten the entire area even though it may have been pitch black moments before.

3 other environmental features which should be included:

1. Differing water clarity and quality depending on the location for example much of the gulf of mexico - especially within 50 to 100 miles of land should appear slightly muddy - on the other hand the bahamas should be very clear.

2. Aurora Borialis - the northern lights should be apparent during certain times of year and in specific locations. this would be tactical in that it would increase the visual range of the watch crew as the sea scape would be brighter.

3. A spherical world like that featured in the flight sim series... not a flat mercator world like we have in SH3/4 this stretches distances to unrealistic proportions, does funny things with the u-boat ranges and other time/speed/distance & navigation related issues. - i cannot stress the need for this to be implemented enough - SPHERICAL WORLD SPHERICAL WORLD SPHERICAL WORLD - and the charts (maps to some of you) should be modified to represent the spherical world... if you look at aeronautical charts or nautical charts etc the printed image IS slightly curved especially as you near the poles. (see image)

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/graphics/sectionalChart.jpg

[Dowly]

*insert global warming comment here*
*awaits arrival of SUBMAN and friends*

And. Here. We. Go.

:har::har:

[Brag]

:har::har:

Does Subman ever leave his liar? :D

[SteamWake]

Subman may have not found sh5 yet.

I can say honestly the 'sky' of the default sh4 was just plain strange. The clouds raced accross the sky, yet on a clear night it was beautiful.

[mookiemookie]

Does Subman ever leave his liar? :D

Interesting slip of the keyboard there. ;)

[Stealth Hunter]

Though his slip remains valid, lol. The integrity of Sub certainly does come into question quite often.

[InFlames666]

i think they shoudl do it the same way they did for SH IV but make it so you can get a forecast of your area and the areas around you from HQ. i'm not a huge fan of hunting in swells so be that you tower pops out for all the destroyers to see.

[mapuc]

I'm not an expert on mods and so on

But if we should have exactly the same weather, as it was, on that day on that spot, at that time-don't they(the devteam) have lots and lots of reading to do? Reading weather reports from that time period.

Markus

[GoldenRivet]

I'm not an expert on mods and so on

But if we should have exactly the same weather, as it was, on that day on that spot, at that time-don't they(the devteam) have lots and lots of reading to do? Reading weather reports from that time period.

Markus

correct

researching 5 or 6 years of weather data to produce historically accurate weather for every kriegsmarine grid square is borderline impossible.

i think that the average player would be much happier with 1. more realistic weather (see my above post) 2. a greater variety of weather types (snow, rain, fog etc).

[mookiemookie]

I'm not an expert on mods and so on

But if we should have exactly the same weather, as it was, on that day on that spot, at that time-don't they(the devteam) have lots and lots of reading to do? Reading weather reports from that time period.

Markus

This was before the days of satellites so I'm sure most of that data is unavailable. I was going for more of a "use current weather patterns to model an Atlantic weather system for the game" type idea.

[mapuc]

This was before the days of satellites so I'm sure most of that data is unavailable. I was going for more of a "use current weather patterns to model an Atlantic weather system for the game" type idea.

That's :yeah: from me

Let's sea, what they give us

Markus

[Sailor Steve]

2. aircraft which are flying above the lowest cloud layer should be harder for the watch crew to spot
As opposed to now, when the watch crew spots ships and planes through buildings.

All-in-all a brilliant set of requests. I too think that we need either a random and dynamic weather system, with randomness modified based on location, or an FS-style tie-in to modern ongoing weather.

The variable water clarity idea is pretty cool, too.

[Kloef]

Talking about weather,we had a storm alarm here yesterday that (again)completely failed to arrive...costs are in the millions,people left early from work,traffic jams etc..questions in congress..omg it was a classic!

I would love to see dynamic weather in this game,even real-time weather would be a great nice extra imersion thingy dont you think?to see what it was actually like on August 2nd 1944(to name a random date) would be extra reality because weather has effect on your speed,range and attack and much more..:yep:

[Annatar]

What could be more important than the weather (Excluding the boat, naturally)? The weather influences every decision you make Do you attack? Can you? How close can you approach? Can you do it from the surface? Can you be certain of your target's nationality? How about range?
The accuracy of all of this information you need is directly influenced by the weather conditions, and then the final decision you make based on these observations is also dependent on the weather. Weather is as important to a subsim as it is to a flight sim. It should absolutely be a top priority from day one. I hope they get it right this time, because in SH3 it's a joke. I don't play much SH4 so I can't say anyting about that.