Weather

[SniperSteve]

I have not been able to keep up on the status of weather in PS2. I know at one point weather was to be a post-release thing, but then I have heard mentions to it..

Does anyone know if weather is making it in for release. I sure hope so. Weather could add a lot to the environment and variety in the game.


I am excited to see how ForgeLight will handle it. :D

[Kran De Loy]

Same as above.

At a guess I would say that stuff like rain and thunder or thick ground fog were the things that were going to show post launch while stuff like randomly generated volumetric clouds is what I'm guessing is going to pass for weather at launch.

Either of those are ridiculously awesome and above and beyond what I see in almost every modern FPS.

[headcrab13]

Weather week, go!

At the very least I'd like to see occasional falling snow on Esamir and rain on Amerish, even if it's added in later.

[The Kush]

I think they also mentioned maybe having sandstorms, that would be awesome. And of course a crazy blizzard or rain storm would be insane :)

[Zulthus]

I love weather... IMO it shouldn't be toggleable. Everyone turned it off in PS1 because it limited visibility, but if they made it forced in PS2 then nobody would have an advantage over one another.

[The Kush]

I love weather... IMO it shouldn't be toggleable. Everyone turned it off in PS1 because it limited visibility, but if they made it forced in PS2 then nobody would have an advantage over one another.

Agreed

[Methonius]

I agree with it being forced it would make the game become more tactical to invade a base at night during a foggy rain storm also seeing gunfire light up in a foggy area would be sick if forgelight engine can handle it right.

[headcrab13]

I think they also mentioned maybe having sandstorms, that would be awesome. And of course a crazy blizzard or rain storm would be insane :)

The sandstorms in PS1 just made the world feel so real. It was incredible to be rolling across Ishundar in a tank column and suddenly see a random storm roll in and nearly block out your view as you thundered toward the enemy base.

Even Planetside's weather was awesome for the time, so I can hardly wait to see what they do for PS2!

[Xyntech]

Absolutely about the forced part. Computers are powerful enough now that you could have the weather effects scale in complexity to match the different system specs, but as long as things like visibility were always equal across all settings, it would be fine.

I haven't been 100% in the loop, but beyond seeing some awesome clouds in some of these recent screen shots, I don't believe we've heard much more about weather. I'm cool with getting it sometime down the road, but it would certainly add some interesting variety to battles.

[SniperSteve]

I guess we should pester the devs some to see how the weather is coming along. :)

[Xyntech]

Considering how awesome weather would look on Forgelight, it seems a bit of a waste if it isn't in at launch.

[cellinaire]

Season + weather system.


My favorite would be : Volumetric cloud layers at LAUNCH!! Volumetric cloud layers at LAUNCH!! Volumetric cloud layers at LAUNCH!! Volumetric cloud layers at LAUNCH!! Volumetric cloud layers at LAUNCH!! Volumetric cloud layers at LAUNCH!! Volumetric cloud layers at LAUNCH!!

/giggle =)

[Minor]

I'm hoping we can take advantage of rising and setting suns during an assault.

We saw the setting sun glare in the 45 min gameplay footage, but will sun glare provide an attacker with an advantage if he is performing his assault with the sun at his back?

This was a tactic used by the Hitites and the Egyptians thousands of years go. Yes I am a history channel nerd.

[Kran De Loy]

I'm hoping we can take advantage of rising and setting suns during an assault.

We saw the setting sun glare in the 45 min gameplay footage, but will sun glare provide an attacker with an advantage if he is performing his assault with the sun at his back?

This was a tactic used by the Hitites and the Egyptians thousands of years go. Yes I am a history channel nerd.

Yes. That was one of the goals that I figure Higby wanted when he mentioned it something like a dozen times over various interviews. The thing is having the sun at your back makes seeing you more difficult, but not impossible. That's the key balance issue for gameplay consideration.

People have linked that Battlefield 3 does the same thing except the BF3 version is so incredibly stupid that it hurts. Like in these examples, you can still see the trees outline way in the back but you wouldn't be able to see stuff hiding under their limbs while in BF3 it blocks out entire buildings.

Alpha Screen Shoot in PS2
http://www.planetside-universe.com/media/album/mp52rz6sp6/20120428_4f9c5659299f0.jpg
http://www.planetside-universe.com/media/album/mp52rz6sp6/20120426_4f9993d0b73f4.jpg

BF3 Screen Shoot
http://www.videogamesblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/battlefield-3-alpha-trial-screenshot.jpg
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/3554/fxaaon.jpg

[TerranTitan]

I'm still waiting for my standard issue sunglasses for BF3 :bang:

[MercDT]

Wait, I thought basic weather was going to make it into launch?

I'm confused...

[Kran De Loy]

Wait, I thought basic weather was going to make it into launch?

I'm confused...

Yes. So are we. Thus the reason to this thread. It would be much appreciated if people could find and link to quotes on this forum, PS2 Reddit or other interviews with Higby or anyone else that state the status of weather conditions. Because we're too lazy to do it ourselves and/or can't find the needles in the stacks of hay littered all over Google.

Or better yet get Higby or Ryan Elam who seems to be generally in charge of the code monkeys and architects to comment on how weather is coming along.

[Canaris]

on top of the mentions types of storms I'd love to see fog banks drift by in game too, doing combat in the middle of a whiteout. EPIC! add a whole new spectrum to combat like the idea of using the rising and setting sun to add attack using weather to hide your movements.

[onwee]

on top of the mentions types of storms I'd love to see fog banks drift by in game too, doing combat in the middle of a whiteout. EPIC! add a whole new spectrum to combat like the idea of using the rising and setting sun to add attack using weather to hide your movements.

I would like to point out that there has been a discussion very similar to this in the Ideas vault for quite a while now. I love the idea of weather effecting gameplay as well.

[Mechzz]

I like the idea of matching the attack to the weather. But to do that effectively, there needs to be a weather forecast/moon phase forecast we can use in our plans.

Who from the Dev team should become the first Auraxian weather forecaster?

[Kipper]

I like the idea of having the next few hours weather as a tactical layer on the map so you can plan attacks around certain weather events.

Even better if there was a margin for error so that the rain might not last as long as you thought, or not come at all!

[onwee]

Even better if there was a margin for error so that the rain might not last as long as you thought, or not come at all!

Or it could just be completely wrong like my local weather forecasts. They can be like "chance of rain" and then you wake up to 18 inches of snow.

[Kipper]

Or it could just be completely wrong like my local weather forecasts. They can be like "chance of rain" and then you wake up to 18 inches of snow.

What an awesome job, where all day you get to just say "this might happen, but then, it might not... who knows?" and get paid for knowing your subject :)

(Yes, I know meteorology is a complicated science, but I'm :evil:)

[Lokster]

I find it impossible to believe that a next-gen custom MMO engine does not support complex weather events. I'm positive this is going to be in the game ... even if the devs have not confirmed it.

Also, like many have said, weather should be forced.

[Mechzz]

What an awesome job, where all day you get to just say "this might happen, but then, it might not... who knows?" and get paid for knowing your subject :)

(Yes, I know meteorology is a complicated science, but I'm :evil:)

haha! We have our first "nerf the forecaster" comment!

[Shogun]

the sun and the insane day night cycle will be in for sure.

and i think other weather will be added sooner or later.

what i would like to see is gameplay changing weather.
anyone thought of the effect of a storm on the new flight physics?
i want storms to be dangerous to aircrafts, so troops can use a storm for cover and only the best ace pilots would be able to attack through a storm!
random lightning strikes in a thonderstorm would be cool as well. maybe even with real behaviour like tallest metal will draw lightnings.

a forecast system could be a GREAT commander cert-tree-addition!

[Toppopia]

There is a thread about more advanced weather systems here.
http://www.planetside-universe.com/showthread.php?t=40837
But some of that includes violent weather as that is the title but there is still some cool ideas, like fog, lightening storms, etc.

[Shogun]

if there is rain, the vs weapons should burn the raindrops to steam and produce rainbows ;)

[Xyntech]

if there is rain, the vs weapons should burn the raindrops to steam and produce rainbows ;)

No arguments here.

TRay? Is Forgelight awesome enough to do this? Rainbow power please.

[SniperSteve]

Lol, that rainbow idea is actually rather epic. hahaha

[Synapses]

I sure would like a dev response in this tread.

[RoninAfro]

I'd rather the devs devote their time to finishing the game and dropping beta as opposed to answering the call of every person asking for a dev on the forums. Just sayin'

[SniperSteve]

Devs need a break and insight on things. That is why so many of them come here. It actually helps them work better knowing all of us are cheering them on and giving them valuable insight.

[Kipper]

TBH - I can see it being in, cosmetically. I'm not so sure that I can see it in as a game mechanic, as cool as that would be.

Saying that though, we know the day/night (and lunar) cycle will have in-game consequences with full and moonless nights, blinded by enemies coming out from the sun etc. So maybe we'll see some rain clouds.

Thunderstorms would be atmospheric! I like to play action games with the music OFF and the environment sounds very much in the foreground.

[cellinaire]

I'd rather the devs devote their time to finishing the game and dropping beta as opposed to answering the call of every person asking for a dev on the forums. Just sayin'


Hehe calm down, man. We'd also love to get our hands on PS2 as soon as possible. But they just have to also have some quality time while resting and browsing the forum here to get some ideas. ;)

[Lokster]

Hehe calm down, man. We'd also love to get our hands on PS2 as soon as possible. But they just have to also have some quality time while resting and browsing the forum here to get some ideas. ;)

This. Seriously.

[Captain1nsaneo]

I think the last time this came up the devs said that weather/grass was going to be forced on. I know being able to take cover inside clouds was also mentioned at one point but that was a long time ago and I haven't heard about it since. Looking forward to storms of all kinds. Maybe even tornadoes.

[TerminatorUK]

Weather was another one of those classic Planetside great features.

I'd really love too see things like heavy rain or snow make an appearance and have effects like water dripping down your visor and snow reducing visability and movement speed.

100% agree it should be forced on with no option to toggle it off so it was truely gameplay affecting for all.

I love the idea of a forecast cert or simply being able to view it in the web interface/battlelog.

Weather in forgelight would be epic I'd imagine!