Bigger Skybox?

[metal_head]

In my game I've scaled down the player to 0.5,because I want bigger levels.But sometimes,that doesn't help.I got a level,where you are in an ancient themple.The temple is very high,so if you fall off,you die.I also put a 3d model for terrain.No collision is needed,because the player can't get down,except if he falls from the temple...oh yeah and if the players uses that bug (when you pres the walking button and press strafe,the player hangs on the wall in the air ).Now I've put a skybox in the level,but because the level is outside as you may have guessed and it's big,the skybox covers some areas of the level,that includes the 3d terrain model.And when I move towards the covered aresa,they suddenly appear.I know why that's happening,so is there a way of making he skybox bigger? If I make the skybox textures bigger,will something change? I don't want to use a skydome,it's not good for the framerate and it doesn't look very good ( in my opinion).
Even If I have to change something in the source..no idea.I dn't want to scale down the level,becaue it's already scaled down to 50%

I've scaled down the player to 0.5,because I want bigger levels

[Juutis]

Isn't the skybox drawn behind virtually everything? To me it sounds like your farclip distance is too small. Your terrain just gets clipped.

[Jay]

No the skybox is moving with the player and has an exact size (I think it was something about 4Kx4Kx4K or 2Kx2Kx2K). The skydome too is not drawn behind everything, but this time you can change the size.

[metal_head]

The skydome too is not drawn behind everything, but this time you can change the size.

Soo,there's no way of changing the skybox size?

[Juutis]

No the skybox is moving with the player and has an exact size (I think it was something about 4Kx4Kx4K or 2Kx2Kx2K)

I tested this by making a 15,000x15,000 level with a skybox and at all times the level was fully drawn. The skybox remained behind the level boundaries always.


BTW, I noticed that if you use the farclip plane to clip away brushes that are marked 'sky' the skybox isn't drawn there anymore. I haven't used skyboxes much. Is this normal?

[metal_head]

I forgot to upload something in my first post.

Juutis,I don't know,I'm a newbie and I've also haven't worked a lot with skyboxes (becasue I'm a newbie ).
Try marking the ground as sky also and put another brush (sloid brush ) in the level,make it a little bigger and see if the brush is cliped.

[Jay]

Well a huge hollow box does not count. You must fill it with more than just a ground, e.g. a few walls, houses etc.. I don't know how far the skybox is away, but i am certain that it is rendered at a certain distance, because i once had the same problem that occurs to metal_head now. The skybox was clipping away parts of my level.

Just about how the skybox works: The skybox is a rotating bos that is drawn at a certain distance. Faces flagged as sky are excluded from the 'polygon creation process' so actually there are no faces in the game. And then the skybox can be seen of course, because it is behind the non-existing faces and fills the 'void' around the level.

How big is the level metal_head?

[metal_head]

How big is the level metal_head?

Amm..don't laugh,but...how can I check how big it is ?

[Juutis]

Just about how the skybox works: The skybox is a rotating box that is drawn at a certain distance. Faces flagged as sky are excluded from the 'polygon creation process' so actually there are no faces in the game. And then the skybox can be seen of course, because it is behind the non-existing faces and fills the 'void' around the level.

So basically the skybox should appear wherever the farclip plane clips parts of the level away, right? But that's not what happens to me. Whenever I use the farclip plane those parts appear just plain black (or the color of the distance fog if I have it enabled). Even with small distances like a level that's 512x512x512.

Amm..don't laugh,but...how can I check how big it is ?

You can see the location of the cursor in the bottom of RFEditPro. Just move your cursor to the boundaries of your level and do the math.

[bernie]

Or just use Jays RfEditProA and select your surround box and look a the brush dimensions bottom right.

[metal_head]

it says x6771 y0 z3716,is that what I'm looking for?

[Juutis]

No, those numbers are just the location of the mouse cursor. What I meant with the boundary stuff is that first move the mouse to the left side of your level in the top view, check the X value, then move the cursor to the right side of the level and check the X value again. The difference in the values tell you how wide it is. Then do the same for the Z and Y.

But yeah, if you have RFEditProA then it's much easier, as bernie said.

[metal_head]

nno,I don't even know what's that.Where can I get it?


A little screen from my level in RFeditPRO.I've marked in red the parts which are clipped by the skybox.

[Juutis]

Well a huge hollow box does not count. You must fill it with more than just a ground, e.g. a few walls, houses etc..

Yap, tested it with some blocks in a huge level and they indeed were clipped by the skybox. Sorry for the false info.

[Gamemaker]

Is it possible to make it bigger then, Im having the problem now