Clouds in Windlight sky dome only, no floating clouds in the air?

There seem to be cloud images in the sky dome only, no floating clouds in the air.

Is this a permanent condition?

It looks like 3D coulds are replaced by better looking 2D clouds. If they make it look good at all heights I don't mind (which is not the case with this release).

Actually I found the clouds floating in my skybox annoying (I moved location since then, and the skybox is now at a higher altitude).

Also, very high mountains tend to be in the clouds which I personally found to be extremely awesome but it sure did make them hard to sell since the clouds would end up inside your house.

I doubt Windlight is going to allow us to have weather that doesn't come inside buildings, but if it did that would be freaking awesome.

I really need the old clouds for my skybox build to work. While I don't expect my old video card to be able to see the new Windlight clouds, it would be nice if there was an option to turn on some kind of static wallpaper as a substitute so things are not totally ugly. As it is, the lack of fog, giving a choppy edge to the horizon, and the clear view to all my neighbors' skyboxes are totally depressing. Being able to fog it all out would certainly help too. I'll miss the old mainland weather.

However, I'll trade it all in if there's a way to go to space! To go above the sky and get up in the stars. Nice. I'd just move up there.

So basically I'd like it if people who can't see Windlight would be able to use static sky wallpaper instead.

I think the lack of clouds that you can fly through and above is a definite downgrade. I fly a lot, and I spend most of my free time at 700M or so. The limited ceiling for the Windlight effects and the lack of clouds that can be seen below me when I am at that altitude are definite negatives for me.

It seems clear that those who designed Windlight are mentally chained to the ground and have no intterest in flying or in existing above sea level. If you like to fly or like living at high altitude, Windlight is a losing proposition.

I can't see the new clouds at all, and they say the old ones will be gone for good. I forsee a huge market for sculpty prim clouds...

You got it! The beautiful lovely clouds are gone.

I guess that's the price for a purty sky that you can't
"be in".

On my machine there is a very serious performance cost
on my hardware to run those animated sky effects.

Granted it's pretty the first you see it...but not at the price
of being able to walk semi-smoothly. =)

Putting a skybox up with moving clouds at let's say 180 meters
is heaven.

If Linden wants cool skies they should take a look at Virtual
Skipper 4's sky programming. Best volumetric low-lag skys EVER!

First Look Windlight. Meh. I really had my hopes up.

- Infrared

Yeah...I do a fair share of flying, skydiving and otherwise falling from space and I really liked the clouds. Even though they were kinda weird I still liked flying through them or falling and seeing them come right at me! Sure it wasn't perfect and made some higher areas look weird but I liked it overall.

I would say the cloud wallpaper approach was a step down but I can't get it to work on my machine!! Oh well, I'll just stay inside!

You know that the old clouds were just a permenent particle type effect, right?

The official Linden Blog states that Nimble, a 3D cloud rendering technology made by Windward Mark (the people who made Windlight) may later be implemented into Second Life.

The official Linden Blog: http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/05/21/windlight-atmospheric-rendering-comes-to-second-life/

Nimble Info: http://www.windwardmark.net/products.php?page=nimble&sub=technology

Nimble Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLfHDul5XGw

[Edit]: I guess bbcode is broken for whatever mysterious reason, so I have to give post-stretching links. gg LL!

Now if LL would do something about sim borders, or how postage stamp size sims cost zillions of dollars, we could actually make some semblence of a flight simulator with this stuff.

I really hope that 3d clouds like the old ones are included in the new viewer eventually. I went to a lot of trouble recently to build an art gallery on a sky platform (called; you guessed it - the Clouds gallery) with transparent floors so you could look down onto the swirling clouds from above; everyone that visited loved it
Then just after finishing this masterpiece of construction I tried out the Windlight viewer. and err ... NO CLOUDS
Such is my Second Life - no more bright ideas