I guess I'm following suit with the user name thread title phenomena. I'm not much of a "modder" these days(not sure the term ever really applied, and even less sure it does now). I'm more of a "map maker" now than anything. And I'm not sure how dedicated to that pursuit I am either. Though I am committed to finishing my first map, or die trying.
But I have been considering "converting"(term loosely applied) my ST "mods"(term loosely applied) to STMR. Some of which have already been "converted" by others. "Twilight Nights" is now being called "White Nights"(using basically the same methods to achieve the effects). And "Fog Free Days" is now "No Fog"(though not at all using the same method for creation of the effect). So I don't have any interest in revisiting those. I've found that "Mud Lite & Mud Ultra" don't translate(directly convert) to STMR very well. The mud physics have apparently changed a bit. And there are other mud mods out there that do a well enough job at giving you some mud consistency variety. So I'm abandoning those as well for that reason. Plus I think the mud is basically perfect now without modding. I have no desire to change it at all.
So that really only leaves "Realistic Sun Effects" for (re)consideration at this point. Which I've toyed around with a little in STMR. And don't really like how it looks(in most cases). As with the mud, the lighting/shadowing in the game pleases me as it is. Plus it's not really "realistic" for every scenario to be found in the game. What it really amounts to is only a reasonably accurate summer sun simulation. As far as correcting the behavior of the Sun itself. Which is about as unrealistic as it can possibly be in the game...still. If you observe it(and good luck with that as it's almost impossible to do with the camera in most instances) you'll see(or probably won't be able to) that, by default, the Sun does not actually rise or set relative to the viewable horizon. It's, basically, permanently positioned around 45° above the horizon, in the due westerly direction. All day and all night. It gets brighter in the morning, darker in the evening, and goes totally dark at night. But never actually moves across the sky(at least not in a realistic way, though I think it might move a little, but not very much, if at all, it's hard to tell). Only appearing to rise and set through lighting and shadowing angles(and/or brightness changes) that change irrespective to its position in the sky(or for the most part as so). Which is a fairly accurate representation in other respects, except that it still appears to rise and set in the west(as in ST). And that it only depicts a fall/winter/spring-type sunlight scenario(also as in ST). As in never appearing to be more or less directly overhead, as it would in summer months(in many parts of the world). I should also mention that none of the "Summer" mods you'll find address this inaccuracy with the Sun's actual movement(or lack thereof). As in, as yet, nobody has bothered to use my methodology for correcting it(or can't figure out how/why they should).
So here it is. As Realistic Summer Sun Effects v1.0 v1.1 v1.2 v1.3.
Realistic Summer Sun Effects v1.3 has been DISCONTINUED. Please see following post to download Realistic Summer Sun Effects FINAL 3.
Install the files in the Media.zip folder under classes\daytimes. Pretty sure that's a requirement(as opposed to other mod install methods, not 100% sure on that though so YMMV). It's not a requirement as it turns out. Installing in your non-zip Media folder also works. Default daytimes files are provided to restore if you need/want to. It's not a mod for every map, or everybody. You might like it or you might not. I've made the corrections needed for the Sun to rise and set(as well as doing so in the East and West respectively). It will now travel below the horizon in the evening, stay below it at night, rise above it in the morning, and be directly overhead during the day. I've also set all the days to sunny w/ blue sky, and removed the fog from all days and daytime states(day to night, night, night to day incl.). Fog removal can cause issues with terrain pop in at longer viewing distances(live with it or don't). Also note that lighting and shadowing angles of/from static objects will still show incorrectly by comparison(most of the time anyway). Meaning if it's part of the terrain it will still be lit as though the Sun were ~45° above the western horizon during the day. Since that's where Pavel(in his infinite wisdom) thinks the Sun should be all day, every day, and all night, every night...FFS. Anyway, there's nothing I can do about that(again...live with it or don't...your choice).
Enjoy!
P.S., Map coming soon eventually too.
P.P.S, I'll upload things elsewhere eventually too. Just not sure where yet...
P.P.P.S, If you want to apply this mod's Sun behavior corrections to another "Summer" mod(or to the default daytimestates) you can do so by inserting my SunDir values in the daytimestates xmls. Which are as follows:
Day: (0; -1; 0)
Day To Night: (0.5; 0.1; 0)
Night To Day: (-0.5; -0.1; 0)
Night: (1; 2.5; 0)
EDIT 4: I was right about the Sun moving a little bit by default. It moves between ~35° and ~45° above the western horizon. Upwards towards ~45° in the morning, and downwards towards ~35° in the evening.
Here's some screenshots to demonstrate most of it. If you're having trouble visualizing.
Default "Not Very Realistic Sunrise". Notice time of day, facing West, and the Sun's angle above the horizon(which is at its lowest point, ~35° above the horizon, where it suddenly appears and begins to rise).
Modified "Very Realistic Sunrise". Notice times of day, facing East, and the Sun's angles above the horizon.
Default daytime Sun effects. Notice time of day, and lighting and shading angles, as though the Sun is ~45° above the western horizon.
Modified daytime "Realistic Summer Sun" effects. Notice time of day, and lighting and shading angles, as though the Sun is directly overhead.
Default "Not Very Realistic Sunset". Notice time of day, facing West, and angle above the horizon(which is near its lowest point, ~35° above the horizon, where it suddenly stops setting and slowly disappears).
Modified "Very Realistic Sunset". Notice times of day, facing West, and the Sun's angles above the horizon.