Enhanced sky atmosphere with DBC-driven colors, sun lighting, and zone weather

- Skybox now uses DBC sky colors (skyTop/skyMiddle/skyBand1/skyBand2) instead
  of hardcoded C++ color curves, with 3-band gradient and Rayleigh/Mie scattering
- Clouds receive sun direction for lit edges, self-shadowing, and silver lining
- Fixed sun quad box artifact with proper edge fade in celestial shader
- Lens flare attenuated by fog, cloud density, and weather intensity
- Replaced garish green/purple lens flare ghosts with warm natural palette
- Added zone-based weather system for single-player mode with per-zone rain/snow
  configuration, probability-based activation, and smooth intensity transitions
- Server SMSG_WEATHER remains authoritative when connected to a server

include/rendering/clouds.hpp

@@ -9,45 +9,37 @@ namespace wowee {
 namespace rendering {
 
 class VkContext;
+struct SkyParams;
 
 /**
  * Procedural cloud renderer (Vulkan)
  *
  * Renders animated procedural clouds on a sky hemisphere using FBM noise.
- * Two noise layers at different frequencies produce realistic cloud shapes.
+ * Sun-lit edges, self-shadowing, and DBC-driven cloud colors for realistic appearance.
  *
  * Pipeline layout:
  *   set 0 = perFrameLayout  (camera UBO — view, projection, etc.)
- *   push  = CloudPush       (vec4 cloudColor + float density + float windOffset = 24 bytes)
- *
- * The vertex shader reads view/projection from set 0 directly; no per-object
- * model matrix is needed (clouds are locked to the sky dome).
+ *   push  = CloudPush       (3 x vec4 = 48 bytes)
  */
 class Clouds {
 public:
     Clouds();
     ~Clouds();
 
-    /**
-     * Initialize the cloud system.
-     * @param ctx            Vulkan context
-     * @param perFrameLayout Descriptor set layout for set 0 (camera UBO)
-     */
     bool initialize(VkContext* ctx, VkDescriptorSetLayout perFrameLayout);
     void shutdown();
     void recreatePipelines();
 
     /**
-     * Render clouds.
+     * Render clouds using DBC-driven colors and sun lighting.
      * @param cmd         Command buffer to record into
      * @param perFrameSet Per-frame descriptor set (set 0, camera UBO)
-     * @param timeOfDay   Time of day in hours (0-24)
+     * @param params      Sky parameters with DBC colors and sun direction
      */
-    void render(VkCommandBuffer cmd, VkDescriptorSet perFrameSet, float timeOfDay);
+    void render(VkCommandBuffer cmd, VkDescriptorSet perFrameSet, const SkyParams& params);
 
     /**
      * Update cloud animation (wind drift).
-     * @param deltaTime Seconds since last frame
      */
     void update(float deltaTime);
 
@@ -56,7 +48,6 @@ public:
     bool isEnabled() const { return enabled_; }
 
     // --- Cloud parameters ---
-    /** Cloud coverage, 0 = clear, 1 = overcast. */
     void setDensity(float density);
     float getDensity() const { return density_; }
 
@@ -66,19 +57,16 @@ public:
 private:
     // Push constant block — must match clouds.frag.glsl
     struct CloudPush {
-        glm::vec4 cloudColor; // 16 bytes (xyz = colour, w unused)
-        float     density;    //  4 bytes
-        float     windOffset; //  4 bytes
-        // total = 24 bytes
+        glm::vec4 cloudColor;     // xyz = DBC-derived base cloud color, w = unused
+        glm::vec4 sunDirDensity;  // xyz = sun direction, w = density
+        glm::vec4 windAndLight;   // x = windOffset, y = sunIntensity, z = ambient, w = unused
     };
-    static_assert(sizeof(CloudPush) == 24, "CloudPush size mismatch");
+    static_assert(sizeof(CloudPush) == 48, "CloudPush size mismatch");
 
     void generateMesh();
     void createBuffers();
     void destroyBuffers();
 
-    glm::vec3 getCloudColor(float timeOfDay) const;
-
     // Vulkan objects
     VkContext*       vkCtx_          = nullptr;
     VkPipeline       pipeline_       = VK_NULL_HANDLE;
@@ -95,14 +83,14 @@ private:
 
     // Cloud parameters
     bool  enabled_    = true;
-    float density_    = 0.5f;
+    float density_    = 0.35f;
     float windSpeed_  = 1.0f;
-    float windOffset_ = 0.0f; // Accumulated wind movement
+    float windOffset_ = 0.0f;
 
     // Mesh generation parameters
     static constexpr int   SEGMENTS = 32;
     static constexpr int   RINGS    = 8;
-    static constexpr float RADIUS   = 900.0f; // Slightly smaller than skybox
+    static constexpr float RADIUS   = 900.0f;
 };
 
 } // namespace rendering

include/rendering/lens_flare.hpp

@@ -47,8 +47,13 @@ public:
      * @param camera The camera to render from
      * @param sunPosition World-space sun position
      * @param timeOfDay Current time (0-24 hours)
+     * @param fogDensity Fog density 0-1 (attenuates flare)
+     * @param cloudDensity Cloud density 0-1 (attenuates flare)
+     * @param weatherIntensity Weather intensity 0-1 (rain/snow attenuates flare)
      */
-    void render(VkCommandBuffer cmd, const Camera& camera, const glm::vec3& sunPosition, float timeOfDay);
+    void render(VkCommandBuffer cmd, const Camera& camera, const glm::vec3& sunPosition,
+                float timeOfDay, float fogDensity = 0.0f, float cloudDensity = 0.0f,
+                float weatherIntensity = 0.0f);
 
     /**
      * @brief Enable or disable lens flare rendering

include/rendering/lighting_manager.hpp

@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ struct LightingParams {
     glm::vec3 skyBand1Color{0.9f, 0.95f, 1.0f};    // Sky band 1
     glm::vec3 skyBand2Color{1.0f, 0.98f, 0.9f};    // Sky band 2
 
-    float cloudDensity = 1.0f;                      // Cloud density/opacity
+    float cloudDensity = 0.3f;                      // Cloud density/opacity
     float horizonGlow = 0.3f;                       // Horizon glow intensity
 };
 

include/rendering/sky_system.hpp

@@ -31,9 +31,10 @@ struct SkyParams {
     glm::vec3 skyBand2Color{1.0f, 0.98f, 0.9f};
 
     // Atmospheric effects
-    float cloudDensity = 0.0f;  // 0-1
-    float fogDensity = 0.0f;    // 0-1
-    float horizonGlow = 0.3f;   // 0-1
+    float cloudDensity = 0.0f;      // 0-1
+    float fogDensity = 0.0f;        // 0-1
+    float horizonGlow = 0.3f;       // 0-1
+    float weatherIntensity = 0.0f;  // 0-1 (rain/snow intensity, attenuates lens flare)
 
     // Time
     float timeOfDay = 12.0f;    // 0-24 hours

include/rendering/skybox.hpp

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ namespace wowee {
 namespace rendering {
 
 class VkContext;
+struct SkyParams;
 
 /**
  * Skybox renderer
@@ -16,6 +17,9 @@ class VkContext;
  * Renders an atmospheric sky gradient using a fullscreen triangle.
  * No vertex buffer: 3 vertices cover the entire screen via gl_VertexIndex.
  * World-space ray direction is reconstructed from the inverse view+projection.
+ *
+ * Sky colors are driven by DBC data (Light.dbc / LightIntBand.dbc) via SkyParams,
+ * with Rayleigh/Mie atmospheric scattering for realistic appearance.
  */
 class Skybox {
 public:
@@ -27,12 +31,12 @@ public:
     void recreatePipelines();
 
     /**
-     * Render the skybox
+     * Render the skybox using DBC-driven sky colors.
      * @param cmd Command buffer to record into
      * @param perFrameSet Per-frame descriptor set (set 0, contains camera UBO)
-     * @param timeOfDay Time of day in hours (0-24), affects sky color
+     * @param params Sky parameters with DBC colors and sun direction
      */
-    void render(VkCommandBuffer cmd, VkDescriptorSet perFrameSet, float timeOfDay = 12.0f);
+    void render(VkCommandBuffer cmd, VkDescriptorSet perFrameSet, const SkyParams& params);
 
     /**
      * Enable/disable skybox rendering
@@ -58,15 +62,7 @@ public:
      */
     void update(float deltaTime);
 
-    /**
-     * Get horizon color for fog (public for fog system)
-     */
-    glm::vec3 getHorizonColor(float time) const;
-
 private:
-    glm::vec3 getSkyColor(float altitude, float time) const;
-    glm::vec3 getZenithColor(float time) const;
-
     VkContext* vkCtx = nullptr;
 
     VkPipeline pipeline = VK_NULL_HANDLE;

include/rendering/weather.hpp

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 #include <vk_mem_alloc.h>
 #include <glm/glm.hpp>
 #include <vector>
+#include <unordered_map>
 
 namespace wowee {
 namespace rendering {
@@ -79,6 +80,35 @@ public:
      */
     int getParticleCount() const;
 
+    /**
+     * @brief Zone weather configuration
+     * Provides default weather per zone for single-player mode.
+     * When connected to a server, SMSG_WEATHER overrides these.
+     */
+    struct ZoneWeather {
+        Type type = Type::NONE;
+        float minIntensity = 0.0f;     // Min intensity (varies over time)
+        float maxIntensity = 0.0f;     // Max intensity
+        float probability = 0.0f;      // Chance of weather being active (0-1)
+    };
+
+    /**
+     * @brief Set weather for a zone (used for zone-based weather configuration)
+     */
+    void setZoneWeather(uint32_t zoneId, Type type, float minIntensity, float maxIntensity, float probability);
+
+    /**
+     * @brief Update weather based on current zone (single-player mode)
+     * @param zoneId Current zone ID
+     * @param deltaTime Time since last frame
+     */
+    void updateZoneWeather(uint32_t zoneId, float deltaTime);
+
+    /**
+     * @brief Initialize default zone weather table
+     */
+    void initializeZoneWeatherDefaults();
+
     /**
      * @brief Clean up Vulkan resources
      */
@@ -120,6 +150,15 @@ private:
     static constexpr int MAX_PARTICLES = 2000;
     static constexpr float SPAWN_VOLUME_SIZE = 100.0f;  // Size of spawn area around camera
     static constexpr float SPAWN_HEIGHT = 80.0f;        // Height above camera to spawn
+
+    // Zone-based weather
+    std::unordered_map<uint32_t, ZoneWeather> zoneWeatherTable_;
+    uint32_t currentWeatherZone_ = 0;
+    float zoneWeatherTimer_ = 0.0f;         // Time accumulator for weather cycling
+    float zoneWeatherCycleDuration_ = 0.0f;  // Current cycle length
+    bool zoneWeatherActive_ = false;         // Is zone weather currently active?
+    float targetIntensity_ = 0.0f;           // Target intensity for smooth transitions
+    bool zoneWeatherInitialized_ = false;
 };
 
 } // namespace rendering