☁ Weather Maker ☁ AAA Clouds, Sky, Weather, Water, Volumetric Light & More!

This is an issue with any Unity command buffer. The fix is to deactivate weather maker prefab and re-activate.

 

This is an annoying command buffer bug in Unity. Deactivating and activating the prefab in the scene hierarchy will fix it. I'd love more details on the moon disappearing, but it's possible you just went to the new moon phase. What day / month / year / time of day did it go away?

 

Hi!

I just purchased Weather Maker and followed the readme guide. I dragged the prefab to my scene but everything looks like in the screenshot. I also cannot see the sun when I look up. What did I do wrong?

Edit: Been trying to play with the settings, nothing works. Changing sun intensity etc. does nothing. Even all the demo scenes have the same black background.

 

I would start with a blank project first, then only add weather maker and check demo scene blank. If that doesn't work you likely have a bad package. Feel free to email me at support@digitalruby.com and I will work through this with you.

 

Hi @jjxtra we are having problems with weather maker (or it seems so)

we have a mission selection menu, once you select you mission we load additively a scene with the mission and the weather maker prefab.

after unity loaded the scene and the camera fades (we have a black sprite in the UI that covers full screen and tweens from black to transparent to simulate a fadeout) then after about 1 second, the game freezes for about 20 to 30 seconds in the editor.

trying to track down what is going on we found that weathermaker is using Resources.Load() to load a cloud profile and that is holding unity for 20-30 seconds.

A) this could be a unity bug itself, it's impossible that loading a small profile take ages.
B) you might consider changing all you usages for Resources.Load() to Resources.LoadAsync() maybe?

here is a picture of the profiler:



do you have any thoughts? unity version is 2017.2.0p4

 

Does this happen if you add the prefab to the root scene instead of the additive scene?

 

I narrowed down the source of the problem, did lots of test changing things each time, it is a long story to tell, but basically what is happening is that after using Resources.Load() to load a prefab that contains an scenario, the next call to either Resources.Load() or Resources.LoadAsync() takes an insane amount of time (15-25 seconds) no matter what you are loading or if it is already loaded, this definitely is a Unity bug and has nothing to do with WeatherMaker.

I can't provide a good repro project since I can't be sure that this happens after you load any resource, it only happens after we load any of our scenarios prefabs, which by consequence load materials and shaders and textures and meshes dependencies.

so after we do

Object obj = Resources.Load("path_to_prefab_with_scenario"); (the same goes for LoadAsync)

the prefab loads fine and in a reasonable time,

only if we do:

Instantiate(obj);

then any first call after that to Resources.Load() or Resources.LoadAsync() takes around 15 seconds, it randomly varies from 7 seconds to 30, even if it is just a small text file that you are loading.

another note: if you don't do Instantiate(obj); then the next call to Resources.Load() doesn't have the problem.

my guess is:

something is screwed up with the resources system, when you load a prefab which has dependencies on textures, meshes etc that might sum up to hundreds of megabytes, and then you instantiate a copy of that loaded prefab, then the next call to Resources.Load() or Resources.LoadAsync() takes a lot of time, for some reason I can't even imagine.

 

If you submit a bug within Unity, give good repro steps like you have here, they usually get back within a few days. I've submitted a number of bugs while developing Weather Maker, some they gave me a workaround for, some they acknowledged as a bug and said will fix in a patch release.

 

yeah I already did, but unlucky me I have no idea how to reproduce the error outside my project, and I can't share the project as it is, so they answered they need a repro project, but lucky me, for some mysterious reason, since today the bug is gone and I can't find what did I change to make it work.

anyways I might have found a bug to report in weathermaker, this time for real haha:

the WeatherMakerFullScreenFogProfile has a Max Fog Factor property that is supposed to clamp the max amount of fog to a certain value, changing this value doesn't make any difference to fog. I'm running version 3.3.1 in unity 2017.2.0p4 and I use Deferred Path.

 

Thanks for letting me know, I will look into it and send a fix if needed.

 

Fix sent to Unity, thanks for reporting!

 

amazing! thanks for answering all my questions too!

 

You are very welcome, would love to see some screenshots of your game. Feel free to post in this forum with a link!

 

Just a heads up, version 3.3.3 is out and fixes max fog factor, fog box and fog sphere.

 

Hi jjextra

Small problem here. Switching to night (time slider) it goes dark (duhuh) but in the middle of the night it becames day again for a short period. Same test with enviro doesn't give this result so it not Unity related.Juggled with azimuth and so on to try to fix it but no result I prefer Weather Maker over Enviro to be honest due to high the quality visuals (im a sucker for great visuals ( ), but i need the day night cycle to be day / night (not day night day night in one day (-; . (Unity Pro 2017.2.0f3)
No Hurry

 

Can you post a screenshot or file of your day night cycle profile / settings here or email to support@digitalruby.com? I'll take a look as soon as I have it and try to reproduce this and fix it.

 

Thank you for your quick response but is solved. Sorry for wasting your time.

 

Glad to hear. Can you let me know what triggered it so I can add notes in my readme file?

 

Hi jjxtra,sure no problem,
First of all there where two enviro cam scripts still active , disabled (removed them) but the problem still existed.
So what i did: Reinstalled WM and this time used a duplicate of the day night proofile to see if i could reproduce the problem (just to be sure). I managed to reproduce it 100%. I speeded up the day/night cycle, and at the same time played around with the azimuth, this gave the same problem. After I put the sliders back in their original position (WM standard day night speed) the problem was persisted (still there). So i did it to myself, and i think allot of your users don't use "highspeed" day night combined with a changing azimuth ;-). Hope this helps but i think it was just me fooling around.

 

Ok thanks for sharing. Let me know if you see any other weirdness.

 

After encountering the above problem on my own.. After a little testing it turned out that when I went into the lighting panel. and added the "sun" as the main light source.. the problem went away. Remove the "sun" from the lighting panel light slot and the problem returns. I hope this helps.

 

I'll add this to the readme in the next update.

 

Hello, I am trying to figure out where the best place to adjust the times base speed of the weathermaker prefab.
I wish to 2x or 3x the base times speed. without adjusting Time.timeScale. Where would you suggest i make that change or how? I dont want to unbalence what you already have by randomly hacking areas of your code. Thanks in advance.

 

Is it the precipitation, clouds, fog or just everything you want to speed up? I could look at adding a global speed multiplier...

 

I have already put in feelers that adjust the other speeds and intensities for me. Calling the weather itself was easy also. So other transitions are fine. I'm wishing to be able to make the clock run faster. I know i can change Time.timeScale but that makes everything run fast... Im only wanting to 2x or 4x the clock.

Edit.
I of course expect the sun and the moon to rise/set faster.. I just need to shorten the time it takes a full day night cycle to occur..

 

You can set the speed of the day and night using the day night cycle profile. Let me know if you have trouble finding it.

 

I did find inside the "WeatherMakerDayNightCycleProfileScript.cs" on line 168 " public float Speed = 10000.0f;" and on line 173 " public float NightSpeed = 10000.0f;"

Side note: If there is a inspector location for this script inside the prefab please direct me to the GameObject it is attached too. I couldn't find it.

I did in fact find those values as you can see above by my copy paste.. that currently i have those values at 10k each.... when i launch the game the time spins at the same pace. Where am i going wrong?
addition: Im using the Linux version of Unity 2017.31f1

 

Under the prefab look for managers -> day night manager -> day night script. In the inspector double click the profile and now you can set the speeds you want.

 

Well thank you very much that indeed solved my problem. In addition you also taught me something new. I was not aware i could dbl click the profile. Thank you for showing me this.

Now for my next question. The "Storm Clouds" setting on the drop down for the prefab... I don't see clouds of any kind as a matter of fact... its jet black. I can show you a screenshot or a video of it in action. it appears to operate correctly.. except it gets so dark its like a moonless night with a jet black sky.

How or where would i adjust the darkness of the storm clouds. Sorry i'm bothering you so much. I have one addition question after this one.

 

Hello, from one of your videos. You demonstrate the Full screen snow overlay. This was one of the selling points for me when i bought this. I have not seen that work, so i assume i'm not doing something correctly. How would i trigger that effect. In snowstorm at full intensity i don't see it either.

After a initial test. A new project with the prefab by itself. I don't see it either.

Update: A fresh project with the prefab. with only a terrain and a texture. I did finally find the intensity slider. I don't know if i should be dragging this manually to see the effect or not. The overlay feature isn't working like the video.

This is what i see out of box.

Please understand. I am not complaining about the package. Im very happy with it. I just recognize something is wrong and i don't know why.

 

Sorry for the late reply. Did we work this out over email? If not please email support@digitalruby.com and I will get you taken care of. Unity really has problems notifying on forms posts via email...

 

I've just bought weather maker and added the prefab in. I'm getting a weird dance on the grass in the local area almost like an extreme wind, causing part of it to disappear.

I actual run two camera, and have the weathermaker camera set to my background camera that renders the distant terrains and the sky, etc. this camera is only rendering nearby objects, but the grass in the nearby vicinity seems to be turning on and off in waves? That is standard VegetationStudio grass.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/374537134012366848/428100257164034048/weathermaker.mp4

edit: seems to stop acting strange when I turn off the FullScreenSkyClouds GameObject

 

Does weather make need to render in both cameras? Can you try adding one and then replace it with the other in the "IgnoreCameras" list of Weather Maker script? Let me know if that helps. Happy to Skype if we need to.

 

I need sky on the distant camera or the main camera will depth cull everything on the distant camera. But I need particle effects like rain and snow on the main camera.

Can you tell what is causing the grass to freak out?
I'd be happy to Skype or Discord.

 

My guess is the full screen cloud command buffer is interfering with the grass. If all you need are sky and clouds on the distant camera, we might be able to rig something up. Send me your skype user name to support@digitalruby.com and we can try and figure this out.

 

hi @jjxtra
I just purchased your asset and I have a question:
I added into my scene and is ok, but seems that the diffuse light is black... in fact when the objects are not shooted directly are black.. is there a setting to fix this?

is there a guide to help me to set values by script?
thanks!

 

Can you double check a blank project with just weather maker and open "DemoSceneBlank" and let me know if light looks ok? Just want to make sure the package is OK. If it is, then we can do a Skype and figure out why you have blackness. Email me support@digitalruby.com with your Skype.

 

thanks!
I think that the problem is the lighting config:

also with skybox setting is the same

 

Try nulling the skybox in light settings

 

I tried another scene, in the blank, each light changes is not affected:



but in different lights the environment light is not working, too much bright

 

I need to call this out in the documentation, but environmental lighting -> source must be set to Color or Gradient, and environment reflections -> source to custom. Let me know how that looks with that change.

 

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for making this great asset! I feel like it has added a lot to my project. I am developing for Oculus Rift.
One issue I am having is that the transition between dusk and night, right after the sun sets, happens very abruptly. The sky pops to a much darker color all of a sudden. I am using the procedural sky with sky mode "Procedural Unity Style". In "Procedural Preetham Style", the transition is smoother, but I am not a fan of the orange glow around the sun, once it disappears behind the horizon. What are some settings I can play with to adjust these issues?

On another note. I have not been able to find guidance on what to assign as camera with the Rift. I'm not able to drag the OVRCameraRig into the box in the WeatherMaker Prefab.

Looking forward to any guidance you can offer.
Phil

 

What latitude and longitude and date are you using for the day night cycle? I will have a look. Weather Maker is only compatible with Unity cameras. Does OVRCameraRig inherit from camera or is it something else entirely?

 

Thanks for the quick reply. Here are the settings for the day/night manager:
Lat: 43.8231
Long: -111.7924
Date: 7 March 2017

OVRCameraRig is a Prefab that comes with the Oculus SDK and is essentially the camera for Rift. I was playing around with it some more and this is what I found:

Inside the OVRCameraRig, there are actually other objects, including a "LeftEyeAnchor", a "RightEyeAnchor" and a "CenterEyeAnchor". It actually IS possible to drag any of these three into the WeatherMaker Camera box. It does not seem to make a difference whether one of them is in there or it is empty.

 

I fixed the sun problem and am sending an update. Look for it in about an hour on the asset store.

 

hi @jjxtra
I made some improvements and understood more things:
I have a question about the sun:
now my sets are gradient as environment lighting and in the daynightcycle profile I set ambientcolormodifiers to all and the environment light is ok, or better: i'm able to change the colors and I see the results...
but for the sun color I have a question: I set to test this:

but the sun is always the 'editor' color:
I tried to debug, changed some things like this:

Code (CSharp):

1. // before:
2. sun.Light.color *= SunTintColorGradient.Evaluate(l);
3. // now:
4. sun.Light.color = SunTintColorGradient.Evaluate(l);

and in fact, the `sun.Light.color` tooks the red color, but seems that somewhere the color is owerwrite, tooks the editor color...

any ideas about this??

thanks in advance

 

hello again @jjxtra
I noticed this issue when I added to my main project:

the editor is ok (the sky color and the sun is drawn right, but the game view (camera view) no, no sun and the sky is still the same tone...
any ideas?

 

Does this asset support Top down 2D? Looks nice but it seems like it is set up for side scrolling 2D only.

 

other 2 questions:

• it has an 'haze' to make the far background more foggy?
• it's possible hide the precipitations for a meter far from the camera or do something similar (i'm incar and if it rains, it rains inside the car

thanks and have an happy Easter!

 

It's side scroll only for now, but I agree it should support top down a little easier. I will look into that.