Eclipses Overhaul

[Cameron Textor]

Some things that need to be done to overhaul eclipses.

#1 - Add a menu to world creation settings menus that would allow setting the value of "/time hoursperday" in the world. The default value of this setting on a new world is 24. Eclipses only last a second on this setting when they happen. Setting /time hoursperday to a value of 1440 is exactly equal to a full real life day. This would allow creation of a world where the start to end duration of a total solar eclipse would last 3 - 4 real life hours and it would have 3 - 5 minutes of totality like in real life.

#2 - Make the size of the sun the same exact size of the moon.

#3 - Make the moon so it is not visible and it displays a BLACK CIRCLE texture like in real life as soon as it begins to get near and goes in front of the sun.

#4 - Simulate lunar orbit so the moon gets closer and farther from the vintage story world like in real life. This is how ring of fire eclipses happen because the moon is in apogee (the farthest point of it's orbit) during a ring of fire eclipse.

#5 - Create a texture for the corona of the sun that only shows up during totality during a total solar eclipse.

#6 - Create some sparkly flashes or something like Baily's Beads that show up on the rim of the eclipse before totality like a real life solar eclipse.

#7 - Add LUNAR Eclipses / Blood Moons that can happen at night. During a real life total lunar eclipse the moon turns blood red when it passes into the direct center of the shadow of the earth because the light that illuminates the moon comes from sunlight that passes through the earth's atmosphere, causing the moon to appear reddish because the atmosphere scatters shorter wavelengths of light like blue, while longer wavelengths like red are bent and reach the moon's surface.

#8 - during solar eclipses unique things should happen in game such as the temperature drops several degrees, birds stop singing and return to their nests, Frogs and crickets start chirping, Bats and owls become active, and certain mobs should come out.

#9 - similar to #8 during a lunar eclipse certain mobs should emerge

The uploaded image shows the RLMoonSun mod in action and shows what a total solar eclipse in VS should look like. (except the wrong moon texture is displayed)

Edited December 21, 2024 by Cameron Textor
correcting hours per day info

[Thorfinn]

Why not just keep using the mod? I mean, the point of being mod-friendly was so that you could customize the experience via mods...

[LadyWYT]

Given that the eclipse we have in-game only lasts a couple of seconds, I think what we have is fine. I'm happy just having eclipses, even if they aren't 100% realistic.

52 minutes ago, Cameron Textor said:

The uploaded image shows the RLMoonSun mod in action and shows what a total solar eclipse in VS should look like. (except the wrong moon texture is displayed)

Technically, that's a partial eclipse, not a full one. There's still a lot of sun showing there, even if the sky is otherwise darkened.