Weather and Clothing System

[Neonity]

The Weather and Clothing Rework​

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The following suggestion aims to address the lack of gameplay incentive behind weather and clothing. This suggestion will be split up into two parts, to address the nuances of both systems and how they properly interact with each other, to improve the quality of roleplay for all factions in the server.

To properly grasp my ideals behind the concept of character wellbeing and immersion without negatively affecting the experience, I advise to read into my previous suggestion as well, linked here: https://willard.network/forums/threads/fatigue-system.10266/

Both of these mechanics are designed with each other in mind, and work the best in tandem.

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§1. The Weather System.​

As it stands, the weather system in Willard does nothing but look cool which is a shame. We have access to the full capabilities of StormFox but we don't utilize this to the extent of our abilities. I propose introducing several mechanics in regard to how the weather and temperature would affect your character.

First, I will address some of the various types of weather conditions and how they interact with your character.

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CONDITIONS:
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Temperate

In temperate weather, the conditions are fine. This is the most common condition and the one you will find your character spending the most time in. The temperature is average. It's not cold, it's not warm either. Anything you wear is sufficient, and there are no positive or negative attributes assigned to your character.

Rain

Rain is common. A frequent event, but more annoying than anything. Being drenched in rain would negatively affect your character. Movements are sluggish and your clothes get wet. It's not nice standing outside in heavy rain, and getting inside is preferable. If you spend too long outside in the cold rain, your character can catch a cold. This will debuff them, and they will start periodically sneezing. They'll need to either rest (See: Fatigue System) or visit the CMRU for medicine to recover.

Snow/Blizzards

Being outside in freezing snow for an extended period of time would start to negatively impact you majorly. Your character will start to catch frostbite if they don't warm themselves properly. This can be done by wearing insulating clothing or by spending time in heated buildings or around a campfire. If you completely ignore these weather effects, your character will start to take damage that can only be regenerated by warming yourself. Visual effects will represent this when looking at a character, similar to when a person is under the influence of drugs.

Heat/Heat Waves

Your character can also experience heat. During periods of warm weather, your character can start to become exhausted due to heat. Spending a long time outside in warm temperatures will start to drain your thirst meter faster than usual. Your character will need to drink more and this effect is exacerbated if you keep wearing warm clothing despite the conditions. If you ignore the extreme heat for too long your character starts sweating and eventually collapses on the floor. Visual effects will represent this when looking at a character, similar to when a person is under the influence of drugs.

Fog

Fog will let you see less clearly. Your vision is negatively affected. Weapon accuracy is negatively affected as well. Stealth, close-range combat becomes much more effective in foggy conditions, while long-range combat takes a hit, and is much less effective. This dynamically alters resistance and Combine strike opportunities. It offers the resistance the opportunity to wait for the fog to ambush the Combine at close range because backup would have to get up close to be able to accurately hit them. For the Combine, it allows them to bring out shotguns and other close-range weapons, because they'd have a larger advantage in CQC fights.

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§2. The Clothing System.​

In accordance with the weather system described in the first part of this suggestion, the clothing items within the game would face a rework. As it stands, they currently save no purpose other than looking cool. While that's fun, they're completely redundant in gameplay.

This is where their integration with the aforementioned weather system comes into effect.

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Interactivity

Different clothing items would have different effects in various weather conditions. A benefit of this is that players would need to purchase different sets of clothing for different conditions, which gives clothing stores more of a reason to exist beyond a one-time visit to purchase an outfit that looks good on your character. It would force the resistance to stop wearing Rebel Kevlar all the time because they wouldn't be optimal in most conditions. It'd force them to wear warm jackets when it's cold, and regular shirts when it's warm. It gives people a gameplay reason to not be armoured up 24/7.

Weather Effects

When clothes become affected by rain, they become wet over time. Wearing wet clothing would debuff you, show up on your character, and generally make you miserable. It would also increase the risk of illness (See: pending medical system rework). Wet clothes can be dried automatically by staying outside of the rain for a set amount of time and would also dry by not wearing them. Drying them in a laundromat would dry your clothes really quickly. Running shoes will let you run faster, while boots allow you to become less affected by rainy conditions. Dress shoes will let you become fatigued slower, at the cost of not being able to run very effectively.

Damage

Taking damage will damage your clothing. This deterioration would happen rather slowly, and clothes wouldn't break just because you got stabbed once. Damaged clothing will have reduced protection against the environment and show up on your character so other characters can react to you wearing torn clothing. Falling from a large height will damage your pants. Running for a long time will slowly damage your shoes, which will affect your general run speed. These systems aim to rethink the gameplay systems behind clothing and weather, and allow them to dynamically alter the way you interact with your character, and that of others.

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[BrennenW05]

fun fact, you can wear a Kevlar vest, and a jacket at the same time, it would make zero sense that id have to take off a vest, to put on a jacket, when i really just could put it over the clothing i already have on. The rest i like.

 

[Neonity]

fun fact, you can wear a Kevlar vest, and a jacket at the same time, it would make zero sense that id have to take off a vest, to put on a jacket, when i really just could put it over the clothing i already have on

In Willard, the Kevlar Vest is considered part of the uniform. We also don't allow you to wear jackets over Kevlar ever, so that's a moot point. It's one of the specific examples of things we don't allow within the char auths guidelines.

Sorry, but you'd have to stop wearing Kevlar 24/7 and actually change into civilian clothes.

 

[BrennenW05]

In Willard, the Kevlar Vest is considered part of the uniform. We also don't allow you to wear jackets over Kevlar ever, so that's a moot point. It's one of the specific examples of things we don't allow within the char auths guidelines.

Sorry, but you'd have to stop wearing Kevlar 24/7 and actually change into civilian clothes.

I'm saying that you should, make each vest an item that can be worn over any clothing, on the model it would be visibly over any other clothing. It allows for way more customization of clothing for rebels, other than the 3 different colors of light Kevlar, the 1 color for medium and heavy, and the trench coat.

Already made the suggestion - https://willard.network/forums/threads/redone-armor.8640/

 

[Lost Coast Chanties]

to improve the quality of roleplay for all factions in the server.

OTA is finally making it outta the Nexus with this one

 

[CreekMando]

YES! YES! YES!

 

[Milky]

Only thing i see with kevler and some warm clothing is trench coat which is already illegal, i'd suggest legalizing trench coat but the CPs would see you suspicious due to the size, condition the trench coat appear in. Or add another slot in your character clothing that gives max of 25 armor points as switching from your casual clothing to your kevler uniform does not sound right, but CPs would be able to view it if they search you, that way from distance you appear casual but in reality you got diabolical intentions. Same can be done with CCA delegates, alot of those appear to be dying due to 'PK by default'. I understand you're tired of us asking for more combat things but if civilians/rebels are getting more things to worry about then we could ask for a favor in return for those climate changes.

 

[AppleFlavoredFox]

I can actually see a HUGE issue with this. Its actually evident in the current map. Standing in a food stall, does not shelter you from weather, nor does it shelter you from the rain from above. I found this out a couple days ago. As well as the fact its literally gmod source jank where some roofs just don't exist in the map and weather goes right through them. Resulting in you getting affected by the weather anyway. Even if you're in shelter. Issues like this can become very apparent when you impliment things like a weather condition system.

 

[Astro]

I can actually see a HUGE issue with this. Its actually evident in the current map. Standing in a food stall, does not shelter you from weather, nor does it shelter you from the rain from above. I found this out a couple days ago. As well as the fact its literally gmod source jank where some roofs just don't exist in the map and weather goes right through them. Resulting in you getting affected by the weather anyway. Even if you're in shelter. Issues like this can become very apparent when you impliment things like a weather condition system.

The majority of rooms work entirely with storm fox, and the only concern is there the weather bleeds through a sliver of the map, but to the point where it's negligible. With food stalls, there's an easy solution. Don't be selling food while it's raining. Barely anyone does so IRL, acclimate weather should have a realistic impact on these aspects of roleplay.

I think a temperature system should work like the one seen in Project Zomboid, where wetness, cold, heat, etc. all affect gameplay.

 

[AppleFlavoredFox]

The majority of rooms work entirely with storm fox, and the only concern is there the weather bleeds through a sliver of the map, but to the point where it's negligible. With food stalls, there's an easy solution. Don't be selling food while it's raining. Barely anyone does so IRL, acclimate weather should have a realistic impact on these aspects of roleplay.

I think a temperature system should work like the one seen in Project Zomboid, where wetness, cold, heat, etc. all affect gameplay.

My only concern is, storm fox does what storm fox wants. There are TONS of spots in the map in 24, 8 and various other maps we've used, that do have spots where the roof just does not register your shelter from the weather. You can tell with certain situations like sound, like yes the particles will hit the roof above you but it wont actually in a code sense, register you as under shelter if you can hear the rain really loud like you're outside. Theres spots like in the construction buildings, the bathroom in the grotto has this issue. The train cars in the construction zone has this issue. Parts of the nexus have this issue as well. I've delt with storm fox for years, this issue has always been the same because of the way hammer does certain interiors. Having a weather system like this could cause a lot of problems with maps that have this issue enmasse.

 

[Neonity]

There are TONS of spots in the map in 24, 8 and various other maps we've used, that do have spots where the roof just does not register your shelter from the weather.

So - similarly to how we set up gas zones and areas in general, we can define whether an area is considered indoors or not. Solves the issue entirely.

 

[AppleFlavoredFox]

So - similarly to how we set up gas zones and areas in general, we can define whether an area is considered indoors or not. Solves the issue entirely.

I like this. But wouldn't that impact the server harder then usual?

 

[Cavity]

That stupid toxic look you get on your screen from exposure in the sewers is bad enough already. Why would we want to add more annoying features like that?

With all due respect, this system would force many players either indoors or underground because a vast majority of characters and even Civil Protection lack realistic protection from the elements. Most people can't even buy food, hence the consistent line at the ration center. Also, given that the Combine cares very little about their own men, they would be uneager to provide the civilian population with proper clothes.

...Clothes are also dummy expensive... 30 credits for a pair of gloves anyone?

 

[M!NT]

This is really cool, I'm not gonna deny that. I will say that this does however involve some interesting technical considerations

Number one, and most chiefly, is this- what makes someone considered to be 'inside?' or in a 'warm area'? compared to their ambient surroundings.

This is actually more complex of a problem than you might consider it to be at first glance, and any solutions I can think of at the moment have some large flaws.

1. On a timer (lets say every X seconds), the server will go through and check every player's position by casting a ray in 5 directions from their shoot position (near their neck usually). One up, one left, one right, one forward, one backward. From there, we get back a list of what the ray hit. We could say that if any of those rays hit the skybox then they are considered to be 'outside'. However, that would be a false positive if they're standing under the catwalks, any pipes, ledges, etc.. not exactly precise.
2. We use the area system to determine if someone is inside or outside. Issue with this is that sometimes those areas extend out past areas many would consider to be 'inside', that not every building has an area created for it, and that we'd have to modify said system to allow for GMs to set the distinction between inside and outside areas.

Either way, I don't see this being a very accurate solution. Source considers every area in the map to be a room. It is just rooms inside of rooms. It does not have the ability to understand the difference between inside and outside areas. Trying to guestimate inside vs outside areas in game leads to inaccuracies, which is why in SF2 you see rain inside sometimes.

 

[Dr. Ternith Plague]

This is really cool, I'm not gonna deny that. I will say that this does however involve some interesting technical considerations

Number one, and most chiefly, is this- what makes someone considered to be 'inside?' or in a 'warm area'? compared to their ambient surroundings.

This is actually more complex of a problem than you might consider it to be at first glance, and any solutions I can think of at the moment have some large flaws.

1. On a timer (lets say every X seconds), the server will go through and check every player's position by casting a ray in 5 directions from their shoot position (near their neck usually). One up, one left, one right, one forward, one backward. From there, we get back a list of what the ray hit. We could say that if any of those rays hit the skybox then they are considered to be 'outside'. However, that would be a false positive if they're standing under the catwalks, any pipes, ledges, etc.. not exactly precise.
2. We use the area system to determine if someone is inside or outside. Issue with this is that sometimes those areas extend out past areas many would consider to be 'inside', that not every building has an area created for it, and that we'd have to modify said system to allow for GMs to set the distinction between inside and outside areas.

Either way, I don't see this being a very accurate solution. Source considers every area in the map to be a room. It is just rooms inside of rooms. It does not have the ability to understand the difference between inside and outside areas. Trying to guestimate inside vs outside areas in game leads to inaccuracies, which is why in SF2 you see rain inside sometimes.

Could use integrated addons we have like Area edit to designate inside/outside/warm area.

 

[M!NT]

Could use integrated addons we have like Area edit to designate inside/outside/warm area.

2. We use the area system to determine if someone is inside or outside. Issue with this is that sometimes those areas extend out past areas many would consider to be 'inside', that not every building has an area created for it, and that we'd have to modify said system to allow for GMs to set the distinction between inside and outside areas.

 

[Atle]

Declined

Moving this to declined since its been in the backlog for too long, if it hasn't been picked up by now then we're likely not able to prioritize it. Feel Free to re-suggest it in the future!