Add rain and weather effects?

[Wizman87]

Is there a simple method for adding rain and weather effects to a map? I see the weather effects used all the time within official and custom user-generated levels. However, I cannot seem to replicate the same creation process or weather effects in my own levels.

After researching online and browsing through the TWI forums, the closest thread that I could find to help explain the creation process was located here (refer to post #2): http://forums.tripwireinteractive.co...ow-to-add-rain.

Spoiler!

KF-Office has StaticMesh sheets with animated rain textures on them that are stuck in a roster in the outside areas. The rain doesn't actually consist of particles.

KF-Manor has an xWeatherEffect though, afaik. Maybe you can take that and tweak it to your liking.

Based on the information provided by Murphy, there are two methods for adding weather effects to a map. The first method involves using "static mesh sheets" and the second method involves using an "xWeatherEffect". Alex_KF also explained the pros and cons between using each of the two methods in the same thread (refer to post #3): http://forums.tripwireinteractive.co...66#post1562966.

Spoiler!

As Murphy pointed out - there are two broad methods of achieving rain in UE2, Particles and static 'sheets'. Here's a quick run-down of the pros & cons to both methods (from memory - it's been a while since i've set either up)

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XweatherEffect

pros :

- easy to set up
- generally produces less depth complexity / overdraw than sheets
- rain appearance and properties can be quickly modified across the whole map with minimal effort.

Cons

- Rain never looks very thick & it takes a great number of particles to simulate the appearance of a true 'downpour'
- By default it causes rain to fall across the entire map ( yes, even inside buildings) to prevent it from raining in unwanted places you need to build volumes with a 'NoRain' tag. This can quickly become very time consuming - and if memory serves, it still won't gaurantee that the rain won't clip through walls or appear where it shouldn't. 'NoRain" volumes are unpredictable.

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"Rain Sheets"

pros :

- Can produce a much denser and more natural looking downpour than XWeatherEffect, so very useful for situations where you want it to be raining hard.
- More control over where rain does and does not appear , Since you are just moving staticmeshes around manually you can always be 100% certain where it's gonna rain and where it isn't.

Cons:

- Gets very performance intensive very quickly (all the overlapping planes create a depth complexity nightmare). You should set a low cull distance for each plane so there's never more than a few sheets overlapping at any given time
- Can be a real pain to move around if your level layout is still changing (Each group of sheets has to be manually adjusted.

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In summary - If you want it to be merely 'spitting' rain, I'd recommend using an xWeatherEffect. If you want something like a tropical rainstorm, use sheets.

Are there any references for learning about the creation process or these two methods? I have not been able to find any further resources or technical explanations for them online. If anyone can provide any advice or help with pointing me towards anything relating to these topics, I would be greatly appreciated.

From what I have tried so far, I have copied the "Env_Manor_Rain_Mesh" static mesh from the official "KF-VolterManor" level to one of my own levels. Though, the static mesh is nearly impossible to see, let alone, select without the use of the "Scene" tab in the "Content Browser" window. Again, if anyone can provide any advice (e.g. tips, tricks, suggestions, step-by-step tutorials, etc.) or help with pointing me towards anything (e.g. wikis, threads, posts, images, videos, etc.) on how to properly manipulate the static mesh (e.g. by making its lighting more visible, increasing its scaling with x,y,z dimensions, changing its "Actor Properties" window settings, editing its material shaders, or using another method), I would be greatly appreciated.

On a final note, I am fairly new to using the KF2 SDK and UDK. However, I have been learning about the UDK on and off for the past year or so and have been creating fairly complex levels using the KF2 SDK (e.g. primarily for testing purposes). I have a decent grasp of the majority of SDK tools provided, but there is still a lot that I need to learn. Having said that, I greatly appreciate any advice and more than welcome any suggestions that might possibly help me and other level designers out!

With that, thank you very much in advance for your patience, help, and constructive feedback!

 

[LiquidArrow]

Hey I just got done doing all this with my Kf-Transient map. The best way to see the rain is to use the "texture density" view. It will show the rain as little red droplets. That was the only way I was able to put it around my map efficiently.

 

[Wizman87]

Hey I just got done doing all this with my Kf-Transient map. The best way to see the rain is to use the "texture density" view. It will show the rain as little red droplets. That was the only way I was able to put it around my map efficiently.

This helps a lot! Thank you!

Apart from modifying the draw scale value for the static mesh, is there any other way of adjusting the x,y,z dimensions? I would like to be able to adjust the coverage area of the rain, if it's possible. Would it be considered better practice to replicate the static mesh instead?

 

[LiquidArrow]

This helps a lot! Thank you!

Apart from modifying the draw scale value for the static mesh, is there any other way of adjusting the x,y,z dimensions? I would like to be able to adjust the coverage area of the rain, if it's possible. Would it be considered better practice to replicate the static mesh instead?

You would want to replicate the mesh. What I did was place one, duplicate and rotate in spot at 90 degress so it has heavier rainfall. Then you just replicate that mesh combo around the map as you see fit.