Spring RTS Engine

Plutonian Pass - Version 1.0

This map is more of a functional Concept Test.

For this map I did two things...
1. Created a new custom L3DT Climate simply called "Pluto"
2. Created a custom Sci-Fi Skybox.

This map tests both. Now i can already tell you the skybox didn't come out perfect. So I humbly request that anyone with prior skyboxing experience please tell me how to create a skybox that looks less like a box. See Below:


But the map still functions well, and i hope it plays well. Its a small map (8x8) and is relatively flat (the hills are there, but crossable by nearly any vehicle or Kbot). This is also my first ever map without water. Now, my Pluto climate does support the addition of water and has a submerged texture.
Here are some screens of the actual map...








The idea for this climate and map came to me while playing a multiplayer StarSiege match on a pluto based map. And the colors used in it were just so cool that I really wanted to bring the look over to spring.

Any suggestions on the climate are welcome. And if anyone can explain to me how to add custom features that would be great too. Cause i really wanted to use some of those Tiberium Crystals in this map, but i didn't understand how to intergrate them into the map. I tried using other maps as examples, but the files provided by the crystals author didn't look to have everything used by other mappers.

Oh and before i forget, the minimap:


Download Here:
http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=showitem&ID=3506

So is that snow, or a skybox?

Snow? you mean the stars? or the stuff on the ground?

For the most part, pluto's surface is covered in a type of methane and ethane snow and ice. On satelite images, pluto's surface is a patchwork of tealish purplish mixed with brown. And during the summer years, the planet actually has a thin turquoise atmosphere. so yeah. the problem i'm facing with the background is that the skybox looks too much like a box and not like an atmosphere.

Those are stars? They look more like snow. Sorry thats just me being confuzed.

you're going to have to hack up your skybox a bit:


In the first pic you posted: You see how its obvious that its a vertex on a square? You'll need to raise your texture so that its esstentially a straight line when its joined together.In other words, your texture must not correspond to a cube, it must correpsond to some sort distorted tetrahedron.

I'm pretty sure pluto isn't that colour.

I'm sorry but you need to work with better textures there buddy. NASA might have some good high-resolution imagery you can use too.

- the texture is tiled, and still it's nearly 10 MB and the tiling really hurts, because its so obvious!
- the mex range is too small
- the map is too flat
- the texture is not a good representation of the height map
- the skybox is pretty nice (which should explain the filesize i guess)


Hope this helps

Das Bruce wrote:I'm pretty sure pluto isn't that colour.

As there are no pictures of pluto (which are better than some blurry pixels) nobody knows

Actually there was one really low res pic, that Hubble got, but it only showed a brownish plain surrounded by a larger landmass of turquois color. And i knew this map was far from a work of art, I may try a different heightmap. I'll keep working on it.

In the first pic you posted: You see how its obvious that its a vertex on a square? You'll need to raise your texture so that its esstentially a straight line when its joined together.In other words, your texture must not correspond to a cube, it must correpsond to some sort distorted tetrahedron.

I was afraid someone whould say that, damit

I'm not out of ideas tho. I may try to work on "untiling" the texture too. Since this is more about the climate than anything, a reworking of the main textures may be called for.

oh i thought this is the best picture. This pictures was done by hubble.



And all coloured pictures are just artwork.

they had a color version of that one too. They also detected a thin atmosphere. Pluto is more of a giant comet than a planet, which is why the atmosphere only appeared during the planet's closest pass to the sun. (which it will finish in about 10 years or so (not sure on that number)).

My little hint for Skyboxes
Make them yourself in a 3 D Renderprog

Produce 6Cameras - on the same position, viewing every on one side of the expected cube - don`t let there pictures overlap or have gaps - then rework the Scene till it looks like expected - render those six pictures, rework them in PS.. voila.

PicassoCT wrote:My little hint for Skyboxes
Make them yourself in a 3 D Renderprog

Produce 6Cameras - on the same position, viewing every on one side of the expected cube - don`t let there pictures overlap or have gaps - then rework the Scene till it looks like expected - render those six pictures, rework them in PS.. voila.

geez, i wish i had a proper 3d rendering program, I think a simple tweeking of the 6 images i used should do the trick, if not, i may need to do that.