FileFront Forums - Of skyboxes and trigger troubles.

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Of skyboxes and trigger troubles.

Aside from the title, I could use some assistance with Mapping.

The trigger_changelevel crashes the game when activated. Can it be fixed?

and I have no idea how to use skyboxes, so anyone got tutorials? Advice?

I'm such a n00b. :p

P.S. I am sorry if I should have used my other thread for these questions.

Re: Of skyboxes and trigger troubles.

A skybox is basically just a shader. First you need your six images - up, down, left, right, forward, backwards - then a shader file tying them together.

The shader file's contents are pretty much this:

Quote:

textures/float/thesky
{
qer_editorimage textures/skies/sky
surfaceparm nomarks
surfaceparm sky
surfaceparm noimpact
surfaceparm nodlight
notc
q3map_nolightmap
skyParms textures/float/thesky 1024 -
}

That's a basic non-light-emitting shader file, written as a template for Jedi Outcast shaders, but I imagine Elite Force shaders aren't terribly different since both games are built on the same engine.

The explanation of each line:

Quote:

Line 01: This path is what the game uses to determine what shader to use. This will also affect what texture set this shader gets loaded as. This does not have to be the same name as the texture you are using in the shader.

Line 02: This bracket is very important. It opens the main body for the shader commands.

Line 03: This line only effects what gets displayed in the editor. It is needed for a sky shader because it shows a small image that says SKY instead of a really big image.

Line 04: This will make the it so that no decal marks from explosions and laser blasts are left on the sky box.

Line 05: This tells the engine that this is sky.

Line 06: This will stop explosions from impacting on this surface. Such as missiles and lasers.

Line 07: This line stops dynamic lights from hitting the skybox.

Line 08: This will make the texture uncompressed. This is good because skyboxes can look pretty nasty if the images are compressed. I use TGAs which solve the problem entirely but at a cost of texture memory and PK3 space.

Line 09: This will tell the engine that this shader does not have a lightmap stage.

Line 10: This tells the engine where to find the 6 images. You should put the path to your skybox images here. The next number is the cloud height. This is only used if you have a cloud layer. So leave it at whatever. The last - is non-functional. It was supposed to be like a portalsky kind of but it never got coded.

Line 11: This bracket will close the shader. It is very important that you remember this. If you forget it, it will mess up all the shaders that are in front of it.

To create a shader file, simply type up the contents in Notepad, change what you need to change, then go to File -> Save As. Set the filetype box to 'All Files', then just type the filename with '.shader' on the end.

As for your trigger issue, are you mapping for SP or MP? As far as I'm aware, changelevel triggers don't function properly in MP.

Re: Of skyboxes and trigger troubles.

The above works for EF1, I don't know if EF2 has it (I think it does).
But EF2 also supports sky portals, which are a little more advanced. Unfortunately all the tutorials for it seem to have disappeared, the only remnant is a small example map that still might be useful:
Sky Portal Example Map, Elite Force 2 Downloads, Elite Force 2 Tutorials

From what I remember, no scripting is needed in the .scr file for simple sky portals (i.e. just one sky portal, nothing fancy etc). So you can stick to using just entities in your map to pull of the sky. (no shaders required either).

7

Re: Of skyboxes and trigger troubles.

Thank you, I will be sure to try those today.:)

As for your question Kouen, SP, I would like to make MP too, but for now, I'm sticking to single player.

Thank you all,
Deepfreeze32

Re: Of skyboxes and trigger troubles.

Sorry about the double post, but I just remembered,

How do you put a skybox on a map? I mean, physically put a sky box on a map? do you put over the map? on top of it? In between? I am confused.:confused:

Again, sorry about the double post, it wouldn't let me edit the original.

Re: Of skyboxes and trigger troubles.

Any part of the level that you wish to be seen as sky should be textured with Common > [skyportal].

The box itself should be seperate from the map.

Index of Tutorials - Ritualistic Forums
(A nice list of tutorials).

Re: Of skyboxes and trigger troubles.

Thank you.

I think I'll extrapolate on my trigger problem. I have placed a trigger_changelevel in the map, and have done nothing else. (No scripting, no linking, nothing. I just dropped it on the map)I think I need to script it, but I know nothing about scripting, and the documentation included with radiant is no help at all. I would like to know just what I need to do. I know about calling the map name in the script and so-forth, but what do I use in it's place to return to the main menu?:confused::confused::confused:

Re: Of skyboxes and trigger troubles.

You need to supply the trigger with a valid map value:

http://forums.filefront.com/attachme...ad_nextmap.gif

If you don't load a next map you better use a script solution.
Place a trigger_once somewhere where the player needs to walk over/in/at to get to the next level or finish the current mission.
Set the key thread at this trigger_once with the value levelEnd, this trigger will then start the thread in the script asa the player steps into it.

PHP Code:

   void levelEnd()
//This functions ends the level and disconnects the player from the curent game
{
//spawn the trigger which will end this level, wait a moment for the trigger to be spawned
 spawn ( "trigger_changelevel", "targetname", "trigger_endlevel", "map", "" );
 wait ( .2 );

//trigger the trigger now, wait a few (4) seconds
 trigger ( "$trigger_endlevel" );
 wait(4);


//disconnect the player from the current game
 stuffcmd ( "disconnect\n" ); // stuffcmd ( "map secret3\n" );
}

Re: Of skyboxes and trigger troubles.

Thank you!:)
Is there anything I need to replace in that code?

Re: Of skyboxes and trigger troubles.

You need to replace ? :confused:

Re: Of skyboxes and trigger troubles.

Substitute, replace, change.... Not the best choice of words I'll admit.

Point is, is there anything I need swap with map specific stuff, or is that a generic script that will work with any map as is?

Re: Of skyboxes and trigger troubles.

With every map if it get called from a script or trigger event AND this given lines are included and declared at your script file of the map.

Thank you.

Now things are going weird. The map seems to compile in Uberradiand, but when I try to launch it in EF2, it says "Compile failed"

Should I include the map and script, or is that not necessary?

Ah, never mind, it was the script, I fixed it.

(No edit button?):confused:

Re: Of skyboxes and trigger troubles.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deepfreeze32 (Post 4234314)

(No edit button?):confused:

No, this forum has a 30 minute time lock on editing of posts.

Re: Of skyboxes and trigger troubles.

Thank you AdmiralHocking for explaining that, and consolidating my posts.:)

Re: Of skyboxes and trigger troubles.