Weather changeable

[Liacs]

I did a search on weather and was surprised that I didn't find a modification suggestion for it: I want to be able to change the weather! I would like have commands that make it rain - or snow - or hot - or freezing cold :-)!

The system atm is not really userfriendly

And implement the sickness system of draco perhaps with it. ( very cold weather + no coat = *sneeze* )

I am dreaming of great RPG with druids who make the sky cry and help the lands grow green again!

*Tries to stop dreaming*

[Vhaerun]

Heh. This is something my GF & other admin wants badly. I have to keep telling her I'm not that good with scripting.

[Lord_Greywolf]

even the ability to turn it on and off would be nice

get a big event going - with lots of players and monsters then - so some slight lag - then it starts to rain and everybody lags lol - except the monsters
(guess they love to play in the rain)

but having different stuff would be nice with the weather - like the sickness system - but even other stuff too - like if it is raining and no cloak/robe on and metal armor --- the armor does not like that and other effects - that would really add to a RPG shard

[Alex21]

i have noticed on shard where i have two client standing next to each other in the world, it can be raining on one screen and nothing on the other

i have yet to see it raining on both client windows at the same time

even if some one fixed this to make it rain at the same time for everyone in that area would be an achievement i believe

[Brutus5000]

Originally Posted by Alex21

i have noticed on shard where i have two client standing next to each other in the world, it can be raining on one screen and nothing on the other

I have tested weather a lot and there are a lot of problems caused by the UO client, not by RunUO. My english is not the best, but i will try to explain how it works:

Technical
I assume that you know, how the network communication is based on Packets.

To make the client show weather effects, you need to send him a WeatherPacket (as you can see in Misc/Weather.cs).

The WeatherPacket contains the type of weather (rain, snow, storm), density (1-100% if I remember correct) and temperature (I think it has no effect).

RunUO has a very simple, but still complex way to create the weather. It uses rectangles to specify one weather region, i will call it (weather) zone. There are static weather zones, you can set in the script and there are dynamic zones, that move randomly around over the map (You can see there position by adding a WeatherMap und double-clicking it. You will see, that they move.)

Every zone has a configuration: a chance of rain/snow, density and temperature. Every 30 seconds the weather inside the zone is new calculated and a WeatherPacket is sent to all players inside the zone.
Important: If you are inside a zone, there is not alway rain/snow/storm. This is random. You can also receive a WeatherPacket which stops current weather effects at your client.

So far the technical background.


Special UO client behavior

But now there are 2 important things that can totally break the RunUO system:

1. The client stops weather effect on location changes without moving by yourself (i.e. teleporter, entering a ship, moved by a GM, whatever).
   The UO client stops displaying weather, until a new packet is received. But this is the smaller problem. More important:
   
2. The UO client only stops weather if #1 happens or you restart the client. What does it mean?
   
   Example: You are in of RunUOs weather zones and RunUO sends you a packet Rain, density: 100%. Now you leave this zone (walk away). The rain will not stop on it's own. There is no timer.
   
   If you do not receive a new WeatherPacket and do not move it will rain and rain and rain. Another player joins your location. He has just logged in. On his screen, there is no rain.
   
   How often does it happen? Very often! But this is based on the RunUO script. The weather zones are not so big (400x400 tiles), but they move very fast. This means if you are not inside a weather zone, the current weather effect will stay until #1 happens or until you enter a new weather zone.