Skyboxes

sky_camera is the entity used to create a skybox. The area around it will be projected around the map via the tools/skybox texture. Click here for more information on sky_camera in Source.

Outside of Mapbase, sky_camera is static. Once it's been placed, the skybox can't move. You can move the sky_camera itself through things like logic_measure_movement, but it doesn't update the skybox. There is a trick to update the skybox by continuously removing and respawning the sky_camera, but this is a complicated workaround and usually isn't very smooth. sky_camera is also not capable of rotating the skybox.

Moving skyboxes

In Mapbase, sky_camera has been updated to support parenting and continuous updating. There's also a new keyvalue to use the sky_camera's angles for actual skybox rotation rather than fog direction.

Together, these changes create the ability for the skybox to move around freely relative to the world.

I/O/KV

• Use Angles for Sky <void> - Uses angles for actual skybox rotation, as if the world were tilted on this entity's axis.

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• ForceUpdate <void> - Forces the 3D skybox to update with this sky_camera's position once.
• StartUpdating <void> - Begins per-tick skybox updating, which is needed if you want this sky_camera to move.
• StopUpdating <void> - Ends per-tick skybox updating if it was enabled before.

There's also a spawnflag for a sky_camera to spawn continuously updating its position without having to use the StartUpdating input.

Multiple skyboxes

HL2: Downfall's multiple skybox support has been added as well.

(todo)

Sky color

Mapbase adds the ability to use a specific solid color instead of a sky texture, controlled with the SetSkyColor input on sky_camera. The color is enabled and disabled through the "alpha" value, or the 4th number in a color. For example, you could use SetSkyColor > 0 255 0 to turn the sky green and SetSkyColor > 0 255 0 0 to turn the sky back to normal. Blending the sky color with the skybox was attempted, but is unfortunately not possible. Any alpha value above 0 enables the solid effect while 0 disables it.

This was intended to be used to make the skybox match the color of dense fog, but HDR causes a noticeable contrast in between the world and the sky. The pictures below show a skybox with thick blueish fog and the result of setting the sky to the same color, highlighting the HDR problem.

New fog inputs/keyvalues

sky_camera now has inputs and keyvalues from env_fog_controller, which allows for more skybox fog control. Lerping is currently unsupported.