Skyboxes

[FluffyFreak]

Now, the idea here is that we can have something a bit prettier without going over the top and having crazy nebulae and false colour images.

One of the problems with Pioneer is that it's sky is currently as unrealistic as the glowing red/green/purple ones you see in other games, just in the opposite direction. I've seen the Milky Way without any other light or the moon and it was spectacular.

What we have currently comprises 10000 dots drawn on a mostly black background with some wavy grey polygons drawn over the top.

So, I've exported what we currently have at 512x512 resolution.
Would people like higher resolution source's to be working with?
If so what resolution would you like?
Keep in mind that if I give you 2048x2048 * 6 they're NOT going into the game like that! But you can have them so that they're higher quality to hand paint over if you like :)

[bszlrd]

Would 1024* be too large?

[FluffyFreak]

Do you mean for ingame usage? 1024*1024 * 6 should be ok.

I've done a Windows build, sorry Linux/Mac users, which when it's uploaded will be available to help you test here: http://quantum-thoughts.net/fluffyfreak ... skybox.zip.
You can either try the mod route, or just replace the file "/data/textures/cube/default.dds" with the one you've made.

There are tutorials for creating skybox textures for Blender and other 3D modelling programs out there too so you don't have to rely on what I'm giving you :)

EDIT: updated test build uploaded and fixed the link too it.

[FluffyFreak]

Ok, 2048x2048 resolution renderings of the 6 faces of a cubemap.

http://quantum-thoughts.net/images/dump ... 8x2048.zip

[bszlrd]

I've tried your build, but the skybox only appears in the main menu and during hyperspacing.

Does the skybox lines up this way?:

[FluffyFreak]

Really? How odd, just as well it's still in review eh!!! I'm grabbing what I uploaded now to double check it and will get back to you.

They're actually laid out logically in a cross as described in this blog post http://scalibq.wordpress.com/2013/06/23/cubemaps/

Strangely I've yet to see any image editing software that really supports them natively :/

[FluffyFreak]

Also holy crap you're right!!! Why does it do that?!? AARGH!

EDIT: even better, it works fine under the debugger!!! :/

[FluffyFreak]

Doh, got it, there are two constructors and I missed one :/

Grab the updated exe here http://quantum-thoughts.net/images/dump ... ox-exe.zip and replace the one in the main download and it will all work just fine.

[bszlrd]

Yupp, it's working now, thank you :). I've tried it with one spacescape's example files. I've put in numbers to see which side goes where. It seems that they all get mirrored though.

[FluffyFreak]

Interesting, I wonder if the Paragon team knows this as well or if they're using the output from Spacescape without checking anything.
Since there won't be a giant number 2 in space ;) I don't think this will be a long term problem because you won't get any information about your orientation from it but it might come into play with my future idea.