Whats the best way to go about creating sky?

I mean... I usually create the whole damn map... then outline it with sky...

and than add a top... I will add sky where you cant get so spots...

But whats the best way?

For like max vis blocking etc. and for best fps... im so used to just tacking on sky like its a the top of a cage... and I know that that is a wrong way, but I dont see how much else to do it.

Any help would be greatfull.

Thanks

-Eagle

Sky is a nasty thing. =) I've done it both ways and to be honest I find it doesn't seem to much matter so long as you aren't building a box around the whole map. THAT is not a good idea. Building sky up from the sides and on the top works well, but it seems to really depend on how the VIS blocking is setup.

I've heard that building sky down touching things like house roofs and all is good but then you get all sorts of weird things going on like faces not showing up properly as the engine thought they couldn't be seen etc. Sooo...basically I'm wasting our time writing this. =) Anyhow, my first suggestion is to make sure you don't build the sky as a "box" around the map. From then on it is more hit and miss on exactly how to go about it.

There are lots of tutorials out there about how to do it properly, but most I've read suck.

Monk

ok making a sky basically runs like this. You use sky brushes as a lid for your outdoor areas. It should fit and it should fit precisley. It can't be smaller than the opening, and it can't squash anything in there. if it does you need a new container.

doing skys badly is like putting a peice of cardboard over something you put in the fridge, sure you stopped it comming out but it works a helluv a lot better if u use the proper lid.

if you want technical details for why u should use a tight fitting sky lid just ask, but just take my word for it that you should do it that way.

Yea understood... but I mean... what exactly do you mean by tight fitting?

I can make it fit perfectly, but where should I out sky that besides just a ... lid

-Eagle

I think AB means by tight fitting that the sky is flush with the sides of you map and the top of it also, so there aren't any leaks.

I'm fiddling with my sky box at the moment on a big (very big actually) outdoor area, I'm thinking of bringing the sky box down in certain areas so it will surround trees and so on that the players can't get to, so i can decrease my r_speeds and so on.

Also on some maps you'll notice that you can't throw your grenades very high into the air (try it on the beach in charlie) this helps reduce r_speeds by having the sky down to maybe a few hundred units or less above the player models height.