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The Clouds


RipGore
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I've been browsing through the Yahoo news section and I found an article called The priciest ZIP Codes in the nation. #1 on the list is Ross, California, located near San Francisco. I went to street view due to my extreme curiosity.. always, always curious. It is a typical rich neighborhood where neighbors... can't really see their neighbors due to the numerous blockades of vegetation. I was like.. eh. But then... then I panned up to the sky and discovered these clouds:

 

user posted image

mercie_blink.gif Clouds look pristine even in Google street view.

 

 

 

 

In GTA IV, the clouds looked flat, simplistic, and icky:

user posted image

 

 

 

 

Interestingly, Battlefield 3 has impressive cloud GFX:

user posted image

turn.gif That's more like it

 

 

 

 

GTA V's clouds are improved over IV, but it doesn't seem that Rockstar tried hard enough on the realism for clouds as much as the BF3 designers did. (Not to diss on Rockstar; this image sums it up to the facts so far.)

user posted image

 

 

 

user posted image

 

Clouds on this image look too similar to GTA IV's clouds. I hope that this beta image does not display the final render for clouds' appearance.

 

 

 

 

Realistic clouds are eye candy in any video game. If the ground is so detailed, the sky should be as well; since flying is now a huge deal in this game. biggrin.gif

 

 

 

 

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AlienWillHeMonsta

Is that BF3 image from a console of PC? I have BF3 on the Xbox and the 'skybox' doesn't look anything like that.

 

 

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IsThisOneGood

While I agree it may be a nice touch, but the current gen may not be able to handle it so the devs' goal is to allocate the memory where needed the most.

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tenpennyisplainevil

BF3 has this epic engine that can only run on max settings on a $1000 PC, mine is $700 and it can play it on medium with nice result. But what I'm trying to say is that consoles simply can't. The GTA V clouds look awesome as it is, besides, BF3 clouds were optimised because of the extensive use of jets. GTA doesn't really need highly detailed volumetric clouds.

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Funny, I was just about to post a topic similar to this. (GET OUTTA MY HEAD!)

 

Anyway...

 

I agree with the fact that IV's sky was pretty meh. But it seems Rockstar have improved on this a bit since IV, looking at Red Dead and MP3. Sure, with the screenshots you posted, the clouds look fairly sub-par. However, I was recently looking at all of the newer screenshots from V so far, and I have to say, I am very impressed with how the sky looks. For whatever reason, I've always wanted an incredible sky in GTA, and I really like it when games have good-looking skyboxes. From what we've seen so far, it looks like V delivers on that aspect. With the lighting engine being revamped, the sun, sky, and clouds look better than ever. (With lens flare!) I think we'll be flying over Los Santos, and admiring the skies & beyond.

 

And for anyone who hasn't played Red Dead, here's a wonderful timelapse of the world:

 

Keep in mind that this is just the Xbox 360 version, which is pretty impressive. IMO of course.

I think we can expect to see something similar to, or better than this as far as skies go.

 

(I like skies.)

 

EDIT: Also, thanks for reminding me that my PC will never be able to make BF3 look that amazing. Thanks a lot!

Edited by xWH1T30UTx
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I know nothing of programming so this might be a dumb question.

 

Do the clouds in RDR look better because you can't get closer to them via aerial vehicles?

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Trying hard is not R*s strong suit as of late. I don't expect any better clouds than gtaIV.

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Trying hard is not R*s strong suit as of late. I don't expect any better clouds than gtaIV.

Zee, go home, you're drunk.

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Complex Synthesis

 

Trying hard is not R*s strong suit as of late. I don't expect any better clouds than gtaIV.

Rockstar devs have probably sinned with your mother. Therefore you're so angry at them for the rest of your life.

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I know nothing of programming so this might be a dumb question.

 

Do the clouds in RDR look better because you can't get closer to them via aerial vehicles?

I believe they are more detailed because overall the game uses less resources, so there's more to use for the clouds.

 

The type of cloud shown in GTA V is rather awkward anyways. It seems to be some sort of stratus cloud but pretty far spaced in between. It's hard to tell whether they were supposed to be like this, or if it's because they are just default 2D clouds.

 

However, 3D clouds really take up tons of resources, especially when you are supposed to get close to them or even fly through them. These are things you can expect to see in the next-gen games, but personally I don't mind it a lot to be honest, R* will do the right thing and the style of the clouds will fit in with the rest of the design.

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Stop using Gta4 as a comparison tool, I'm tired of it, don't you realize how old and outdated that game is? Do you not realize Rockstar made a game after it? To understand what Gta5 is going to look like do yourself a favor and rent or buy red dead redemption, the physics are improved, graphics improved, shooting Mechanics improved, Ai improved, story telling improved, map improved, environment in general improved. Play red dead and imagine if every house was a car & every cactus a building, house, whatever.

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I know nothing of programming so this might be a dumb question.

 

Do the clouds in RDR look better because you can't get closer to them via aerial vehicles?

I believe they are more detailed because overall the game uses less resources, so there's more to use for the clouds.

 

The type of cloud shown in GTA V is rather awkward anyways. It seems to be some sort of stratus cloud but pretty far spaced in between. It's hard to tell whether they were supposed to be like this, or if it's because they are just default 2D clouds.

 

However, 3D clouds really take up tons of resources, especially when you are supposed to get close to them or even fly through them. These are things you can expect to see in the next-gen games, but personally I don't mind it a lot to be honest, R* will do the right thing and the style of the clouds will fit in with the rest of the design.

Thanks for that.

 

I can't say that it's something I really notice, unless there is a particularly beautiful sunset. Seeing as one preview mentioned such a sunset, I might be looking at the sky as much as I did in RDR.

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FranticFatality

For god's sake, it's clouds! Is it really that big of a deal to make clouds more realistic? Why should anyone care? You can't interact with them, and they are totally pointless. IV's clouds were spot on. If it's on V, it wouldn't be bad. I wouldn't want R* to spend time on making something not important more realistic.

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Lock n' Stock
Trying hard is not R*s strong suit as of late. I don't expect any better clouds than gtaIV.

Zee, go home, you're drunk.

On whiskey?

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Trying hard is not R*s strong suit as of late. I don't expect any better clouds than gtaIV.

Zee, go home, you're drunk.

On whiskey?

He's drunk on his own bullsh*t.

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For god's sake, it's clouds! Is it really that big of a deal to make clouds more realistic? Why should anyone care? You can't interact with them, and they are totally pointless. IV's clouds were spot on. If it's on V, it wouldn't be bad. I wouldn't want R* to spend time on making something not important more realistic.

I think it's a fairly big deal, as do some other people here. The reason is, everything within the game world should come together well, from the clouds, to the city, to the story. If one thing it far more detailed than another, it doesn't mesh very well. Kinda like how in LA Noire, the faces were far more detailed than the world. Not hating on Noire, just pointing it out. And personally, I think a good sky is just as important as anything else. It adds a lot to the overall feel of the game world, at least for me. Also, you do sort of interact with them. You try flying a jet and not passing through one single cloud, lemme know how it goes.

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Trying hard is not R*s strong suit as of late. I don't expect any better clouds than gtaIV.

Zee, go home, you're drunk.

On whiskey?

He's drunk on his own bullsh*t.

rofl smile.gifhappy.gifcolgate.gifbiggrin.gif

 

user reminded: spam

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AlienWillHeMonsta

I still can't figure out how you can have a detailed cloud. That's like saying if you're standing in the middle of a fog its got to have detail confused.gif

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For god's sake, it's clouds! Is it really that big of a deal to make clouds more realistic? Why should anyone care? You can't interact with them, and they are totally pointless. IV's clouds were spot on. If it's on V, it wouldn't be bad. I wouldn't want R* to spend time on making something not important more realistic.

It's nice to take a break from the slaughter now and again to appreciate a sunset with some nice clouds.

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I still can't figure out how you can have a detailed cloud. That's like saying if you're standing in the middle of a fog its got to have detail confused.gif

It's not so much what they look like once you're within them; that's fairly simple to accomplish. It's more of what they look like when you're looking at them. The OP has a great example of this, there is a very noticeable difference in detail and depth between IV's clouds and BF3's clouds.

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Trying hard is not R*s strong suit as of late. I don't expect any better clouds than gtaIV.

I kinda agree with you. I think we'll see minor cloud improvements, but not by much.

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Tsar_Smirnoff

It definitely seems like they're paying more attention to the clouds/atmosphere in general this time around. I've noticed altocumulus clouds as well as contrails in several screenshots. Also, in the trailer when the "GTA V" logo comes on the screen, the clouds are actually moving fluidly (almost as if they've been sped up). I know it probably isn't a big deal to most players, but I've always dreamed of a dynamic weather system in a GTA game.

 

For instance, there could be a small thunderstorm building over the ocean and it moves over a certain area of the city, the mountains, and finally the desert. You know, just isolated moving weather like that would be so awesome to me......although I'm sure it takes up a sh*tload of processing power.

28a3ogg.jpg

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Interestingly, Battlefield 3 has impressive cloud GFX:

user posted image

turn.gif That's more like it

I may be remembering wrong, but as far as I remember BF3's clouds are not dynamic and don't even move. It's just a static painted-on skybox.

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AlienWillHeMonsta
I still can't figure out how you can have a detailed cloud. That's like saying if you're standing in the middle of a fog its got to have detail  confused.gif

It's not so much what they look like once you're within them; that's fairly simple to accomplish. It's more of what they look like when you're looking at them. The OP has a great example of this, there is a very noticeable difference in detail and depth between IV's clouds and BF3's clouds.

BF3 is from the PC compared GTA IV from a console. OP should be comparing like with like.

 

Where's the screen shot of Trevor jumping out the back of a plane. In that shot he's way above the clouds.

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