Changeable WEATHER and TIME OF DAY ingame?

[carmatic]

Imagine a desert-themed map and a server deciding it should be snowing ...

uh , then make the 'snow' checkbox greyed-out?
plus with the environmental damage we have these days and in the future and what not, thats not an entire impossibility...
obviously , on alient planets and whatever, the weather conditions can be so harsh that deserts continuously change between icy wastelands and sandy deserts...

 

[moonflyer]

it could be really amazing if a few maps of ut2k7 support time and weather changing
but im afraid it could be very tricky to tune the dynamic weather effects, including particles, materials and lighting, so i don't think epic will bother with this
but time changing looks like a bit easier, and with the techniques from the Reality engine(supporting time changing as i know), it's definitely possible

 

[Wowbagger]

Since the lighting is much better in U3 it could be possible to do night and day.

What about a Conquest map where you not only fight over eachothers Tyridum(sp?) resources ,but at night, also eachothers generators.

If you lose youre generators your side of the map is dark during the night making it easy for the enemy to get in and hard to defend.

 

[JaFO]

uh , then make the 'snow' checkbox greyed-out?
plus with the environmental damage we have these days and in the future and what not, thats not an entire impossibility...
obviously , on alient planets and whatever, the weather conditions can be so harsh that deserts continuously change between icy wastelands and sandy deserts...

Or they've got environmental controls and can make it rain or snow as easy as we can use lights ...


I'd rather have weather have a real effect (ie : snow falling on the ground so you can see footsteps etc., rain forming puddles of water) instead of mere cosmetics.

 

[EL BOURIKO]

Or they've got environmental controls and can make it rain or snow as easy as we can use lights ...


I'd rather have weather have a real effect (ie : snow falling on the ground so you can see footsteps etc., rain forming puddles of water) instead of mere cosmetics.

i agree, instead of cosmetic, I would prefer to have some tracks in the snow for instance, so this way you could track your opponent on big maps or fool them to trap them...
The same with water when you go from mud to dry places.
i am rather more interested in some effects that gives more tactical opportunities than providing just aesthetisc effects. For instance I would like to have a rising sun so I could be hidden by the bright light of the sun if I stand between the sun and my opponent. of course this sun would go higher and higher while we play.
i would be interested too if the topography of the terrain could change with the climate. We could imagine that an heavy rain at the beginning of the round brings some falls, pools and rivers at the end of the game. We could imagine that the cold would change lake in ice. The consequence would be that some vehicules would have to find some other ways to go from A to B or would get some new ways too. Of course all these things are very easy to write, but I am not a mapper and maybe all that is just an impossible crappy challenge...

 

[carmatic]

naah, nothings an 'impossible crappy challenge' ... in ut2k4 there is already the water effect, in ut2k7 it will be much more improved... imagine, some kind of 'melting ice actor' or something, to deal with how a lake will thaw from ice to water, like first the ice cracks up to a few bits, then they melt and shrink until theres no ice left...

 

[Nosnos]

as long as you can turn it off then sure

 

[Zur]

http://www.unrealadmin.org/forums/showthread.php?t=10116&highlight=night

Day and night mod/map ?

A long while back I went to this server where I'd notice that some maps would be dark after a certain hour. Is there a trick to do this ?

 

[Dark Pulse]

I'd say make it, but not controllably. Like maybe you're fighting on a field, and if it goes on for awhile, it starts to darken and cloud up. If it keeps going, it starts to drizzle, then rain, then pour. If it's a REALLY epic battle, Thunderstorms.

Controllable by the mapper only. Not by players ingame.

 

[JaFO]

I think it should be a mapper-only effect. With the serverside only having minimal control within the parameters set by the mapper.

 

[EL BOURIKO]

I think it should be a mapper-only effect. With the serverside only having minimal control within the parameters set by the mapper.

if the EPIC mappers ever take a look at the weather and weather´s effects on the gameplay, then it should be decided ONLY by the mappers if these effects should occur or not.
Nothing should be turned ON or OFF by the players so everyone play on the same "options"s and that s the way it s fair

 

[edhe]

Didn't angel_mapper have a time-related scriptage thing on the go?

 

[Angel_Mapper]

I cheated, Tamearia loads up one of four maps depending on the time of day, and changes the map when the computer's clock moves into the next time period. Lots and lots of saving positions and rotations into an ini file.

 

[shadow_dragon]

It's doable, Stalker will do it when it's released for example.

i think it's a nice idea but probably best implement on maps designed for it. Not make it so it's doable on all maps forcing all maps to adhere to it. Make it a cool gimmick rather than a ruling factor. If that makes sense.

 

[carmatic]

I cheated, Tamearia loads up one of four maps depending on the time of day, and changes the map when the computer's clock moves into the next time period. Lots and lots of saving positions and rotations into an ini file.

no offense, angel, but when i first saw shawna , i thougth she was supposed to be a lion cub...

anyway, i think the method where multiple lightmaps are rendered for one level is a good idea...

 

[Xaero_UT]

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.

YES finally a use for the headlights on the damn vehicles, all the possible situations wasted cause the headlights dont do ****...

 

[Angel_Mapper]

no offense, angel, but when i first saw shawna , i thougth she was supposed to be a lion cub...

anyway, i think the method where multiple lightmaps are rendered for one level is a good idea...

I never said I was a professional character modeller.

 

[Maxx]

changing conditions would be cool, but it should be not complety unrealistic (2x day - 1x night within half an hour). I think this would affect weather more than day/night

but cool idea

 

[Trueblood]

Dont forget its a game and time exists outside of the computer
but sudden down-pour or strong blasts of wind that effect rocket smoke would be a nice touch without killing graphics too much.

 

[gregori]

imagine how alive a ons alien -world would look it the sky changed colour troughout the day, the cloud cover moved and changed, intense wind blew and rustled the trees, the moon and the stars appeared at night, and you can hear the sound of night animals and insects at night and the cry of a bird in the sky at day , or if a storm starts and causes lightning bolts to hit pointy parts of your base,

i reckon it be diffcult but feasible all the same, Ut2k4 was missing worlds that felt alive, mostly because the maps feel like static meshes and look kind of like aerobord!
i reckon in anyway ut2007 need a good rain effect(no one can do this yet!) and a hell of a blizzard effect, possibly the effect of wet ground/concrete would work wonders for DM Rankin