Changeable WEATHER and TIME OF DAY ingame?

Bullet10k · 4th Jun 2005, 01:06 PM

I think this would be a great addition. I mean like...being able to change the weather soo...You should be able to make it rain, make it cloudy, make it foggy, make it snow, make it bright and sunny, or make it a THUNDERSTORM/SNOWSTORM! and so on and so forth...

Also, you should be able to make it NIGHT/DAY/DAWN and make it so that you can shoot out the lights! Obviously, the lights should only be LIT at NIGHT, also dont go too far with this by making it possible for players to destroy the map to pitch black darkness (perhaps maybe put some invulnerable shielded lights or something to prevent this? OR make a device to see in the pitch black darkness). So you can choose to have a very stealthy game! (nono i dont mean nighttime so we'll be able to use our ugly brightskins and turn UT into a stealth game, I mean you CAN CHOOSE nighttime IF you want to have a stealthy match. If you want it as a normal intense bloody deathmatch where you can clearly see everything then you choose daytime! If you want a good hiding spot OCCASIONALLY you choose Dawn!). Also, make 'being able to shoot out lights' as an OPTION for the players that want to play a night match BUT with all of lights ON and indestructible. and so on and so forth....

I think this would make very good use of UE3's great lighting and give us more variety in each map.

One more thing, I obviously mean these things should all be changeable INGAME without going to the map editor and without making a new map. ALL INGAME! (like whats the whole point if its not ingame rite?)

Im not sure what to do about the indoor arena maps though (maybe this suggestion shouldnt apply to those indoor-arena/space/etc. maps). I know one thing you can do though... Im pretty sure almost all of the indoor arena maps have windows to look outside, just change that bit there

or something similar.

Is it possible? And what you think?

Vault · 4th Jun 2005, 01:34 PM

sure. i mean it would matter to me

Discord · 4th Jun 2005, 01:42 PM

Somebody made an actor for UT2k4 that sort of did this, but it just ended up making it rain or snow sporadically.

It would be a big job for mappers, having to rig up lighting schemes for both day and night, and also having to generate several skyboxes.

Aside from the work involved, I think all that is possible...

Bang Yr Head · 4th Jun 2005, 02:14 PM

that would be incredibly ****ing awesome if you could change both. it would change the way you play on most maps. everytime it would be at least SLIGHTLY different. maybe only in certain maps would be limited to certain time/weather settings due to their theme and setting.

Angel_Mapper · 4th Jun 2005, 02:51 PM

With 2k7's dynamic lighting it will definitely be possible, but I doubt Epic is going to waste their time with it.

Selerox · 4th Jun 2005, 03:25 PM

It might be cool in CON/ONS, but it'd be a pain in the arse on DM/TCM/CTF. Not sure if day/night cycling would work really, it'd be a nightmare to end up playing in darkness. There's only so far you can go with weather. It's rain/cloud/sun really. Maybe you could stick wind in their, as long as it blew trees etc around realistically and not anything that matter to gameplay (weapon projectiles, fliers). Snow would be possible, but it wouldn't settle

Having said that, I can see it working if it was backed up with a specifically made map. Imagine a cityscape map, you'd have streelights, illuminated advertising signs (which light up as it gets dark) and the like. As you'd have bright characters and gunfire etc (as well as team beacons), it wouldn't massivly hurt gameplay either. Also, if it was an "active" city, then it'd be light enough anyway

Maybe stick a "shoulderlight" mutator for maps like that, so that you at least get an active light source of your own.

Bullet10k · 4th Jun 2005, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angel_Mapper

With 2k7's dynamic lighting it will definitely be possible, but I doubt Epic is going to waste their time with it.

Why do you call it a waste of time? I doubt it will take too long and plus, it would be amazing.

Wowbagger · 4th Jun 2005, 04:21 PM

I agree with Sel, Ons/Con could work maybe but not the other gametypes.
Well i guess you could have a map like DM-Rankin and let it rain outside or Sunrise, snowing etc. Stuff that wouldnt affect the playable areas of the map, that could work i guess.

1337 · 4th Jun 2005, 04:23 PM

I hate bad lighting. It's BS when a player gets an advantage over another player just because he uses different gamma settings and such. Hiding in shadows isn't what ut is about. Being able to interact with the map is good. Crap lighting is bad. World effects and lighting shouldn't have any effect on gameplay.

carmatic · 4th Jun 2005, 04:29 PM

http://www.humus.ca/index.php?page=3D&ID=51 assuming that whatever planet or world they are on, the sunlight or equivalent of it moves in a definite direction, then this will be perfect for those beautiful sunsets or equivalent where buildings cast long shadows etc etc

but on conquest, where its basically a match that lasts indefinitely, it would be cool to see like when you go in at a time that's daytime for the server, it'd be the same in-game...
as an extension, i wonder if you can stream skyboxes like you stream levels... someone whos dedicated to taking good pictures of the sky (like a metereological service or something) can continuously supply textures to a server, which then streams it to the clients, perhaps even changing some attributes like ambientbrightness colour...

to improve the aspect of the game that deals with differing weather, and perhaps seasons, on levels, i say that the lightmaps should be modular for each level, different lightmaps can be built for different times of days and seasons, and the rest of the map can stay exactly the same... imagine that, static lightmaps that are almost no longer static...

Bullet10k · 4th Jun 2005, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carmatic

http://www.humus.ca/index.php?page=3D&ID=51 assuming that whatever planet or world they are on, the sunlight or equivalent of it moves in a definite direction, then this will be perfect for those beautiful sunsets or equivalent where buildings cast long shadows etc etc

but on conquest, where its basically a match that lasts indefinitely, it would be cool to see like when you go in at a time that's daytime for the server, it'd be the same in-game...
as an extension, i wonder if you can stream skyboxes like you stream levels... someone whos dedicated to taking good pictures of the sky (like a metereological service or something) can continuously supply textures to a server, which then streams it to the clients, perhaps even changing some attributes like ambientbrightness colour...

to improve the aspect of the game that deals with differing weather, and perhaps seasons, on levels, i say that the lightmaps should be modular for each level, different lightmaps can be built for different times of days and seasons, and the rest of the map can stay exactly the same... imagine that, static lightmaps that are almost no longer static...

You seem to say ITS POSSIBLE, so why'd you vote 'ITS NOT POSSIBLE'?

carmatic · 4th Jun 2005, 04:52 PM

aauugghh!! you can see who voted for what? hoooww????

::edit:: uhhmm i meant to say, uhh... like, its not possible , if epic doesnt make it possible! thats right

Angel_Mapper · 4th Jun 2005, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bullet10k

Why do you call it a waste of time? I doubt it will take too long and plus, it would be amazing.

I don't think it's a waste of time, but I don't think Epic is going to bother with it at this time.

Bullet10k · 4th Jun 2005, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carmatic

aauugghh!! you can see who voted for what? hoooww????

::edit:: uhhmm i meant to say, uhh... like, its not possible , if epic doesnt make it possible! thats right

G.Lecter · 4th Jun 2005, 05:19 PM

It's a good idea, but difficult to make...
I would like to see a city ONS/CON map in which the night is comes slowly and lots of lamps begin to switch on... and more lights inside the buildings switch on and off...

Selerox · 4th Jun 2005, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wowbagger

Well i guess you could have a map like DM-Rankin and let it rain outside or Sunrise, snowing etc. Stuff that wouldnt affect the playable areas of the map, that could work i guess.

Yeah, That would be a pretty nice feature IMO

TomWithTheWeather · 4th Jun 2005, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angel_Mapper

With 2k7's dynamic lighting it will definitely be possible, but I doubt Epic is going to waste their time with it.

Yeah, it seems to be the type of feature that Epic wouldn't bother with because a third party licensee could do it easily if they needed it.

Mætlöaff · 4th Jun 2005, 09:15 PM

I could see them doing it with maybe one or two maps, but it wouldn't be a central feature, just a neat visual effect that wouldn't affect gameplay that would be on a select few maps for atmosphere.

Taleweaver · 5th Jun 2005, 08:07 AM

Where's the "I'm indifferent either way" option? I'm pretty sure Epic will have an option to turn off weather effect to make people more visible ...eeeehm, to save framerates... so that would nullify this option.

What's the meaning of the "it's impossible" option? Given enough time, it's certainly possible (as if computers couldn't handle the concept of changing weather/time). The point is...will it be interesting enough to add it to the game?

(Angelmapper even uses system times in her Tamearia mod).

JaFO · 5th Jun 2005, 10:51 AM

Changing the wheather at will has too much of an impact on the atmosphere of a map.
Imagine a desert-themed map and a server deciding it should be snowing ...

Maps that are set 'outside' could benefit from a day/night-cycle provided that 'night' is more like a 'full moon' kind of darkness and less like total darkness.

Of course that's ignoring the fact that alien planets might have multiple suns & moons.

Perhaps all we really need is mappers that can create more interesting skies instead of relying on one of the defaults as provided by Epic ...

View Poll Results: What you think?
Yea, make the weather and time changeable ingame.	42	79.25%
No, leave it so theres only one setting per map.	5	9.43%
Make only the time changeable.	2	3.77%
Make only the weather changeable.	3	5.66%
Its not possible.	1	1.89%
Voters: 53. You may not vote on this poll

4th Jun 2005, 01:06 PM	#1
Bullet10k Registered User Join Date: Apr. 9th, 2005 Posts: 639	Changeable WEATHER and TIME OF DAY ingame? I think this would be a great addition. I mean like...being able to change the weather soo...You should be able to make it rain, make it cloudy, make it foggy, make it snow, make it bright and sunny, or make it a THUNDERSTORM/SNOWSTORM! and so on and so forth... Also, you should be able to make it NIGHT/DAY/DAWN and make it so that you can shoot out the lights! Obviously, the lights should only be LIT at NIGHT, also dont go too far with this by making it possible for players to destroy the map to pitch black darkness (perhaps maybe put some invulnerable shielded lights or something to prevent this? OR make a device to see in the pitch black darkness). So you can choose to have a very stealthy game! (nono i dont mean nighttime so we'll be able to use our ugly brightskins and turn UT into a stealth game, I mean you CAN CHOOSE nighttime IF you want to have a stealthy match. If you want it as a normal intense bloody deathmatch where you can clearly see everything then you choose daytime! If you want a good hiding spot OCCASIONALLY you choose Dawn!). Also, make 'being able to shoot out lights' as an OPTION for the players that want to play a night match BUT with all of lights ON and indestructible. and so on and so forth.... I think this would make very good use of UE3's great lighting and give us more variety in each map. One more thing, I obviously mean these things should all be changeable INGAME without going to the map editor and without making a new map. ALL INGAME! (like whats the whole point if its not ingame rite?) Im not sure what to do about the indoor arena maps though (maybe this suggestion shouldnt apply to those indoor-arena/space/etc. maps). I know one thing you can do though... Im pretty sure almost all of the indoor arena maps have windows to look outside, just change that bit there or something similar. Is it possible? And what you think? __________________ Last edited by Bullet10k; 4th Jun 2005 at 01:36 PM.

4th Jun 2005, 01:34 PM	#2
Vault Registered User Join Date: May. 29th, 2005 Posts: 472	sure. i mean it would matter to me __________________ Why are you reading this? Stop reading this.. i said stop I SAID STOP!! THATS IT!!!!

4th Jun 2005, 02:14 PM	#4
Bang Yr Head ( ) Join Date: Dec. 10th, 2002 Location: Long Island (sucks) Posts: 970	that would be incredibly ****ing awesome if you could change both. it would change the way you play on most maps. everytime it would be at least SLIGHTLY different. maybe only in certain maps would be limited to certain time/weather settings due to their theme and setting. __________________ We tore down the world, and put up four walls. I breathe in the myth. I'm over the city, f%#king the future. I'm high and inside yr kiss. We can't see clear. But what we see is a alright. We make up what we can't hear. And then we sing all night

4th Jun 2005, 02:51 PM	#5
Angel_Mapper Noblesse Oblige Join Date: Jun. 17th, 2001 Location: Cape Suzette Posts: 3,471	With 2k7's dynamic lighting it will definitely be possible, but I doubt Epic is going to waste their time with it. __________________ Unreal Development Kit Game Programming with UnrealScript: Beginner’s Guide Stubborn Horse Studios - Angel Mapper To have said goodbye to things!

4th Jun 2005, 01:42 PM	#3
Discord surveying the wreckage... Join Date: Nov. 6th, 2002 Location: Somewhere on Route 666 Posts: 639	Somebody made an actor for UT2k4 that sort of did this, but it just ended up making it rain or snow sporadically. It would be a big job for mappers, having to rig up lighting schemes for both day and night, and also having to generate several skyboxes. Aside from the work involved, I think all that is possible...

4th Jun 2005, 03:25 PM	#6
Selerox COR AD COR LOQVITVR Join Date: Nov. 12th, 1999 Location: TheUKofGBandNI Posts: 6,420	Concrete and Light It might be cool in CON/ONS, but it'd be a pain in the arse on DM/TCM/CTF. Not sure if day/night cycling would work really, it'd be a nightmare to end up playing in darkness. There's only so far you can go with weather. It's rain/cloud/sun really. Maybe you could stick wind in their, as long as it blew trees etc around realistically and not anything that matter to gameplay (weapon projectiles, fliers). Snow would be possible, but it wouldn't settle Having said that, I can see it working if it was backed up with a specifically made map. Imagine a cityscape map, you'd have streelights, illuminated advertising signs (which light up as it gets dark) and the like. As you'd have bright characters and gunfire etc (as well as team beacons), it wouldn't massivly hurt gameplay either. Also, if it was an "active" city, then it'd be light enough anyway Maybe stick a "shoulderlight" mutator for maps like that, so that you at least get an active light source of your own. __________________ "There are no Christians, as far as I know, blowing up buildings. I am not aware of Christian suicide bombers. I am not aware of any major Christian denomination that believes the penalty for apostasy is death. I have mixed feelings about the decline for Christianity, in so far that Christianity might be a bulwark against something worse" - Professor Richard Dawkins

4th Jun 2005, 04:21 PM	#8
Wowbagger Curing the infection... Join Date: May. 20th, 2000 Location: Sweden Posts: 629	I agree with Sel, Ons/Con could work maybe but not the other gametypes. Well i guess you could have a map like DM-Rankin and let it rain outside or Sunrise, snowing etc. Stuff that wouldnt affect the playable areas of the map, that could work i guess. __________________ FCE2 - Respawn Inc.

4th Jun 2005, 04:23 PM	#9
1337 1337 Join Date: Jun. 23rd, 2004 Posts: 1,337	I hate bad lighting. It's BS when a player gets an advantage over another player just because he uses different gamma settings and such. Hiding in shadows isn't what ut is about. Being able to interact with the map is good. Crap lighting is bad. World effects and lighting shouldn't have any effect on gameplay. Last edited by 1337; 4th Jun 2005 at 04:24 PM.

4th Jun 2005, 04:29 PM	#10
carmatic Registered User Join Date: Jan. 31st, 2004 Posts: 746	http://www.humus.ca/index.php?page=3D&ID=51 assuming that whatever planet or world they are on, the sunlight or equivalent of it moves in a definite direction, then this will be perfect for those beautiful sunsets or equivalent where buildings cast long shadows etc etc but on conquest, where its basically a match that lasts indefinitely, it would be cool to see like when you go in at a time that's daytime for the server, it'd be the same in-game... as an extension, i wonder if you can stream skyboxes like you stream levels... someone whos dedicated to taking good pictures of the sky (like a metereological service or something) can continuously supply textures to a server, which then streams it to the clients, perhaps even changing some attributes like ambientbrightness colour... to improve the aspect of the game that deals with differing weather, and perhaps seasons, on levels, i say that the lightmaps should be modular for each level, different lightmaps can be built for different times of days and seasons, and the rest of the map can stay exactly the same... imagine that, static lightmaps that are almost no longer static... __________________ This world is not perfect.Everything is where they will be. Last edited by carmatic; 4th Jun 2005 at 04:36 PM.

4th Jun 2005, 04:52 PM	#12
carmatic Registered User Join Date: Jan. 31st, 2004 Posts: 746	aauugghh!! you can see who voted for what? hoooww???? ::edit:: uhhmm i meant to say, uhh... like, its not possible , if epic doesnt make it possible! thats right __________________ This world is not perfect.Everything is where they will be. Last edited by carmatic; 4th Jun 2005 at 04:53 PM.

4th Jun 2005, 05:19 PM	#15
G.Lecter Registered Tester Join Date: Dec. 31st, 2004 Location: Spain Posts: 1,163	It's a good idea, but difficult to make... I would like to see a city ONS/CON map in which the night is comes slowly and lots of lamps begin to switch on... and more lights inside the buildings switch on and off... __________________ Portal 2: \| Custom Maps \| Toki Tori: \| Custom Maps \| UT3: \| JB-Makoy from UT3 Jailbreak \| Grayscaled Loading Screens \| UT2004: \| VCTF-Antropolis \| CTF-Opposite \| JB-Fragtion2 \| JB-Isolated \| Spanish Localizations: \| UT3 \| Killing Floor \|

4th Jun 2005, 09:15 PM	#18
Mætlöaff Registered User Join Date: Apr. 10th, 2004 Posts: 86	I could see them doing it with maybe one or two maps, but it wouldn't be a central feature, just a neat visual effect that wouldn't affect gameplay that would be on a select few maps for atmosphere.

5th Jun 2005, 08:07 AM	#19
Taleweaver Wandering spirit Join Date: May. 11th, 2004 Location: Off course Posts: 2,618	Where's the "I'm indifferent either way" option? I'm pretty sure Epic will have an option to turn off weather effect to make people more visible ...eeeehm, to save framerates... so that would nullify this option. What's the meaning of the "it's impossible" option? Given enough time, it's certainly possible (as if computers couldn't handle the concept of changing weather/time). The point is...will it be interesting enough to add it to the game? (Angelmapper even uses system times in her Tamearia mod). __________________ My UT2004 guide

5th Jun 2005, 10:51 AM	#20
JaFO bugs are features too ... Join Date: Nov. 5th, 2000 Posts: 5,483	Changing the wheather at will has too much of an impact on the atmosphere of a map. Imagine a desert-themed map and a server deciding it should be snowing ... Maps that are set 'outside' could benefit from a day/night-cycle provided that 'night' is more like a 'full moon' kind of darkness and less like total darkness. Of course that's ignoring the fact that alien planets might have multiple suns & moons. Perhaps all we really need is mappers that can create more interesting skies instead of relying on one of the defaults as provided by Epic ...

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