{"name":"setOvercast","title":"setOvercast","type":"command","url":"https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/setOvercast","revid":379149,"updated":"2026-10-17T01:42:12Z","groups":["Environment"],"status":"ok","games":{"ofp":"1.00","ofpe":"1.00","arma1":"1.00","arma2":"1.00","arma2oa":"1.50","tkoh":"1.00","arma3":"0.50"},"since":"ofp 1.00","arma3_since":"0.50","locality":{"effect":"local"},"description":"Set overcast to given value smoothly during given time (in seconds). Zero time means immediate change.\nAn overcast setting of zero means clear (sunny) weather, and one means storms and rain are very likely. Higher overcast values also result in higher wind speeds.","syntaxes":[{"syntax":"time setOvercast overcast","params":[{"name":"time","type":"Number","description":"in seconds","type_expr":"Number"},{"name":"overcast","type":"Number","description":"in range 0..1","type_expr":"Number"}],"returns":{"type":"Nothing","type_expr":"Nothing"},"form":"binary","left":{"text":"time"},"right":{"text":"overcast"}}],"examples":[{"code":["60 setOvercast 0.5;"]}],"multiplayer":"**Pre Arma 3:** Each client and the server can have differing overcast values.\n\n> [!NOTE]\n> **Arma 3:** In Arma 3 weather values are periodically synchronised with the server.","see_also":["overcast","nextWeatherChange","simulSetHumidity"],"notes":[{"user":"Hardrock","date":"2006-08-04T14:00:00Z","text":"*Notes from before the conversion:*\n\nUse setRain if you want to make sure it rains."},{"user":"Ceeeb","date":"2007-04-20T04:24:00Z","text":"Only one script command induced weather change (either setOvercast or setFog) can be happening at a time. Starting a new weather change will immediately halt the current weather change. SetRain changes are independent and can occur simultaneously to a weather change."},{"user":"DnA","date":"2013-08-14T11:22:00Z","text":"Arma 3's volumetric clouds cannot be instantly changed (it would take up to a few seconds to do a full recompute). Therefore, *0 setOvercast 0* will not have the desired effect. You can use skipTime to get to the desired cloud coverage.\n\nNOTE: To get instant, seamless overcast change to overcast 1 advance the time 24 hours with skipTime while setting overcast transition time to 86400 seconds (24 hours) - Killzone_Kid (12:08, 15 August 2013)\n\n```sqf\n86400 setOvercast 1;\nskipTime 24;\n\n// to remain on the same date:\nskipTime -24;\n86400 setOvercast 1;\nskipTime 24;\n```"},{"user":"Killzone_Kid","date":"2013-10-28T11:06:00Z","text":"With removal of simulSetHumidity, in order to add instant cloud cover, execute simulWeatherSync with delay (for now):\n\n```sqf\nskipTime -24;\n86400 setOvercast 1;\nskipTime 24;\n0 spawn {\n    sleep 0.1;\n    simulWeatherSync;\n};\n```\n\nThere is slight freeze with simul command."},{"user":"Adanteh","date":"2015-08-21T19:58:00Z","text":"Delay in Arma 3 doesn't work for quick changes. Using 120 setOvercast 1 only reaches full overcast after about 50 minutes.\nUsing setTimeMultiplier does speed up the overcast, but it doesn't render any clouds.\nYou will need to skipTime or forceWeatherChange to render clouds if you want it to happen within the hour."},{"user":"AgentRev","date":"2016-05-05T00:41:00Z","text":"Actual transition time is inversely proportional to the timeMultiplier. For example, a time of 7200 (2 hours) and a timeMultiplier of 2 will result in a real-life transition time of 7200 / 2 = 3600 (1 hour).\nIn case of overcast, a timeMultiplier > 1 will cause gradual desyncing of the cloud cover with the overcast value, so it is advised that you multiply the transition time by the multiplier, i.e. :\n\n```sqf\n(7200 * timeMultiplier) setOvercast 1\n```"},{"user":"OverlordZorn","date":"2026-10-17T01:42:12Z","text":"Tested in 2.22:\n\n- The old note about only one weather change running at a time does not apply (anymore). `setOvercast` and `setFog` transitions run at the same time without interrupting each other, in either order.\n- `setOvercast` does not change `nextWeatherChange`. `setFog` does: it sets it to the transition time.\n- The transition time is not respected. After `120 setOvercast 1` (starting at 0), overcast rose by ~0.0014 every 5 seconds (0.017 after 60s), so a full change takes roughly an hour. `overcastForecast` reports the target (1) right away."}]}