Is it possible to mod the weather?
 

Just wondering if it is possible to mod the weather in the game?

I am so sick of storms and fog.My last 5 patrols have been nothing but a big storm,heavy rain and seas and fog non stop from the time I leave port to the time I get back to port.Making setting up attacks or even seeing my targets near impossible let alone the AI's uncanny ability to see you through the fog long before you see them.

Is it possible to change the frequency that storms occur or chnage the weather settings in anyway?

Yes and no. The problem you have may be this, every time you reload a savegame (say you missed that perfect one kill torpedo shot) the weather timer is reset back to zero. :shifty:

This means you must wait for 48 hours in game time for the weather to randomly change states without a reload (and about 8 to 12 hours for the transition time). Even then, randomly it may still stay bad weather. 50%, 25,% , 12.5% etc. good/bad flip.

I had patrols where by bad luck 14 days of storms (1/8 chance).
But most patrols are not that way. Do not reload savegame quickly for missing a torpdeo shot or your weather will remain static forever.

Go at least 48-72 hours in game per play session without reloading a savegame. :cool:

AI does not cheat by vision through fog, it does have radar on its escorts destroyers that can see you through fog.

Thing is I dont use the save function at all...I play all the way through the mission from beggining to end and the only saves that I have are ones that are automatically created in port before the mission mission and after the mission.

Guess it must have been a string of bad luck with the weather.

I know the AI dont cheat but it sure seems that way when you are stalking a ship in November 1939 in the fog and you cant see them and you get the "We've been spotted" message..LOL.

Somewhere this can be adjusted. I sail on 1x compression only unless making quick mod tests w/ bogus carreer. (I just can't bring myself to use time compression otherwise... eventually I may change my mind... but not today)

It isn't realistic for me to be at my PC for 48 hours etc. I will do some hunting/ fixing/ changing over the next week and if I find anything productive I will post findings

Oh yeah... there is also a way (which occurs in RUb. 1.43) to double the enemy "fog factor" which halves their effectiveness at detection when in bad weather conditions.


.... sorry I haven't given exact info... I'm just coming off 24 hour shift and need bath/sleep lol. ... will try to follow up much later today if someone doesn't beat me to it.

I did a small mission to test out some Japanese ships and aircraft, I set the weather using the mission editor for fair weather, but after around 4-5 hours I was in a storm with rain, thunder and lightning.
On other occasions though it has never changed, I think it would be better if it did change more frequently, and as for going back to zero if you save a mission is a bug in my opinion.

does the mission file

WeatherRndInterval=6

have no effect Col?

Hi CB,

Take a look here:

http://www.subsim.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=40692

WeatherRndInterval=6

The 6 means how many hours before the weather changes, in the mission editor it says 2 in the minimum. I have set it to 1 in the mission script within the single missions folder, but as yet not noticed any quick changes.

I've not played with it too much YET. :)

oh eck :oops: :up: :arrgh!:

all i can think of at the moment especailly for the campaign weather (which doesn't seem too bad re frequency of changes in V1 of the game)

is some experimentation with the

[Mission]
Title=
MissionType=0
MissionDataType=1
Year=1939
Month=1
Day=1
Hour=12
Minute=0
Fog=0
FogRand=0
Clouds=0
CloudsRand=0
Precip=0
PrecipRand=0
WindHeading=0
WindSpeed=5.000000
WindRand=0
WeatherRndInterval=5
SeaType=0
Briefing=


first reading of that says that the weatherRndinterval overides all the other settings

all these are "switched off"

Fog=0
FogRand=0
Clouds=0
CloudsRand=0
Precip=0
PrecipRand=0
WindHeading=0
WindSpeed=5.000000
WindRand=0

other than windspeed/

temptation would be to set them all to ON like this

Fog=1
FogRand=1
Clouds=1
CloudsRand=1
Precip=1
PrecipRand=1
WindHeading=00
WindSpeed=5.000000
WindRand=1

or possibly

Fog=0
FogRand=1
Clouds=0
CloudsRand=1
Precip=0
PrecipRand=1
WindHeading=0
WindSpeed=5.000000
WindRand=1

the logic of the meaning of the entrys doesn't immediately slap me in the face i must admit ..they appear to be slightly contradictory...

does fog=0 mean NO fog at all?
yet the campaign contains fog of all types..
so in that case what does the fogrand=0 mean?

heres the thought would setting the

WeatherRndInterval=5
to
WeatherRndInterval=0
and "switching on"
all the others have any effect at all?

perhaps deleting the
WeatherRndInterval=5
entry alltogether and going with a full set of
switched on weather options

Fog=1
FogRand=1
Clouds=1
CloudsRand=1
Precip=1
PrecipRand=1
WindHeading=00
WindSpeed=5.000000
WindRand=1

result in more weather changes or none at all?

methinks theyres summat else somewhere that controls the weather and the mission file weather entrys may even be completely ignored..
because they actually don't at first sight seem to add up/

been looking at the star trekian warp hole above the player sub as you said Col....bit scary :hmm:


here's another thought..
taking a look at the naval acadamy convoy attack mission the weather there is set as this

Fog=0
FogRand=0
Clouds=1
CloudsRand=1
Precip=0
PrecipRand=0
WindHeading=95
WindSpeed=2.000000
WindRand=1
WeatherRndInterval=2


perhaps as the campaign missions allway seem to start in clear "default" weather conditions.. the fog fogrand clouds cloudrand etc control the possibilty of randomised weather ON MISSION LOAD and the weather RNDinterval then takes over control of how often the weather changes from there on in.....i wonder if the original weather as it appeared at mission load then becomes the default? i'll try it and see what happens...the problem there is that all three campaign files scr rnd and lnd have weather sections change one change them all lol dunno....

all this probably doesnt egt to the bottom of why the weather sometimes appears to remain the same for many days at a time....it seems to me that it MUST actually be changing- but unfortunately it changing from clear no fog lightwinds from the north calm sea to clear no fog lightwinds from the east calm sea ..ie the list of possible weather types is woe-fully short (or far too long and over compicated..ie looks great on paper doesn't work well in game)
other wise there allways would some noticable difference in the weather at each and every change interval...

so thought number three is..

the weather ALLWAYS changes as per the weatherRndInterval entry
BUT it's list of possible changes is not terribly well thought out...too many extremely similar weather types avalable ..where's that list?
for me i hardly ever see rain....would like to add rain to more of the weather types available (most weather types must have Precip=0 )
dunno where the list is tho must be somewhere..

Hi CB,

Well as I said I haven't played with it too much, but I also read that if say for example you have been in bad weather for say 6 days.
Then you save your mission, the weather goes back to Zero, so if for example it was due to change on the day you saved, then you will have to wait another 6-7 days for it to change again.
To me that is a bug.
Plus there are only 2 cloud types, I have added more but I don't think the sim reads them as I've never ever seen them unless I alter the names in the Misc folder (Nori00 & Nori01).
I said in another post, if you put the camera directly above yourself, you can see the clouds either generating or degenerating through a hole in the roof so to speak.
I think somewhere in one of those DAT files there is something that controls how many clouds we can have, speed and times etc, something like the moving fronts we had in SH2 only not as good.

I have set the wind=6 but when the weather does eventually change this effects the sea state and it has risen to something like 9+
I've omitted some lines, added higher numbers and most times got clear skies with no cloud as the sim hasn't recognised any of it so it had defaulted.
We may hit on something yet my mate.

yes i just ran a couple of campaign missions with cluds and cloudran set to 1 instead of 0...nothing brainstaggeringly interesting happenned (if anything at all :-j )

best part about the weather system seems to be as you so rightly say the wind speed and direction which actually has a huge impact on the game..ships and the sub travelling into a high wind will really struggle as it whips the waves up against the direction of travel..and keep an eye on your rudder settings if you travel crosswing on a set course...it will be set to port or strarboard in order to correct any drift...and that is very interesting and a wonderfully realistic and satisfying touch...
but other than that the way it just pours out of the warp hole above the sub moving along with you is well..pants..at least as far as the immersion factor goes....much more satisfying for it to follow the same pattern as the really advanced SH2 weather stuff ie the seperate independant and dynamically moving fronts...those you could place in missions and have them move across the map allmost like convoys (even set up radio messages that accurately predict their arrival and passing etc!) fascinating stuff

but with SH3 i'm not sure there's much more that can be made of it as long as it's 100% tied to the player sub position..shame lol as we have got independantly moving iceburgs and even an ENV section for the game !!!

lots of eye candy stuff can be done (and has) but other than finding that list and editing it ..the weather is allways going to be a little bit "Coronation street" when it shuld perhaps be a bit more "Life on earth" if you see what i mean ! no real depth

i'd love to see more rain in fact i had resigned myself to the fact that the rain was broken untill a couple of days ago lol...after 40 or more patrols in the atlantic and med and up around norway etc it finally rained!!
ill check out that folder see if there's any hope of a quick mod

started a career in 1939 and this is my third patrol and never saw a storm or rain... always good weather.... and the time is mid January 1940 now.. I am at the north atlantic heading towards grid square AM13... seems a bit strange... :shifty:

yup how-ever tha randomisation works it's doesn't seem to work very entertainingly...which it should especailly during winter in the atlantic !

:hulk:
COL what about the cloudtransition texture is that worth attacking? :arrgh!: i'm useless at transparent textures otherwise id have a go myself but if the cloudtransition texture shows during weather changes then it might add an extra cloud type to the game/

Hi CB,

I just had a look at the cloud transition file, I have Adobe Photoshop CS, it is a great program but I'll be honest, I haven't a clue what changes to make that might effect the clouds.

I know I can make a back-up and mess around with it but I'm not sure what I'm doing.

my best guess is that the transition texture is like a transparent layer that covers both types of clouds to mask the "join" untill the transition is complete like net curtains or something..no reason why the net curtains couldnt have a pattern on em tho? ...dunno if that helps/