Cubemap/skies Testing V2

[DEElekgolo]

Same drill as last time. Post your computer specs and you frames per second with "no vsync."
Pics.
http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/8071/haloce2009010819391757wd8.jpg
http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/9339/haloce2009010819383078ed0.jpg
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/459/haloce2009010819370248zr8.jpg
http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/8575/haloce2009010819362743rl3.jpg

The server IP will be "ts.wmclan.net:2302" (its a DNS so it will work with halo as a direct IP)

http://www.filedropper.com/cubemaptestv2_2

Mirror:
http://deelekgolo.fps-zone.net/Downloads/cubemap_test_v2.zip
http://cache.www.gametracker.com/server_info/72.86.74.211:2302/b_560x95.png

[Inferno]

That sky is unbelievable.

[Saggy]

620 232
FPS (Standing Still): ~620
FPS (Moving Around and Shooting Weapon): ~250
CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 2.80GHz (2 CPUs)
GPU: BFG Tech NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT OC 512MB GDDR3 Memory
RAM: 3GB

Truly beautiful sky. Mix your skies, and supersunny's lighting effects and you will have one awesome masterpiece on your hands.

Also, I think there's a slight error in the readme file. It says "It is recommended you have vsync on while playing this map for the smoothest results." Shouldn't it read "have vsync OFF"?

[Heathen]

Does it look better than it does in those pictures?

[DEElekgolo]

Yea it looks better ingame and that was a typo in the readme.

[legionaire45]

Normal: 380
AR Burst: 160 lowest
Flashlight: 200

[Rook]

Processor: AMD Sempron™ Processor 3100+, ~1.8GHz
Memory: 2046MB RAM
Hard Drive: 94 GB
Video Card: ATI Radeon X1600/1650 Series 256MB PCI-E
Monitor: 22" Acer LCD Widescreen
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 3

(normal res used) 1440x900 - about 55 fps
(while using this) 1280x768 - about 90 fps

[Terror(NO)More]

New link? This one when I hit Download I cant see image for code.. >:(

[Bad Waffle]

goddamnit. I cant see the string of letters i need to enter to download.

[Masterz1337]

That sky is unbelievable.

It is. Dee, when did you learn to paint such great skies? Or are these rendered in another program?

[Evil_Monkey]

Dee, when did you learn to paint such great skies? Or are these rendered in another program?
Isn't the sky from BlackOut?

[Masterz1337]

Wait so he's ripping and passing it off as his own? As hilarious as that would be, I don't think that's the case.

[DEElekgolo]

No. Its not blackout. Also yes, the base sky was made using a different program. The rest is just made manually in photoshop. Its open sauce so anyone can use the assets of this map.

Edit: Mirrored the download.

[Masterz1337]

What's the program, I'd love to take a look at it :).

[DEElekgolo]

Ill pm you it. Im going to start a tutorial soon and dont want to have people abusing its abilities until the tutorial is released.

[ShadowSpartan]

Ill pm you it. Im going to start a tutorial soon and dont want to have people abusing its abilities until the tutorial is released.
That's so dumb to not even tell what program it is. So you don't want people "abusing its abilities" huh? I think you mean to say, "I want to show off to others and make myself seem cooler".

[CodeBrain]

That's so dumb to not even tell what program it is. So you don't want people "abusing its abilities" huh? I think you mean to say, "I want to show off to others and make myself seem cooler".


Maybe he could mean he made it, and it still has kinks to work out.

Or, maybe it could mess up a map/program by doing something wrong.

[ShadowSpartan]

Maybe he could mean he made it, and it still has kinks to work out.

Or, maybe it could mess up a map/program by doing something wrong.
Do you mean to say that he possibly made the program himself? If so, I highly doubt it.

Creating sky bitmaps would not mess up a map. I still don't see a harm in telling what program he used.

[DEElekgolo]

Its not that. Through my experience of using this tool I have gotten plenty of errors and unwanted results. I am trying to perfect the work flow so that it requires less fixing and testing.

[ShadowSpartan]

Its not that. Through my experience of using this tool I have gotten plenty of errors and unwanted results. I am trying to perfect the work flow so that it requires less fixing and testing.
Still doesn't explain why you won't go ahead and tell the program that you used. It seems to me that you just don't want somebody showing you up.

[legionaire45]

Another idea.

1. Make a hemisphere, give it a sky-blue gradient
2. Make some clouds (http://library.creativecow.net/articles/ussing_jonas/clouds_3dmax.php) and any other shit you want
3. Render to texture (http://mrdoob.com/blog/post/297)

That will give you a decent looking skybox. (eg. Source Engine stuff).

I imagine you could export all your clouds w/ particles into an actual .sky tag for the game. You'd have to be careful about not going overboard with the particles though.

Similar thing with cubemaps; just import your level geometry, put it within your sky and render to texture.

[Inferno]

Why the fuck is this map 80mb?!?!?

[Sel]

What's the rush?

Anyway, looks great.

250-500 FPS

AMD Phenom x3 2.1GHZ
4GB RAM
ATI HD 3870

Ran in All high
1400X900

[Inferno]

No rush just wondering how a tiny BSP and a single custom sky adds up to 80mb.

BTW ran all high setting no lag high fps. Nvidia XFX 8600 gt 512mb.

[DEElekgolo]

2048x2048 textures.

[Masterz1337]

How many? The only computers that can take advantage of 2048x2048 are those running at 1600x1200. That's why CMT made the jump from 2048s to 1024s.

[Invader Veex]

Average framerate of 18. I have a Nvidea GeForce 5200 FX
AMD Sempron(tm) Possessor 6400+ 2.0 GHz
1GB of RAM

800x600 With everything on and everything else on high. No Vsync.

[DEElekgolo]

Well. The main BSP texture is 2048x2048. The sky is 2048x1024. The auroras are 2048x1024. Lightmaps are 2048x2048 cubemap is in 512x512 squares. I am going to far now that I think about it...

[Choking Victim]

Well. The main BSP texture is 2048x2048. The sky is 2048x1024. The auroras are 2048x1024. Lightmaps are 2048x2048 cubemap is in 512x512 squares. I am going to far now that I think about it...
That's highly unnecessary. The engine takes advantage of detail maps for a reason. Also, you shouldn't use a single sky bitmap containing the clouds/stars. Generally people make a low resolution base sky bitmap to give the skydome some color, stars are animated using a mask and a scrolling bitmap, and clouds can use a simple mask with a high res detail map to make animated clouds. I can provide examples of some *ripped* skies i've modified. They take advantage of a few high res textures, but not all are.

[DEElekgolo]

the clouds are on a different plane on this map. Also I am going to start using Domes now instead of spheres when making the sky. It may be a bit harder to perfect and align to the cubemap but thats file. Also I wish to see these examples.

[Choking Victim]

Here you go:
http://halotrialmods.org/zteam/personal_files/cv/a50_sky.jpg
http://halotrialmods.org/zteam/personal_files/cv/a50_sky2.jpg
http://halotrialmods.org/zteam/personal_files/cv/a50_sky3.jpg
http://halotrialmods.org/zteam/personal_files/cv/a50_sky4.jpg

click for higher res.

Credit to bungie for some of the bitmaps and the sky model.

The skydome bitmap can be as low res as you want, its only purpose in this is to provide a base color gradient. The most notable aspect I would say are the wispy clouds above the mountaintop. The aurora borealis image is low resolution in mine, that's my only dislike about it tbh, since the alpha channel is kind of choppy. Please excuse some of the terrain clipping, that's due to CE's rendering engine.

PS: it's snowbound's sky modified to my liking. Originally this is the sky we planned to use in our (zteam's) a50 map for our campaign mod. It fit quite well into the environmental shaders i had made for it and the majority of the clipping was hidden by the bsp. Also, I never did fix the lighting on the moon/red planet, I suppose i could do that easily though.

[NuggetWarmer]

Hi, Sunny V2.

[DEElekgolo]

It seems your sky ran into the same problem I had. The starts look like they are part of the sky dome because they seem to look stretchy. That or the UVs on them planar on a dome model. I tried to stick with spherical so that I can avoid that. But the cost was taht the top of the sphere would always have improper UVs. So I had to try and paint it so that they would blend properly.

[Limited]

Hows the whole telling us about the secret program going on? I hope its coming along nicely.

Pretty skies though. I'll test it when you release name of program.

[Heathen]

That's so dumb to not even tell what program it is. So you don't want people "abusing its abilities" huh? I think you mean to say, "I want to show off to others and make myself seem cooler".

I wouldn't say it so bluntly, but that IS sort of Dee's personality. He uses programs to make epic things and posts them here when really they are quite simple.

Not that that is a bad quality.

I am just a firm believer that anything worth doing is difficult.

[DEElekgolo]

Forget the tutorial. Ill see if you guys can make something better with it. I found some better tools anyways. The tool I used is:
VUE xSTREAM (http://www.e-onsoftware.com/products/vue/vue_6_infinite/)

[Masterz1337]

Yeah, he showed me the programs he's using, they seem to be the blunt of the "wow" from this.

[DEElekgolo]

Not really. All the extra things like the moving clouds and the auroras and the lens flares had to be made by hand. Its better to do what choking victim said and just use it to make the gradients.

[`CaSs!~]

Processor: Intel Core2Quad Q6600 @ 2.40 GHz
Memory: 2GB DDR2
Video Card: NVidia 8800 GT 512 MB
Operating System: Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3
Resolution: 1600x1200 All settings high.
FPS: ~550 - ~720

[Lex1337]

CPU: AMD Athlon x2 64 4450e
GPU: NVidia GeForce 9500GS Overclocked
Ram: 3GB

Standing FPS: 150
Moving FPS: 180(?)
Shooting FPS: 80

[Limited]

Processor: Intel Pentuim 4 2.4GHz
Memory: 1GB
Video Card: NVidia 7600 GT 256mb
Operating System: Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3
Resolution: 1024 x 768 All settings high.
FPS: 120 - 118

[TPE]

CPU= C2D E7300
RAM= 2 GB
GPU= 9600 GSO
OS= 7 X64


1280X1024 everything high/on.
200 FPS idle, 175 shooting.

Also the northern light looking things in the sky don't reflect off of the ice.

[DEElekgolo]

They do reflect.

[TPE]

Nope.
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/natural/428f55579527d4e8cb275bf8e8844d6ca58ea85e.png

[Inferno]

Yo Dee is it cool if I use your Ice shader for hypothermia? I've been meaning to improve that shader for a while.

[DEElekgolo]

Sure. As long as you have minor credit.

[Advancebo]

How do you get the RTR?

I am thinking of a house of mirrors map :O

[SuperSunny]

How do you get the RTR?

I am thinking of a house of mirrors map :O

Won't work, Halo shats like no other when you do facing reflections in the same portal, especially facing.

[Inferno]

What the fuck does "couldn't allocate final cluster mirror" mean?

[Maniac]

What the fuck does "couldn't allocate final cluster mirror" mean?

It means you have too many mirrors, or they are facing in such ways that would cause errors, i think.

[Inferno]

Uhhhh? So what do I do? Make the lakes collision invisible and put a single plane of render geometry over it that's the actual mirror?

[Ki11a_FTW]

it means it needs more portals, thats what fixed it for me

[DEElekgolo]

You need to have the mirrors farther apart and it has to be clipped in between them. The mirrors are rendering each other. Even through other objects.

[Inferno]

Uh, not sure what you mean. Here's a picture of what the model looks like.

http://www.freewebs.com/infernosk8terstuff/hypos%20lake.JPG
http://www.freewebs.com/infernosk8terstuff/hypos%20lake.JPG

[DEElekgolo]

Is that the only dynamic mirror? And are you sure it is ABSOLUTELY flat?

[Inferno]

Oshit I forgot! There is a... thing... in the secret room that uses that same mat ID.

[1bobsam1]

To bad I have a shity comp