Weather Modeling
Author
Hey there first time posting.
I've been designing a game on paper and been looking into different ways to development the environment. One of the things I always wanted to do was have a real time weather system. Where you could create different weather situations in different parts of the world map(Also I have an interest in weather modeling in general). So I guess my question is if there is a SDK or package around that has been used in previous games so I can get an understanding of the make up of the system.
Thanks for reading
Dylock
Torque has weather systems within it that I believe can generate different weather in different area. I've only seen some examples and haven't had the chance to play with it yet so I'm not sure the extent of it but Torque is a pretty strong engine.
If what you want is a ready-to-use weather modeling package, I'm not sure you'll find one. Good luck though. But if what you want is to create a model like this yourself, that's a different story, I'd be happy to chime in with a few suggestions!
But anyways, for any single player in a world like this, it doesn't really matter if you use a simple technique that emulates weather changes well enough, or if you actually detail an accurate model. That's because from his/her point of view the detailed model is hardly noticeable. However, since you have an interest in the weather model itself, I guess this is not an interesting option ;)
But anyways, for any single player in a world like this, it doesn't really matter if you use a simple technique that emulates weather changes well enough, or if you actually detail an accurate model. That's because from his/her point of view the detailed model is hardly noticeable. However, since you have an interest in the weather model itself, I guess this is not an interesting option ;)
I've been looking at weather modeling for my game as well, and most of the stuff I have found has been for high performance and supercomputing applications. That's kinda out of my budget for a game. The next tier I found were straight hydrological apps, which didn't allow me to model a typhoon if I wanted the avatar to travel the stormy sea to get to the next level, or to save the princess, per se.
There were some freeware dl's here:
Link I don't know how useful they will be, from the looks of them, you will have to have a handful of them to have a complete array of weather choices available to you. If I find out more useful data, I'll follow up.
Adventuredesign
There were some freeware dl's here:
Link I don't know how useful they will be, from the looks of them, you will have to have a handful of them to have a complete array of weather choices available to you. If I find out more useful data, I'll follow up.
Adventuredesign
I think that Planestide has a pretty decent system. One that I find much better than the standard immediate rain system.
Basically they randomly generate a storm and then let it track across the map. It works pretty good. Its not perfect, but it does add spice.
I personally would not try modeling too realistic a weather system. I.E. don't try to build a system with weather fronts, High pressure areas, realistic winds etc. The truth is that putting that much work into a system is going to be underappreciated.
However there are certain things that I like in weather system that don't go unappreciated.
Don't have zone-wide weather unless you're zone is supposed to be very small. Its neat to watch a storm move acrss an area get stronger and then weaken.
Have you're weather actually DO something. Nothings more annoying than having the rain do absolutely nothing except hamper vision.
Basically they randomly generate a storm and then let it track across the map. It works pretty good. Its not perfect, but it does add spice.
I personally would not try modeling too realistic a weather system. I.E. don't try to build a system with weather fronts, High pressure areas, realistic winds etc. The truth is that putting that much work into a system is going to be underappreciated.
However there are certain things that I like in weather system that don't go unappreciated.
Don't have zone-wide weather unless you're zone is supposed to be very small. Its neat to watch a storm move acrss an area get stronger and then weaken.
Have you're weather actually DO something. Nothings more annoying than having the rain do absolutely nothing except hamper vision.
Author
Thanks for all the replies.
i would actually like it to be a fairly detailed system, ive been reading up on the subject today.
one of the goals i wanted to accomplish is to have percipitation collect.
For example snow accumilating on the ground, rain causing puddles, flooding, so on and so forth. Granted that would be extrememly difficult, but I have my entire life. Even if I didn't make the weather feature for a game, i think it would still be neat to implement in another way, perhaps use it for educational purposes.
But thanks for the input guys :D
dylock
i would actually like it to be a fairly detailed system, ive been reading up on the subject today.
one of the goals i wanted to accomplish is to have percipitation collect.
For example snow accumilating on the ground, rain causing puddles, flooding, so on and so forth. Granted that would be extrememly difficult, but I have my entire life. Even if I didn't make the weather feature for a game, i think it would still be neat to implement in another way, perhaps use it for educational purposes.
But thanks for the input guys :D
dylock
Quote:Original post by Dylock
Thanks for all the replies.
i would actually like it to be a fairly detailed system, ive been reading up on the subject today.
one of the goals i wanted to accomplish is to have percipitation collect.
For example snow accumilating on the ground, rain causing puddles, flooding, so on and so forth. Granted that would be extrememly difficult, but I have my entire life. Even if I didn't make the weather feature for a game, i think it would still be neat to implement in another way, perhaps use it for educational purposes.
But thanks for the input guys :D
dylock
This is a feature that is far under-developed in most... every game. Flooding, snow drifts, torrents of rain... The possibilities for weather-affected world areas is huge. Perhaps a big storm comes along and completely opens up a new area of the world or whatever. This would be definitely a MMO-ish feature, since a single-player game wouldn't really have the potential to appreciate this kind of feature. But it is a good one nonetheless.
Since I plan on building a simulation/rpg engine, the most important feature of said engine will be the weather system because it will determine the rainfall which will determine the growth of plants (animal food), ad infinitum through the entire circle of life, right to the very top. Not to detrack from the current topic of the thread with my mad ramblings, but I for one can appreciate the necessity or desire to have a detailed weather system and think that the game world's desire to abstract things that they deem artificial only makes the games seem more artificial when they don't necessarily have to.
My two cents, something to chew on.
Vopisk
I've been reading up on perlin noise lately (when you surf around the web a bit, this kind of thing comes back every once in a while). This has given me an idea.
Perlin noise is used to model realistic looking clouds, right? What about if instead of outputting the density of clouds in a given point of the world in a specific moment in time, it outputs the density of effects such as rain, snow, wind, and temperature?
It would change slowly with time of course, and you could add some extra variables such as a higher probability to rain in a given area, or different global probabilities varying with seasons. The bottomline is that from the point of view of the player, all that is needed is weather varying smoothly with time and place. I think that Perlin noise can simulate this pretty well, it would look really cool.
BTW nice idea, floods and all! But of course it wouldn't fit in the same old linear story game, just like most simulations wouldn't.
Perlin noise is used to model realistic looking clouds, right? What about if instead of outputting the density of clouds in a given point of the world in a specific moment in time, it outputs the density of effects such as rain, snow, wind, and temperature?
It would change slowly with time of course, and you could add some extra variables such as a higher probability to rain in a given area, or different global probabilities varying with seasons. The bottomline is that from the point of view of the player, all that is needed is weather varying smoothly with time and place. I think that Perlin noise can simulate this pretty well, it would look really cool.
BTW nice idea, floods and all! But of course it wouldn't fit in the same old linear story game, just like most simulations wouldn't.
Author
the idea of making a very dynamic world is almost more appealing then making a MMORPG :D
Also I think the need for "cooler"(more complex) environments is going to increase with the increased use in home projecter units. Some people here around campus play all their games projected on a wall in their house, and some of them have said the envionments just dont fit. OF corse this is opinion.
Take it easy
dylock
Also I think the need for "cooler"(more complex) environments is going to increase with the increased use in home projecter units. Some people here around campus play all their games projected on a wall in their house, and some of them have said the envionments just dont fit. OF corse this is opinion.
Take it easy
dylock
Quote:Original post by Jotaf
I've been reading up on perlin noise lately (when you surf around the web a bit, this kind of thing comes back every once in a while). This has given me an idea.
Perlin noise is used to model realistic looking clouds, right? What about if instead of outputting the density of clouds in a given point of the world in a specific moment in time, it outputs the density of effects such as rain, snow, wind, and temperature?
It would change slowly with time of course, and you could add some extra variables such as a higher probability to rain in a given area, or different global probabilities varying with seasons. The bottomline is that from the point of view of the player, all that is needed is weather varying smoothly with time and place. I think that Perlin noise can simulate this pretty well, it would look really cool.
BTW nice idea, floods and all! But of course it wouldn't fit in the same old linear story game, just like most simulations wouldn't.
You know I state again that this could be too much work for a simple thing needed in a game...(not the floods and stuff thats good) but the density of rains and such, as I said in an earlier one...creating TOO realistic a weather model will go underappreciated.
You don't need to create a realistic MODEL of a weather system, just create one that doesn't seem fake. It may sound like the same thing, but its really not.
Create circular storms, have the intensity of the rain, wind, snow, dust etc, increase towards the center of the storm, then move the storm through the area. As a storm passes through the area you will see a natural increase in storm intensity and then watch it die off. It creates enough realism for the player, without creating alot of uneccissary hard work for the program. It saves time, saves money, and appears alot more realistic than what is currently out there.
I'm not saying you're ideas are without merrit, but why build the San francisco Bridge, when what you're trying to do is cross a stream on a bicycle.
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