BuckeyeBob

Sorry to interrupt this thread again. TK, I noticed on the simhq forum that you were having some other technical problems with the Global layer. Perhaps a reinstall, such as like Hasse did, is needed?

TK, Are you using any of the Historical Weather mods or are you using the default weather? Also, make sure you have Historical Weather checked in Workshop. If you are using the default weather, it's rainy on March 21 and 22, nice for a few days, then eight straight days of rainy weather from March 26 until April 3.

Hasse, Before you go for a complete reinstall, try temporarily turning off your anti-virus entirely before you download and install the update. Leaving it on and excluding folders may not be enough for this update for some reason.

Hasse, Did these problems start after you installed 1.21 or after 1.22? When you downloaded and installed either update, did you turn off your AV software entirely, or did it remain on but set up to exclude WOFF files from being scanned? My theory is some change or addition to 1.21 or 1.22 is now being scanned and quarantined by your AV program. Try turning it off temporarily before D/L the update again. Good luck! BTW, interesting stories all. The quality of the writing hasn't declined a jot! Wulfe, welcome back! Raine, fine writing and storytelling, as usual! Trustworthykebab, looking forward to your next installment. AlbertTross, hope you get your new machine all sorted out. SebTombs and Paroni1, I hope you have some new stories to tell. Anyone I may have missed, keep up the good work!

In the Toolbox folder? Yes, I just tried it at 2X super-sampling. but I haven't had a look in the game yet.

My pleasure, gaw. I assume you are able to toggle the TAC info now?

Sorry you are having problems, gaw. On my installation, in the WOFFKeys.exe program in the WOFF Toolbox folder, the "Z" key is for "Cycle TAC information." It's fourth on my list just below "Brakes" and above "Screenshot." If you see it, click on it, which should bring up the binding menu, then assign "Z" if it is not already assigned. If it is already assigned, you may have a conflict with your joystick or keyboard controllers. Hope this helps.

Looks like Pol and WM have come through - again! According to WM, news will soon be able to be read, even if you have skipped time due to "No Fly" days, leave, capture, hospitalization, etc., so it looks like there is no need for me to revise the news files. Thanks, OBD! (Please correct me if I am wrong or misstated anything). Not only that, for all you tough guys, there will soon be an option to disable cancelled flights due to bad weather, allowing you to fly in all sorts of muck and filth, if you are into that sort of thing, that is! Thanks, guys!

Wow, I had no idea how extensive this problem is. Looking just at 1916, for example, there are over 40 news reports that are not displaying currently because they occur on "No Fly" days, in which all flights are scrubbed and your pilot advances to the next flyable day in the campaign. I am currently working on a mod to the news files that would cure this problem for approximately 90% of the news reports that aren't currently displaying in the campaign. So far, I have completed work on the year 1916. A better solution (which would also be compatible with the current news and any news mods) would be if the code could be adjusted so that news reports could be read even on days when flights have been washed out. This would avoid the problem of having to adjust the news dates so they display only on flyable campaign days and would also work if news reports are added or changes to the weather files are made in any future patches or mods. This would also likely be simpler than the code fix I suggested in my previous post. I don't know if this change to the code is possible, though. Any thoughts, Scout or anyone else?

Thinking out loud here, a change to the code should be relatively easy, by comparing the campaign date with the news date and a flag indicating whether the news has been displayed or not. If not, set the code so the news displays on the next flyable campaign date without an existing news event. Another option might be to allow multiple news messages to display on a single day if a prior news event has been skipped due to weather. This would be better than a mod that would have to be updated anytime a news item or "No Fly" day is added or changed.

A few possibilities: 1) OBD might be able to change the code to enable this. 2) Someone (myself or someone else) should be able to mod the news files so the dates when news is scheduled to be displayed no longer corresponds with days which are skipped due to bad weather. However, this would require two mods: one for the default weather and another for users of the latest version of the Historical Weather mod, which adds in several more days cancelled due to bad weather. 3) You can always go the news folder and read the news items directly from the text files, although that does admittedly kill some of the immersion.

Rats!

Hi, everybody. Sandbagger has posted the update to Version 4.2 of my Optional Cloud Mod on his website. The download is available in the 'User Mods Pages' (Sky Mods). User created Sky mods The page is dated 27th January 2022. If you don't see that date in the header block of those pages, clear your internet cache or refresh the page.

Version 4.2 of the Optional Cloud Mod has been sent to Sandbagger and will soon be posted on his web page. You can also find a link to the mod at the end of my first post in the Optional Cloud Mod thread at simhq. I recommend that everyone upgrade to this version as it contains a number of important fixes and improvements. Thank you to all of my beta testers and to Robert Wiggins for the development of the light version of the mod.

Thanks, Harry. I can confirm that Harry's mod works fine with the cloud mod and may indeed help improve popping, although not everyone will get the same results. I am also convinced that those with very good graphics cards may experience less popping than those of us with weaker cards. Speaking of the cloud mod, the update to 4.2 is finished and is currently being tested. The readme file will list most of the changes, but the main focus is on improved performance and visual appearance of various cloud types. A few cloud files that were still producing cloud popping in some weather types have been removed. Several "heavy" weather types were also revised in order to improve visual appearance and reduce cloud popping and flashing. Finally, several fog and mist weather types have been further adjusted to reduce flashing and popping, particularly at low levels. BB Fog Heavy was also removed from the campaign due to flashing issues. The new version will also contain a "light" version of the mod, which removes several weather types that still have some flashing and popping issues. Users who are particularly sensitive to this issue may prefer to use this light version of the mod. Thanks goes to Robert Wiggins for his many fine suggestions on the development of this light version. Cheers!

I hope people are enjoying the mod so far. For those users who may be uncomfortable with the amount of cloud flashing still in the mod, you may be pleased to know that I am currently working on another small update that will further reduce blinking in mixed light and dark cumulus clouds, reduce cloud density (and blinking) in a couple of heavy clouds, reduce the chances of strobing in heavy fog (seen above in Hellshade's video), and fixes one or two other minor errors. A likely future update will allow users to choose a "light" version of the mod which will automatically remove some of the heavier cloud and fog types that tend to be more prone to cloud flashing, blinking, and popping, with only a slight loss in cloud variety and appearance. Jara and I are also looking into possibly using the Mission Editor to automatically "cull" extra clouds from heavy or rainy weather conditions which can also contribute to increased amounts of cloud flashing. BB

As promised, here are a few pictures taken near sunset, using OCM 4.1.

First, thank you catch, for trying out the mod. Along with the new clouds by Winding man and OBD, I think OCM 4.0 is a big improvement over OCM 3.0. Yes, there are still issues, particularly with the cloud flashing. The version I just released got rid of some cloud popping problems, but may have introduced some new flashing issues, due to the introduction of several new fog and haze clouds. Later, I hope to post some pics of some spectacular sunsets I recently took that I don't think would have been possible before the creation of these new clouds. Also, rest assured that I am still working on revising the mod. Although to a great degree I think cloud flashing is due to an inherent limitation in the CFS3 game engine, I am continually finding new tweaks to help reduce the flashing even more. Just today, for example, I replaced one set of BB haze clouds with another that seems to produce less flashing than the one before it. As I said in my previous post, I am also planning on releasing an update that will allow the user to select a version of the mod with fewer clouds, and hopefully, fewer flashing issues.

Thank you for the kind words, Hellshade. All credit for the artwork has to go to CFS3 and the OBD team, however. The only thing I have done is to move around and combine a bunch of .xml text files until they do what I want. You are quite right about the fog being a major cause of cloud flickering. When not flickering, I really like the effect. However, the flickering IS very annoying when it does occur. Also, I have recently discovered that the flickering seems to get worse for some reason during combat or when flak is going off around you. There are currently two options available for those who are annoyed by the flickering. You can either substitute PanamaRed's fog clouds that don't produce much flicker for my fog clouds in the OBD Software\campaigns\campaignData\weather folders, or you can delete each occurrence of all nine BB fog and mist clouds from the same folders. A future mod update may automate this process for those who feel uncomfortable doing it themselves.

WOFF Optional Cloud Mod 4.1 is now available! I had to slightly revise a couple of fog and mist files and I also revised the readme file to clarify how to remove heavy weather types from the mod, if desired. The revised version is available here and at Sandbagger's website: https://www.dropbox.com/s/37hn6m4f0r7dhpn/WOFF Optional Cloud Mod 4.1.zip?dl=0 Enjoy!

Thank you, gentlemen! It was a labor of love. I am glad you are enjoying the mod! (not perfect, but a big improvement over the last version).

Super! Glad you like the new clouds. I had to redo some of the CFS3 cloud files in order to get altostratus and stratocumulus layer type clouds without producing a lot of flashing. So far, so good!

The link in the above post is incorrect. The correct link is here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/cvrbh9gzfyahcuv/WOFF Optional Cloud Mod 4.0.zip?dl=0 Sorry about that!

Christmas isn't quite over yet, fellows! If you look very closely at the bottom of your chimney stocking, I think you will find one more treat: Optional Cloud Mod 4.0 is here! From the included read me file, here is a description of some of the major changes in OCM 4.0: Completely revised version, with significantly reduced cloud flashing, popping, and strobing. Perhaps the most significant improvement to the mod has been updates to many old cloud files, plus the addition of several new cloud files to the game. These changes are important, because cloud files are used to build the weather types that are displayed as clouds in the game. As a result, almost every cloud has improved appearance and performance. These improvements mean that I have been able to drop the “Light” version of the mod and to improve the fog and mist files so that most players will not need to delete these files in order to enjoy the mod. Finally, several new weather types have also been added to the mod, bringing the total number of "skies" in the game to more than 120! Following is a list of many of the new features: • New: Another almost completely revised version. Virtually every existing weather type in OCM 4.0 has been significantly revised and optimized in order to improve frame rates, improve overall appearance, and reduce the appearance of cloud "popping" and flashing in the game. Many existing cloud files have been revised, and thirty new cloud files have been created, with this aim in mind. While some amount of cloud popping is inevitable due to the CFS3 game engine, I believe that OCM version 4.0 reduces and even eliminates several forms of cloud popping that continued to exist in previous versions in both the original game and in the mod. • New: Revised fog and mist clouds. While pretty, fog and mist files in previous versions of the mod also were plagued by significant cloud flashing and flickering, particularly at low levels. With the addition of several new cloud files and a few other modifications, cloud flashing and flickering has been significantly reduced in OCM 4.0. Of course, due to variations in computer setups and equipment, some examples of cloud flashing will still occur for some users. Most instances of cloud flashing seem to occur between 1,500 and 2,500 feet, with some variation depending on ground elevation. Above those heights, cloud flashing should be much less noticeable. • New: Nine additional weather types. A full list of the additional clouds added in 4.0 can be found at the end of this document. • New: More realistic haze clouds. No more streaks of thin, hazy clouds. Users will encounter a much greater variety of haze in the game, with the addition of 15 new haze and fog cloud files! • New: Some of the very dark clouds that were introduced with the release of patch 1.17 have been lightened so they aren’t quite so dark. • Weather folders have again been tweaked in order to accommodate new cloud types and provide a better balance between good, light, and heavy weather conditions. The appearance of bright, white clouds in overcast and rainy weather conditions has also been reduced. Link to the mod here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wah3zeetb4x56k0/WOFF UE PE OCM 4.0.zip?dl=0

Big Christmas announcement coming later today!