But what about rain? If snow will be dynamic, I feel rain should be too, as well as thunderstorms. It was one Oblivion's weird flaws IMO. It was basically straight lines for a few hours, sound effects were 'okay' and there wasn't anything special about the thunderstorms. I'd like the rain to be so real in Skyrim. For instance, make it have a wind effect, as will the snow, make it have a splash effect, make it create puddles in some low areas (possibly floods). Back to the thunderstorms. As I said before they weren't anything special in Oblivion. I want to feel as if I'm actually caught in a terrbile thunderstorm with nowhere to go and find shelter til' it passes through. I want to hear loud crackling thunder that makes the screen shake and controller vibrate. Also actually seeing lightning strikes come down would be cool too. Who else thought about this? And I"m sorry if this has already been talked about (I haven't seen nothin' about it)

Also it would be cool if the wind held your character a bit from walking and possibly falling down :laugh:

uuh, S.T.A.L.K.E.R inspired thunderstorms, dont know if it actually was the thunderstorm, or the feeling a bloodsvcker was close that made it scary and immursive, but DAMN, they pulled off great storms

I would think that they would improve the rain, I just think that it would be kind of stupid to work snow and make it look really cool but make all the other weathers look generic

I would want rain to be something like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2LhfzbFo4g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yxnETZ6RZk

In other words, you can see a rain splatter and a "rainy surface" on top of the ground.

Rain puddles would also be great: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHoSMFSksFg

Nice! Very good examples. Except for RDR one

In the first video, the droplet splashes look good, but the rain itself falling down looks just like gray streaks and not actual rain droplets falling through the air. Source Engine still needs lots of improvement.
That second video looks much better, and that's only DirectX10. I imagine the rain they can produce currently in DX11 looks close to photo-realism.

You didn't like the RDR one?

Hehe, it's bad quality, if that's what you mean.
I only showed it to demonstrate a game with rain puddles, which I think is pretty darn cool



The first video is 4 years old, so it's pretty nice for being that old, I'd say...
Some similar concept (rain splashes), but better implemented, would be very nice.

I want dynamic sunshine

Yeah it was probably the quality. Plus there's somethin' wrong with the brightness of my screen.

I don't know if you're being sarcastic or not but, that would be cool. Like in FO3, when you first walk out of the vault and you're blinded for a moment. It would be cool if you're like in a ruin or fort etc., long enough and it has the same effect when you walk out.

It would be nice to see it come and go, I don't remember seeing it come and go in Oblivion. when I finished waiting, it would be raining but never seen it just start up when I am walking around

You mean... "god rays"?
Not really sure what you mean with dynamic sunshine.

If it's god rays you mean, then yes, I definitely want that too

I agree on all weather aspects. Personally, I thought the first video was the best example of how it should look. The way it splatters on the ground makes it seem like a 'real' thunderstorm. Improve the rain effects while it is dropping, and keep the way it splashes and this would be great. Also all for puddles and so forth.

Someone said dynamic sunshine, and although they may have been joking I think this is important also. The more they can make realistic nature effects the better. Sunsets should be awe inspiring. Rain, and thunderstorms in particular should have a certain ferocity to them, like the OP said. I want LOUD cracks of thunder and beautiful lightning streaks across the sky. Wind effects, though subtle, can make a huge difference if done properly, which Skyrim is already said to include to some extent. Another thing is fog clouds, which also are all but confirmed with some of the screens so far.

I always said that games like GTA or ES should have seasons as well. Having games progress from season to season poses quite a few problems, but if done correctly could be amazing. Imagine after a long period of spring and summer, starting to see leaves changing, falling, and gathering on the ground. This makes way to a snowfall season. You could even go as far as changing the appearance of certain animals, for example bears would be hibernating in the winter and likely not seen. Snow rabbits and other related animals for winter, reptiles and the like during warm months. In ES games different plants and vegetation could be found in different months, for example flowers would likely not be found in winter, and so on. Obviously it would be important that the seasons dont drag on forever, but still last a suitable amount of time to at least 'feel' realistic.

Other ideas include-

Eclipses/Other astrological occurences seen only during certain parts of the 'game year'. Constellations that move and maybe otherworldly planets that appear subtly in the night sky, from time to time.
Lighting and shadow improvments are always a must
Hail/Sleet-May even be included with Skyrim's Snowfall, but doubtful.
More blood/gore would add a sense of realism. Fallouts gore was amazing and I personally loved it, but mostly it was grossely over exagerated and excessive (the part I liked!). ES could benefit from something a little harder than what Oblivion had, but more realistic than Fallout. Point being, if I chop someones limbs with an amazingly powerful sword, it should come off.
Use RD Redemptions horse physics/visuals as a guideline. The horses on this game looked great, and the riding was OK. Improve upon it.
Improve the AI, again already being done. I dont want to run around and hear people constantly saying "Ooooh look the Hero of Kvatch". In Shivering Isles there is a perfect example of horrible AI reaction. Some of the citizens seem almost drugged, slow, and otherwise just bogged down and pathetic. They will walk around with a slumped appearance sluggishly moving around. But as soon as you enter conversation or barter with them, they immediately perk up and start acting normal. When you leave conversation, they slump back down and start talking and acting differently. Its almost [censored].

I think Far Cry 2 has some of the best video-game weather to date. The video gives a poor impression, but here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul8tPIUz1M0

Source engine one looks kinda weird to me. Especially weird how things appear sharper in flashlight? Or am I missing something? Splashes are good, but they wasn't made right.

The NVidia one fails completely as there are no anisotropic reflection/specularity, it's fully isotropic. Example image: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2119/1523785437_a5ac2c9f63.jpg

Can't say much about the RDR one as I can't see much details.

Stuff I'd like to see regarding weather, some of which can be so rare you may only experience it once or twice and maybe not everyone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZr8jXo1Uso - hail stones, pretty big and nasty ones
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZnmQ0mnTnU - distant thunderstorm, tornado even, featuring a massive wall and shelf clouds. You can't "get there".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnyqLc8m41A - lenticular clouds (most of them).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVXLroYmzg8 - mammatus clouds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUNayHseEzc - hat/cap clouds.
Probably more, but the idea is to bring in "weird clouds" that enhances the feeling of a fantasy game set on another planet, yet still using formations that actually exist on earth but probably not seen by everyone.

But importantly, keep special things rare, to enhance the specialty feeling of them.

I want rainbows

Completely agree, and good ideas. The source engine most defenitely gets weird looking under flashlight, not sure what that is about, however the violent splashing on the ground is a great example of a heavy rainfall and how it should look. The flashlight strangely makes everything much clearer, and not in a good way.

My favorite idea from this is the distant thunderstorm or tornado that you can see but cannot 'get there'. I think I know exactly what you mean, and this could work excellently with some of the already amazing views in ES games. Halo 3 and more recent games have mediocre examples of this, but I think it could be greatly improved upon. I do like Bungie's thought process in making the surrounding, unreachable areas look amazing as well as the in game world.

But.. we already have HDR don't we? It simulates the eyes adjusting to darkness and bright lights.

Is rain confirmed?

there should also be visible lightning bolts off in the distance with an astronomically low chance that one my strike very nearby or even hit you for a huge amount of damage

It's not necessisarily confirmed for this game but, but there's no doubt in my mind that it won't be.

Some of the concept artwork for Riften in the Art of Skyrim video portrayed city streets amidst a rainy night: there was a wet reflective look about the ground and hazy coronas around the street lights. Buildings in the distance were also noticeably obscured by a misty, vaporous fog - not the simple solid fadeoff in the previous TES games. It looked amazing.

Whilst we probably won't get this level of fidelity in the actual game, I think that artwork is a good indication that Bethesda is going to be using at least a shader or two to increase the moodiness of rainy weather.

For some reason I'm not comfortable with being so sure about it yet.

Are you serious? Tell me your jokin'.

I'm definitely hoping we'll also see (hear) something similar to http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=4939 so if you're in an interior cell during a thunderstorm, you can actually hear it raging outside. It makes interior cells feel much more like they are part of the outside world as you could hear the muffled thunder and rain whilst sitting inside the tavern