[RELEASED] UniStorm 5.2 - AAA Volumetric Clouds, URP Support, Weather, Sky, Atmospheric Fog, & More!

BHS, please could you help with my question?

Thanks

 

That depends on your scene. If you have scaled it down, you don't need to render as far so you should be able to have it at around 8,000.

Strange, we will have to get the Unity 5 beta so we can properly find a solution. We will contact Unity and see if we can get one.

I would just stop UniStorm from changing the color of the skybox when you enter a building. This could be done by, for example, using a boolean. You would add something like isInBuilding to UniStorm. When isInBuilding is true UniStorm doesn't change the skybox color. When a player enters the building use something like onTriggerEnter to instantly change the skybox color to black. Then do the opposite when the player leaves the building.

Yes, we have the Weather Zone feature for this.

Under the UniStorm window go to UniStorm>Create Weather Zone>JS or C# (Pick whichever version of UniStorm you're using)

This will create a UniStorm Weather Zone. You will then be able to position it according to your scene. The Weather Zone allows you to force a weather type in the highlighted area. When a player hits it, it will trigger the weather to change to what's on that weather zone.

 

It seems like the Auto API updater does a lot of weird stuff. After doing some separate tesing projects I now loaded a copy of my main project and there was no need for changing any line of code. The problems I mentioned still persist though but importing the same asset a couple of times leads to different results. A proper U5 update seems to be the only solution.

 

BHS,

Thanks for your reply.

Unfortunately it's not that easy. First of all how do I stop UnitStorm from changing the skybox colour? Is there a variable built in for this?

Secondly, if it's raining outside, I don't want it raining inside, so I presume I'd have to set the weather type to sunny OnTriggerEnter. The problem comes when it's multiplayer, the other player would have weather changing all over from the other player entering buildings. How would you overcome this?

Thanks for your help on this matter.

 

Hi,
I'm doing something similar, but the problem is that I can't make it forcefully Rain instead of snowing there, in that specific zone, as the overall temperature and the month are set to Winter and less than 30. Any tips?

 

I will be purchasing a copy of this system very soon, but I have a question.. Do you think this will work with upcoming version of Skyshop and Unity 5?

 

Don't worry, I've got it all working.

 

How can I change the color of the global fog for the foggy weather setting. I can't get it to stay anything but grey right now.

 

Yes, they're still working on the API Updater so it could be what's causing issues.

Hm, what you could do is force a UniStorm temperature change when entering a zone, but only if it's raining.

Here's a script reference for the UniStorm Temperature:
http://unistorm-weather-system.wikia.com/wiki/Code_References#Temperature

We plan on supporting both, but Skyshop requires you to pre-bake each time of day then transition between each one just like UniStorm changes the Fog Color, Ambient Light, ect.

We will provide an example on our UniStorm Wiki site when we get a chance.

We may have temporarily removed the Global Fog color change. We will look into this and let you know. If we did we will supply a fix for you via PM.

 

Thanks. Im making a game play vid that's on hold until I can fix this.

 

Hi,
just wondering why Suncloudy is disabled. I dont want ambient light so during storms etc my scene is black. Although the best way would be to have the main sun not fade out completly during bad weather in the day.

 

hey just a heads up with beta 13 they have changed the image effects to csharp, so if you load in the standard image effects with unistorm it creates a major problem.

 

Same problem here..

 

As stated out later its probably the auto updater. I have now a working version of Unistorm in U5. Still some real show stopper bugs but at least it compiles. The auto updater seems to be able to produce everything between functionality and total failure. Just try killing Unistorm and reimporting again. Do this a couple of times and maybe you will have some luck with it.

 

Yes, we plan on having an option to adjust the sun when cloudy via the UniStorm Editor.

Thanks, we will look into it.

As soon as we get our copy of the Unity 5 beta we start working on bug fixes.

What we will most likely do is supply a zip folder with the Unity 5 versions of UniStorm in version 1.8.1. You would then just use the Unity 5 versions instead of the Unity 4 version scripts. Everything else should be the same.

 

Did you guys come up with a fix for the global fog color? I think it was disabled in the latest version.

 

Hi Guys,

I purchased Unistorm well over a year ago and thought i'd take another import and examination of this product. My initial thoughts are that its come along way nice job !

However saying that, i have a few questions which hopefully can be answered easily.

1. The sky's in linear colour space don't look as good as gamma. I think its the sky colouring. Then i noticed the night time clouds looks very bright. Linear color space has problems need addressing ?.

2. I noticed that the stars etc are black dots and seem to not occlude with the sky at night properly. Is this a recent issue?

3. How can i get more definition sharpness in the clouds making them basically whiter and fuller?

4. Any splashes for the rain?

5. First examination was not able to make it snow?

6. In the camera i noticed there are numerous components for image effects. Are these controlled by the editor? Or are these manual switch on / off effects? Why two sun shaft components?

7. How to stop Unistorm going crazy with colour skys. Seems abit OTT for out of the box defaults?

 

We can PM you a quick update tomorrow.

Most of the issues you have stated are regarding the Linear Color Space. We will have a a solution with the next update, UniStorm version 1.8.1 . However, I can answer the questions not associated with the Linear Color Space.

4. Rain splashes can be enabled by going to the rain particle system and enabling the rain collisions script. We will have an option for this in the UniStorm Editor with the next version.

5. Snow will happen, but it only happens in Winter and if it's 32 degrees or colder.

6. You can adjust the image effects via the camera. We will also be adding the option to adjust them via the editor with the next version of UniStorm.

 

@BHS Thanks that would be great as I use the global fog a lot.

On a side note I use linear color as well and noticed the same issues GXMark. A fix in the next update would end my only few problems.

 

Hello BHS,

I have been a solid UniStorm customer since March 2013. Have been using thoroughly up to v1.6 and enjoying it. I have Playmaker, NGUI, and my Player/NPC heartbeat scripts to monitor what is happening to the weather for very good Hunger-Thirst-Fatigue-Stamina.

Instead of email for which I did in the past and received 1 of a few replies to questions that were touted to be In The Manual and were not....I decided upon forum posting.

Since moving up to v1.8 it is 'sort of' easier to install but the visuals are worse. I understand your direction for the dynamic clouds but not at the cost of visual quality. Unity 5 is a mixed bag with UniStorm but I did get it working after quite a bit of tinkering.

Today I sent a client a scene set up with Terrain Composer, RTPv3, and UniStorm (fresh install of v1.8.0 in a brand new project). Since I have been using v1.6 and happy with it....I was astounded to find what was going on in v1.8. The lighting is terrible.....especially on cloudy days. Since I (and probably everyone else) needs the lighting to function properly for the materials to function properly.

The rain drop splashes turned off and difficult to find where to turn them on.....and it is NOT is the Manual nor the Wiki. The Rain Streak Effect is terrible. Why did you move to this?

The fog, as stated above, is calculated incorrectly whether in Linear or Exponential. When there should be some fog....there is little. When there should be a lot....there is far too much.

It takes quite a lot of fiddling around to get an Earth Type environment working. And no...the Demo is not set up properly. Yes it works but the quality is low. Yes I am a Pro user with all the toys and rendering let loose for a performance test. I also use a real character with real armor and materials to show off what the lighting is doing.

Perhaps, as you are stating in many posts....'configurable'.... to be honest I do not want configurable. I have 5200 other things to do than spend 2 days tweaking in UniStorm to get a proper look and feel. I just want it to work out of the box.

Comparative example.....I went out on a limb and simply purchased Time of Day from the Asset Store. I also purchased the companion ARS Weather System for Time of Day. Time of Day took 7 minutes to get it imported and working Out of The Box. Add 30 minutes to get the Weather working.....37 Minutes and fully operational and visually breathtaking.

I hope that you take no negativity from this forum post. I have been a huge fan of UniStorm. It is very very similar in concept to my realistic weather system in Neverwinter Nights 1. I want you to get this product right. Especially since Unity 5's lighting is so much better....and easier. Perhaps I will return as a customer.

Cheers
Olander

 

Sorry we missed your email. We try to respond to everyone but sometimes we miss one. It's easier to keep track of replying on the forums.

Some of your concerns sound odd as many customers have noticed a night and day difference in quality to that of the previous versions of UniStorm.

As we made our transition to UniStorm 1.8.0 and dynamic clouds we noticed, while many customers preferred the new dynamic clouds, somw customers liked the 1.6 clouds. So, as of UniStorm 1.8.1 we are adding many more options for customizable features. One of these is choosing to use version 1.6 clouds.

A lot of customers stated that they found 1.6 clouds to be too cloudy and not enough blue sky. So, we're appealing to both types of customers with 1.8.1.

Our lightning system light hasn't changed to that of UniStorm 1.6. It still uses the exact same light source. However, the color and intensity can now be adjusted via the UniStorm Editor.

The overall lighting has also been tweaked. Many customers liked the new techniques and shaders we used to achieve this effect.

As many people love the many customizable features that UniStorm offers, some people might want preset settings to make things easier. That's why with 1.8.1 we will also have preset settings so you don't have to go through and tweak the colors and settings. You can simply cycle through the preset ones until you find one that suites your scene.

The fog can be adjusted via the UniStorm Editor. The reason it doesn't seem to be calculated right is probably because you haven't changed the fog settings in UniStorm Editor. This is also new as of UniStorm 1.8.0.

We plan on adding tons of examples to the UniStorm system. This means UniStorm will come with many example scripts to help you get the most out of UniStorm. These examples will be things like AI reacting to time and weather, accessing temperature, time, weather, and more.

We will be releasing our new playable UniStorm demo today so our customers, and future customers, can get an idea of how the system looks. As well as some really cool features. This demo will also have an AI that follows you around and reacts to UniStorm variables such as time, weather, and temperature.

Hope this helped.

 

Thank you for replying. It was not Email....it was Emails
I know UniStorm very very well. I use it for all sorts of things time keeping and informational. I like the new Weather Zones you have....something I did way back in NWN1. Love it.

I do know how and where to configure UniStorm. After a couple of hours tweaking and playing with the v1.8 settings I got everything working like I Needed to. Took a couple of screen shots....broke the prefab...and transferred everything into it.

The lighting looked alright in Clear/Partly Cloudy Skies.....sometimes the sun would just be an Orange Glow with a small bright orange sun dot. The sky ends up being a dark blue....which I can manually fix. Then it would fix itself on a weather transition. Partly Cloudy Skies have no transition blending when switching from one to the other. How about a LERP Transition between them....or a setting we can adjust? Hmm? It seems the Partly Cloudy 1/2/3 are no different from each other. The normals and specularity from leather and metal armors look fine until the cloudy skies and/or rain systems roll in. The skin, armor, and vegetation simply washed out and look like when I turn off lighting in the scene editor. It looks poor.

When v1.8.1 is out perhaps I will take a look to see if that one works.

Cheers and Thanks Again for the reply.
Olander

 

Thanks. I'd recommending inserting an easier way in the next update though, people usually buy assets trying to script as less as possible. Just my 2 cents. I mean, just add a possibility to simply pick rain, or snow and the likes for weather zones ignoring the temperature...

completely unrelated,
suddenly I'm getting this error
NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
UniStormWeatherSystem_JS.WeatherForecaster () (at Assets/UniStorm/Scripts/UniStorm Systems/UniStormWeatherSystem_JS.js:2982)
UniStormWeatherSystem_JS.Update () (at Assets/UniStorm/Scripts/UniStorm Systems/UniStormWeatherSystem_JS.js:966)

What could it be? I didn't even touch the scene. I thought about another asset creating some problems but it doesn't make any sense. It doesn't let me use Unistorm anymore in the whole project. Wtf?

 

so... any chance to get a little help?

 

Don't feel bad. Ive been waiting all week on my global fog fix they promised to pm me.

 

Sorry for the delayed response. Unity didn't notify us about these forum posts.

It is very simple to get any UniStorm variable. It uses very basic coding so customers shouldn't have a problem accessing UniStorm components.

We are currently writing an AI system to work with UniStorm for things like, time, weather, and temperature. It has been surprisingly easy and it works very well. This will be included with the next update.

As for your problem, it doesn't really point to anything. Have you altered UniStorm in any way? Do you have a Sun Shafts and Global Fog image effect on your camera that's using UniStorm?

Try playing the demo scene to see if the problem persists.

Our apologies also, for some reason Unity didn't notify us about these posts.

As for your Global Fog, everything is there. We removed it by commenting out the color changes in the UniStorm Editor. So, all you have to do is open up the UniStorm Editor Script.

Once it's open press Ctrl F

search for this line //Stormy Fog Colors

And uncomment the lines of code so they no longer have the //

You should then be able to adjust the global fog. Sorry for the inconveniences this will be fixed with 1.8.1.

 

Is there already an estimated release date for version 1.8.1 ?

 

We don't give exact dates, but we're working on it currently. It shouldn't be too much longer.

 

Thanks - I understand what you mean. Infact, I chose your asset mainly for the way it handles events. Mine was just a tip: most of the assets that sell really high in the Asset Store have the main goal to also make things easier and faster for the user through "GUI" and not code.
I'm very much looking forward to 1.8.1 anyway =)

Hi,
the demo scene doesn't work either - I checked that all the camera effects were on mine again, too.
As I said, it's as if there's something project-wise that is creating a problem but I don't recall doing anything. It's very weird because, again, even in the demo scene, with its own camera, player and everything set this error comes out. It's the first time that I can't track down something like this.
Reimporting the asset didn't work.

For some reason after messing around the error just changed to:
NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
UniStormWeatherSystem_JS.WeatherForecaster () (at Assets/UniStorm/Scripts/UniStorm Systems/UniStormWeatherSystem_JS.js:3406)
UniStormWeatherSystem_JS.Update () (at Assets/UniStorm/Scripts/UniStorm Systems/UniStormWeatherSystem_JS.js:954)

basically, the lines changed but they're not really useful :/ I can't understand what's this Object reference not set to an instance of an object in this context

 

I can't use Unistorm anymore..well at this time.. there are too many errors to sort through trying to use this with Unity 5 Beta.. looking forward to the update..

 

I just noticed that when I go to add sounds to play during certain times of the day, the editor references morning under evening/night.

 

Is there a way inside unistorm or even just in unity its self to make fare distant fog blend better with the sky? If you take a look at the picture below you will see a far mountain range. The fog makes it pretty much a solid color (blue in this case) but it does not blend with they sky or srounding areas really at all.

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/un...y-night-weather-system-released.121021/page-9
In a post in this thread there is a guy who said something about Post Global Fog shader's Height Scale property / shader. When you look at his screen shot the fare skyline blends in really well.

"Also note, the realistic shading of the clouds in the distance was thanks to the Post Global Fog shader's Height Scale property, which is not an available property in the upcoming 1.5 change to use the Unity Native Fog.
Will the option to use the Post Global Fog shader, instead of unity fog, be available?"

How does one go about doing that?

 

@BHS So I went into debug mode on the UniStorm editor and got access to the Global Fog Color but now I need to change the Global Fog starting distance and density. How can I do this.

 

Hi again BHS

I'm using Unistorm inconjunction with RTP AFS and Terrain composer and I've got a problem with the moon fade
I'm pretty sure its the moon fade anyway

As the moon starts to fade I'm getting a 44% increase in Draw Calls
The increased draw calls occur only while the moon is fading

I did a video

That's showing 88 more draw calls but when I add a couple o thousand trees to the terrain its 1,000 additional draw calls
I've got my day length set to 1 minute for testing but when I put it up to 100 minutes that 5 seconds of more draw calls becomes 8 minutes of more draw calls

how can I make the moon just go down below the horizon like it used to?

Also is there a way to get the specular water reflection to line up with the Sun ?
In Uniuty Pro Water4 there is a Specular Lighting Script with a public variable to drag drop the transform of your specular light into, I cant get it to work I've dragged alsorts in there.

Roy

 

Im loving Unistorm 1.8 but would love to see a single script added for client/server setup rather than having to customise your scripts as I can never get it to work properly otherwise.

 

Quote from Unistorm documentation

I've searched the wiki and forums and Google - I can't find any documentation on multiplayer Unistorm

Where is it please

Roy

 

How can I change the volume of the unistorm TOD sound effects?

 

I'm trying to resolve a problem with Unistorm and RTP, when I set the unistorm camera to Deffered then my terrain goes black, So usually I just set it to Forward. But I wanted to know why deffered wasn't working. So I thought I'd check the unistorm manual, I can't find it, is there one?

 

We will get UniStorm working with Unity 5. Remember that Unity 5 is still beta and not everyone has access to it at this time.

The sounds are all correctly assigned for each time of day and they will play the sounds accordingly . We just made a mistake with the naming. We will update this with 1.8.1

Yes, you can adjust the fog distance and density within the UniStorm Editor under Fog Options.

 

We will be adding the option to adjust this with UniStorm 1.8.1 within the the editor. Until then, you can adjust these settings from the global fog script on the camera.

Strange, we will do some teats to see if this happens in our scene. If it does, we will find a solution for this issue.

We have had plenty of customers use UniStorm with online games and have been able to get it working. You need to make sure you sync startingHour with the network also.

We will try to include an online example with UniStorm 1.8.1.

You can adjust the audio source on the UniStorm Editor. The volume is all the way up though.

It sounds like a RTP problem since UniStorm doesn't do anything camera related. It could be an image effect problem though.

 

Thanks for looking into the moon fade thing I've tested and tested to try and narrow it down, I was thinking as the moon is fading both the sun AND the moon are in the scene at the same time, even though you cant see the sun yet it has started to get light. where as without the fade perhaps you have sun OR moon in the scene. Either way I would like to completely turn Off the moon fade.

Tom over at RTP showed me how to get Unistorm and RTP working with Deferred, he has a script you attached to the main directional light.

With the networking I figured I would need to sync time and weather, But I will also need the none master clients to recieve the variables and instead of doing their own weather / time.

Roy

 

Just let the masterclient decide what weather it is and fire RPC events when the weather changes so the other players will get the same weather.

 

The Horizon within WeatherSystems is white But when I hit play it gets greyed out, I cant figure out why?
I've looked through the settings and I cant see anything, sorry if this is a stupid question

Roy
It makes my sunsets look nice you see.

 

any help? I know it's not easy without the project but even some suggestions would be welcomed, thanks.

 

Are sun shafts suppose to stay on when it's foggy weather type or thunder storms?

 

I have a Request - Nay a Plea !

Please don't remove the Horizon code (comment it out) or better still give us back the option to have the horizon if we wish.

Having the horizon between the sun and the camera simulates atmospheric scattering and gives game devs a chance to make something a bit different.

I've actually gone in to your code and put the horizon back in.

I've created a couple of videos to back up my request hopefully they're good enough for you to consider my request (The quality is not great because I have a slow internet connection)

This is the Sun Rise

This is at the other side of the island showing the sun setting

The sunset also highlights my problem with the moon fading because it cuts off the reflection on the water even though the sunshafts (moon ones) carry on.

I liked it better when the moon just went below the horizon.

While I'm on the subject: Directional lights start lighting up the water and the terrain before they rise above the horizon, I think its actually lighting the underneath.

So I moved the sun(mesh) ahead of the sun(light) and got it the timing perfect so the specular reflection started at the same time as the sun rose. The problem with doing that is at the other side of the osland when the sun sets the reflection starts long after the sun has gone down. I hope you understand what I mean.

Roy

 

Hello, I just bought this asset.

So the current version does not work with unity5 ?

and when is 8.1 coming out?

 

Are you using Unity 5 Beta? If so, this could be why as it automatically updates the programming methods to Unity 5's. From what I've heard it isn't perfect which is why you're having issues. Once Unity 5 is released we plan to fully support it.

No, it should slowly fade out. Then slowly fade back in after it has stopped being cloudy.

This is a nice feature but we are phasing out the horizon and adding it in with the skybox shader with 1.8.1. This way is much more natural and looks amazing. You will be able to customize the color of the horizon for each time of day.

We have customers saying that it does work and some saying it doesn't. I think the issue is due to when you choose to have the scripts auto updated with Unity 5. When Unity 5 is officially released we will fully support Unity 5.

 

Hi i am in need of a tutorial to get unistorm to work with realistic fps prefab. I tried the tutorial on using ufps but it doesn't work for realistic fps prefab. Can somone please help if it is possible thanks in advance

 

It saddens me to say but having used Unistorm years since about 1.4 version I am now seriously looking for an alternative day night cycle and weather system.

The reasons for my decision are below:

The lack of a manual other than a sparse advert ridden wikia.

The slow and minimal support, means it is not keeping pace with other assets I have to integrate Unistorm with.

This list of things I have to do to get it to run with only warnings is too long.

The lack of multiplayer support.

The FACT that the moon does not Fade in real life and that its fading is giving a 40% increase in draw calls. And by fading the moon (to compensate for not having a horizon) any reflections on water disappear unrealistically.

Also I'm not sure I can make the day longer than the night with this system and for many games that is important, and I can't be bothered asking the question and waiting a week for a answer.

I'll check out 1.8.1 but I'm not optimistic tbh.

Roy