[Question] Custom Skybox

[azreal64]

After doing a little photoshop work I've come up with this...
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa25 ... om_sky.jpg

The only problem is that the bottom stretches really weird...let the picture do the talking...
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa25 ... skybox.jpg

Is there any way to fix this. Its really extreme on the side map with the sun, less extreme on the other sides but still there and even at ground level it is still evident.

[Tonnie]

not a mapping expert but try raising your terrain level then raise the water level if you have water in it...

[ballard_44]

All sky textures do this because of the skybox DICE created.
It stretches the texture alot, especially vertically.

To help minimize it you need to make certain horizontal pixel line (or lines) uniform in color all the way across, to stop the streaking.

Not sure specifically which ones those would be (obviously nearer the bottom), but just test and you will get it.

Another reason why DICE had mountains around in a lot of maps to hide this.

Cool sky, btw.

[e-Gor]

A few things to note:

1) The skybox is a dome, with a slightly conical base - the base is normally underground, so there's no reason for it to have a texture - hence the UVs aren't set up right for it. The streaky part you're seeing there is the base of the skydome.

2) The skybox moves with the player - it's not static. This means as you move higher, the skybox moves with you.

So what does this mean?
Making sure the bottom line or two of the texture are a single colour should remove the streaking, leaving you just with that gap before the start of the sky itself - which will go away when you're on the ground.

Ideally you'd want to prevent the base of the skybox from ever being shown. To start with, raising the terrain level may help a bit, but essentially you'll be moving the sky up with it. The major thing to add is fog. Just enough to cover that untextured mess. And believe me, bf2 maps look a lot better with it, anyway. There *may* be an offset command for the skybox, I don't know. If there is, you can play with that - but remember that if you're flying or taking pics from way up in the air like that screenshot then the skybox will be moving up with you - so without fog you'll still get that effect anyway.

[turnpipe]

I set my sky box to 4000 some where but can't remember.