User blog:Garageagle/Custom Weather Presets

Editing the VTS

Before doing any VTS editing, I encourage you to read Sypwn's section in his Mission Editor FAQ page about it.

There will already be an empty node with the name of WEATHER_PRESETS in the VTS. Here is an example of what it will look like once it has some custom presets in it:

WEATHER_PRESETS
{
    PRESET
    {
        id = 8
        data = Red Fog;1500;0;0;0.5;0;0;0;0.65;(1, 0, 0, 1);1;1000;0;
    }
    PRESET
    {
        id = 9
        data = Better Storm;2000;1;1;0.75;0.9;1;0.8;0.6;(0, 0.1, 0.2, 1);1;2000;6;
    }
}

You will need a new PRESET block for each new custom preset you want to add. Each preset has two values, an ID and some data, which we will cover later. The ID must start at 8 to account for the built in presets and can be incremented for new presets. The data value is an array of ordered values that control the details of how the preset is displayed. There is a semicolon between each value, including a trailing semicolon at the end.

The Data

These are names and descriptions for the values in a preset's data. The order that these appear in the array is extremely important. (Descriptions are taken from the Overcloud documentation.)

Editable Preset Values

Name	Description	Type	Range (inclusive)	Notes
presetName	The name of the preset that shows in game.	String	N/A	This will appear in the editor as well as in the user selectable presets, as long as Optional Environment is enabled
cloudPlaneAltitude	The altitude at which the volumetric cloud plane will appear.	Float (meters)	0-10000	This is the center of the volumetric cloud layer. It appears to expand for 500m above and below this altitude.
cloudiness	The small-scale volumetric cloudiness.	Float	0-1	This appears to affect the high frequency noise for the volumetric cloud layer. If set to 0 there will be no clouds.
macroCloudiness	The large-scale volumetric cloudiness.	Float	0-1	This appears to affect the low frequency noise for the volumetric cloud layer. If set to 0 there will be no clouds.
cirrus	The opacity of the high altitude cirrus clouds.	Float	0-2	This is not a direct opacity as the name suggests, it acts as more of a threshold. Low values have small wisps, but will not show "thicker" portions of the cloud layer.
stratocumulus	The opacity of the high altitude stratocumulus clouds.	Float	0-2	See notes for cirrus
precipitation	The amount of precipitation (rain/snow) from the clouds.	Float	0-1	There does not appear to be a way to get snow in VTOL VR.
lightningChance	The odds of a lightning strike.	Float	0-1	The game has a random timer between 4-20 seconds for lightning. When this timer expires, this lightningChance is queried to see if lightning should strike. 1 means it will always strike when the timer expires, 0.5 means half the time, 0 means never. This value is also multiplied by the restrike chance (0.15), for a chance to have a second strike in close succession.
fogDensity	The density level of the global height fog.	Float	0-1	This is a very sensitive value. Even a mid-range value like 0.65 will be quite dense.
fogColor	The color of the fog.	Color	Each element 0-1	Syntax for colors is (r, g, b, a). See examples above.
fogHeight	The upper limit of the volumetric fog volume. Defined in cloud height factors.	Float	0-4	This is a fraction of the cloud height. See images below for an example.
fogFalloff	Fog height falloff.	Float (meters)	0-10000	This appears to be the distance that the fog has to dissipate from the top of the fog (fogHeight).
cloudDensity	The density value used for calculating the alpha of the clouds.	Float	0-8	The opacity/darkness of the clouds. This does not control the number of clouds. 0 = no clouds, 1 = faint clouds, 8 = thick clouds

Default Presets

These are the data lines for each of the built in presets as of 1.10.0p45. You can base your preset off one of these for an easy and predictable starting point.

Clear

Clear;2600;0.756;0.137;0.53;0;0;0;0.556;(0.1404, 0.3108, 0.5489, 1);0.18;4000;1

Few

Few;2200;0.445;0.332;0.53;0.3;0;0;0.556;(0.1404, 0.3108, 0.5489, 1);0.55;4000;1.54

Scattered

Scattered;2200;0.476;0.443;0.473;0.61;0;0;0.556;(0.1404, 0.3108, 0.5489, 1);0.55;4000;1.54

Broken

Broken;2200;0.561;0.6;0.79;0.8;0;0;0.54;(0.2648, 0.3256, 0.4097, 1);1;6000;1.54

Overcast

Overcast;1100;0.808;0.778;0.53;0;0;0;0.58;(0.29, 0.33, 0.38, 1);1;0;1.5

Foggy

Foggy;100;1;1;0.8;0.8;0;0;0.655;(0.3073, 0.3363, 0.3563, 1);1;100;0.43

Rain

Rain;1300;0.627;0.687;1;1;1;0;0.604;(0.2579, 0.3333, 0.4088, 1);1;500;1.61

Storm

Storm;1500;0.56;1;1;1;1;1;0.603;(0.2237, 0.2763, 0.5, 1);1.16;0;1

Gallery

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  Example of how different values of fogHeight affect the actual height of the fog