Tornado Games for your PC

[TH2002]

I've started this thread to talk about various tornado games that have been released for Windows over the years.
First and foremost: Are any of these games 100% accurate simulations of tornadoes?
Generally speaking, no. But some of these games try to be more realistic then others.

Anyways: Let's start with the oldest:

Twister (nVidia Tech Demo) - 2002
This 30MB tech demo was created and released in 2002 by nVidia to showcase the capabilities of their then new GeForce 4MX series graphics cards. Featuring DirectX 7 and OpenGL 1.3 capability, the 4MX series were some of nVidia's budget or "entry level" graphics cards available at the time. The tornado and trailer park are rendered using fill-rate techniques via the GPU while the CPU calculates the physics of the trailer park. The storm is controllable by the user and upon contact, the trailers are lofted and/or torn to pieces by the tornado. Fairly impressive stuff for the time!

If anyone is interested you can find downloads for this tech demo on various websites. NOTE: IF YOUR COMPUTER DOES NOT HAVE A DEDICATED GRAPHICS CARD OR AN OPERATING SYSTEM NEWER THAN WINDOWS 7, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PLAY THIS TECH DEMO.



Tornado Jockey - 2006

Ah yes, my favorite tornado game of all time! I spent WAY too much time playing this game as a kid.
Anyways, Tornado Jockey was released in 2006 by WildTangent. There are six different maps from a simple prarie to a big city and everything in between and tornadoes ranging from F0 to F5 in strength. In Adventure mode you have to destroy a set of targets on the different maps. As you go along your tornado increases in strength and you unlock that strength and the map. In Tornado Alley mode the goal is simple: destroy EVERYTHING. You can play any unlocked map with any unlocked tornado.
There is one thing about this game that should be noted however: it is NOT realistic in any way shape or form. No F0 tornadoes can't collapse skyscrapers and loft heavy vehicles hundreds of yards through the air. In all fairness, in some ways the game does try to be somewhat realistic; in the Suburbs map the default strength is F2 and when the player steers the tornado into the houses they get their roofs torn off. Fair enough, but the houses can only get their roofs torn off as there are not different levels of destruction for different strengths of tornadoes.
Despite these shortcomings, this game is freaking FUN! The game wasn't designed to be realistic so I can get past the shortcomings, and I highly recommend you try this game if you haven't already.
I'm sure there are various online acquistion methods that shall not be spoken of *wink wink* but if you want to try the game I do recommend picking up a CD off of eBay or something as they are not expensive at all. I think I paid $5 for mine back in the day and while the cost has gone up with time you should pick up a copy while they're still cheap.

Force of Nature - 2014
This is NOT to be confused with the Steam game of the same name!
Force of Nature is an indie (made by one developer) game where you take control of a tornado. Simple concept, simple execution. There are different types of structures your tornado can take out including permanent homes, trailers, fences, vehicles - anything in your path!
This game does try to be more realistic than its predecessors; there are different levels of damage for different tornado strengths and strucutres are torn to pieces in a more realistic tornado fashion.
However the game does have its problems. Unlike the previous two games this one does require a beefy computer and tends to crash - a lot. Obviously as an indie game it's not going to have the same level of polish as a studio game but is still worth a try. However do NOT try to play this game on your toaster!
You can find the download on indiedb.

Storm Chasers - 2019

This popular Steam early access game is different from all the others - this game is a multiplayer storm chasing simulation that tries to be as realisitc as possible. Sometimes the chase will bust, sometimes you will only encounter a spaghetti noodle or two, and if you're lucky (or unlucky?) enough you may just come face to face with an EF5 wedge. While focusing on storm chasing, the game also does have a mode for players to take control of tornadoes.
This game does require 10+ GB of hard disk space (is that considered "small" these days? geez where have I been?) among other beefy specs so I unfortunately haven't been able to try this one. But maybe some of you guys have so if so, what do you think? Is Storm Chasers an excellent and realistic storm chasing simulator or not worth the hype?

OUTBRK - ????
Another Steam early access game. Unfortunately this one has not yet been released in a playable form but is a very ambitious project.
As of yet the game sounds similar to Storm Chasers - a multiplayer storm chasing simulator but perhaps OUTBRK may be even more realisitc. The game, per the developers, is supposed to have scenarios based on real-life weather events and "Different storm modes and features will look and act just like they do in real life".
The game's map is also supposed to be 625 square kilometers. WOW!!
Definitely a game I won't be able to run on any of my computers for the time being.

That's all for now.
What are your thoughts?

 

[Shakespeare 2016]

I've started this thread to talk about various tornado games that have been released for Windows over the years.
First and foremost: Are any of these games 100% accurate simulations of tornadoes?
Generally speaking, no. But some of these games try to be more realistic then others.

Anyways: Let's start with the oldest:

Twister (nVidia Tech Demo) - 2002
This 30MB tech demo was created and released in 2002 by nVidia to showcase the capabilities of their then new GeForce 4MX series graphics cards. Featuring DirectX 7 and OpenGL 1.3 capability, the 4MX series were some of nVidia's budget or "entry level" graphics cards available at the time. The tornado and trailer park are rendered using fill-rate techniques via the GPU while the CPU calculates the physics of the trailer park. The storm is controllable by the user and upon contact, the trailers are lofted and/or torn to pieces by the tornado. Fairly impressive stuff for the time!

If anyone is interested you can find downloads for this tech demo on various websites. NOTE: IF YOUR COMPUTER DOES NOT HAVE A DEDICATED GRAPHICS CARD OR AN OPERATING SYSTEM NEWER THAN WINDOWS 7, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PLAY THIS TECH DEMO.



Tornado Jockey - 2006

Ah yes, my favorite tornado game of all time! I spent WAY too much time playing this game as a kid.
Anyways, Tornado Jockey was released in 2006 by WildTangent. There are six different maps from a simple prarie to a big city and everything in between and tornadoes ranging from F0 to F5 in strength. In Adventure mode you have to destroy a set of targets on the different maps. As you go along your tornado increases in strength and you unlock that strength and the map. In Tornado Alley mode the goal is simple: destroy EVERYTHING. You can play any unlocked map with any unlocked tornado.
There is one thing about this game that should be noted however: it is NOT realistic in any way shape or form. No F0 tornadoes can't collapse skyscrapers and loft heavy vehicles hundreds of yards through the air. In all fairness, in some ways the game does try to be somewhat realistic; in the Suburbs map the default strength is F2 and when the player steers the tornado into the houses they get their roofs torn off. Fair enough, but the houses can only get their roofs torn off as there are not different levels of destruction for different strengths of tornadoes.
Despite these shortcomings, this game is freaking FUN! The game wasn't designed to be realistic so I can get past the shortcomings, and I highly recommend you try this game if you haven't already.
I'm sure there are various online acquistion methods that shall not be spoken of *wink wink* but if you want to try the game I do recommend picking up a CD off of eBay or something as they are not expensive at all. I think I paid $5 for mine back in the day and while the cost has gone up with time you should pick up a copy while they're still cheap.

Force of Nature - 2014
This is NOT to be confused with the Steam game of the same name!
Force of Nature is an indie (made by one developer) game where you take control of a tornado. Simple concept, simple execution. There are different types of structures your tornado can take out including permanent homes, trailers, fences, vehicles - anything in your path!
This game does try to be more realistic than its predecessors; there are different levels of damage for different tornado strengths and strucutres are torn to pieces in a more realistic tornado fashion.
However the game does have its problems. Unlike the previous two games this one does require a beefy computer and tends to crash - a lot. Obviously as an indie game it's not going to have the same level of polish as a studio game but is still worth a try. However do NOT try to play this game on your toaster!
You can find the download on indiedb.

Storm Chasers - 2019

This popular Steam early access game is different from all the others - this game is a multiplayer storm chasing simulation that tries to be as realisitc as possible. Sometimes the chase will bust, sometimes you will only encounter a spaghetti noodle or two, and if you're lucky (or unlucky?) enough you may just come face to face with an EF5 wedge. While focusing on storm chasing, the game also does have a mode for players to take control of tornadoes.
This game does require 10+ GB of hard disk space (is that considered "small" these days? geez where have I been?) among other beefy specs so I unfortunately haven't been able to try this one. But maybe some of you guys have so if so, what do you think? Is Storm Chasers an excellent and realistic storm chasing simulator or not worth the hype?

OUTBRK - ????
Another Steam early access game. Unfortunately this one has not yet been released in a playable form but is a very ambitious project.
As of yet the game sounds similar to Storm Chasers - a multiplayer storm chasing simulator but perhaps OUTBRK may be even more realisitc. The game, per the developers, is supposed to have scenarios based on real-life weather events and "Different storm modes and features will look and act just like they do in real life".
The game's map is also supposed to be 625 square kilometers. WOW!!
Definitely a game I won't be able to run on any of my computers for the time being.

That's all for now.
What are your thoughts?

THAT SOUNDS LIKE A LOT OF FUN!
I

 

[Brice Wood]

Storm chasers was good but I can’t wait to see what OUTBRK looks like

 

[Equus]

Always liked Force of Nature but it definitely had its issues; I haven't found a working download link for it in a while now that I actually have a comp that would handle it well. Seems the project was long abandoned. Hoping OUTBRK comes to fruition as it seems interesting.

I also liked messing around with tornadoes in SimCity 4 and Cities Skylines lol; wish the ones in the latter were more realistically controllable because they look teriffic but just meander randomly. Fine if you want a virtually stationary high plains drill bit but not if you want a realistic swath

 

[TH2002]

Always liked Force of Nature but it definitely had its issues; I haven't found a working download link for it in a while now that I actually have a comp that would handle it well. Seems the project was long abandoned. Hoping OUTBRK comes to fruition as it seems interesting.

I also liked messing around with tornadoes in SimCity 4 and Cities Skylines lol; wish the ones in the latter were more realistically controllable because they look teriffic but just meander randomly. Fine if you want a virtually stationary high plains drill bit but not if you want a realistic swath

I have a copy of the installation file if you're interested.

 

[DDM]

I also liked messing around with tornadoes in SimCity 4 and Cities Skylines lol

That's pretty much my only experience with tornadoes in video games, except going even further back. Both of my parents used to play SimCity 3000 in the late 90s and they'd always let me destroy their cities with various natural disasters once they grew bored of them.

 

[TH2002]

I do still play SimCity 2000 every now and then sometimes playing around with the different types of disasters including tornadoes.

 

[Todd Austin]

Made an account to this site to add some updates to this list so here you go.

1. Twister (nVidia Tech Demo) 2002
Most likely forgotten by nVidia themselves and a few others but can still be shown thru some videos on YouTube of the tech demos.

2. Tornado Jockey 2006
As of August 13, 2023 (when writing this) Tornado Jockey is unavailable on WildTangent for a few years and the only way to play the game is thru 3rd party websites that has a ~20% chance for being a virus or buying a physical disk on Amazon or Ebay for around $10.

3. Force of Nature 2014
It is currently still in the 4.0 Alpha state since 2017, the last time the creator, McTune has been online was in 2019, it is the highest likely hood that the creator has forgotten Force of Nature or is no longer around anymore. There is slight hope that someone else with some decent coding skills picks up where he left off and finish the game (hopefully).

4. Storm Chasers 2019
Some good news on this game, it is still being updated and alive with a decent sized community. And you can find videos of this game on YouTube and the game has very positive reviews. In one update the devs have made a gamemode where you and a friend battle each other in a server where one of you gets randomly chosen to be the tornado and the goal is to get the most points at the end.

5. OUTBRK ???
As of the end of July, there are still updates to the game but still unavailable to buy and play, the latest update involves a camera system, an interview with the German Storm Chasing Community Meteopool, and a car model for the Kickstarter supporters. They also added more people to help them update quicker.

 

[TH2002]

Made an account to this site to add some updates to this list so here you go.

1. Twister (nVidia Tech Demo) 2002
Most likely forgotten by nVidia themselves and a few others but can still be shown thru some videos on YouTube of the tech demos.

2. Tornado Jockey 2006
As of August 13, 2023 (when writing this) Tornado Jockey is unavailable on WildTangent for a few years and the only way to play the game is thru 3rd party websites that has a ~20% chance for being a virus or buying a physical disk on Amazon or Ebay for around $10.

3. Force of Nature 2014
It is currently still in the 4.0 Alpha state since 2017, the last time the creator, McTune has been online was in 2019, it is the highest likely hood that the creator has forgotten Force of Nature or is no longer around anymore. There is slight hope that someone else with some decent coding skills picks up where he left off and finish the game (hopefully).

4. Storm Chasers 2019
Some good news on this game, it is still being updated and alive with a decent sized community. And you can find videos of this game on YouTube and the game has very positive reviews. In one update the devs have made a gamemode where you and a friend battle each other in a server where one of you gets randomly chosen to be the tornado and the goal is to get the most points at the end.

5. OUTBRK ???
As of the end of July, there are still updates to the game but still unavailable to buy and play, the latest update involves a camera system, an interview with the German Storm Chasing Community Meteopool, and a car model for the Kickstarter supporters. They also added more people to help them update quicker.

Welcome to the forums.

Luckily for you - and anyone else who may be interested, I'm a software preservationist:

nVidia Twister: https://mega.nz/file/XlAkAY7a#ZytuN6QwWXZz2lFfe_wasJnzIqtM2g4dDj6rLd_Fun4

Tornado Jockey (this is an ISO imaged directly from my physical copy, so you will need to mount it using something like MagicDisc, or to a virtual machine): https://mega.nz/file/C4x3hDhT#yf6SmbFuA7uP3nqvfLSbpvQVZqIXszpFRcccwyC1lzM

Force of Nature: https://mega.nz/file/OsxEhDBK#Jfy5iZ8cTpFc7tifsI8a9L0Hfrct78B-jnEt3Y5MqNA

Also, can't help but notice my grammar sucks in the original post. Too lazy to proofread now, so enjoy it.

 

[Tanner]

Twisted on Roblox is probably the best tornado chasing game for PC to date. Defeats waiting on OUTBRK though, it looks promising.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[TH2002]

Twisted on Roblox is probably the best tornado chasing game for PC to date. Defeats waiting on OUTBRK though, it looks promising.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I feel like Roblox has devolved into something unrecognizable from what it was when I first started playing it (around 2011). Of course games and websites have to evolve, but I sure miss the days when Roblox had that "home-grown" feeling before it became a multi-billion dollar brand name.

The best tornado chasing game for PC IMO (although not a standalone title) has been with the various addons available for Garry's Mod.

 

[TH2002]

Some instructions for running these older programs (nVidia Twister and Tornado Jockey) on more modern hardware:

nVidia Twister:
I was able to get it working on my primary computer (running Windows 10) albeit the sound doesn't work. To do this, head into the program directory C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\Nvidia Demos\Twister and locate the twister.exe application. Right click, go to Properties, then the Compatibility tab. Enable the following:

• Run this program in compatibility mode for: Windows XP (Service Pack 3)
• Run in 640x480 screen resolution
• Change high DPI settings → Override high DPI scaling behavior. Scaling performed by: Application

The techdemo should now run. Of course, if installing on era-appropriate hardware this procedure shouldn't be necessary.

Tornado Jockey:
Windows 2000, XP, Vista and 7:
If installing Tornado Jockey on era-appropriate hardware, you can either use third-party software to mount the .iso file (I recommend using MagicDisc) or use another system to burn the file directly to a CD-ROM and install from an optical drive. For Windows 2000, you will need to manually upgrade DirectX to version 8.1 or higher, if it is not already present (upgrading Internet Explorer to version 6 is also recommended). Otherwise, installation and running the game are pretty self explanatory.

Windows 8, 8.1, 10 and 11:
Windows 8 or later can mount .iso files natively, without the need for third party software. Just right click on the Tornado Jockey file and click Mount... install as normal. Depending on your hardware and what issues you may run into, you'll likely need to screw with the compatibility settings - right click on the Tornado Jockey desktop shortcut and click Properties. For me, the same compatibility settings that worked with nVidia Twister also worked with Tornado Jockey, though the settings that work for you may be different.

With Windows 8 and later (and sometimes even Windows 7) you'll likely get pesky script errors on startup. As far as I can tell the error messages only happen on startup and don't affect the game itself, though you can use Windows Firewall to block outbound connections from the Tornado Jockey executable, and that will get rid of the errors.

Virtual machine:
I recommend using VMWare Workstation Player, since the more recent versions of VirtualBox are finicky with 3D acceleration. VMWare Workstation Player is available for Windows and Linux hosts. I do not have the means to try this with VMWare Fusion on macOS, though it should theoretically work provided 3D acceleration is available.

You may choose to install XP, Vista or 7 on your VM using an .iso file, or you can grab a preinstalled copy of Windows 2000 here... when creating the VM, be sure to allocate at least 256 MB of RAM, though I recommend 512 or more.

If going the Windows 2000 route, you will need to install the IE6 and DirectX upgrades yourself, which can be found here and here. In the VM settings, go to Options > Shared folders > Always enabled, and check Map as a network drive in Windows guests. It should prompt you to select or create a shared folder, then drop the DirectX and IE6 files in the folder. Boot up W2K and go to My Network Places on the desktop, then Entire Network > View entire contents > VMWare Shared Folders > vmware-host and you should find the files. Apply the upgrades, reboot, then mount the Tornado Jockey .iso and install as normal.

If anyone runs into issues or has questions, feel free to post them here or PM me. Thanks!

 

[TH2002]

**IF HAVING TROUBLE WITH 3D ACCELERATION IN VMWARE, DO THIS:**
Head to the directory of your virtual machine. It should be in Documents > Virtual Machines > [your VM name]. Look for the virtual machine's .vmx file. Right click on it then choose Open With > Notepad.

Insert this line right underneath were it says config.version: virtualHW.version = "8"

Save and exit. 3D acceleration should now work in Windows 2000. Sorry it took me so long to give this a mention.

But the reason I made this post is to shed some light on what may be the oldest tornado game ever made:

Tornado - 1985
I've played this one on various C64 emulators before, but just gave it a try on my actual Commodore 64. It's a neat little game where the objective is to destroy your opponent's house before they destroy yours.

There are six storms at your disposal:
Tornado: Exactly what it sounds like. Does a lot of damage, but not the best for every turn due to its shape.
Rain: Easier to hit your opponent with. Doesn't do as much damage, but more than Snow.
Snow: Easiest to hit your opponent with, but doesn't do much damage.
Lightning: Does a lot of damage but is a pain in the @ss to aim, so I only use it when the storm cloud is directly above the opponent's house.
Earthquake: Shakes things up. Will also cause damage to your house, so use wisely!
Hail: Narrower than Rain or Snow, but does more damage.

The twist is that the position of your storm cloud at the top of the screen, which dictates where your storm will originate, and the "Wind" value will be random with each turn. The Wind value is what you use to aim your storm. For example, if the Wind value is 40, typing -40 will point straight down. With these two factors in mind, you really have to think about how to aim and ensure a hit on your opponent.

Speaking of which, the game has a mode for single player against a computer opponent, or two players. Should also note that the game is in German, but fortunately pretty straightforward to play. If you like meteorology and old games - which I may be the only person on the planet that checks both of those boxes - give this one a try! There's not much information about this game on the internet, even Lemon64 doesn't mention it in their database, so it's an underappreciated gem.