Hi!

I've been working on for a big weather mod for some time now and mostly created a lot of cloud textures. Now I'm starting to add them into the game in weathers and climates/regions.

To my understanding, there are two windows in the CK that are relevant here... http://www.creationkit.com/Climate, and http://www.creationkit.com/World_Menu.
But I have little idea of what to do with them. The wikis aren't very helpful and I've found not good guides on the Internet (the ones that I've found are extremely basic and just read what it says on the screen).

If someone could help me with this I'd be really, really grateful!
If you like http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/images/3485733-1334323594.jpg http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/images/3485733-1335627087.jpg http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/images/3485733-1337971496.jpg http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/images/3485733-1336935228.jpg to see them in your own game one day, then you'll also be doing yourself a favour to help me


Edit: Found out that the relevant regions to mess around with are the ones that start with Weather... quite obviously ^^

As you found, each weather combo should have its own region - which is then added/overlaid on other regions already there (like flora, etc). You don't really need to edit the Vanilla region types, you can create your own - but you may have to alter the exiting region bounds to add in your custom ones, otherwise they'll overlap and cause strange weather patterns.

Thanks for the reply!

I'm not 100 % sure what you mean with this last sentence (the best way to explain would probably be to tell me where in the CK, what buttons, etc you're talking about).
I thought I was supposed to edit these Weather regions already there in the game (first delete the vanilla weathers, then add mine).

One thing that I also can't figure out is the relation between Climates window and Regions window. In the Climates window I can add weathers and such and set chances to each one, but I can do the same thing in the Regions window. This is confusing to me... how do I know which ones (the chances in the Climates or the Regions window) matter in the game? How are they connected to each other?

Climates and the Region weather tab are basically the same thing with one key difference; Climates have to be applied to an entire worldspace. Regions only affect a small part, and can overlap and mix.

So I gather you are changing out the vanilla weathers with your own? So find the various weather regions used in Skyrim (FallForestWeather, etc) and delete those weathers in the Weather Tab, then add your own. The number after it is the chance that weather type appears. I'm not sure what happens if they don't add up to 100. Maybe it just becomes a percentage.

My new worldspace has the climate set to SkyrimClimate, but I use weather regions to cover everything, so the SkyrimClimate actually never shows through. It's only the weathers I've set in the regions.

I agree. Just keep in mind that altering the Vanilla climates, weathers, regions, or anything will change the entire game - so unless that's what your mod is intended to do (eg: a 'better weather' mod), I'd make custom everything.

By strange weather I mean that when there are ovelapping regions, the probabilties will mix and match (and may outright conflict, causing unpredictable results). What I would do is open the region editor ('world' pulldown, 'regions'), select the worldSpace to edit, select the region you want to edit, then drag the corners of that region's bounds to a new grid location. Then I select the custom region (with the custom weather/climate) and change it... if it doesn't exist yet, r-click and create a new one, assigning the proper data.

When you mouse-over the region bounds' corners (the red lines that form an enclosed 'box'), the icon should change to a hand - that's when you know you can click-drag it to a new position.

Thanks a lot! I think I'm starting to understand more now...
So climate chances and region chances for the same weather overlap & mix? Are they multiplied or something? For instance, I have WeatherX1 chance 5 in the climates... and then in WeatherTundra region I have WeatherX1 chance 10. What will happen then?

I'm trying to understand what role and purpose the Climate window have...

Thanks a lot too!
My mod is intended to replace the entire weather used in vanilla. No vanilla weathers will be used. I've created my own really nice ones (and still got a lot more to create before I'm finished), and I'm going to replace all vanilla weathers with those. So I'll have my own weathers (the vanilla ones are untouched, but deactivated), but use vanilla climates and regions and alter those.

I managed to follow your advice and drag the region's bounds to a new grid location (I expanded it), so I understand that. What I don't understand though why I would want to do that; what the purpose of it is... I mean, aren't the vanilla regions well placed so there's no reason to change them??

There's also one thing that bothers me when I look at the region grid map. It's quite hard to know where you are, the map isn't very descriptive. Is there any way I can convert the grid map to something easier to look at, or something similar?

I'm gonna watch a movie right now (Taxi Driver! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075314/), but I'll come back after it's done and check if you've replied. Truly appreciate the help guys!

No. Region's override climates. If you have a climate on a worldspace, and cover the entire worldspace with a region, then the climate is never seen.

Think of the climate as a 'base', or a fallback. If you dont cover a small area with a region, the climate will take over. I think they're phasing out climates and using regions instead, since I really don't see too much of a use for them either. Then again regions have controlled weather as well since at least Fallout 3. So I think climates are just a 'base'.

There! THANKS! Now I understand even more!

Now there's one more thing I need to know about... how to navigate the regions grid map. This thread is about this, but I don't really understand 100% what they're talking about: http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1364101-weather-setup/
Then again... I wonder, do I really need to have a more detailed view of the regions grid map? I mean, I'm not gonna change the grid locations. I'm just gonna add my weathers to the already existing regions (I'm partly thinking openly here, partly asking a question).

One more thing, can you take a look at the Climate window (having just Skyrim.esm activated) and tell me what kinds of weathers you see in the SkyrimClimate?
The reason I ask is because in this video at 1:10 it shows a lot of different kinds of weathers in the SkyrimClimate.
However, in my CK all I see is this (just one weather, 100% chance): http://oi46.tinypic.com/2aj4y6a.jpg

You'd only need to adjust the region bounds if you were 'inserting' a custom region. Since you're doing a 'better weather' replacer mod, I would recommend not touching those region bounds at ALL. Open the Vanilla weathers, and change them to what you want - then all your changes should automatically kick in.

For future reference, the grid-map has no easy way to know what you're doing, except for telling you which cell you are moused-over. For simple areas, I suggest opening the area you want to edit in the renderWindow - and take note of the cell coords for the corners of the intended area. Then open the regionEditor and just connect those corners.

For complex areas, I use TESAnnwyn to export a map of the entire worldSpace with black cell-lines embedded in it. Then, in Photoshop, I add a basic numbering system. Along the bottom and one side, I have numbers every however cells which indicate the actual cell coord; then I draw in yellow lines over those numbered cells to make it easier to quickly see cell coords in the middle of the huge worldSpace... and with different thicknesses too, so I can see 8/16/32/etc quickly and whatever in between I count by eye fairly quickly.

Then I hand-draw my intended region, using bright colors (like purple or blue). I am sure to make it nice and squared off (no curves, per se.. kinda like connect the dots but with cells). Then I have that doctored pic/map open while the CK is open, and switch back and forth to draw my regions in. It's a gigantic pain, but for a 3x3 quad worldSpace with complex regions.. I saw no alternative (and it actually works really well and quick too).

Since it's fairly confusing, here's an example for my future mod 'Stone Unhenged'. This is actually before I added the regions, so it's not as good an example as I would like.. but you should be able to get a better idea.
[img]
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/62/overviewofstoneunhenged.jpg/
[/img]

[EDIT: the red dots on that map are important cells that I rename, the blue is where water will be, and the purple is where roads are... none of which is 'squared off' as I say above. By squared off, I mean just draw straight lines perpendicular to the cell-grid.. right through cells that will be region bounds - diff colors show different region types (like green for forest, orange for meadow, etc).]

Thanks! Really appreciate all the help you guys have given me. Will credit you when the mod is released
I don't think I'll need to do such a map though since I'm just gonna use the vanilla regions without changing their borders. To know where I am better on the grid map I think I'll also just right click on the grid map and click on "View World Here".

I'll do some simple climate tests today later too, and see how they work out. Thanks once more!

Nice idea. Unfortunately for me, it didn't work. I can do it with Skyrim.esm and extract the Tamriel map, but I cannot do it with my own esm with it's custom worldspace. The only real difference is the FormID numbers. Tamriel begins with 00, my worldspace begins with 01. TESAnnwyn only generates worldspaces with a FormID that starts 00.

Do you think this could be the problem ? ie. it can only read worldspaces that have 00 at the start of the FormID ?

[Edit} In the CK, is there a way to change the FormID back to 00 ?