-=Weather Effects=-

[FOGofWAR]

I skipped BF2, so I don't know if they have ever had these, but it would rock to get some rain or falling snow on some maps. Hell, give me a blizzard. Would intensify urban battle if the rain was pounding with thunder and lightning that interfered with hearing and vision.

[Saureco]

Maps like Belgrade and Verdun have snow falling.

[The_Eliminator]

They didnt do this in BF2 but it was great in the Enemy Territory Mod for Castle Wolfenstein, rain and thunder would occasionally occur.

[FOGofWAR]

Saureco;122675']Maps like Belgrade and Verdun have snow falling.

It's of no consequence. I mean stuff that will have an effect.

[Deesies]

what kind of effect? All you've said is you wanted rain and snowand stuff which the game already has?

[Saureco]

It's of no consequence. I mean stuff that will have an effect.

What, like traction loss or covering your sniper body with snow? Good luck doing the code for that.

[Dr_Zyklon]

they had thunders once in a while in armored fury booster pack if im not wrong

[Ized]

it seems to me that neither BF2 or BF2142 engines support -changing- weather effects on the maps. Would be cool tough :)

[CarbonFire]

Saureco;122711']What, like traction loss or covering your sniper body with snow? Good luck doing the code for that.

Its not the coding thats hard, its the power that people would need in their systems and in Servers/Net connections to handle it. The Aegiz PHysX card is a step in the right direction towards this (physics-calculated particle effects), as is DirectX 10. With the next generation (not Crysis, but the games after) we might start seeing people use the full potential of the geometry shader, where falling snow increases the size of an embankment and if you hit a wall with a tank shell you get a hole, not just a black mark. Yes, Red Faction has destructable terrain, but it was more or less a hack with prebuilt destructable sections, not true particle and geometry based deformations and changes.

Honestly though we are still a LONG LONG LONG way off from being able to do this stuff in online games. I'm guessing 5-10 years , since most of that tech won't be adopted till most everyone has a machine capable of these more interactive worlds.

Changing weather effects are possible now, and would be nice to see (decreased visibility due to snow or rain at certain times during a game perhaps). But just don't expect it to make any physical difference in game play for many more years.

[Deesies]

traction loss isn't hard to do, neither would snow on your back. The HL engine can do this sort of stuff >.>

[Sir. Tasty]

The game already has snow...

[drunken sailor]

and have alot of it so u cant see that far in some situations

[CarbonFire]

traction loss isn't hard to do, neither would snow on your back. The HL engine can do this sort of stuff >.>
Neither is HARD to do, but both require either a hack that makes it inconsequential and "fake" or machines that are far more powerful than we have now (mostly on the server-side). I think what I was describing was dynamic changes, as in things get dynamically wetter and more slippery as the rain continues to fall, snow builds up and changes where you can and can't get into on the map, footsteps are visible and act in a realistic manner to show where players have been. While I'm sure Valve is capable of putting these things into Source, I'm not sure the full capabilities are there yet, but theyre close - look at THIS (http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/cpu/valve-multicore.ars) for details.

[The_Needle]

Funny, I would swear I have played some of these maps in the rain already.

[Jofaba]

I get what he's saying, but games just aren't at that point yet. The next generation of games are ground breaking because they'll have destructible environments and foilage that moves, as well as a a "time" aspect (sun moving across the sky). Unfortunately, stuff like weather works better in single player than multiplayer, and even in single player they bog your computer down. I've got a nice rig, but the weather maps in COD2 still kill my fps.

Just imagine what games will be like in 5 years. Hell, in 2 years. Just be patient =P