Dynamic weather use...

[ENO]

I'm just wondering if anyone has had any success lately with particular dynamic weather settings?

 

What has happened to us in the past is that under many circumstances weather systems would conflict and cause conditions that created lag for many clients in MP missions.

 

I used to come in and bring that up and some servers said they had no problem whatsoever... so I was just wondering what the secret is?

 

Got any settings you'd care to share?

 

 

I got most of the ones I was testing from a Dynamic Weather thread but many of those setups were many years old and I suspect a refresh would be in order.

 

 

Thanks in advance,

[ENO]

lol maybe it isn't working as frequently as I thought.

[Blooze]

From all I have seen in the forum one would just about have to have a degree as a meteorologist to create real life weather conditions. I sure wish we had someone in the community that had the knowledge to do it right.

[Raptor9]

Honestly, I don't find the dynamic weather system very useful. I still program static weather based on what I think would be challenging or desired for a given mission.

 

I've had some basic meteorology schooling, but until DCS World has things like inversion layers, adiabatic lapse rates, icing levels, and other more complex stuff in it's engine, there's only so much you can play with.

[Goztreh]

I usually use this thread from MadTommy for reference when I edited Dynamic weather LUA.

You can place the center of a depression where you want. And create a forehead cloudy. Nice for a A/G mission.

 

Goz.

[ENO]

That's the thread I used and it's the one I got most of my examples from. The results varied but I did get a lot of complaints about lag.

 

Might be worth looking at again, but it would be nice to know if this has been worked on at all or if it's status quo.

 

I'll test drive some of the former settings listed in that thread and report back my findings.

[SDsc0rch]

hmm..! very interested in seeing what people say about this too

[ENO]

I will say this- from my end I LOVED the feel of it (when used before). I'd lift off from one base and it would be sunny with some overcast towards the target direction in the distance. Even money that you're going to be able to drop from standoff altitudes at 20000+ or require someone on the ground or lower altitude and at distance to laze for you. Get there one mission and it's one way... Same mission next time is different... Weather at the base on return an change too. Just added one level of additional Immersion to the mission.

 

I sure hope to get this off the ground soon as I know a large part of the community- if it worked- would be thrilled.

 

Some will never be happy because it's not detailed enough- but give mission designers one more functional tool to shake up their missions a little to help rejuvenate tested and true mission concepts... Sure would be a big step.

[Exorcet]

Get there one mission and it's one way... Same mission next time is different...

This is one thing I don't like. For some missions the weather (for me) plays an important part. This can go double for campaigns. There is static weather, but it's way too static since it covers the entire planet (map).

 

The dynamic weather was a great addition but I'm not ready to use it quite yet.

[ENO]

The dynamic weather was a great addition but I'm not ready to use it quite yet.

 

I hear ya... but that last point was exactly WHY introducing it was so important to me. Helped keep me from getting bored within the same mission profile- while still working within a scope I was somewhat familiar with.

[Blooze]

I will say this- from my end I LOVED the feel of it (when used before). I'd lift off from one base and it would be sunny with some overcast towards the target direction in the distance. Even money that you're going to be able to drop from standoff altitudes at 20000+ or require someone on the ground or lower altitude and at distance to laze for you. Get there one mission and it's one way... Same mission next time is different... Weather at the base on return an change too. Just added one level of additional Immersion to the mission.

 

I sure hope to get this off the ground soon as I know a large part of the community- if it worked- would be thrilled.

 

Some will never be happy because it's not detailed enough- but give mission designers one more functional tool to shake up their missions a little to help rejuvenate tested and true mission concepts... Sure would be a big step.

Can you post a link to the weather lua file that you have found works best from your experience?

[ENO]

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=82610

 

 

post 20 and post 11 in this thread got me started... You need to read through the thread to understand how the different inputs that you need to adjust affect your overall weather, however.

Edited June 11, 2014 by ENO

[Blooze]

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=82610

 

 

post 20 and post 11 in this thread got me started... You need to read through the thread to understand how the different inputs that you need to adjust.

Thank you sir. I'll play around with those and report my findings.

[Blooze]

I loaded the dynamic lua files into the saved games dynamic weather folder, selected them in the ME, installed and saved but never saw any variation in weather after flying well over an hour in 2 missions. What am I missing?

[ENO]

SW-NE FRONT

 

 

 

 

 

 

It sounds like you might have made the same mistake I did- for a long time.

 

Go into ME, into weather... go down to where it says default weather and pull up your desired weather in the window. Then click the file folder looking thing that says "LOAD" when you hover your mouse over it. THEN save the mission... you'll see the weather pattern change when you "load" it.

 

I think if you selected your pattern, then clicked save- it would have saved over your weather file with the default weather- I think the "load" step is the one you're missing.

 

 

The shots above were taken from that pattern at various different parts of the map.

Edited June 14, 2014 by ENO

[Blooze]

I tried that over and over with every imaginable combination of clicks but still no joy. I'll look at it again soon. There is probably something simple that I have overlooked as usual. How long should it take to see the weather change in a mission? Does it matter what month or season are chosen?

[Weta43]

My understanding of the dynamic weather (I use it pretty much by default in SP but have a few systems set up so am not playing with the settings as much now):

Weather is dynamic and changes with time, but is not 'randomised', so if you arrive somewhere in consecutive runs through at exactly the same time, the weather will be the same, if you arrive at a slightly different time, it will be different, the bigger the time difference, the more time for the weather to change.

In DCS the 'weather' occurs on the boundaries or intersections of systems, and the systems move over the map.

The best way to get weather that varies significantly across the playable part of the map is to add 5 or 6 systems then adjust till the systems are intersecting in a way that has the complexity where you want it, or wind directions & relative speeds look OK - either by manually editing or hitting create till the system intersections look like you want them to. Ignore the actual indicated wind-speed - you can adjust that separately.

The default intensity of the systems is set to give weather changes across the whole map (sometimes on bits you don't play on). If you add 6 systems, you'll get more variability across the map, but have very high winds in places - up over 80 kn. If you go though the systems and scale the pressure differences down, you can adjust the wind-speed to somewhere round where you want it (fastest is by factor of 10 - delete the last figure of each pressure difference )

With lots of cells weather changes in broad patterns across the map, but details can be quite localised - winds changing noticeably across a few 10's of km & precipitation within 1 or 2 km.

How fast observable weather changes depends on where you are relative to the system boundaries, and how big your systems are. Clouds (& any associated rain or snow) will cross the sky at fairly realistic rates.

 

A theory : (that might be bollock :) ). DCS lows are more likely to produce overcast than highs..

[ENO]

I tried that over and over with every imaginable combination of clicks but still no joy. I'll look at it again soon. There is probably something simple that I have overlooked as usual. How long should it take to see the weather change in a mission? Does it matter what month or season are chosen?

 

I think the reason you're having the issue now is that as soon as you click save next to the dynamic weather it saves over the file that you chose. What I think happened (if it's the same thing that happened to me) is you chose a file, then clicked "save" next to the folder which ended up saving the stock profile over the weather file that you had selected. So now every time you try to problem solve it, you're still just loading the stock profile.

 

I had to go back, choose the download again from my downloads, move it back over- delete the other version- and go back through the process as described.

[Paganus]

It can cause lag depending on how it is used. It can also cause some lighting issues. If used in moderation it can give some nice effects.

 

This guide is older but should still help...

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7rWrjLcZNnecEZKMGpISnp1Y0U/edit?usp=sharing

[Blooze]

I think the reason you're having the issue now is that as soon as you click save next to the dynamic weather it saves over the file that you chose. What I think happened (if it's the same thing that happened to me) is you chose a file, then clicked "save" next to the folder which ended up saving the stock profile over the weather file that you had selected. So now every time you try to problem solve it, you're still just loading the stock profile.

 

I had to go back, choose the download again from my downloads, move it back over- delete the other version- and go back through the process as described.

Thanks again, I finally got it working. Now all we need is a new source of lua files created by those that are skilled at this and a directory for easy access by the community. I think this would add a new dimension to missions that is sorely needed while we wait for EDGE.

[Blooze]

My understanding of the dynamic weather (I use it pretty much by default in SP but have a few systems set up so am not playing with the settings as much now):

Weather is dynamic and changes with time, but is not 'randomised', so if you arrive somewhere in consecutive runs through at exactly the same time, the weather will be the same, if you arrive at a slightly different time, it will be different, the bigger the time difference, the more time for the weather to change.

In DCS the 'weather' occurs on the boundaries or intersections of systems, and the systems move over the map.

The best way to get weather that varies significantly across the playable part of the map is to add 5 or 6 systems then adjust till the systems are intersecting in a way that has the complexity where you want it, or wind directions & relative speeds look OK - either by manually editing or hitting create till the system intersections look like you want them to. Ignore the actual indicated wind-speed - you can adjust that separately.

The default intensity of the systems is set to give weather changes across the whole map (sometimes on bits you don't play on). If you add 6 systems, you'll get more variability across the map, but have very high winds in places - up over 80 kn. If you go though the systems and scale the pressure differences down, you can adjust the wind-speed to somewhere round where you want it (fastest is by factor of 10 - delete the last figure of each pressure difference )

With lots of cells weather changes in broad patterns across the map, but details can be quite localised - winds changing noticeably across a few 10's of km & precipitation within 1 or 2 km.

How fast observable weather changes depends on where you are relative to the system boundaries, and how big your systems are. Clouds (& any associated rain or snow) will cross the sky at fairly realistic rates.

 

A theory : (that might be bollock :) ). DCS lows are more likely to produce overcast than highs..

 

 

You mentioned that you have a few systems set up. Would you mind posting the lua files so I could try them out?

[Winfield_Gold]

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=82610

 

 

post 20 and post 11 in this thread got me started... You need to read through the thread to understand how the different inputs that you need to adjust affect your overall weather, however.

 

I used the template that is in Post 20 of the thread but I have no idea how to move the cyclone from Tbilisi. How can I move it to say FJ20 which is North of Gudauta. I am building a canyon mission and I think this cyclone would suit well if I could figure out how to get it near the position.

 

It's not as simple as click and drag across the map :)

[Paganus]

You may want to compare those old files to a newly generated file before using them. If I'm not mistaken the file format has changed slightly.

[Blooze]

I used the template that is in Post 20 of the thread but I have no idea how to move the cyclone from Tbilisi. How can I move it to say FJ20 which is North of Gudauta. I am building a canyon mission and I think this cyclone would suit well if I could figure out how to get it near the position.

 

It's not as simple as click and drag across the map :)

 

If you look at THIS GUIDE and scroll down to where it shows how to modify the lua file, look for centerZ and centerX. It looks like those numbers determine the location.

[ENO]

I used the template that is in Post 20 of the thread but I have no idea how to move the cyclone from Tbilisi. How can I move it to say FJ20 which is North of Gudauta. I am building a canyon mission and I think this cyclone would suit well if I could figure out how to get it near the position.

 

It's not as simple as click and drag across the map :)

 

You can put it wherever you want but you have to look in the thread mentioned above to see where X 0, Z 0 is located. You can then use the measuring tool to measure the EW distance and NS distance (keeping in mind I think you have to convert it to meters... which seems a bit ridiculous but I think that's how it works.

 

You then measure the distance you want up and over from the 0 point mentioned in the other thread.

 

Keeping in mind however that you'll need to place the cyclone in the vicinity so the weather can "react" around it.