Skydomes: The Setup

[irishrailguy]

Hi,

So I've decided to finally get round to making my own skydomes for TS2014, I've looked at all the documentation but I'm still a bit confused as to how I can set one up to work in-game. I have a skydome modeled and textured in my source folder, I've determined that the starting reference point is to fill out a Sky Info Blueprint and reference my model and texture there. The next bit is the part that I can't figure out:

So I have a TimeOfDay blueprint, does this have to be referenced somewhere else? If a route (say, the BML) has an option to choose weather patterns in the scenario editor (I can see that each pattern has it's own skydome), then is there somewhere in the weather pattern blueprint that references the TimeOfDay/SkyInfo Blueprint? I've looked at the route template for the BML and it seems that there's only one pattern referenced (the Cloudy one), so if this is the case then why can I select a load of different patterns in the scenario editor for the BML?

As you can probably tell I'm a little confused over this particular aspect of content creation. Are there really this many intermediate steps to adding a new weather pattern/skydome to a scenario, or am I complicating things? I'd like to add a photoreal sky to the BML for starters, so can anyone explain the process of getting one in-game?

Thanks,

Kevin

[malkymackay]

I've not tried doing my own Sky Dome, but I have experimented with weather patterns & altering TimeOfDay blueprints.

My understanding of the structure is as follows(using the BML as an example, most RSC routes should follow a similar structure):

1. The Environment folder includes a Sky sub-folder with a Sky mesh & the textures for the sky dome, stars, sun, moon & cloud layers.
2. The TimeOfDay folder contains 4 SkyInfo blueprints, one for each season. These blueprints reference the textures & sky mesh from the Environment\Sky folder & detail sun rise, sunset times & the appropriate sky/fog/cloud colours.
3. The Weather folder contains Weather Pattern Blueprints which set patterns describing precipitation (if any), wind speed & direction, an option to override the default fog values & a cloud type. Precipitation types can be set, such as stretching the rain or snow texture to give different effects. Cloud types can be set to give different balances of the 3 cloud layers & options to set their intensity. Finally the patterns can be chained, with pattern lengths & blending times between patterns.

The route template sets the default values that will be used in a new scenario, so that is why only one weather pattern is listed there.

I hope this makes things a little clearer.

[irishrailguy]

Thanks for the info. I think I have it, but I think I'll need clarification on the following point:

If the route template specifies only the default weather pattern, then will I be able to select any weather pattern I've created myself assuming I've ticked the appropriate developer folder in the editor? I'm still a little lost on the pattern blueprint though. If the pattern describes the weather appearance in-game, then is there somewhere in the pattern blueprint where I can specify a Time Of Day blueprint? I'm just a little confused as to how a pattern, when selected in the editor, determines the appearance of the sky if it's the TOD blueprint that references the skydome. In short, how do I link my skydome to a given weather pattern which I can choose in the editor?

Thanks,

Kevin

[malkymackay]

You can pick any weather pattern from wherever, as long as the developer folder is ticked. The default one in the template is only what appears in a brand new scenario.

You can't choose what skydome to use in a weather pattern. The skydome is only referenced in a ToD blueprint, which in the editor is called a season. Weather patterns overlay their modifications to the blending & intensity of the cloud layers and fog density & distance and also set if there is rain or snow. The actual sky is whatever it should be as set in the ToD blueprint. If you really wanted to to, I suppose you could set up a pattern where there was no cloud but snow & use it in a summer scenario at midday..

[irishrailguy]

Ah ok, it seems as if I had the idea completely wrong in the first place. But thanks for the help nonetheless, I've managed to get a skydome working in-game so you've provided some great help, thnaks

Kevin