Does Anyone Know If Weather Is Getting Added At All?

[NeoMorph]

I have the volumetric clouds mod added and I see the clouds moving past but there is no wind and I come down straight under parachute... and that made me wonder if wind will ever get added to the game... well, weather actually.

Another addition for hardcore mode maybe?

[GDJ]

There was a mod for wind, but I'm not sure if it works for 1.04.

https://kerbalstuff.com/mod/262/Kerbal%20Weather%20Systems!

[Pulstar]

There has been no mention of weather as far as I know.

It would be really cool to have though, not just due to the eye candy factor making some planets (and a moon) feel more alive and dangerous, think of all the launches that had to be delayed in real life due to bad weather! Also flight and parachute landings as you mentioned.

[Jett_Quasar]

The only thing I've heard of is the possible inclusion of clouds, but that is covered nicely by Astronomers Visual Enhancements mod, so it's unlikely to be included in the core game.

JR

[Alshain]

The only thing I've heard of is the possible inclusion of clouds, but that is covered nicely by Astronomers Visual Enhancements mod, so it's unlikely to be included in the core game.

JR

I disagree, I think it is very likely clouds will eventually make a showing in the stock game. It just isn't happening right now. Maxmaps has said is Squadcast they want to do a graphics overhaul after Unity 5 and I believe clouds will be included even as soon as 1.2 (this is purely speculative, do not read into this). In any case, just because there is a mod doesn't mean it won't happen in stock, and Astronomer isn't updating AVP anyway. Most of the cloud mods aren't being updated anymore, and all of them require EVE which is in a constant state of "is it being updated or isn't it?" since the current release works but is receiving little support and the WIP is very very slow going.

As for other weather, I'm kind of torn. The game has enough difficulty so I'm not sure I would want wind to be a factor in landing a plane or rain to interfere in launching a rocket. Visually it would be cool, but I don't think I'd want it to affect craft performance.

[Lord Aurelius]

Squad has hinted that improved graphics/VFX and such are planned at some point, but definitely not until after 1.1 and maybe even a few updates after that.

[r4pt0r]

i disagree, i think it is very likely clouds will eventually make a showing in the stock game. It just isn't happening right now. Maxmaps has said is squadcast they want to do a graphics overhaul after unity 5 and i believe clouds will be included even as soon as 1.2 (this is purely speculative, do not read into this).

plz b tru

[Harry Rhodan]

As for other weather, I'm kind of torn. The game has enough difficulty so I'm not sure I would want wind to be a factor in landing a plane or rain to interfere in launching a rocket.

In the end you'd just have to wait till the bad weather effects are over like in the real world. That's not adding a real gameplay value.

[Slam_Jones]

I'd like at least one atmosphere scatter (similar to terrain scatter, but, well, in the air) per planet. Kerbin has white, fluffly clouds. Duna has sand storms. Other places have other things.

It would def make everything feel more alive.

[eataTREE]

In the end you'd just have to wait till the bad weather effects are over like in the real world. That's not adding a real gameplay value.

Yeah, but what about weather on other planets? Dust storms on Duna? The Great Green Spot on Jool? I think one of the major weaknesses of the game as it stands is that while getting to the other planets is a lot of fun, once you get there they seem kinda static and dead. Weather systems would make planets more dynamic, as well as introducing a new factor to base design -- your base must be capable of withstanding conditions on the planet where you intend to put it.

[GarrisonChisholm]

In the end you'd just have to wait till the bad weather effects are over like in the real world. That's not adding a real gameplay value.

This is an Excellent point.

[Alshain]

Yeah, but what about weather on other planets? Dust storms on Duna? The Great Green Spot on Jool? I think one of the major weaknesses of the game as it stands is that while getting to the other planets is a lot of fun, once you get there they seem kinda static and dead. Weather systems would make planets more dynamic, as well as introducing a new factor to base design -- your base must be capable of withstanding conditions on the planet where you intend to put it.

That's getting ahead of ourselves. Surface bases serve little to no purpose and are ridiculously annoying to assemble with the stock game. Adding weather to make pointless surface bases more difficult would be a waste of time if the reason for and ability to create surface bases doesn't improve first.

[silverfox8124]

@Everyone, Hello!~ I am SilverFox, the head dev of Kerbal Weather Systems. There are quite the few kinks when it comes to weather simulation, and processing power and methodology are among them. I'm working on making a semi-accurate weather model to be used for the ksp planets. I will say this now, yes the mod is intense in it's ambitions, and no, I will not be doing weather that happens for the lulz. Weather happens for a reason and that's what KWS stands behind. Soon enough we should see the basics of my model be put out there as the paper model is more or less finished, it's all about finding the free time and the motivation to copy over the paper stuff into code, as it needs some translation.

Any questions you have I will gladly answer.

~SilverFox8124

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@Alshain, I'd say that bases don't serve much purpose, but weather has much more of an effect on the game than just surface bases. There's launches, your bases could get damaged, your flights could get hit by lightning or high winds, weather satellites and the science that's there, weather research probes, sailboats! There's so much potential that KWS has.

~SilverFox8124

[monstah]

I think one of the major weaknesses of the game as it stands is that while getting to the other planets is a lot of fun, once you get there they seem kinda static and dead.

Me, too.

I, for one, would love if Eve had not only a dense atmosphere, but fierce winds throwing my ship everywhere.

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@Everyone, Hello!~ I am SilverFox, the head dev of Kerbal Weather Systems. There are quite the few kinks when it comes to weather simulation, and processing power and methodology are among them. I'm working on making a semi-accurate weather model to be used for the ksp planets.

Hey there!

That's awesome to read, but personally I'd be satisfied with a simplistic simulation.

[Slam_Jones]

That's getting ahead of ourselves. Surface bases serve little to no purpose and are ridiculously annoying to assemble with the stock game. Adding weather to make pointless surface bases more difficult would be a waste of time if the reason for and ability to create surface bases doesn't improve first.

Little to no purpose beyond looking awesome!!!

Yes, assembling in stock game is crazy annoying, but I think it would actually add more interest to bases. Imagine watching the base actually interacting with the environment... wind currents, sand building up in lull spots, etc etc. Probably not within the scope or possiblity for the current game, but it would make bases a lot cooler to work with and look at.

Besides, I think it would be pretty awesome to watch a Duna sandstorm from within a BioDome

[silverfox8124]

@monstah, it's not that easy. There's a lot of foundation that weather is built from. The main premise of KWS is to add predictable weather. Meaning that weather doesn't happen because it can, but because it should.

~SilverFox8124

[pandaman]

Weather effects as visuals is something I am hoping for in stock (when I get a better PC that is).

I do like the idea of wind effects, but you can get the same problems as with any home computer fight sim, in that you can't feel it blowing your plane around like IRL so it makes responding to wind effects very difficult. So for me I'd probably disable it anyway.

[monstah]

@monstah, it's not that easy. There's a lot of foundation that weather is built from. The main premise of KWS is to add predictable weather. Meaning that weather doesn't happen because it can, but because it should.

~SilverFox8124

I totally understand that, and approve your initiative! I've read the thread on your mod, found it very interesting.

I'm just saying that my standards are lower...

[silverfox8124]

@pandaman, oh don't worry about it in general, if all goes well, then you'll definitely feel it if you try and fly through a hurricane

[Alshain]

Little to no purpose beyond looking awesome!!!

http://i.imgur.com/7aRjiv0.jpg

Yes, assembling in stock game is crazy annoying, but I think it would actually add more interest to bases. Imagine watching the base actually interacting with the environment... wind currents, sand building up in lull spots, etc etc. Probably not within the scope or possiblity for the current game, but it would make bases a lot cooler to work with and look at.

Besides, I think it would be pretty awesome to watch a Duna sandstorm from within a BioDome

http://i.imgur.com/dFIjVGL.jpg

If you read my post, I'm specifically talking about weather effects on craft and structures. Not visuals. I would love to see weather as a visual only set up, like EVE, as long as it doesn't mess with my ability to fly a craft.

[pandaman]

@pandaman, oh don't worry about it in general, if all goes well, then you'll definitely feel it if you try and fly through a hurricane

If you can make a mod that makes my cheap old office chair move like a plane in a hurricane I take my hat off to you sir!

Seriously now - good luck with the mod it sounds good, I envy your skill if not the workload.

[RA3236]

Weather's definitely a great idea for KSP! You know, It would make a challenge, especially weather that is not global, mind you that would stop my landing sites being great...

[NeoMorph]

In the end you'd just have to wait till the bad weather effects are over like in the real world. That's not adding a real gameplay value.

Just use time acceleration for that case... What I'm more concerned with is parachute landing. At the moment it's the easy way to land on planets like Duna. But what if you want to land at your base and you see a storm brew up and would push you away if you pop the chute... Then you have the fun of trying to anticipate the weather to move upwind of the station before you pop chute... or do you come in low and pop chute later than normal... or do you abandon the landing altogether... Then there is the final two outcomes... crash and live or crash and die. If you live then you have to make it back to your base OR you wait for them to send out a rover or a lander in hop mode. If the crash kills the Kerbonauts does the craft still have resources that the base needs so the base needs to send out a rover anyway.

Then there is fog... imagine a fog comes up and blocks your view so that you have to come down purely on instruments. What about lightning that makes the readouts lock up for a few seconds before the CPU reboots.

As you can see a little wind and weather can introduce a LOT of new gameplay and I love doing the rescue missions. Having random events like wind changes everything.

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If you read my post, I'm specifically talking about weather effects on craft and structures. Not visuals. I would love to see weather as a visual only set up, like EVE, as long as it doesn't mess with my ability to fly a craft.

Actually I have the clouds setup and they were low and moving at quite a clip on this one duna landing and it looked like I was drifting sideways when in actual fact I was coming down vertically. It was only when I glanced at the instruments that I ended up going "...... Why straight down when the visuals clearly show me going left here..." - it's what made me post this thread. Clouds with wind effects on them are disorientating if said wind doesn't affect your craft.

Edited October 2, 2015 by NeoMorph

[Harry Rhodan]

Just use time acceleration for that case... What I'm more concerned with is parachute landing. At the moment it's the easy way to land on planets like Duna. But what if you want to land at your base and you see a storm brew up and would push you away if you pop the chute... Then you have the fun of trying to anticipate the weather to move upwind of the station before you pop chute... or do you come in low and pop chute later than normal... or do you abandon the landing altogether... Then there is the final two outcomes... crash and live or crash and die. If you live then you have to make it back to your base OR you wait for them to send out a rover or a lander in hop mode. If the crash kills the Kerbonauts does the craft still have resources that the base needs so the base needs to send out a rover anyway.

Or you use time acceleration and wait till it's over.

[Alshain]

Actually I have the clouds setup and they were low and moving at quite a clip on this one duna landing and it looked like I was drifting sideways when in actual fact I was coming down vertically. It was only when I glanced at the instruments that I ended up going "...... Why straight down when the visuals clearly show me going left here..." - it's what made me post this thread. Clouds with wind effects on them are disorientating if said wind doesn't affect your craft.

Wind isn't going to make you travel the same speed and direction as the clouds. The appearance would have been nearly the same regardless. Unless you are talking about some rather strong wind (hurricane forces), a returning command pod going straight down with a parachute is not going to be affected much by a cross wind. Where it will really mess things up is trying to land a plane, because planes have significantly more lifting surfaces.

In any case, this is not the same, but kin to random failures which Squad is vehemently against. They have said again and again that they do not want the game to be that unpredictable.

Edited October 2, 2015 by Alshain