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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 20th Nov 2018 at 4:11 PM Last edited by Rudy90 : 20th Nov 2018 at 4:32 PM.
Default Need some help figuring out weather tuning file.
Hi all,

Pre Get Famous, I used a mod that kinda overhauled EA's weather forecast system.

Which was an amazing -must have- mod (imo).

Sadly the modder decided to take the mod offline (I think because it caused some problems).

I started editing the forecast tuning files, but I'm having some questions because I don't really understand what certain parts of these tuning files mean, so I hope some experienced modder can help me out a bit.

Code:
<L n="weather_event_time_blocks">
    <U>
      <T n="key">0</T>
      <L n="value">
        <U>
          <U n="duration">
            <T n="lower_bound">2</T>
            <T n="upper_bound">3</T>
          </U>
          <T n="weather_event">182331<!--weather_Snow_Storm--></T>
        </U>
        <U>
          <U n="duration">
          <T n="lower_bound">3</T>
            <T n="upper_bound">5</T>
          </U>
          <T n="weather_event">182376<!--weather_Snow_Light_Freezing--></T>
          <T n="weight">2</T>
        </U>
        <U>


I would like to know a few things:

- What does the <Key> thing mean in the forecast files most of the time starting with 0 and going like 0,6,12,18
- What does the Lower bound and Upper bound mean in the duration lines (I assume lower bound was the minimum x Sim hours a weather event will be triggered and the Upper bound the maximum x Sim hours it will be triggered, but not sure).
- Some events have a ''Weight'' coding line under them, what does this exactly do?

- Sometimes there are multiple weather events within a key block that don't have weight's to them at all. Does this mean the game randomly chooses a weather event to trigger from the possible weather events within that block listed?

for example:

Code:
<T n="key">0</T>
      <L n="value">
        <U>
          <U n="duration">
            <T n="lower_bound">2</T>
            <T n="upper_bound">3</T>
          </U>
          <T n="weather_event">182331<!--weather_Snow_Storm--></T>
        </U>
        <U>
          <U n="duration">
            <T n="lower_bound">3</T>
            <T n="upper_bound">5</T>
          </U>
          <T n="weather_event">182376<!--weather_Snow_Light_Freezing--></T>
        </U>
        <U>
          <U n="duration">
            <T n="lower_bound">3</T>
            <T n="upper_bound">5</T>
          </U>
          <T n="weather_event">182374<!--weather_Snow_Heavy_Freezing--></T>
        </U>
        <U>
          <U n="duration">
            <T n="lower_bound">4</T>
            <T n="upper_bound">6</T>
          </U>
          <T n="weather_event">182331<!--weather_Snow_Storm--></T>
        </U>
      </L>
    </U>


Also sometimes weather events don't have duration coding attached to them at all, what does that do, because it really confuses me.

For example:

Code:
<U n="duration">
            <T n="lower_bound">3</T>
            <T n="upper_bound">5</T>
          </U>
          <T n="weather_event">182374<!--weather_Snow_Heavy_Freezing--></T>


The above weather event has duration coding attached to it, but a few (key) blocks later the same event has no duration coding attached to it:

Code:
<U>
          <T n="weather_event">182374<!--weather_Snow_Heavy_Freezing--></T>
          <T n="weight">1</T>
        </U>


Does this mean that the weather effect will last until the next key block hits? i.e. key blocks seem to start with 0 (most of the time) and go like 6,12,18.


Sorry for the (lots of) questions, but I couldn't figure it out and couldn't find a clear guide or explanation regarding these tuning files online, so I hope someone can help me out a bit.

Thanks a lot!
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#2 Old 20th Nov 2018 at 6:02 PM
Many of your questions are answered by looking at the tuning description files. These are available from the EA Forums and are generally the first sticky message in there. You will likely also want to get the TDesc Browser for Windows in order to read these files easily.

Once getting those, you will find that having the tuning description files for your reference is crucial.

Quote: Originally posted by Rudy90
- What does the <Key> thing mean in the forecast files most of the time starting with 0 and going like 0,6,12,18
- What does the Lower bound and Upper bound mean in the duration lines (I assume lower bound was the minimum x Sim hours a weather event will be triggered and the Upper bound the maximum x Sim hours it will be triggered, but not sure).
- Some events have a ''Weight'' coding line under them, what does this exactly do?

For instance, the description in the tdesc for the weather_event_time_blocks states "The weather events that make up this forecast. Key is hour of day that event would start, value is a list of potential events" So that answers your first question.

The second question, regarding the duration is explained as "Minimum and maximum time, in sim hours, this event can last."

And the weight is the "Weight of this event being selected." Weights are multipliers to chance for something to be chosen from a list of possibilities. So if you have 3 possible weather events without weight tuned, each has a 33% chance of being the one selected. If weather event "C" has a weight of 2 though, it has double the chance of being selected, so there would be a 25% chance of weather events A or B (1 in 4 for each) but a 50% chance of event C (2 in 4).

Quote:
- Sometimes there are multiple weather events within a key block that don't have weight's to them at all. Does this mean the game randomly chooses a weather event to trigger from the possible weather events within that block listed?


An unspecified weight is a weight of 1.

Quote:
Also sometimes weather events don't have duration coding attached to them at all, what does that do, because it really confuses me.

Does this mean that the weather effect will last until the next key block hits? i.e. key blocks seem to start with 0 (most of the time) and go like 6,12,18.


No, it means that the default values for those untuned items will be used. These defaults are, again, in the tdesc for those items. The default for the lower_bound is 1 and the default for upper_bound is 4.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#3 Old 21st Nov 2018 at 12:41 PM
Quote: Originally posted by scumbumbo
Many of your questions are answered by looking at the tuning description files. These are available from the EA Forums and are generally the first sticky message in there. You will likely also want to get the TDesc Browser for Windows in order to read these files easily.

Once getting those, you will find that having the tuning description files for your reference is crucial.


For instance, the description in the tdesc for the weather_event_time_blocks states "The weather events that make up this forecast. Key is hour of day that event would start, value is a list of potential events" So that answers your first question.

The second question, regarding the duration is explained as "Minimum and maximum time, in sim hours, this event can last."

And the weight is the "Weight of this event being selected." Weights are multipliers to chance for something to be chosen from a list of possibilities. So if you have 3 possible weather events without weight tuned, each has a 33% chance of being the one selected. If weather event "C" has a weight of 2 though, it has double the chance of being selected, so there would be a 25% chance of weather events A or B (1 in 4 for each) but a 50% chance of event C (2 in 4).



An unspecified weight is a weight of 1.



No, it means that the default values for those untuned items will be used. These defaults are, again, in the tdesc for those items. The default for the lower_bound is 1 and the default for upper_bound is 4.


Thanks a lot for the help and the Tdesc tip!

Will definitely start using the Tdesc files from now on.

Thanks!
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