My guess is that clouds, like the scenery, have baked in shading. That is, at most times during the day it will look alright, but at certain times, it can be quite off. It is a trade off between performance and visual realism.
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Yeah⊠Iâm going to enjoy this.
Those clouds look very good!
One thing about clouds though⊠Not DCS specific, as such, but a problem all sims seem to have.
Why do clouds pop in and out, and seem to move a bit as you get closer�
I see this in DCS, IL-2 BOSBOMBOK and Aerofly FS2, so clearly the best and the brightest are working with this. I just feel that with all the graphical advancements being made, one would think something as universal as clouds would just look more real�
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They could use a flat bitmap impostor until it gets close enough to be rendered⊠there are a couple of games that to this with other things⊠Would work well enough for flight simsâŠ
Great. Now I want to do A/A-Refueling with my Tiger in DCS. Thanks man.
Ok, let me explain a bit better what I wrote in my previous post.
Of course, I never had the expectation of getting anything near perfection nor I said that. I know we are very far from those pictures od real life BUT, that said, I would like to focus exclusively in 2 aspects in this matter of sun/water interaction:
1- The shape of the reflected sun (ONLY the sun, not the sunâs halo as seems like right now only the sunâs dish is being reflected) seems incorrect, according to RL photos and whats more, the reflected sun in DCS 1.5, which has the oval shape. So, I guess this is being worked right now but I just said I found it odd that after the nice work made in lighting and water fx, the reflection of the sun looked physically incorrect at this point and ânearâ release.
2- The effect that the reflected sun causes in the sea is a different and independent effect of the âproblemâ with the shape of the sunâs reflection. This was just a ârequestâ to make DCS look AMAZING especially at high altitudes. And here Iâm refering to 2 different things again:
2.1- The **size** of the sun's reflection into the ocean looks huge as you fly higher and covers a
really big area of the water's surface between the sun and the observer with a nice color
gradation. This would make the sea to look TONS better due to physically being affected by
the light the sun in casting instead of just behaving like a dull, blue plane and whats more,
making flying experience a lot more realistic, accurate and inmersive. This is partly made in
DCS 1.5.
2.2- The **intensity** of the sun light being reflected should decrease as you climb to the point of
becoming a soft and smooth gradient stain that barely dazzles. This is not happening in DCS
1.5, and even at extreme altitudes (40.000ft+), the bright of the reflection still the same.
Sincerely, I cant think about something simpler than this that could make things look so much better and physically accurate. At the end of the day, we are talking about a âcustomized reflectionâ 
someone had to make the one we have now to look like that right?, then it just a matter of making it a bit different. I dont think EDâs people could have problems making the sun reflection to decrease the bright at least in the simplest way, which should be through a linear function.
About the size of the reflection, camon guys, this cant be so hard to do, again, there must be some parameter controlling this and after a few fine tunnings I bet it would look really close to the real thing.
The screen you posted Fridge look really BAD and its really far away of the RL effect making flying at day time unrealistic and why not, âuglyâ.
Finally, I want to say that of course, there is nothing âeasyâ to do in soft development, I know, but also, there are things much more complex than others and I believe this one is by far one of the ânot so hardâ ones and one thing that would make the world to look a million times better. Imagine a high level combat with the sea correctly reflecting the sun shine and making tenuous and tenuous as we climb representing the difference in height. Really cant think about a simpler thing which better impact.
Let me post it again:
Please ED make this possible. Thanks!!
Most games use a sprite system as itâs base for clouds still, these are flat 2D surfaces with a texture of a fluffy cloud on them that always faces the camera directly. Itâs at the base of all particle systems in computer games, and when rendering clouds you can get these turn-y poppy effects going on.
Fancy rendering software uses smaller particles and volumetric properties to simulate clouds, but that is not the cheapest implementation, and X-plane 10 has tried to use smaller sprites and drawing them in greater numbers, but thatâs not ideal either.
Old article on some of the challenges: news
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Nice info, which only enforce my point⊠How come thereâs no new and better way of doing this?
It looks like that everything that looks better is rather intensive on computer power, either CPU or GPU. So I am not sure people want something that is relatively speaking marginally better but is a performance hit.
Perhaps someone somewhere is working on a clever solution but only flightsimulators need it to look good, so thereâs not a lot of money industry wide for making fancy clouds.
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@fridge can you tell me if clouds, any style of clouds, stay in the sky for everyone in the multiplayer session, for the whole session?
The shadows are amazing in the new engine. Aircraft shadows fall on other aircraft, you can see control deflections in your shadows, etc.
Iâll get screens/video of it later.
I agree with you Toprr, they need to take a look at how they are handling their ocean reflections at least because the fridge pic and yours as well really highlights how badly it is being handled currently. The reflection is way too much of a small focused spotlight currently. It needs to be spread out and diffuse as it expands out or something.
Perhaps they will tweak this further, one can hope. But will be too bad if no 2nd look at this is done.
Edit: Better now Sith?..lol
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It is really sad to see so much focused negativity over a wishlist item. If the way the sun is modeled reflecting over the ocean is a major driver to your gaming experience, we have very different ways of enjoying our flight simulators.
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This. I do not see anyone saying it is perfect but given the improvements at a low altitude, I have to say that it is progress and it is good progress. Like I said above, I am sure that the people responsible for the lighting and water features that are in game now are always looking for ways to improve things but there is a list that they have to go through and there are other items that need attention.
I am happy with what I have and the knowledge that progress is being made.
Glass half full I guess.
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Well i just hope they nail the water reflections right for my dump and burn WHEN THEY RELEASE MY F111. because computers are gonna melt with awesomnessnessnessness
I am not really bothered for ultra realistic water reflections. I mean it would be nice but for me there is other things i would like them to work on
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âsighââŠ
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Not sure @Tankerwade. I was in one 2 hour multiplayer session and the clouds didnât seem to disappear, or I didnât notice it, at any rate. I know the event that you are talking about though. I will set up a multiplayer game tonight and let it run for a bit, see what happens and report back.
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In 1.5 the disappearing cloud bug only effects static weather settings and in my experience only happens when youâre F2ing between units over a large distance. If I had to guess the engine is drawing the clouds over the new camera location, and neglecting to update when you transition back to your aircraft.
Thank you both. I couldnât remember the cause, just how jarring it was to lose them altogether. Hope we are done with it in the new engine.
Btw. has there been any word on whether the stuff like PBR, etc. will be automatically available on older maps as well (thinking of Nevada, Caucasus will be updated anyway) or would there be work required on EDs part?
Hey, Welcome to Mudspike, but donât try to push buttons.
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