Weather Thoughts

[Steampunkette]

... in Atlas Park, we can have snow thanks to an overlay setup that basically makes the snow tied to your camera. It's not an actual thing moving around the zone, which would probably cause just -so- much lag, but a graphical effect...

 

Can we do the same thing with Rain?

 

On a separate note, the skybox and lighting can be set to various options during events. Can we set up an 'Event' where the skybox turns grey and stormy and the light becomes notably dimmer?

 

... and can we combine the two? Have the event trigger a zone-wide 'Debuff' which shows rain in your vision and makes the skybox and environment darker?

 

Could we then make "Weather Events" a random thing that hits EVER ZONE with rain as the main Weather Event replaced by Snow in winter?

[Saiyajinzoningen]

while i dont think this is impossible And will help immersion it will also likely put an unnecessary strain on the servers.

[Steampunkette]

12 hours ago, Saiyajinzoningen said:

while i dont think this is impossible And will help immersion it will also likely put an unnecessary strain on the servers.

In what way would this put unneeded strain on the servers?

 

It would be an autopower and a skybox change triggered by a zone event. The tech for both already exists. Any "Strain" would be just as "straining" as any other zone-event.

[Glacier Peak]

It rained in the WWD SSA. Seems possible to me. 

[twozerofoxtrot]

On 5/9/2023 at 6:42 AM, Steampunkette said:

Could we then make "Weather Events" a random thing that hits EVER ZONE with rain as the main Weather Event replaced by Snow in winter?

 

Dare to dream for a Sunny Day event in the Rogue Isles.

[@Ghost]

iirc this suggestion came up a lot back on retail servers and the explanation given was that there wasn't an easy way to signal when rain shouldn't be on screen.

 

Building interiors are usually below the map and could be outside of whatever volume applies a camera-effect, but stuff like overpasses, parking garages, tram interiors, etc. would likely have to be all made exceptions by hand. Even then, having the effect go away under a bridge and suddenly reappear when you move out isn't a great solution.

Edited May 10 by @Ghost

[Rudra]

39 minutes ago, @Ghost said:

iirc this suggestion came up a lot back on retail servers and the explanation given was that there wasn't an easy way to signal when rain shouldn't be on screen.

 

Building interiors are usually below the map and could be outside of whatever volume applies a camera-effect, but stuff like overpasses, parking garages, tram interiors, etc. would likely have to be all made exceptions by hand. Even then, having the effect go away under a bridge and suddenly reappear when you move out isn't a great solution.

Forgot about that. Thanks. Pretty sure that is why it only snows in Atlas Park during the winter event and not in all the zones.

[Steampunkette]

2 hours ago, @Ghost said:

iirc this suggestion came up a lot back on retail servers and the explanation given was that there wasn't an easy way to signal when rain shouldn't be on screen.

 

Building interiors are usually below the map and could be outside of whatever volume applies a camera-effect, but stuff like overpasses, parking garages, tram interiors, etc. would likely have to be all made exceptions by hand. Even then, having the effect go away under a bridge and suddenly reappear when you move out isn't a great solution.

That is a -very- good reason, yeah.

 

You'd have to put in some kind of auto-power suppressor within buildings. Like they do with the Zombie Apocalypse Spawning while you're inside an Icon.

 

Wouldn't help with Bridges, though.

[Rudra]

Well, like @Ghost said, the building interiors on the zone maps are below the map itself. So the event triggers on the zone map, but not in the buildings. Spawns generate on the map floor and the building interiors are well below that level. (Think of SG bases with different levels. You can set up NPCs off the main map, on the areas you build up above or below the base, but nothing can reach those areas unless you provide a teleporter to it. Buildings like Icon and AE use their doors as set teleporters with no special effects. So you transition to the below zone map building interior when using the zone door and back to the zone map when using the interior door. Event spawns are generated on the zone map, so they can't spawn inside buildings since those maps are well below the zone map and the legal spawn points.) No auto-suppression needed.

[Steampunkette]

20 minutes ago, Rudra said:

Well, like @Ghost said, the building interiors on the zone maps are below the map itself. So the event triggers on the zone map, but not in the buildings. Spawns generate on the map floor and the building interiors are well below that level. (Think of SG bases with different levels. You can set up NPCs off the main map, on the areas you build up above or below the base, but nothing can reach those areas unless you provide a teleporter to it. Buildings like Icon and AE use their doors as set teleporters with no special effects. So you transition to the below zone map building interior when using the zone door and back to the zone map when using the interior door. Event spawns are generated on the zone map, so they can't spawn inside buildings since those maps are well below the zone map and the legal spawn points.) No auto-suppression needed.

Fair. Though the tech for auto-power suppression also exists: In the AE buildings.

 

All powers, including autopowers, cease to function there. You'd just need whatever object is there copied and tweaked to only disable one autopower.

 

But it still doesn't fix the bridge problem. And with places like Skyway in the game... well.

 

Then again. You've got Snow in the tunnels of Atlas Park so is it -really- that big a deal? Not my place to judge. Just brainstorming a way to have 'weather' in the game.

[TheZag]

Zone invasion events already check if your character has line of sight straight up to the sky.  Invasion mobs dont spawn if you are under something.  Get a group in an invasion zone under a bridge and nothing will spawn.  That doesnt mean it can be automatically useful for detecting if your screen should have rain or not,  but the game is able to change behavior if you are under something.

 

[Rudra]

2 hours ago, TheZag said:

Zone invasion events already check if your character has line of sight straight up to the sky.  Invasion mobs dont spawn if you are under something.  Get a group in an invasion zone under a bridge and nothing will spawn.  That doesnt mean it can be automatically useful for detecting if your screen should have rain or not,  but the game is able to change behavior if you are under something.

 

That's not really the concern. The concern is when it is raining in a zone, your character goes under a bridge or overpass, now you are someplace where there should not be any rain so the rain effect goes away, then you step out from under the bridge or overpass and it is raining again, then you step back under it and the rain disappears, then you step back out from under it and the rain appears again.

 

Edit: Rainy day-sunny day effect depending on whether you are standing on or under that bridge or overpass or other appropriate obstruction.

Edited May 10 by Rudra

[Arc-Mage]

I would love a Villain that had a constant rain cloud over his head.

[JasperStone]

10 hours ago, Arc-Mage said:

I would love a Villain that had a constant rain cloud over his head.

Could be made available in Auras