It's black outside.

I am working on an incredibly basic map which consists of a boxy room which leads to an open junk filled space. I've tested the map, and when I walk out of the room, there is no lights or anything, its all black. I have heard something about "skyboxes" will this fix my problem? I'm just looking for a way (not too complicated, this is only my second day mapping) to make the map playable.

Thanks for any help you can give me, French Toast

Yes, you either need to make a skybox surrounding your map or you need to use brushes and ensure that there are no leaks to the outside (black area). There are lots of forum questuins regarding this issue. Just do a search on skyboxes. Here's a few quick links.

http://www.snarkpit.com/editing.php?search

http://www.snarkpit.com/editing.php?page=tutorials&game=HL2&type=entity

http://www.interlopers.net/content.php?article.115

http://www.interlopers.net/content.php?article.49

Research, research, research!! Good luck

I am pretty sure that on top of the skybox texture, you need to place a light_environment entity somewhere in the map. Otherwise, you'll have a daytime sky but pitch dark lighting still.

If you want to just simply see what your map is like without or complicated stuff. Go on console and type 'sv_cheats 1' and then 'mat_fullbright 1'