Weather system?

OK, we've all seen particle snow showers everybody has on their land using the new particle system... is there any way to make that a part of a worldwide weather system? You could have weather "fronts" moving through the world, distributing snow and rain down onto the ground... it'd look very nice with more clouds and whatnot.

LF

I second this ..... i think it would be so cool to have this

Im not sure if that would be even possible in a system like this. The weathers system would have to originate from someplace, perhaps take a few prims up somewhere. But ya know, if we did add in a complete worldwide weather system, it would be nice, however, it would lag the system down big time. Examples are when you go across snow showers etc. Im not sure that theres areally a way to keep it from not lagging the whole system down even more than it already is.

I say keep this feature out until they get the Havok 2.0 in place. After that we should start and think about it. Casue from what I hear, what Havok 2.0 will bring is more important that all this unessary feature ideas. After Havok 2.0 not only should it be easier to implement, It should also casue less CPU drag on the server (in other words less lag).

Well I would appreciate a Linden confirming this but I'm pretty sure that particle effects aren't handled by the server, they're handled by the client software. So a huge particle effect show shouldn't lag the servers at all.

You can turn down the particle count in the options if there is too much for you.

We already simulate the clouds and wind - check out the swaying trees for evidence of this.

The particles are a client side effect.

Rain would be awfully nice, as long as it doesn't travel through solid matter.

I'd like to see rain. It draws you into the game, and I like the sound of it.

That'd be crazy if an event had to be called off due to rain or snow. lol have to carry around umbrellas

Weather system would be very cool, i agree with huns though it shouldn't travel through solid matter, also I think it would be good to have an option on your parcel of land for "No Weather" meaning weather wont effect your property/build, so you could be in the middle of a rain storm, but your build wouldn't have any rain falling on it etc.

Well if we had rain or snow it would go indoors unless the graphics engine adapts to indoor environments (which it doesn't)

Yes Pheonix, I've seen the clouds and all, but the changes are never really drastic. I'd like to see a few really overcast days and a few perfectly clear days. That would be cool

It does sound like it's asking alot for a somewhat small benefit, asking for rain and such things. (Hate to be a nay-sayer, but...) IMO leaving it up to the players to implement this on a per-sim basis or whatever is probably enough at least for the short term. We have wind and clouds right now, but really....who cares? Does anyone *really* take advantage of these? It's cool to have and everything but I'm just not seeing the benefits...

Keeping rain and snow out of buildings is pretty simple: take the raindrop/snowflake's starting position and velocity, and cast a ray to see what it intersects. Once it passes the first object (prim or ground), delete the raindrop or snowflake. This could be done either client-side or server-side.

Great idea, but if it would increase lag I'm against it. I already have a hard enough time playing the game...

Oh ya right, *whack* I should have thought about that. Ya if it is turely client side, then sure I would not mind seeing that added in. What would make this feature even nicer would be to impelment something into the resident webpage on this site stating the next 5 day (in game days of course) for what the weather is going to be like. Adding to the full element of a second life. But I really would like to see if they could add it is so that the rain does not fall throught the objects. Would kinda suck as it is raining outside and somehow also inside the house.

But this would be based more of the physic engine. But if it is more of a client side modification then it would be benifical to the server(s).

I like the idea of having a more elaborate weather system.

And not stopping at rain and snow - but how about occasional tornadoes, hurricanes and really big storms? All objects with physics on could potentially be blown around by the extreme winds... (including avatars). Imagine flying your hoverboard through a hurricane.. hehe. And you could ride the tornadoes and end up in some cloud city you never saw before...

Maybe I'm too much of a realist but I doubt the servers would live! And going back to the rain or snow thing: once again, it would go indoors, and that's a PITA. High winds might be fun though, but really annoying. Maybe with previous warning

And how about the overcast days/perfectly clear days thing? I want to see some extremes in the weather.

Yeah I realize the extreme winds might be annoying to some.. but could be equally interesting to others. Perhaps there could be designated new sims which are known for their harsh / extreme weather so people living there would know what they are getting into. I would find it amusing / interesting, myself..

Just another effort at making it more of a "living" world. Definitely not something we'd want in there before Havok 2 came around though, I agree.

Ok, only if it's in certain sims though. In fact, this could add to the urban/rural idea of having populated and less populated areas... just make them less inhabitable

I think this thread is starting to really veer off into wacko jacko land. Anyone going to request earthquakes or floods? hehehe

don't forget seasons of locusts and frogs.

You can make physical objects follow wind with a simple script... something like
default{

state_entry(){
llSetBuoyancy(1);
while(1) llSetForce(llWind(ZERO_VECTOR));
}

}


Sit on it and have fun.

Exactly my thinking Darwin - we'd have the fearless frontierpeople who settle in the harsher sims. They have the trade off of having less neighbors and being able to enjoy a more natural landscape.. just like in RL.

And yeah.. earthquakes and floods did come to mind as well Garoad. But they would be extremely rare. I am a wacko perhaps... hey someone has to be...

Eggy - thanks i will try that out...

Lag is lag whether it's server side or client side. Not all of us have the rigs to handle all this fun stuff.

Granted at least if it was client side we could turn off the weather.

A roll's a roll and a toll's a toll.... and lag is lag whether it's weather or.... oh what the hell am I trying to say... (nothing, honestly)