FE2 - Cloud Improvements?

[Helmut_AUT]

Hi all.

 

Did anyone already experiment with Cloud/Sky mods for FE2? Right now, the default clouds IMHO are super ugly. And they rotate when you look up at them and then move the head. In contrast to Jan's terrain and the aircraft gfx, they look cartoonish.

 

I see there are a few cloud mods for FEG, but I'm afraid that I can't judge quality from a static screenshot alone. So if there's an accepted "Gold Standard" please clue me in.

[+Tailspin]

I don't know about FE2 but with the original FE/EP its fairly easy to modify cloud size and density to suit yourself. You'll need to extract the Environmentalsystem.ini from the FlightData.cat. Here's a version that I made. It just changes the Scattered and Broken clouds. This is based on one of Polak's ideas, IIRC. MaxClouds= is the number of cloud "groups" and MaxCloudParticles= is the number of clouds in a "group". Not sure what exactly the ParticleSize & Density numbers do but the rest is pretty much self explanatory. The numbers to play with are MaxClouds, MaxCloudParticles, Horizontal and Vertical Size, and Min/Max Base Altitude.

 

[CloudsScattered]

MaxClouds=50

MaxCloudParticles=55

3DCloudMaterial=CloudMaterial

3DCloudHorizontalSize=1000.0

3DCloudVerticalSize=800.0

3DCloudSizeDeviation=0.8

3DCloudParticleDensity=0.6

ParticleSize=200.0

ParticleSizeDeviation=0.4

MinBaseAltitude=600.0

MaxBaseAltitude=1200.0

UseBottomRow=FALSE

 

[CloudsBroken]

MaxClouds=64

MaxCloudParticles=64

3DCloudMaterial=CloudMaterial

3DCloudHorizontalSize=2000.0

3DCloudVerticalSize=1500.0

3DCloudSizeDeviation=0.3

3DCloudParticleDensity=0.6

ParticleSize=400.0

ParticleSizeDeviation=0.3

MinBaseAltitude=500.0

MaxBaseAltitude=1000.0

UseBottomRow=FALSE

 

One of the drawbacks of modifying clouds is at some view angles some clouds will disappear/reappear. As far as I know the "rotation" effect is not fixable.

Edited February 19, 2010 by Tailspin

[+MigBuster]

An easy / basic way - Find any SF cloud Mod and just take the cloud1.tga file from it and stick it in "Flight" ...sorted

 

Actually I think the cloud rotation maybe a limitation of using 2D clouds - not sure though

Edited February 19, 2010 by MigBuster

[Helmut_AUT]

thanks. I used the TGA from "IL-2 Clouds" mod and Tailspins settings, looks much better now.

[Helmut_AUT]

Boy is this a pretty sim now.

 

I'm kind of glad Rise of Flight uses that strict DRM, I might not have gotten FE2 instead. Now it seems FE2 can be as good looking with some mods (Jan's Terrain and Cloud changes...)

[Von Paulus]

thanks. I used the TGA from "IL-2 Clouds" mod and Tailspins settings, looks much better now.

It seems nice.

Sorry I'm a newbie but where I download those and install in FE2?

Thanks.

[Helmut_AUT]

Answered here.

http://forum.combatace.com/topic/53200-new-and-nearly-helpless/

[Von Paulus]

Thanks. The problem was that I wasn't finding where to download the IL2 clouds mod.

Silly me. I'm always forgetting there's a download section in this forum.

[dsawan]

Hi, can you post link to il 2 cloud mod. cant seem to find it here. thx.

[Von Paulus]

Hi, can you post link to il 2 cloud mod. cant seem to find it here. thx.

http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=10070