Weather mod v2.0 for DCS

[bandit648]

On 8/17/2025 at 11:52 PM, Nealius said:

Can we get Tempest's decoupled 33ft/1600ft mod integrated into this? I'm unable to use both mods simultaneously due to them both using me_weather.lua. Without the decoupled winds any wind speed above 2kts gives absurdly unrealistic wind sheer at 1600ft.

I will look at updating this into my me_weather.lua. Tempest's mod hasn't been updated since 2022 and DCS has added many changes to that file since then, so I wouldn't recommend using it.

 

[TheBiggerBass]

How do I have to setup a mission to start with another random weather situation at each mission start?

Edited August 29 by TheBiggerBass

[The Stick]

Flew last night - downright gorgeous!

[grim_reaper68]

On 8/27/2025 at 11:49 PM, TheBiggerBass said:

How do I have to setup a mission to start with another random wheather situation at each mission start?

I asked the same question, it seems not to be possible to have random weather in DCS. 

[TheBiggerBass]

vor 3 Stunden schrieb grim_reaper68:

I asked the same question, it seems not to be possible to have random weather in DCS. 

That's a shame. Random weather condition for every mission start would be a real nice feature to increase immersion.

Edited August 29 by TheBiggerBass

[bandit648]

5 hours ago, grim_reaper68 said:

I asked the same question, it seems not to be possible to have random weather in DCS. 

 

3 hours ago, TheBiggerBass said:

That's a shame. Random weather condition for every mission start would be a real nice feature to increase immersion.

Dynamic weather that changes mid-mission is currently not possible. I do have some ideas to make random weather at mission start possible. I will see what I can do.

 

[grim_reaper68]

TAlking about dynnamic weather, the last time I used it, some clouds disappeared in the field of view, has it been corrected? 

[Linx]

On 8/29/2025 at 10:09 PM, grim_reaper68 said:

TAlking about dynnamic weather, the last time I used it, some clouds disappeared in the field of view, has it been corrected? 

Dynamic weather has been mostly untouched since DCS 1. It does not even support the "new" clouds from 2021.

[bandit648]

I plan to release v2.0 later today. I tried to get Tempest's wind mod working but it appears ED has locked that down because nothing I tried will decouple the ground wind layer from 1600ft wind layer. His mod will decouple the layers in the mission editor but it doesn't have any effect in game. 20 knots ground wind still results in 40 knots at 1600ft. 

That being said, I did make some nice improvements to this latest generation of cirrus clouds. I replaced a few textures with new ones and made some improvements to others. Shadows are looking much better now also. Overall I think these are the best looking cirrus yet. 

I also increased the fog visibility range in the mission editor. You can use that to create a nice hazy atmosphere look. 

 

 

[swartbyron]

Absolutely mind-blowing work on those cirrus clouds!

Well done!

Edited yesterday at 08:26 PM by swartbyron

[VR Flight Guy in PJ Pants]

Wow!

[bandit648]

9/04/2025 - Updated to version 2.0

- 3 NEW cirrus cloud textures
- Improved several other cirrus cloud textures
- Improved cirrus cloud shadows
- Various cirrus shader improvements
- Increased fog visibility cap in the mission editor.
- Fixed artifacts in Scattered Shower 5 cloud preset 

Low Resolution and legacy versions available here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jEVEdgFXQAVfvUsUMLnOiC4RaUGxEaA5?usp=sharing

[G.J.S]

6 minutes ago, bandit648 said:

9/04/2025 - Updated to version 2.0

- 3 NEW cirrus cloud textures
- Improved several other cirrus cloud textures
- Improved cirrus cloud shadows
- Various cirrus shader improvements
- Increased fog visibility cap in the mission editor.
- Fixed artifacts in Scattered Shower 5 cloud preset 

Low Resolution and legacy versions available here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jEVEdgFXQAVfvUsUMLnOiC4RaUGxEaA5?usp=sharing

Just keeps getting better and better . . . 

[Archangel44]

Looks outstanding.

Thank you.

[Rob Mason]

WOW!!! Bandit you've done it yet again!! This mod of yours is truly a "must have" for all DCS pilots and mission makers alike. I'm sure I speak for everybody that uses your awesome mod when I say THANK YOU FOR ALL THE PREVIUOS RELEASES AND ALL YOUR HARD WORK.

[VR Flight Guy in PJ Pants]

Again, this should have had been with the Core...

[Esac_mirmidon]

The man doing it again.

Stunning Bandit, splendid.

[Scal]

On 8/20/2025 at 12:45 AM, Scal said:

Hi bandit648 ! 
First of all, thank you for this great mod witch permits splendid atmosphere and game-play !!! 
I use it as much as possible during multiplayer missions. But I'm facing a little problem: Some player does not have it installed and do not want to loose time before we start as it is not mandatory. What happen, for example is that mod user are in the clouds and the other in a sunny day.

Is there a way to detect if the mod is installed through a script or a piece of lua code ?
If not would it be possible that if the mod is not installed it uses a dcs preset similar/close to the mod preset ?
Or would it be possible to make the mod mandatory ?

Any clue about this ?

[bandit648]

1 hour ago, Scal said:

Any clue about this ?

Sorry, I really don't have a solution for this. The only thing you can do at this time is make sure that players have the mod installed before joining the server. Maybe some folks that have more experience with multiplayer servers will chime in with some advice, but I don't think there's much you can do outside of making sure everyone has the mod.

 

[zildac]

Thanks for continuing to update this Bandit! Re the LOW res version and VR specifically, is this solely for performance reasons as I never noticed any degradation previously?

[bandit648]

15 hours ago, G.J.S said:

Just keeps getting better and better . . . 

 

15 hours ago, Archangel44 said:

Looks outstanding.

Thank you.

 

10 hours ago, Rob Mason said:

WOW!!! Bandit you've done it yet again!! This mod of yours is truly a "must have" for all DCS pilots and mission makers alike. I'm sure I speak for everybody that uses your awesome mod when I say THANK YOU FOR ALL THE PREVIUOS RELEASES AND ALL YOUR HARD WORK.

 

4 hours ago, VR Flight Guy in PJ Pants said:

Again, this should have had been with the Core...

 

3 hours ago, Esac_mirmidon said:

The man doing it again.

Stunning Bandit, splendid.

 

Thanks guys! I really appreciate compliments. I think I'm finally satisfied with the way the cirrus look . I'd really like to continue to develop more advanced features for the weather simulation but we really need ED to update some of the legacy code for the weather engine. 

6 minutes ago, zildac said:

Thanks for continuing to update this Bandit! Re the LOW res version and VR specifically, is this solely for performance reasons as I never noticed any degradation previously?

Yes, the 4K version uses more VRAM specifically. I had to pack in all of my textures into a dds texture array because the game engine only allows 4 texture files for cirrus. That results in much larger texture files being loaded into memory. This was only way for me to increase the number of cirrus variations above 4.

 

[BlackFalco]

21 ore fa, bandit648 ha scritto:

9/04/2025 - Updated to version 2.0

- 3 NEW cirrus cloud textures
- Improved several other cirrus cloud textures
- Improved cirrus cloud shadows
- Various cirrus shader improvements
- Increased fog visibility cap in the mission editor.
- Fixed artifacts in Scattered Shower 5 cloud preset 

Low Resolution and legacy versions available here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jEVEdgFXQAVfvUsUMLnOiC4RaUGxEaA5?usp=sharing

thanks thanks thanks thanks for your work man!!!! 

Is there lots of difference between Low Resolution and legacy versions?

Edited 2 hours ago by BlackFalco

[bandit648]

34 minutes ago, BlackFalco said:

thanks thanks thanks thanks for your work man!!!! 

Is there lots of difference between Low Resolution and legacy versions?

Actually the low resolution version looks surprisingly good in my testing. If your flying in VR and are worried about VRAM utilization then I recommend using the low res version.

Legacy versions I don't really recommend running. For one, I think the cirrus look better then ever in 2.0. You can maybe go back a few versions and still be OK but the latest version is what is compatible with the current version of DCS.

[BlackFalco]

4 minuti fa, bandit648 ha scritto:

Actually the low resolution version looks surprisingly good in my testing. If your flying in VR and are worried about VRAM utilization then I recommend using the low res version.

Legacy versions I don't really recommend running. For one, I think the cirrus look better then ever in 2.0. You can maybe go back a few versions and still be OK but the latest version is what is compatible with the current version of DCS.

Can I go with legacy version if I don't use VR?

[TheBiggerBass]

vor 22 Stunden schrieb bandit648:

9/04/2025 - Updated to version 2.0

- 3 NEW cirrus cloud textures
- Improved several other cirrus cloud textures
- Improved cirrus cloud shadows
- Various cirrus shader improvements
- Increased fog visibility cap in the mission editor.
- Fixed artifacts in Scattered Shower 5 cloud preset 

Low Resolution and legacy versions available here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jEVEdgFXQAVfvUsUMLnOiC4RaUGxEaA5?usp=sharing

Thanks again! Should become part of DCS core (+ random weather option).