Skyboxes: A question

[Sith Holocron 2,473]

When a skybox is used, the level is enclosed in a cube and we can see the "sky" on it. The textures for skyboxes used in both KotOR and TSL are square and one really utilize 5 out of the 6 sides, the four sides and the "ceiling." Standard floor textures would make the 6th texture pointless.

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However, as it appears that for the Malachor V skybox, the sides aren't equal.


not to scale

At least one of the cube's sides is more like a rectangle. This means that the texture for one side won't match up to the edges of the other.

My question - is actual shape of the invisible skybox framework hard coded or can it be adjusted via modding?

[Fair Strides 509]

I've done a fair amount of research into this, actually.

 

The Skybox is just another model for the area.

 

See, there are four files that come together to make a skybox:

The skybox's .mdl:  Controls geometry and shape.*

The skybox's .mdx: Extra supportive data for the .mdl, like bones and weights.

The Module's .vis:   This file determines what area models the game renders

                                when you're in a room.**

The Module's .lyt:   The layout of the models that make up the area. If a model isn't in here, it's not technically an "area" model. This file controls the positioning of the models.

 

*: The Skybox, being just another model, has no set shape. Dantooine's skybox is a cube with the center of each side bowed outward like a small half-sphere. Manaan's is actually two parts; the first is a half-sphere with the top cut off and the other part is the top. The Tatooine Swoop Race module has the "background" in several parts, with the actual sky being just an incomplete curved sphere...

 

**: I have four models: A, B, C, and D, with D being the skybox. If A-C are arranged in a circle, I don't need to see A when I'm in C, so if I set up the .vis correctly, the game won't render A when I'm in C. What sets Skyboxes apart is that they generally have a mention in each part of the .vis so that they're always being rendered.

[Sith Holocron 2,473]

That being the case, it shouldn't be impossible to have Quanon's sky box work correctly if those 4 files were correctly altered.

[Fair Strides 509]

If all you wanted done was shape of the skybox altered, all you'd really need would be the .mdl and .mdx.

 

The part about .lyt and .vis is more for replacing the entire skybox with a brand new one, or for making a custom area.

[Sithspecter 909]

All skyboxes aren't cubes. The one for Sleheyron is actually a cylinder broken up into four sections. From what I've seen, the skyboxes that are "cubes" aren't actually cubes. Each side is actually a concave curve in the center, which results in a slightly sphereical cube. However, the edges would still constitude a cube shape. This shape gives it a little more depth while keeping the edges lined up nices.

 

For the Malachor skybox, I'm assuming that for some reason one side just sticks way out beyond the edge (I don't really feel like looking up the Malachor skybox). Even if this is the case, and assuming that this is a completely square cube, it's very possible that the developers could have UV mapped this side so that the edges of the textures would in fact line up. I have no idea why they would do that, but it could be what's going on.

 

Either way, the skybox is in no way hard coded or anything. It would be a very simple matter to whip up a new one that doesn't have such strange edge problems.

 

When a skybox is used, the level is enclosed in a cube and we can see the "sky" on it. The textures for skyboxes used in both KotOR and TSL are square and one really utilize 5 out of the 6 sides, the four sides and the "ceiling." Standard floor textures would make the 6th texture pointless.

However, as it appears that for the Malachor V skybox, the sides aren't equal.

At least one of the cube's sides is more like a rectangle. This means that the texture for one side won't match up to the edges of the other.

My question - is actual shape of the invisible skybox framework hard coded or can it be adjusted via modding?

 

[Quanon 263]

Hey, I see that Malachor gets mentioned and my textures.

 

Note that I tried to adjust my textures to 'fit' better with cube that makes up the skies of malachor.

I've also tried to replace the skybox with a new one. So that includes messing about the .Lyt and .vis files of Malachor.

Sadly the game then refuses to load Malachor and crashes or just doesn't show the my new model.

Since I knew that altering original models is rather difficult for areas.(lightmap issues and such) I tried to make a large placeable to function as a skybox model. Alas in the game the placeable isn't visible or doesn't get loaded for some reason.

 

 

I've got the full scene in 3Ds Max where the Ebon Hawk crashlands on Malachor. I did a lot of tests but nothing really worked.

[sELFiNDUCEDcOMA 98]

Yeah, I think that perhaps people are assuming it is easy to update these models files for areas; it's not as the tools available don't really support it -- from my experience. 

 

What it really needs is new tools -- preferably not written in Perl -- though it requires a bit more knowledge of the model formats.

 

If I'm wrong about it, I would love to know how -- specific tools and steps involved -- as I'm sure would a lot of people. But, I think that sticking with dated tools written when much was not known about the various file formats, or much was available via the internet as is now, is NOT going to improve the situation for  KoTOR/TSL modding .