ABOUT:  This is a procedurally generated mod, part of my Project Atlas universe generator, that I designed for No Man’s Sky. This mod focuses on adding procedurally generated sky color palettes to the planets in No Man’s Sky. This mod is part of my Project Atlas Universe Generator for No Man's Sky. To know what Project Atlas is , check this reddit post that contains details about it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/NoMansSkyTheGame/comments/96gyi4/introducing_project_atlas_your_very_own/

the vanilla game has only 5 shades of day sky colors and 1 shade of sunrise/sunset colors, hence i made this mod to add thousands of new shades of sky colors to the game, to add diversity.



GAME VERSION SUPPORTED: The mod works with No Man’s Sky Synthesis Update and above.


FEATURES OF THE MOD: 

These are some of the salient features of the mod.


•6000 carefully generated,unique sky and atmospheric pallete colors in each version.
•6 different versions.
•Some planets have themed atmospherics, where all aspects of the planet sky colors are beautifully linked to each other.
•Truly alien looking atmospheres are possible
•Maximum of 3 colors possible on a given day time per planet, which also varies with time of day and position of sun.
•The light color of a planet has a 25% chance of being linked to the actual color of the sun of the planet. Hence, a blue sun has a 25% chance of giving planets that has blue colored planet lighting and so on.
•Dense, procedurally colored fog is possible, giving really good visuals.
•Fog colors can vary with distance and can have 2 to 3 colors depending on the time of the day.
•Increased brightness versions have a chance of creating really vibrant planets.
•Procedurally colored clouds, with some really nice looking thunder cloud colors also possible with the mod.
•Sometimes, there is a chance of getting dim planets, that give a creepy , alien vibe.
•Cloudless planets are possible when clouds blend with the sky.




VERSIONS OF THE MOD: 

The mod has 2 main version and 3 sub versions of each main version, total of 6 versions, each version adds 6000 unique, procedurally generated sky color palettes to the game that affects all aspects of a planet’s atmosphere colors like clouds, sky, sun , planet light color ,atmospherics of the day time, atmospherics of sun rise and sunset, dawn and dusk sky colors etc….

Main versions: The mod has the following 2 main categories: 

VANILLA BRIGHTNESS: This folder contains mods which have the planet light brightness not more than that of vanilla planet light color. Hence, the maximum brightness of planets in this version will not exceed that of vanilla game. Choose this if you don’t want to bright planets in terms of atmospherics.

INCREASED BRIGHTNESS: This folder contains mods which have the planet light brightness more than that of vanilla planet light color. The brightness of planets will be about 50% more than that of vanilla planets most of the times, resulting in very vibrant planets like those in the atlas rises version of game and before. It also has chances of creating planets with vanilla brightness or less too. Choose this if you prefer planets that are vibrant and bright most of the time.


Now each of the above two main versions has 3 sub versions , once you pick which level of brightness you want, select one of the 3 sub versions from the respective folder.
 
1) _PROJECT_ATLAS_ALIEN_SKIES_MILD.pak - this version adds only visually appealing sky atmospheric colors, which are photogenic and look good both when playing and in screenshots. Use it if you want good looking planets almost all the time. There is a chance that 1 in 10 or so planets can be truly alien. But otherwise , this version will give mild,light colored sky and planet atmospherics.

2) _PROJECT_ATLAS_ALIEN_SKIES_NORMAL.pak – this version has the features of the above version, plus there is a chance that 1 in 5 or so planets will have alien looking atmospherics. Use this if you want a greater chance of alien type atmospheres, but have a good chance of finding visually appealing planets.

3) _PROJECT_ATLAS_ALIEN_SKIES_TRULY_ALIEN.pak – This version has a chance of 1 in every 2 or 3 planets to have really alien looking atmospherics. Less chance of getting mild skies and greater chance of getting truly alien sky and planet atmospherics. Gives a really sci-fi alien vibe to the planets. 
Choose only one of the mod versions and place them in the MODS folder to make the mod work.


COMPATIBILITY: 

the mod alters the following files and as such won’t work with any other mod that alters the same file: 

GCSKYGLOBALS.GLOBALS.MBIN
METADATA\SIMULATION\SOLARSYSTEM\WEATHER\SKYSETTINGS\DAYSKYCOLOURS.MBIN
METADATA\SIMULATION\SOLARSYSTEM\WEATHER\SKYSETTINGS\DUSKSKYCOLOURS.MBIN



INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS:

1)Select only one of the six mod versions
2)Create a MODS folder in the GAMEDATA/PCBANKS/ folder of your No Man’s Sky install directory. Make sure to delete the DISABLEMODS.txt in the PCBANKS folder to make mods work.
3)Place the selected pak file in the Above MODS folder and play.


BUGS: 

If any bugs are encountered, leave a comment on the mod page and I will get to it when I have time.


CREDITS:

@EXOSOLAR  - for giving nice suggestions and inputs for the mod.


                   

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