Skyboxes

(Darkix) #1

Tell me what I have to do. I’ve downloaded one of Avoc’s amazing skyboxes, and then I’m stuck. I’ve moved everything where it should be, and I can see the textures fine in the game. But the problem is, I don’t know what to do after that. One thread says it needs to be a tiny box outside of your map, another says it has to be a box encompassing your map. Another question I had was, what do I need to add to my <mapname>.shader file?

Last question is, can a skybox be a different size? For instance, I have a map that looks like this:

|^|^^^^^^^^|
| |
|^|

I only want the skybox to be visable for the outside portion of the map, which is the:

|^|
| |
|^|

… part. Thanks.

(stealth6) #2

lol the symbol drawings, I can never figure them out.
Anyway making a big box around your map for the skybox is the beginners way of doing it.

the best is to make the skybox start where your map ends(if you know what i mean), and it works like any other texture really, just with some shader settings so it reacts in a certain way.

for example in ctf_toxic only used a skybox in the middle of the map
so where the walls stop the skybox starts

EDIT: added a screenshot

(Darkix) #3

That’s what I wanted. Good. But what do I put in my <mapname>.shader? I imported everything from the .rar to the correct folders, but when I load up ET after doing BSP and VIS, they’re not seamless and look ****.

(stealth6) #4

well normally when you download the skybox, you move a .shader file to your scripts folder.

Then add it to the shaderlist too, and it should work.
Then when you are making your pk3, just include that shader together with your own.

Or if you really just want to have 1 shader, open up the shader of the skybox
ctrl-a (select all)
ctrl-c (copy)
open up your shader
ctrl-v at the bottom of the file (or the top, whereveer you see fit)

Then when making the pk3 you only need to put that 1 file in the pk3

(Darkix) #5

Well then it must be a problem on my part. Take a look at my map, and tell me what I’ve messed up. Everything is put in the correct folders, and I edited the shaderlist exactly how it’s supposed to be.

GTK:

9k5u76.png1024x742

W:ET:

i79069.png800x598

And while you’re at it, there’s a little teaser for my map :stuck_out_tongue: I didn’t feel like cutting it out. Just the entrance though.

(IndyJones) #6

just a suggesstion - you have a lot of terrain brushes, and it’s not even detailed.

(stealth6) #7

you’re applying the wrong texture.
textures/endless_sky/endless_sky
apply that one to all faces

the script figures out what goes where in game

(Darkix) #8

So how would you suggest fixing that?

[QUOTE=stealth6;227399]you’re applying the wrong texture.
textures/endless_sky/endless_sky
apply that one to all faces

the script figures out what goes where in game[/QUOTE]

O: I’ll have to see if that works when I get back home.

(Cambodunum) #9

mark 'em and press “ctrl + m” … but i think you should take a short look at structural vs. detail brush tutorials

greetz Cambo

(Darkix) #10

The difference is that structural acts like a wall in q3map2, detail doesn’t. Something about lights. Read about it on the 2bit tutorial.

(-SSF-Sage) #11

This is going into wrong direction with the last few posts. Indy meant that there is so many brushes in the terrain but so little shapes. The FPS drops for no reason, because you have wasted so many tris. The tris (Grid size) on the terrain are so small, I’ve used 128x128 as a minimum for the base mesh.

To fix it you would have to almost redo the whole terrain, but it might not be worth the effort. If you are using terrain software it might be quick to fix. You could have got the same amount of detail with half of the tris tho. If you do a full vis block from this stage to the rest you will probably be fine.

Oh yeah and obviously terrain brushes are supposed to be detail brushes with no exception.

(Avoc) #12

I should have made an editor image for my skyboxes >.>

Yes, you need to look for, and apply, the texture called ‘endless_sky’ to the brushes.

If you ctrl + click on the pictures, you will notice how the editor says ‘not a shader’. If you ctrl + click ‘endless_sky’ one, it will load up the endless_sky.shader in your shader folder.

That is usually a good way to check if the textures you have applied have an actual shader attached to them.

(Darkix) #13

Yep, got it to work earlier. Thanks Sage, Stealth, and Avoc.