Skybox: Hollow or Perfection? Created 15 years ago2009-09-08 11:21:00 UTC by Mazetar

Hello again!
I'm just wondering about one more thing, it's not a problem really it's more of a question, during my first maps, I had hell with finding leaks, the first ones even didn't have a skybox but later I started making a skybox, wherever it was needed, and well after a while I got tired of it and I just simply started makinga gigantic cube filling my whole map, adding sky textures, and then pressing "Hollow" 10 thickness.
done no leaks:P

and Now well I'm trying to use it a bit less than that way, but then I'm wondering is there any point to it? am I just for no reason assuming making 6 big walls/skyboxes clash together as a huge box around the entire map is a big no no? or is it a reason to take the trouble making it properly?:)
I'm thinking of anything really from Weird errors, long compile times to low FPS on the map:P

anyone knows? if you understood what I meant?;)

With Best Regards:
Mazetar

The best short answer in the mapping history :
Don't put a box around your map.

If you put a big box with the sky texture around your map your compile times will increase and your FPS will drop.

Don't put a box around your map.

I've done this a lot on maps like Poison Garden, R'Dia, and Alpestrine. Maps that do require a box to be put around it requires a little more attention. Like instead of Sky, use Bevel. Encasing a map tightly with bevel blocks can be beneficial. I.E. The complex floor geometry of Alpestrine caused many many many tiny and unfixable leaks. At a certain point, there is a block of bevel that is under all of that to patch up any sort of problems.

On R'Dia, the ceiling is a dome-like cone. The geometry wouldn't hold the map, so all outside edges were manually nulled and the sky is a combination of bevel and sky faces.

On poison garden, the entire map is shelled inside null brushes. Plain and simple, and when exploring it with noclip, I could spot most of the leaks since they jutted out from the rest of the map.

If a brush is completely encased with other brushes, most of it will go away in the compile except the tiny little part that plugs the hole. It's not excessive at all and doesn't harm the r_speeds. In fact it may help them.

+2 Cents

hmm I see, thanks alot for the help and input:)
you just made my map making skills abit better xD

bevels? Please explain this a little more. I usually try and make anything that is big, like a skybox, "beveled" on all the edges. Is this what you are talking about and does this really help anything? I know the more surfaces that don't touch are better so when possible I literally vertex manipulate all the square edges so they don't touch.

I love all your maps rimrook, you are a very good mapper and I appreciate the way you put so much attention and detail in all your maps. Maybe I will start posting more of my stuff. I have like 100+ maps that I don't ever post.

dunivan

Aside from special cases like maps where the sky is everywhere, boxes are bad. If you can make the sky brushes like walls and ceilings instead of boxes, do it.

Bevel texture. It's like null but it clips better.

I am still a bit lost. I thought I was up to speed on all the tool textures but I guess I am still missing something. I know what a null texture is but isn't it like nodraw? And where do I find this bevel texture? Seriously, I don't think I have ever seen this.

Bevel is from the ZHLT wad, it's like Null but it won't increase clipnodes, AFAIK.
It's mostly used for the inside/bottom of terrain and other places that the player won't ever see, so it has no clipping. I think.

NULL is exactly like NODRAW: it stops the face from being rendered ingame.

BEVEL does the same as NULL, but, as Tetsu0 pointed out, it's better on clipnodes.

You can find the BEVEL texture in the zhlt.wad file, its included in the SHLT pack.

Bevel sounds like clip.

Actually bevel sounds more like an angle or something--not a texture.

I have not run across this texture and I have downloaded a few of the zlht packs in the past. I have not done so since I switched over to hl2 so I have not been aware of any changes. I have used the null texture but I was under the impression that it was the same as nodraw, which it is.

I am definately surprised to hear that there is something better than nodraw. I will give it a try and thanks for the explanation.