[Suggestion] - A Few Things

[scramble-cat]

Hi there!!

First of all I want to say that this mod is SO COOL. I’ve been nerding out about it to several people, because I’ve not seen any other mod take things like temperature and humidity into account with the weather system <— meteorology student

I do have a few suggestions/ideas!

1 - Tornado scaling based solely off strength, not speed and size It’d be nice if the different scales caused more damage reflective to how they do in real life. I am not a modder and am not familiar with the scripts needed to do so, but I have been turning this over in my head for a while, and this is what I ultimately came up with: F0: Can only pick up leaves, grass and other plants, gravity blocks, and small ‘objects’ (such as candles) picking up less blocks per tick (like 2 blocks per tick) F1: All of the above with higher blocks per tick (maybe 4), as well as wooden doors, trapdoors, windows, fences, and perhaps some wood planks F2: All of the above with higher blocks per tick (maybe 6), as well as occasional wood/logs F3: All of the above with higher blocks per tick (you get the idea) F4: All of the above, with some more sturdy blocks such as bricks, stone bricks, deepslate, cobblestone, etc F5: All of the above, but with things like dirt & grass blocks (ground scouring), rails, iron & copper objects… honestly anything above ground

This leaves room for more variation in tornado size and speed!

I’d genuinely be happy to put together a complete compiled list of which blocks the different scales could potentially pick up & the frequency of them. categorizing things is my passion (and I will likely do this on my own anyway just for fun, which is why I thought I’d offer to share it haha)

**2 - Thicker clouds & ‘skybox tinting’*** (Whatever it is that vanilla minecraft does for normal rain and thunderstorms) It may be nice to have some thicker clouds! Right now you can see the sky entirely through them, no matter how hard it’s storming. Sort of breaks the immersion when you can see the sun through a tornado. However, along a similar line, perhaps a ‘clear’ option as well? I’ve noticed that the sky is mostly covered by clouds no matter where you are, so it may be neat to get some lengths of sunlight time. It would be cool to see things like the ‘Simple Clouds’ mod (which would be incredible to see that type of thing with this mod), or the ‘Better Clouds Reforged’ mod. I feel like it would fit very nicely to keep the aesthetic a lot more vanilla-like!

Anyway, all in all, really like this mod :] I know it’s been around for some time, but I’ve only seen it in videos, never had the opportunity to play it myself. I’m excited to see where it goes!

[Panthr75]

Something like this?

[scramble-cat]

Something like this?

Yes!!

I love the other blocks like the grass and stone blocks slowly eroding too (especially moreso as the tornado intensifies), that’s a super cool detail— feels like that’d add some really nice texture to the damage paths & make ‘em more realistic.

It might be neat if the broken-down stone could be picked up once it reaches its most eroded point (ex. cobblestone can be picked up, but not stone bricks)— and, adding onto that, maybe the speed at which they erode could scale more dramatically in f4 and f5s to allow for more intense/faster damage in stronger storms.

[Panthr75]

I want to change how the intensity works as it seems sort of jank.

Vanilla version of the mod stores a maximum intensity. Once the storm reaches that intensity, it then de-intensifies.

In my opinion this system is kinda bad as it makes storms really linear plus the time it takes to intensify/de-intensify is really long.

I want to have it so each storm has a lifespan and a fluctuating wind speed.

Every couple of seconds or so, the wind speed would fluctuate a couple mph or so. The lifespan would determine the maximum intensity of the windspeed so it slowly gets weaker.

The current damage system is based on wind speed and more input on what blocks should be effected at each wind speed would be helpful.

Anything else that would be of particular interest?

I honestly have no clue how I'm going to add size variations and how that would effect maximum intensity.

In an ideal world I'd rewrite the entire system for dealing with storms to be more dynamic. Could even allow for multi-vortex tornados.

[scramble-cat]

Oooh, yes, I agree! I think a less linear approach would work well, especially for realism when it comes to track length. That way we could get shorter weaker tornadoes and long-tracked stronger ones. Would be nice to see the wind speed plateau for a while as it reaches max intensity in its lifespan, just to give it some chance to be at its maximum before it begins to decay.

I also feel like there's no need to directly link size with intensity-- while it definitely helps to do more damage, it doesn't always reflect actual intensity. Same with forward speed-- slower tornadoes do more damage, but that's 'cause they expose things to the winds for longer. This seemed to be how the intensity worked in the mod when I looked at it, so it'll be nice to separate wind speed from size/forward speed. Honestly, I personally think it'd work even if there was just a randomized size within a set range, as long as the wind speed is its own variable (though, maybe different ranges for each of the wind speeds, so we don't end up with a rope f5 lol. I am spitballing here I think)

In terms of block input based on wind speed, I actually did end up starting a spreadsheet for fun after I wrote my original comment, so I can send it here once I'm done if you'd like!

[Panthr75]

Yes that would be very helpful!

[Panthr75]

Furthermore, I want to see if I can implement a wind gradient. As of right now, all damage is of one particular kind, but we both know the further away from the center you get less damage.

[scramble-cat]

Oh, that would be super neat!!

[Panthr75]

I have managed to add support for the wind gradient.

While I start work on the new weather system I have added most of the features to the old one which is showcased.

The reason why I'm making a new one is because the old one is a pain to modify.

This video showcase is fascinating in my opinion. The damage is quite catastrophic, yet so interesting.