![More realistic bright hi-res clouds [maxCloudResolution = 9]](https://cdn.orbiter-forum.com/data/resource_icons/5/5699.jpg?1776384063){kind=icon}
Took the NASA Blue Marble Next Generation 43200x21600 Cloud mask and corrected a few things like exposure, sun glint swaths and lots of unwanted satellite swath seams in Photoshop.
Just drop this file in your Textures\Earth\Archive-folder and remember to set the maxCloudResolution parameter to 9 in the Config\Earth.cfg
Unfortunately I was unable to create a level 10 texture with the available tools, might come in the future though, if I figure out how to do that successfully.
One problem with that besides the struggle with the texture tools is, that most cloud datasets have lots of data glitches or technical problems like inconsistent resolution due to different observation angles, so if anyone can provide a high quality cloud dataset that would certainly help. The newest version has Hurricane Kirk of Oct. 4th 2024 placed in it, shot by NOAA-20 VIIRS (see update notes).
Have fun with this!
Just drop this file in your Textures\Earth\Archive-folder and remember to set the maxCloudResolution parameter to 9 in the Config\Earth.cfg
Unfortunately I was unable to create a level 10 texture with the available tools, might come in the future though, if I figure out how to do that successfully.
One problem with that besides the struggle with the texture tools is, that most cloud datasets have lots of data glitches or technical problems like inconsistent resolution due to different observation angles, so if anyone can provide a high quality cloud dataset that would certainly help. The newest version has Hurricane Kirk of Oct. 4th 2024 placed in it, shot by NOAA-20 VIIRS (see update notes).
Have fun with this!
- Supported Orbiter Version
- 2024
- 2016
![New Global Textures and Night Lights [level 12 version]](https://cdn.orbiter-forum.com/data/resource_icons/5/5705.jpg?1779879242){kind=icon}
![New Global Textures and Night Lights [level 11 version]](https://cdn.orbiter-forum.com/data/resource_icons/5/5704.jpg?1779716327){kind=icon}
![Very high resolution global cloud textures [maxCloudResolution = 11]](https://cdn.orbiter-forum.com/data/resource_icons/5/5701.jpg?1776746871){kind=icon}
But yeah, I wish even more resolution was possible, I'm a very spoiled MSFS user as well. O:> I will definitely spend some more time experimenting with that and optimising. But maybe trying a completely new approach would be better than optimising the old...?
Unfortunately a dynamic update, though it would be my dream as well, doesn't seam possible - or reasonable - at this point, as long as there's no cutting edge weather modeling technology going into it like in MSFS. In theory it would be possible to import polar orbiting satellite data daily, if you had a server running a script daily. But the most recent data also has the most glitches, so you can’t have everything, at least until we get global geostationary coverage at the km or sub-km scale. To my knowledge even MTG can’t deliver that. But then again if so, it would be a pretty huge amount of data to process. The most promising and somewhat more realistic approach could be a specialized algorithm realistically enhancing lower resolution data, like the geostationary ring imagery, but I'm currently not aware of anything like it that's openly accessible. And it would likely use a lot of resources somewhere. Let's see...
Well then, keep the blue side up or down or wherever you want it! :)