How to setup new skyboxes?
- Thread starter ChaosX
- Start date
Make a little structure that the characters cannot reach outside of the level. Put a Skybox Center Point in the middle.
If you need an example, open maps 5 and 9 in zones.dta and look for the Skybox Center Point.
If you need an example, open maps 5 and 9 in zones.dta and look for the Skybox Center Point.
TheDoctor
Member
I must be doing something wrong, or maybe your information is not quite as clear. I checked out CEZ1 and map25 to try to learn this skybox thing but it still remains a mystery.
To test it fully, I made a small test map. What I did was;
Made a small place for the player to run around in with a proper thok barrier placed around it.
Made a small sector (with its own thok barrier) outside the area where the player can wander.
Placed one skybox thing inside the area designated to be the skybox, which is what you said to do, but didn't work. I then did what the srb2 maps did, and placed a second thing in the middle of where the player can move, and applied the object special thingy thing. Didn't work.
When I say it doesn't work, I mean I see a hall of mirrors. I know this is a problem with the skybox, seeing how without the two things the sky1 default sky appears naturally.
To test it fully, I made a small test map. What I did was;
Made a small place for the player to run around in with a proper thok barrier placed around it.
Made a small sector (with its own thok barrier) outside the area where the player can wander.
Placed one skybox thing inside the area designated to be the skybox, which is what you said to do, but didn't work. I then did what the srb2 maps did, and placed a second thing in the middle of where the player can move, and applied the object special thingy thing. Didn't work.
When I say it doesn't work, I mean I see a hall of mirrors. I know this is a problem with the skybox, seeing how without the two things the sky1 default sky appears naturally.
TheDoctor
Member
What do you mean by skybox turned on? This is what I meant when I said the information given is not understandable. Tell me something I would understand.
And of course the sectors have textures..
Also I see no point in a screen shot to show an empty room with a hall of mirror where the sky is supposed to be.
Does your map have a SkyNum in it's header?
TheDoctor
Member
No changes were made to the maincfg file, it uses the GreenFlower Zone act 1 cfg by default, so it does have a SkyNum of 1.
@VisualBlast456: You are using the SRB2 Community Build config file, and for map03 of virtual realm has the same problem as I do in some occasions.
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Try raising or lowering the skybox. I normally find that it does that when the skybox is too high up or too low.
TheDoctor
Member
Tested that idea now, and the results remained the same as a hall of mirror. I'm not entierly sure what we are doing much differently, but it seems some are still experiencing problems with this, while some such as yourself are getting it to work. I followed the exact steps you have given, and yet this is not working. Now would be a great time for a developer to inform us exactly how to do it, since there is much confusion on a topic that should be simple.
sonic10000 says he has got it working with one quantity of thing 780 in the desired skybox sector, yet the maps in zones.dta use two quantities of thing 780, one regular and one with object special. I have tried all methods stated and observed, yet none work for me. And viewing Virtual's VirtualRealm pack, he seems to be having similar problems in the boss fight, except in his position his skybox appears and disapears at different occasions.
sonic10000 says he has got it working with one quantity of thing 780 in the desired skybox sector, yet the maps in zones.dta use two quantities of thing 780, one regular and one with object special. I have tried all methods stated and observed, yet none work for me. And viewing Virtual's VirtualRealm pack, he seems to be having similar problems in the boss fight, except in his position his skybox appears and disapears at different occasions.
Hmm? I don't remember seeing any Object Special Skybox Viewpoints when looking at the official mas, and my skyboxes work without one. Have you tried just one, but with Object Special, or just one without? Also, how far did you move it up/down? It's really finicky and precise with how high/low it is.
ChaosX
Member
Are yu kidding????????????
On-Topic: Try changing the height. If the height is inferior to the ground height, errors like you said may occur. Just experienced that 3 minutes ago.
TheDoctor
Member
If you do a search for thing types and select type 780, two things are found on map 05 and map 25 (didn't check the others). One is in the designated skybox, and one in the central area where the player roams around in with the object special viewpoint. I have tried as you suggested, with one thing 780, and I tried the method presented in the zones.dta file. When I moved the heights of the skybox sectors as you had suggested, I raised the floor heights from 1024 to around 1600, and the ceiling heights were raised the same distance as floor heights.
What heights have you given your skybox to work properly? Maybe it requires some exact distance between the ceiling and floor to work.
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@verticalbraids123: well your map pack has a similar problem, except the skybox comes and goes. Did you fix this problem through sonic100000's advice? If so, what floor/ceiling heights did you use? If your heights show some connection to sonic100000's heights, then I would guess height determines the sky box's funtionability.
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What are your floor heights in the level itself (not the skybox)? Try raising the skybox a little bit, then testing it, and if that doesn't work, raise it a little more. Even a change of 8 fracunits can make a difference, and it takes a lot of fine-tuning.
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TheDoctor
Member
Well I did some experimentation while being inspired by the music "I am the Doctor", and have found this simple proof, now all we need is an idea of what causes this proof to happen.
For the level sectors floor heights of 1024 and ceiling heights of 1600, in order to get a perfectly working skybox the skybox sector would need to have the center of ceiling and floor heights to be 248, meaning the floor of the skybox would need to be 184 and the ceiling would need to be 320 for it to work.
changing the level sectors heights would shift the skybox. So, there must be some connection between the height of the skybox sectors to the level sectors.
For the level sectors floor heights of 1024 and ceiling heights of 1600, in order to get a perfectly working skybox the skybox sector would need to have the center of ceiling and floor heights to be 248, meaning the floor of the skybox would need to be 184 and the ceiling would need to be 320 for it to work.
changing the level sectors heights would shift the skybox. So, there must be some connection between the height of the skybox sectors to the level sectors.
andrewmac1112
Member
i have zone builder i build level but i can't get the skybox working help!
SoupBowler
Member
I feel like I am in a similar boat where trying to get a working skybox is way too unclear and frustrating to get working for a basic feature of a level. Do you have to make the skybox in the level header or can you just place it in an editor with a thing or via applying textures? Not even the Zone Builder tutorial gives info on this.
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PencilVoid
Circuit Enthusiast
The skybox should be a room in a place that the player wouldn't have access to, with a skybox centre point thing at the point that you want the camera to be in the skybox. The height of the skybox camera is determined by the angle of the skybox centre point. The angle of the skybox centre point is an absolute height; if the height of the floor of the sector is 32 and the height of the ceiling is 256, the angle of the skybox centre point must be between 32 and 256, otherwise the skybox is not rendered. The angle of the skybox centre point, as with all other things, can be a negative value. The skybox can be built out of multiple sectors, and objects in the skybox will be rendered. You could even have the skybox centre point be in-level if you really wanted, but this is unadvisable. No changes to the level header are necessary to create a skybox, but you should still set up a normal sky in case the player has skybox rendering turned off.