Whats wrong with this?

[Benvox2]

Hey all,

I have just been grasping the idea of Skyboxes and my map is fully enclosed inside a skybox, with the skybox texture painted on the walls and ceiling, and a dirt texture on the floor (its the floor players walk on) is this a problem? That the level is enclosed so there is no leaking?

 

[Open Blade]

Hey all,

I have just been grasping the idea of Skyboxes and my map is fully enclosed inside a skybox, with the skybox texture painted on the walls and ceiling, and a dirt texture on the floor (its the floor players walk on) is this a problem? That the level is enclosed so there is no leaking?

Sounds like you need to read some basics on mapping. Try the valve wiki site. No, you don't want leaks. If your map is sealed, you won't have leaks.

 

[nossie]

hmm wats the actual question? try 2 make ur questions clearer if its 2 do with leaks then u wouldnt have 1. otherwise dont just enclose ur map in a box as it makes compiling longer and reduces fps in game

man its hard 2 type on a ps3 lol

 

[Benvox2]

Well my question is why cant i just enclose the level in a box? and if not, how else do i make a sky"box" ? Ive read the tutorials but none of them seem to make this clear.

I BELIEVE that my situtation is the same as Figure. 2 on this site http://www.student.ru.nl/rvanhoorn/optimization.php?chapter=notices

the level is inside a box, with the bottom floor of the skybox being my walkable area (dirt texture) while the walls and ceiling are skybox texture, please help me.

 

[nossie]

ok the reason why u cant just 'enclose' ur map in a box is this. when the map compiles it does it in 3 stages. the first does all the blocks and geometry. the 2nd does the "optimization" where it divdes the map into vis leafs. these leafs are dependent on where the blocks are. if u enclose the map in a box then the vis leafs will render everything on the outside (but inside of the box) of ur map
ie if u have a building then bridge then building. |-| (key | = building - = river)the back/outside of the buildings would get rendered or 'made' in a sense. which will cause your fps to be lowered.

the 3rd uses the 2nds info to do the lighting but thats not really a concern here.

PS if im wrong about any of that please tell me

 

[Benvox2]

Ok i understand that now, so how do i put a skybox over my level without boxing in my level, look at the link in my above post, thanks too

 

[Laz]

don't think of the skybox as a "box"

you can just build a window lets say, and then put a block behind the window sealing it up, and texture that block on all sides with the skybox texture.

go read up on some basic tutorial, or look at example maps. simply put , try make a room, and texture the ceiling brush with skybox. compile and take a look. this will give you an idea.

 

[Benvox2]

Ok just looking at an uncompiled version of 2Fort, a skybox is actually only applied over areas it will be directly seen in a series of smaller skyboxes, while leaving unused parts of the level in the void - so having a skybox over say the main central battle area of a map, and another skybox over windows of buildings - if someone can confirm what i think is now right i will be very greatfull!

 

[Laz]

kinda

 

[Benvox2]

kinda

Kinda? what havent i got quite right so far?

 

[Laz]

well there is the whole aspect of 3d skyboxes and how to integrate those into your level. put all your rooftops in there atc, to control visibility. I could write books about this stuff there's plenty of tutorials around. just look at decompiled maps and look at how they do it.
never just box in things.

 

[Sgt Frag]

Think of everything as a 'room'.

So outside of 2Fort when you are on bridge. You are not actually 'outside', you are in a room. But this room doesn't have a wood ceiling, it has a 'sky' texture ceiling that makes it appear larger than it is. Also, on the sides it has sky tex instead of wall tex.

A canyon would be a hallway with sky ceiling.

Now Skybox is different anyway. Your skybox could be a cube but doesn't have to be.
The skybox is a seperate area that the player can't get to. It needs sky on all sides (even floor). It contains stuff that is 16th scale. Models for it start with skybox/train...
Everything in the skybox gets painted in front of the sky but behind player area so the stuff on the sides of buildings in 2Fort are actually outside of player area, they just look like they are right on the other side of fence because they are rendered on the sky tex.
There's a camera in the skybox that plays this 'trick'