Realistic Weather Mod Thoughts

[dogwalker1]

I was excited when I stumbled across this in the modhub. The mechanics are there for a much needed layer of weather related planning and time management in the game. I've used it for a few game months now and feel it still needs some fine-tuning to be ready for prime time though.

The main issue is crop moisture levels. I love how you need to keep an eye on this to time your harvest for best yield. When I first started the moisture was just a bit above the desirable range for the extant wheat crop on one field but a good measure below the desirable range for the grass on my other field. I harvested the grass anyhow before it dried up further. By the time I was done mowing, windrowing, baling and wrapping the grass the wheat was moving into the desirable range. This was a great first experience with the mod I thought... But then the moisture level kept dropping, and dropping, despite getting 1-3 hrs of showers pretty much every day through September and October (I play 3-day months). The other grass fields I'd since bought were so low in moisture despite daily rains for six straight days I doubted they were even worth harvesting.

I have disasters turned off (for now) so droughts shouldn't happen. They definitely shouldn't happen when it's raining every day. I don't think what I'm seeing is drought-disaster-effect though, it's just the regular moisture mechanic in play. I read a post by the author on a download site that the xml might need tweaking based on how many months-per-day one plays, or to adjust the rainy period durations... Hopefully the author can sort this out so it isn't put on each user to figure it out and update the mod for their playthrough.

I also notice that the moisture level is different for each field. Okayyy maybe that's not totally unrealistic, and maybe further compels the player to plan and prioritize their work, possibly even to the extent of deciding which crops are best suited to which fields (a table of desirable moisture ranges by crop would help there - perhaps there is one but I haven't noticed it). But, the moisture difference can be pretty significant from field to field. Not sure yet but the variations may be a little overdone there.

A couple of other details, when it rains the moisture level increases, but only barely. Seems to me a couple of hours of rain should have more than a barely noticeable effect. On the other hand, nighttime seems to bring no relief from the relentless drying out process and no simulation of an overnight drop in temperature causing condensation (dew factor) to re-counter the drying out....

My kudos to the author for their work so far on this potentially excellent mod - I really hope they continue to work on it. It's a great approach to the weather and has the potential to change gameplay for the better (imho) in a way not seen since the FS19 Seasons mod. It just needs a some more balancing and polishing.

[Droknar]

Crops dry out way to fast compared to gaining moisture when it rains. There is a way to change this if you edit the weather. By default it rains 1-3 hours when it rains. I changed it so it rains 1-8 hours and my moisture was fine one year, high the next. If you wish to change this as well go to the environment.xml in the game files. For each season (except for winter) you can find a section for rain. Set the numbers to what ever you want, you may need to try different things until it is to your liking.

[Sugarwolf]

I uninstalled that mod after getting a blizzard 3 winters in a row that completely disrupted my ability to do literally any work for 6 months straight. I didn't play with it long enough to really have an opinion on the moisture mechanic.

[kubanskiloewe]

i uninstalled it because it doesnt work right. I play 6 days/month and it takes sometimes 3 days to get optimal dry grain; and if not you loose a lot !

[The Big Brzezinski]

Seems like such a mod would need map climate data that doesn't exist.

[kubanskiloewe]

Originally posted by The Big Brzezinski:

Seems like such a mod would need map climate data that doesn't exist.

indeed i remember a complete month (for me 6days) in summer when i lost a lot of crop because it was dry like in a desert and after the rain it needed another half month (3days) to get only 50% out of the field.
So i deinstalled this ♥♥♥♥; sry to say but this mod was a mistake.

[BreadedVirus]

So i think i have found out why the moisture levels are bad for this mod.

Here is an example.

I went into the Calmsden environment xml file and found that the temps are WAY to high for that part of the country. I went and got the average temp for each season from that area and used those average temps instead.

Also the rain chances in the environment xml file were very very low so changed them while i was in the xml file.

[jason]

I was getting some stutter when I installed the mod i had to uninstall. I wish we could get some GEO mods like in farm sim 19 and the options that come with the season mod.

[BreadedVirus]

Originally posted by jason:

I was getting some stutter when I installed the mod i had to uninstall. I wish we could get some GEO mods like in farm sim 19 and the options that come with the season mod.

There is a custom GEO for Calmsden.

[dogwalker1]

Originally posted by BreadedVirus:

So i think i have found out why the moisture levels are bad for this mod.

Here is an example.

I went into the Calmsden environment xml file and found that the temps are WAY to high for that part of the country. I went and got the average temp for each season from that area and used those average temps instead.

Also the rain chances in the environment xml file were very very low so changed them while i was in the xml file.

Yes, temps due seem to be set a little on the warm side on many maps... Have to say I'm a bit skeptical that's the whole problem though as I think a 2-3hr deluge, in any season, ought to give more drought relief than I'm seeing. Especially if that rains happens nearly every day. But if you're going to give it a go please do let us know how it worked with your changes.