Most weather packs only change what falls from the sky. Weather Dynamics changes the ground as well: snow builds up on roofs and paths, rain soaks the world and leaves puddles, autumn leaves settle under the trees, and players cut tracks through deep snow. A forecast keeps it changing on its own, in single-player and multiplayer.
What it does for you
Weather changes by itself. Pick a forecast (Temperate, Winter, Autumn) or build your own: weighted presets, hold times and smooth transitions, with the next state known in advance for your UI.
Every surface reacts. One material function makes any material wet in rain and snowy on upward faces, everywhere in the level. Local domains add real geometry: snow depth, puddles, settled leaves and footprints.
Rain and snow follow the camera anywhere. Up to 60,000 GPU-animated drops or flakes, hidden under roofs and trees automatically.
Thunderstorms. Lightning flashes, branching bolts, glowing storm clouds and thunder delayed by distance.
Walk through waist-deep snow. Bodies leave troughs, feet leave prints, banks and spray build up, and snowfall slowly fills the tracks.
Clouds that follow the weather, or art-direct them alone with eight ready looks.
Multiplayer ready. The server owns weather, forecast and lightning; late joiners receive the current snow, puddles and tracks.
Who it's for
Game teams who want living weather that gameplay can read: wetness, snow depth and leaf cover at any point.
Environment artists comparing snow, rain and autumn on an existing scene without repainting materials.
Technical artists who want full C++ source, Blueprint events and a clear scope.
How it works
Open Tools → Weather Studio and choose Weather only, Clouds only or Weather + clouds. Your lighting is preserved.
Pick a preset or a forecast, press Live preview, then Play.
Add MF_WeatherSurface to your materials for world-wide wetness and snow. Add the Snow Interactor to your character for deep-snow tracks.
What's included
Full C++ source: WeatherDynamics (Runtime) and WeatherDynamicsEditor (Editor) modules.
18 weather presets (realistic and stylized), 4 forecasts, 8 cloud looks and 10 Blueprints.
Thunderstorm, Blizzard, Spring Shower, Overcast and Clear Frost presets with lightning, sun and fog response.
4 grey-box example maps built only from engine basic shapes: forecast cycle with storms, interactive weather, six sample stations and deep snow (with Epic's Manny in Third Person projects).
Material Parameter Collection and MF_WeatherSurface for world-wide wetness and snow cover; MF_WeatherField for domain-accurate surface data.
7 original ambience sounds: light rain, heavy rain, wind and four thunder variations.
Blueprint API: Transition To Preset, Start/Advance Forecast, Get Global Weather, Sample Surface, Trigger Lightning, Capture/Restore Accumulation, plus On Weather Changed, On Preset Changed and On Lightning Strike events.
Four quality tiers plus a Game profile, console commands and an offline illustrated guide.
Scope and limits
Geometry accumulation (snow depth, puddles, leaves, deep-snow tracks) lives in finite heightfield domains that you place: one uppermost surface per cell, static collision, translation and yaw at unit scale. Outside domains the world reacts through materials, not geometry. Your materials need MF_WeatherSurface to get wet or snowy. Deep snow is visual displacement without snow collision. Not included: time of day or a sky system, Landscape displacement, multi-floor accumulation within one domain, flowing water, mobile, VR or path tracing. Clouds use Epic's engine cloud material.
Compatibility
Unreal Engine 5.7 and 5.8 on Windows (Win64). Tested on 5.8.2 with DX12 SM6 and Lumen, listen and dedicated servers; the 5.7 build passes the same automated tests. Uses the engine's Procedural Mesh Component (enabled automatically).
Gallery scenery: Medieval Village sample with Quixel Megascans, not included. The example maps use only engine basic shapes and plugin materials.
Documentation: offline guide inside the plugin (Documentation/UserGuide.html).
Support: timatisib@gmail.com