fortunately for me, any map with weather effecs like rain and snow give me 25-90 fps on an X700. Same results on the Lithtech and UE2.5 based games only lower by a bit.

I like two of the suggestions in this thread;

1) There is no reason that detail brushes cannot be added along the sides of buildings to simulate snow buildup on snowy maps. It will add immensly to the asthetics of the map. It need not involve any crazy weather coding, just pile up static snow around the buildings.

2) The watch. Great idea, and I think I've seen it somewhere before. This need not be over the top either. Simply treat the watch as a weapon. Push the button (7?) for 'Watch', your gun goes away, and your left arm raises into view. Use the ironsights button, and it brings the watch up to a viewable location. You could even use the fire button sequentially for Start/Stop/Reset making the watch double as a stopwatch. (How long have I got until the bomb blows up?)

I agree with the snow suggestion, and infact, what we have so far on dem_snow is actually fairly good, just lacking slightly in some places.


for the watch: it would be cool, and it'd be very practical, but I'm not sure if it can be done
(but then again, TT and G6 have done miracles before.)

The second idea is possible and sint all that ahrd to do. The first one however is not possible. A game engine doesnt run like in real life. In the engine, the rules of the universe do not all apply. ust because snow is seasily piled up in reallife doesnt mean it can be simulated in a virtual environment just like that. Everything you see in a game is all hardcoded into a physics engine, a separate 3drenderig engine, and the game sourcecode. It may sound easy from concept and imagination - in application, if you have ever experienced coding something as complexed as particle acculmulation over a random surface - a surface that is actively being interacted with by other factors such as bullets and player models - then you would know just how hard it is to do what that suggestion is asking. Not to mention the aging engine and unusualy limited coding language it uses. This has been discussed before I dont know why it has to keep coming back up.

I think he meant having mappers artificially painting snowy patches to buildings. It has nothing to do with the engine, and I think it's fine.

No, it said, have snow that falls from the sky and piles up on the map and models. Simply, adding bushes doesnt show snow build up that well, maybe some white bracnhes and thats it, without leaves it wont hold much snow or none at all.

Xeno, read my post again. I didn't say anything about the snow falling from the sky. As fix correctly pointed out, I was suggesting the mappers put piled up snow in as detail brushes in appropriate places. The snow is not falling heavily, and the game only takes a few minutes. Buildup during that time is irrelevant.

Basicaly that is just texture but it wont look real because snow doesnt clump together of leaveless bushes. Only a few grams of snow maybe of the branches but it wont look like white puff balls of snow with roots. All that is needed then is a model of a dead bush and thats about it, paint the top of the branches white and its covered in snow.

Ok, perhaps I'm not explaining myself very well. I don't mean changing or even touching the engine. I don't mean complex physics simulations. I don't mean dynamic cumulative snow buildup over the duration of the game. I don't mean snowy textures. I don't mean snow on trees and bushes.

When snow falls for an extended duration, it collects in heaps. Often these heaps become large and slide off things like eaves and railings. When this happens, you get collected mounds/ ridges of snow that line walls and pretty much everything else. These snow collections effectively change the surface from being (unrealistically) billiard table smooth into being lumpy, with a propensity towards mounds against walls.

Some simple snow textured low poly meshes lining appropriate walls/railings/fences will suffice. A lumpy ground surface would also be a nice asthetic addition. Things that can be done fairly easily in radiant. No coding. No mad physics. No engine changes. Nothing hard.

ya see, Igot that first time..


just model in piles of snow to the maps, then you're done.

I think HellonStage in one of his Xmas remakes in TC added uneven snow ground. Not around the edges like you've shown, but just in different areas on the ground.

Jeff Birkenstocks has a good idea, it's one more thing for a mapper to do to a map, but it will add to the realism. Good thinking!

that can be done. but not immeddiately since it isnt really important