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What do you think about the Blizzard weather effects in EE2?

Posted: 15 Sep 2019, 10:30
by Dr.MonaLisa
Do you guys like the current weather effects during the Blizzard (snow storm) in EE2?

Example:
Empire Earth II 2019.09.15 - 05.35.53.02.mp4_20190915_102206.087.jpg
Empire Earth II 2019.09.15 - 05.35.53.02.mp4_20190915_102206.087.jpg (1.63 MiB) Viewed 9696 times

I personally find them very annoying. I know, the weather is supposed to affect your vision, but it's one of the reasons why everyone disables weather in Multiplayer games.

I was thinking about decreasing this fog effect to the one used by Heavy Rain:
Empire Earth II 2019.09.15 - 05.35.53.02.mp4_20190915_102608.570.jpg
Empire Earth II 2019.09.15 - 05.35.53.02.mp4_20190915_102608.570.jpg (1.98 MiB) Viewed 9696 times
Just to be clear, I didn't find a way (yet) to modify this effect, but I want to know opinion of the other players first, before "wasting" time.
Unofficial Patch 1.5 is supposed to not change the original EE2 things, but honestly if everyone dislikes it, it wouldn't be a bad idea to change.

Re: What do you think about the Blizzard weather effects in EE2?

Posted: 15 Sep 2019, 10:43
by Tojo
In my opinion it's pretty unplayable with vision that much decreased. Even thought this is EE2 original effect I support the idea of adjusting it.
Regards!

Re: What do you think about the Blizzard weather effects in EE2?

Posted: 15 Sep 2019, 10:56
by Loewenherz
To be honest, the weather effect has does not annoying for me. But the EE2 weather effects are usually all too much, like the desertstorm in arid. I would not necessarily change it.

Re: What do you think about the Blizzard weather effects in EE2?

Posted: 19 Sep 2019, 17:37
by Gonzalo
If my opinion is not to be disregarded, I am with Loew. The effects of weather are realistic. Whomsoever doesn't like, he is in good free will to lock them.

Re: What do you think about the Blizzard weather effects in EE2?

Posted: 19 Sep 2019, 17:51
by Dr.MonaLisa
Please vote in the poll, Gonzalo.

Thanks for all opinions.

The weather can indeed be disabled, but then we lose the normal snow falling or rain effects. I think the blizzard "fog" is the only reason why people disable weather on modern computers. I'm thinking about the optional option to disable those effects (by UP1.5 Settings) but didn't find a solution how to "hack" it yet. Maybe Loew can help me later with transparent textures.

Re: What do you think about the Blizzard weather effects in EE2?

Posted: 19 Sep 2019, 19:15
by Gonzalo
Yes, my friend, it would be better if those effects were autonomous from simple rain and snow. Sorry for giving a prompt opinion

Re: What do you think about the Blizzard weather effects in EE2?

Posted: 20 Sep 2019, 07:10
by Dr.MonaLisa
The poll is at the top of this topic

Re: What do you think about the Blizzard weather effects in EE2?

Posted: 05 Oct 2019, 17:19
by Dr.MonaLisa
Good news. After 30 hours with Assembly, I found the memory locations that decide about the Sandstorm and Blizzard effects. I made sure that the "fog" is the only thing changed, so other effects, sounds, etc. will be the same.

Of course it will be an optional option, available in the Maximization Helper:

ReduceVisualWeatherEffectsForBlizzardAndSandstorm.PNG
ReduceVisualWeatherEffectsForBlizzardAndSandstorm.PNG (391.14 KiB) Viewed 9434 times

Description:
Checking "Reduce visual weather effects for Blizzard and Sandstorm" resolves the issue where during bad weather it's almost impossible to see and control anything.
This fix is only used when option "Enable Weather" was checked on the game setup screen, under "Environment" tab, before game start.
Changing this option has an immediate effect (no game restart is required), however if the bad weather is currently active, then the fix will work the next time the bad weather comes.
Some players rarely played with the Weather enabled due to bad vision - now they have a chance to play with it again.


This feature will be available in UP1.5 version 157021 (released at some time in October 2019).