# SkyClouds

> Talos next · Since 0.6; changed in next

## Fields

| Field | Type | Required | Default | Allowed values | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| `preset` | `CloudPreset` | no |  | `clear`, `fair`, `broken`, `overcast`, `storm` | Named cloud layer: clear (a few small cumulus), fair (the default: fair-weather cumulus over about a third of the sky), broken (cumulus and stratocumulus over most of it), overcast (a low grey deck) or storm (low, towering, dense cloud everywhere). |
| `coverage` | `number` | no |  |  | Share of the sky the clouds cover, within 0..1. Fair is 0.4, overcast 0.95. |
| `altitudeM` | `number` | no |  |  | Height of the layer's base above the ground, metres, within 0..20000. Fair is 1500. |
| `thicknessM` | `number` | no |  |  | Thickness of the layer, metres, within 100..10000. Fair is 2000; storm 6000. |
| `density` | `number` | no |  |  | Scale on the preset's cloud density, within 0..10. 1 is the preset's; higher is darker undersides and deeper shadows. |
| `windSpeedMps` | `number` | no |  |  | Wind speed at the layer, metres per second, within 0..100. The clouds drift with the simulation's clock (a paused or recorded game keeps them exact). Fair is about 8.5. |
| `windDirectionRad` | `number` | no |  |  | Compass bearing the wind blows toward, radians, as `sun.azimuth`: 0 toward -Z, increasing toward +X. Absolute: `sky.rotation` does not turn it. |
| `shadowStrength` | `number` | no |  |  | How much of the layer's shadow reaches the sun's light, within 0..1. 1 is the default, the physical shadow; lower it to keep ground under thick cloud from going nearly black; 0 is no cloud shadow. The clouds themselves look the same. |
| `style` | `CloudStyle` | no |  | `noise`, `sculpted` | How the layer is drawn: noise (the default: clouds cut out of drifting noise) or sculpted (built forms: a rolling deck with breaks, cumulus heaps and towers, their surfaces roughened by noise). Sculpted holds up when flown over and beside; the layer's other fields mean the same in both. The quality knobs `clouds.*` set how finely either is drawn. |
| `forms` | `CloudForms` | no |  |  | What a sculpted layer is built of (`style: sculpted` only): `deck`, `cumulus`, `towers`, `anvils`, `towerHeight`, `lumps` and `seed`. Absent fields take the preset's. The noise style does not read it. |

## See also

- `CloudPreset`
- `CloudStyle`
- `CloudForms`