[Chappi]

Well I was going to keep this mod for myself, but I was surprised with final result and thought it's worth posting here.
After thousands of tries with different textures (cod,crysis,fear,WiC) this one's looks best - like real cloud, yet soft.

V2 IS RELASED SCROLL DOWN
WARNING! BIG PICTURES UP AHEAD!








Current version - V2 - you can always check my mod's version in the .txt file inside mod package.
HOW DO I INSTALL THIS
Listen, it shouldn't be too hard.
First of all, you need UI 1.1 or 1.2.
I don't know if this is compatible with UP or HSFX since I have never tried those. But it should work since it is just one texture file.
-----
UI 1.1/1.2 installation.

Navigate to your IL2 1946 folder and open MODS folder.

Next, download this mod and put the 00_Chappi'sCloudMod folder inside MODS folder.

You should now see new clouds when you start the game - before running a qmb mission make sure to choose a weather option which features clouds
-----
V2 and V1b IS RELASED
CHANGELOG:
V2
1)Thanks to HolyGrail for noticing the insane size of the texture - it was 1024x1024 resolution. I have resized it to 512x512, that way it lost 3mb in size.
2)Softened the clouds edges so there is less chance of both annoying bugs - jerking clouds and visible edges.
3)Blurred the clouds a bit more so they look better this way and there is again less chance of those annoying bugs.
V1b
1)Thanks to HolyGrail for noticing the insane size of the texture - it was 1024x1024 resolution. I have resized it to 512x512, that way it lost 3mb in size.
2)Softened the clouds edges so there is less chance of both annoying bugs 0 jerking clouds and visible edges.
3)The clouds are not blurred, so people can choose between blurred one's - V2 and normal - V1b.

This is how V2 looks like - the clouds are very blurred now - so there is less jerking and edge bugs. Personally I like them more than V1, but I left V1 version download for those who don't like new one's.



And this is how V1b looks like - they are not that blurred as V2, and yet they have soft edges.


Screenshawts




What in V3?
Less blur goddamnit, my eyes hurt from it.
I'm trying to do alternative version with heavy clouds like this one. It's just a matter of time


DOWNLOAD - V1b
http://www.mediafire.com/?nizyoykmkor

DOWNLOAD - V2
http://www.mediafire.com/?wnjzydqqntt
Have fun, comment, rate, flame, but let me know how do you like it

[HolyGrail]

Hi Chappi
congratulation on new clouds mod release ! , screenshots looks very nice
Now , if there is possibility to stop this game default horifying jerking of clouds
when looking around which is bugging me since 2001 , it would be clouds final touch once for all .

Good job
S! HG

[Chappi]

Hey HG, thanks
What do you exactly mean by jerking, maybe I can fix this.
Oh I think I know what you mean. Do you mean that when you look around the clouds, it seems that textures are overlaying other textures?
It kinda jerks.
Well it would be possible to fix, but I would have to use a texture which does not have any detail at all, you know what I mean.
When multiple textures ( detailed one's, with complicated shapes ) are near eachother they tend to jerk. I don't think it's possible to fix it without making the clouds alpha really low - but then they will be see through. Or we can move on to crysis engine
It was a joke but actually people made a flyable B25 and spitfire there, so who knows

[HolyGrail]

Yeah
I even posted topic here at AAA quite a while ago about flyable Crysis B25's and Spitfires
with YouTube video links in Spray & Pray section
Crysis community modders really did a huge progress in flyable planes and flight physics.

Clouds jerking is caused because no matter from which destination and direction you look at
the each cloud you always look at the same side of the cloud texture , that's why they're rotating
so they rotate face to face with us always with the same side of cloud no matter from where
we look which is causing this very visible clouds jerking
It's not like we can go around one cloud to see really all it's sides , it will rotate with your move
and you will see still the same cloud from one side only .
It's similar issue with high altitude contrails effect textures for example , we wanted to make
them look exactly identical with historical spiral shape but once it was done , when we looked at contrail
directly from above or below , contrails textures were all of a sudden flat laying circles exiting flying
plane which was unacceptable and bad looking .
Spiral high altitude contrails effect looked excellent only when we looked at them directly
from behind the plane engines which was useless :lol:
It's like the best design shape for IL-2 effects texture is plain simple circle to prevent too much textures
rotating negative issue as the more unusual is the shape and design of most of effects and smokes textures ,
the more will be problem increase and in case of clouds it's visible jerking issue .
I believe Oleg&1C did make clouds very looking similar in shape and very rounded exactly to prevent too
much visible jerking when flying around them and looking directly at them so we won't notice that much.
That's how 2001 game engine is processing many of effects textures .

S! HG

[Chappi]

Yeah
In my opinion it's better to have jerky 2D textures than buggy 3D.

[HolyGrail]

Hard to say if it's just game engine limitation or if there is even remote
slight possibility of having someday clouds in full 3D
No matter what , it's a nice mod you have done

S! HG

[Guest]

This looks very nice; I'll check it out

[Chappi]

Thanks I'm awaiting your opinion

[KG64_Cnopicilin]

So... Did you do those by yourself or did you get them from other game? Nice work.

[Chappi]

50/50
The geometry is from game, but I had to almost completely re-do it.

[KG64_Cnopicilin]

OK that must be a lot of work!

[Vpmedia]

Nice work, thanks a lot!

[HolyGrail]

Hi Chappi ,
have tried , my clouds looks like in the two first pictures but the
other two pictures below are looking like different clouds , are they
comparison with default game clouds and new clouds screenshots ?
Clouds4x4 texture is whooping 4MB in size , do you plan to reduce
size to at least 1024KB only ?
Which clouds detail setting in conf.ini file should be used and was
optimized for this mod ?

TypeClouds=0 ( less detail maximum FPS )
or
TypeClouds=1 ( maximum detail with more FPS impact )

Thank you

S! HG

[Chappi]

Hey there.
I'm using clouds = 1 since my monster rig can take anything. I have never really tried it with lower one's.
As for the size I'm working on V2 today, so expect a relase this evening with hopefully less size, bigger detail and more random clouds
Hmm the mod should have all clouds looking the same way.

[Guest]

Hey there.
I'm using clouds = 1 since my monster rig can take anything. I have never really tried it with lower one's.
As for the size I'm working on V2 today, so expect a relase this evening with hopefully less size, bigger detail and more random clouds
Hmm the mod should have all clouds looking the same way.

Looking forward to V2. I've been trying to figure out some file structure as I have Bender's mod, and I want to add this to his mod