Sky looks and events

#Sky looks

A sky look colours the whole sky and city on top of any weather: Miami, Purple Haze, Golden Hour, Arctic, Blood Moon, Noir, Cosmic, Polar Night, Storm and Ember. The sky changes colour from overhead down to the horizon, with its own colours after dark, and the sun, moon, stars and clouds still show through.

Pick one from the Sky row in the panel. It stays through a restart while Remember After Restart is on. Looks get stronger after dark and lift off indoors.

#Starfall

The sky clears, the moon goes dark, and a galaxy band and pink, blue and purple nebulae rise over the city while a meteor shower falls, with green fireballs now and then. It is drawn far out in the sky, so buildings and hills stand in front of it. Every player sees the same shooting stars at the same moment. By day it is a clear sky.

#Aurora

Under a clear, dark sky, green curtains of light rise from the horizon, arc across the north and fold as they drift, rose at the tops. The sky turns polar-night blue with a green glow along the horizon. Like Starfall, every player sees the same curtains move, and it is gone by day.

#Meteors

A storm of meteors that hit the ground, by day or by night. Burning rocks streak across the sky the whole time, green fireballs tear across it and boom, and meteors come down all over the county. One that lands near you dives in from high up, lights the ground and blasts: the ground jolts, parked car alarms go off, the boom arrives after, and the crater burns for a couple of minutes. Near the end a huge one comes down near the most players.

The server picks every strike, so all players see the same one. Nothing is damaged and nothing is spawned. A storm takes 16 minutes.

#Hurricane

The sky closes in grey-green and the sea gets up, then rain bands bring squalls and far-off lightning. The eyewall hits with everything at once: driving rain, the strongest wind the game has, the sea breaking white and the city lights stuttering until the power goes. Then the calm eye, then the back of the eyewall from the other side, and the storm moves off.

Gusts shove the vehicles players drive. In the eyewall, parked cars rock, traffic is pushed off its line, bins and cones tumble, and people on foot stumble or duck. Everyone is told as each part arrives. A pass takes 16 minutes.

#Earthquakes

An earthquake shakes the ground under whatever the sky is doing. Click Quake under Events in the panel, pick where it strikes and how big (4.5 Light to 7.5 Major), and it starts. The same flyout stops it.

The shaking travels out from the epicentre, so a player near it feels it at once and someone across the map a few seconds later and softer. Each shock comes with a boom and a jolt, then two to five smaller aftershocks follow over the next four minutes. In a strong one, parked cars rock with their hazards on, drivers stop or panic, people stumble and duck, and street lights, signs, bins and cones near players go over. The street resets once players have left and come back.

Only cars and people each player's game already runs are moved. A script's own peds and cars players own are left alone.

#When they come on their own

While the forecast runs (Freeze Weather off):

• A clear evening now and then turns into Starfall (about 3 in 10), an Aurora (about 2 in 10) or Meteors (about 6 in 100). One show a night, and they clear at dawn.
• A Hurricane can grow out of an Overcast or Rain sky (about 8 in 100), with a warning to get off the water a few minutes before it comes ashore.
• An earthquake comes about every 6 hours, mostly 4.5 to 5.5 and never past 7.

Turn them off with Random Sky Events and Random Earthquakes in Configuration. No show comes while an earthquake shakes.