Has anyone else wondered how cool it would be to see a rainbow in TSW with the current lighting and weather system? We can technically simulate the necessary conditions to make one appear, and they could even appear naturally with dynamic weather, it just makes sense. There was even one in the key art for Bremen - Oldenburg: Not game-changing by any means but it’s something I don’t think will go unnoticed if added. So has anybody else even given them any thought?
i’d love this as a feature but have no faith dtg would do it properly. i’m talking rainbows that just appear and disappear, said rainbow only lasting for 5 minutes, rainbows appearing even when it’s not raining
I think the correct conditions for a rainbow to appear don’t generally occur in TSW’s weather system and the technical difficulties of having them appear realistic and in the right place would prevent them being done in TSW. I think the brightness of the sky in TSW is also an issue. I’d say it’s probably best not to even try recreate a rainbow in TSW. We certainly wouldn’t want one appearing in the wrong place, like in the picture above. Rainbows are relatively rare and usually fleeting because they require quite specific conditions to occur and I for one would not like to see a rainbow appear in conditions where it would be impossible for one to appear in real life.
This is the same boat I find myself in. I think it’s completely doable, and I would be shocked if they weren’t at least considered when switching to newer, more advanced weather and lighting systems (the use of one on promo art for a route bolsters this in a way). I also think that if they were added, they’d inevitably be bugged and it would probably be better they had never been added.
Yes the current dynamic weather system needs some tweaking as some changes, specifically with fog and rain, are really sharp and sudden. Not very ‘dynamic’.
Matt P has said a few times that rainbows are possible, but the function is currently disabled in the core game.
I think the nature of rainbows is that they are a somewhat rare and fleeting phenomenon. The conditions needed to simulate one, therefore, don’t need to generally occur every session. But rather on certain occasions so it still feels rare and special when one does appear. I certainly hope this isn’t the common mindset among players when new features get speculated about. You think they’d get it wrong so it’s the best for everyone they just not appear at all? I think the weather system and the overall nature of the sim allows the devs to exercise some artistic liberties. Look at sunrises and sunsets in ToD 4, for example. They’re absolutely beautiful but terribly inaccurate and don’t represent most sunrises and sunsets you’d see in reality. I think a similar principle could be applied to rainbows.
I think they can do it. I wouldn’t be surprised if they already have and just haven’t enabled them for whatever reason(s).
That's what I was thinking also. A drawn rainbow in Thomas would be one thing, but an actual simulated rainbow of sun through mist would be much more effort, and they're already trying to trim down performance hits where they can.
I was something that was considered for TSW4 but at the time not implemented. Since then there have been more important things on topic and it's basically dropped down the essentials list, to the might be nice at some point list. Maybe a talented modder could find the trigger in the game core and enable it... maybe?
I think a new weather system will come one day. But as said above, you can't go adding extra graphical improvements until the core is more stable. It's not just rainbows. Distant storms at night, mist forming correctly along rivers, no fog in the middle of the day in summer, more realisitic rain and snow, hail too, a realistic combination of lightning types, better dawn and sunset timings and a greater choice of clouds that appear realistically. Proper windy whether and effects. It's a big job and while it's important for a lot of us for immersion purposes because the current dynamic weather behaviour isn't great, I'd be happy to wait so that console players and those with low-spec computers can have a less blurry and laggy time first of all. That's hopefully their priority, weather will come later, hopefully by the time TSW8 is out.
That would be a dream come true. Just think how much ambience it would bring to the game At this point, an overhaul of the weather system is overdue I'd say. Dynamic weather has always been a gamble and doesn't behave remotely realistic. And from what I've gathered, many people disable it altogether, opting for a single weather condition for the whole run instead. Not a satisfying solution either. The lighting is another related point. TOD4 lighting is much better than TOD3, sure. But sunlight still doesn't look too natural. I think with current day's options and abilites, much more is possible. Have to agree though, this would mean a huge amount of extra work and DTG's priorities clearly lie elsewhere at the moment.
They need to improve the weather system they already have and then things like that can happen naturally when appropriate. An entire weather rework would sell me on a new game alone. A few new routes and some small feature additions aren't really gonna do it for me anymore. I'm lucky to play on PC so I'd really like to try that Route Annotations mod with the "Live/Historical weather" system, but I just can't be bothered to go down that rabbit hole of potential mod improvements. I'd never stop at one or two. After seeing how good it is though, it kind of dampens my experience with the vanilla game even though I haven't tried it myself. If the weather in the vanilla game worked that well, I would empty my wallet on a new game and new routes. The sizzle reel videos would blow people away if it were done well enough.
