skybox seems to cause weird shadows

OK. I got that seaming working, but the other part of my question involves this around the entire map. its this certain shadow shown from every angle. I've asked interlopers but they couldn't figure it out. It seemed to start when I put things in the skybox. The only thing that is currently in the skybox is water to make it look like its an island...nothing that would create that kind of shadow. Help please!

Try moving the skycamera up a bit in the editor and see if that works. If not then check to see if you have an env_sun in your level and adjust it a bit so the angle isn't so harsh.

there's no env_sun. I checked that first. as for the sky_camera, I'm pretty sure it was at origin when I scaled everything, but I'll double-check. As for the sun angles - everything is from the recommended sun/brightness/etc from that page http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Sky_List. and its worked in previous versions of my map. I'm just not quite sure what started it, I'm thinking its the skybox-related though. Anymore help would be great, I'm almost stumped.

Remove the water and see if anything changes. This is seriously weird, though. I could imagine that the sky_camera entity, in relation to the 0/0/0 coordinates of the map (I assume you know what I'm talking about) causes the water brush to be in the height of the shadow. I've never heard of water brushes causing shadows either so...

This one is tough :/

---

Why snark works.

I took the water out. No shadow. :/ Its definitely the skybox.

Maybe the physical skybox, the area enclosed by the brushes is to small and ends in the middle of the actual map, thus not showing sunlight.

Try making the skybox much bigger, deeper especially!

---

Why snark works.

You only have one sky_camera, right?

---

Also change the texture of the dock. Docks are rarely tile. -Facepunch
As I Lay Dying

reaper47 said:
Maybe the physical skybox, the area enclosed by the brushes is to small and ends in the middle of the actual map, thus not showing sunlight.

Try making the skybox much bigger, deeper especially!

I'll try that. I decided to try to redo the 3dskybox, essentially making sure everything lined up. It was lined up to begin with but i double checked. When I got in-game the shadow was almost completely gone. except for this -



thats the darkest of the mysterious shadow, at least its not consistently everywhere on the map now. So, thanks reaper, I'll try that. Technically everything fits in the skybox block I made, but who knows? Maybe increasing its size is just what i need. I'll get back to you tommorrow afternoon as that's when I'll have enough time to recompile.

Stadric: yes, there's only 1 sky_camera.

Does the "ceiling" of the skybox actually slant instead of being completely flat?

Does the skybox or ANY brush for that matter, clip that section of the cliff?

Is there a brush based entity or a point entity like a prop_static that sits floating in the skybox that may have an "enable shadows" keyvalue that could be turned off?

---

Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
LinkedIn: Eric Lancon
Twitter:@Riven202

Good idea also. I'll look into it. As far as I know, the only thing that sits there are clip brushes. I'll still check, thanks.

About the new pic, those displacements don't stick into the sky-brush, do they? Because if they do, it's no wonder they're unlit.

---

Why snark works.

Problem solved thanks to reaper. The pyhsical skybox surrounding my 3d skybox scenery wasn't tall enough in proportion to the real part of my map. But to be clear, it was an innocent mistake - that is, nothing was clipping into the skybox, its just I thought the 3D skybox just had to be enclosed with skybox brushes. Thanks again!

Mark the answer correct please! :smile: :rolleyes: :smile:

---

Why snark works.