From: Renk T. <tho...@jy...> - 2013-02-21 11:13:31
|
> Why should those users be forced to give up on those goodies just > because one > part of the rendering scheme doesn't want to play by the rules? Even > more so when there's no indication that happens... > > The default max visibility value is a pretty sane default, and simply > increasing that to huge values without any kind of warning of the > implications provided to the unaware user is simply _BAD_DESIGN_ imho. > (As is disabling the z/Z key behaviour in one of the weather options, > again without any warning provided whatsoever). Fact check: 1) I'm proposing to set the distance out to which the terrain is unconditionally loaded to a value of 20 km. The hard-coded default max value of the visibility is currently 120 km. FGs default visibility at startup is about 16 km (and I'd be fine with that value as well). No idea why my proposed 20 km would be a 'huge value'. 2) There is LOD bare under user control which allows you to unconditionally set a lower value for the terrain you load. There is a max. visibility slider for Advanced Weather which allows you to define the maximum visibility that Advanced Weather will ever reach - this is initialized to a rather low value. I don't know if this is synchronized with the max. visibility in Basic Weather, it isn't in Advanced Weather, which is something I can fix if needed. There is _no_ talk about 'giving up goodies' here if goodies are a limited range of the scene, and there is _no_ bad design here because all can be controlled in a sane way from the GUI. 3) The purpose of loading unconditionally 20 km worth of terrain is not 'because one rendering scheme doesn't play along' but to prevent * terrain radar code (which'd be especially useful in low visibility conditions) breaks as it can't probe terrain elevations ahead * Advanced Weather can't get terrain elevation info and is unable to assemble a reasonable picture of the surrounding terrain * the light scattering shader does not longer know what color the fog should be when looking down, as the skydome representing the terrain does not have an altitude - so there appear mismatches between skydome standing for terrain and residual actual terrain (yes, terrain altitude and slope matters even if you can't see it - a completely fogged mountain can still block light!) * when passing a low visibility region (say a cloud with 100 m, as defined to make the cloudbase of thermals more realistic), there is no terrain left when coming out, and you see it re-loading which looks a bit silly 4) z/Z is disabled because weather comes with a model for the vertical change of visibility as you go to different altitudes. You are allowed to affect that model (that's what sliders are for), but you are not supposed to micro-manage the weather simulation. There's a clear idea behind all of this, which is that in Advanced Weather you trust the simulation to have an understanding of weather and terrain and get the details right, you do not adjust the details. I'm not forcing any Basic Weather user to the Advanced Weather philosophy, don't try the reverse on me. Leaving your obvious expression of dislike for Advanced Weather aside, is there anything in your post which has relevance for what we're discussing here? If yes, please explain. * Thorsten |