Going from an inside room to a garden - help!!!

Hi

This is my first post, Yes I did search and I'll keep this as clear and concise as I can. I have created my first room and am familiar with all the object tools now and am confident I can create anything I want confined ina box.

I have now finished my first room and I want to create a door that leads into a garden. Now I understand the concept behind this, I create my brushes as normal then surround it with a large cube that is my skybox....

BUT I want to test my map and there are more outside areas to be done first and I have no idea how large to make the initial cube to work in - and if I don't have this cube then I will get leaks..........any advice to offer anyone?

Thankyou

:smile:

All you have to do is before compiling build a big skybox that encompasses all your work, then once you've tested it go back and delete it. Rinse and repeat.

Be sure to avoid doing this for maps you plan on releasing, as one of the last steps should be to properly seal the map and to remove any big boxes that serve only to prevent leaks

If you want to test just the one area, then make the box and adjust it later in the editor. If you want to make the other areas before testing, just make the box after you are done what you want to do. If you have to make the box first for some reason, make it huge, do what you want to inside and before you test it make it smaller.

On the top menu bar you will see two buttons that look like yellow and
black signs. These are cordons, what cordon allows you to do is
drag a box (with the button on the right, its called something like
defind cordon) around the part of the map you want to test, then press
the button on the left to toggle on your cordon. Run! your map
and it will work fine, no leaks or anything... BUT you will not have a
sky ox you will have a sick looking purple and block checker pattern
box around your map.

Cordon is great for fast map checks, I think you can even intersect walls in your map and only compile small sections at a time.

Also remember that VERY large outside areas should actually be many seperate smaller boxes.

For example, you come out of the house and into the garden. There is a high wall around the garden. There is a gate in the wall. You go through that gate to another outside area.

You can make the two outside areas completely separate areas, each with their own sky box. This allows you to cut vis way down and keep your map running smoothly. Here's a really good tutorial to look at: http://www.snarkpit.com/editing.php?page=tutorials&game=HL2&id=143

I don't recommend that you build one huge skybox around your map while working on it. This will cause the engine to render a whole bunch of stuff that it doesn't need to. It will also throw off your estimates when you go and check your map in-game.

For example, you're thinking of adding a bunch of detail, but when you look at your map in-game, you are already eating up most of the budget. This is because the engine is drawing a whole bunch of stuff it doesn't need to. Adding detail then becomes a guessing game because you won't really know what your budget is until you fix your sky boxes.

Not to mention if you build everything inside one big skybox, and then go back to try to section it off, you may find places where it doesn't quit fit and you have to go back and rebuild stuff to get your skyboxes fixed. And then you could end up with leaks, and you'd have to chase them down which is never fun.

The best policy is to make a "best guess" at how big your emmediate outside area will be, and build the map so that area is a seperate section, with it's own bit of skybox. Make sure it is sealed, build your garden, and then go on from there. If you need to expand your garden, just stetch the walls, floor, and ceiling out to accomidate your needs. keep it tight and sealed, and that way, you never have to go back and do "clean up".

Good luck,

D-Gen

Thank you

One last question though. Could I do a large hollow box - put my brushes in there and then make the walls transparent/NODRAW at the end to view the skybox?

Thanks again

Alternatively can I make a hollow box put all my brushes in that to test and when I'm done - delete the bounding brush and just throw a skybox round the thing?

You can always delete a big box, or you can reshape it to fit your
changing needs - just because you made your skybox 512x512x512, doesnt
mean if you cant reshape it to be 1024x512x512 to accomodate a new part
you want to put in.

and nothing is stopping you from making a 5000x5000x1000 box around
your whole level, and then deleting it later - but a box like that will
be bad for performance, and i think VIS compile will take a while - so
you might want to do Fast or No VIS

lachesis, try and keep to one question per thread, thanks :smile: i'll mark this as "answered".

As for your skybox problem, see Yak Fighters, Degenatron and Bobv's replies - all good advice.