Can't load skybox file

[zombie@computer]

hmm, close, yes. ill rephrase

If you want to make your level with high dynamic range (HDR), you willl need a special HDR skybox. If your mod doesnt support HDR, or you simply are too lazy to make HDR in your map, you shouldn't try to make a HDR skybox. However, the tools will still complain you haven't specified a HDR skybox in your skybox texture. To stop that, simply make the game think you have a HDR skybox by telling it your NORMAL skybox texture is your HDR skybox texture. If you dont have HDR that wont matter, and the tools wont complain

[Grantax]

Ok, thx...

[jaegrass]

Thx Zombie. Very well said.

Grantax, is it becoming clear yet or are you still having trouble with the whole, extracting .vmt files from the .gdf and adding a line to them then dropping the updated files into the right folder, bit?

The problem I have is never getting the error to go away from the Hammer compile although the skyboxes work fine when the game loads. I think it's all a Hammer issue due to it being coded to think there has to be hdr even though the HL2 and HL2DM maps don't support it. Again, please correct me if I am wrong Zombie. I am still new to all this as well but your advice is helping tons.

-Q-

[Grantax]

First of all, it's .GCF files

I'll do a compile now and see if it worked..

Edit: Yep.. It worked =D

[jaegrass]

Sorry about that, typos abound with me. What worked though? Did the error go away or did the skybox work or both?

[jaegrass]

Ok, I just tried it again and still I get the can't load skybox error. So far I have 2 sets of .vmt skybox files in the mymod\materials\skybox folder. One set is named sky_day01_01bk.vmt (with different directionals) and the other set is named sky_day01_01_hdrbk.vmt. I added the line "$hdrbasetexture" "skybox/sky_day01_01_hdrbk" to each one just as Zombie described. I am missing something but can't put my finger on it. If anyone cares to look here is my compile readout: Thanks.


** Executing...
** Command: "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\jaegrass\sourcesdk\bin\vbsp.exe"
** Parameters: -game "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\jaegrass\half-life 2\hl2" "C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\SourceMods\Freturns\Maps\Test2"

Valve Software - vbsp.exe (Jan 2 2006)
1 threads
materialPath: c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\jaegrass\half-life 2\hl2\materials
Loading C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\SourceMods\Freturns\Maps\Test2.vmf
fixing up env_cubemap materials on brush sides...
ProcessBlock_Thread: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
**** leaked ****
Entity point_teleport (690.00 -838.00 -203.00) leaked!
Processing areas...done (0)
Building Faces...done (0)
FixTjuncs...
PruneNodes...
WriteBSP...
done (0)
Creating default cubemaps for env_cubemap using skybox materials:
skybox/sky_day01_01*.vmt
Run buildcubemaps in the engine to get the correct cube maps.

Can't load skybox file skybox/sky_day01_01 to build the default cubemap!
Finding displacement neighbors...
Finding lightmap sample positions...
Displacement Alpha : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10
Building Physics collision data...
done (0) (19119 bytes)
Emitting linux collision data (use -nolinuxdata to disable).
Building Physics collision data...
done (0) (19119 bytes)
Placing detail props : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10
Compacting texture/material tables...
Reduced 151 texinfos to 98
Reduced 21 texdatas to 19 (652 bytes to 497)
Writing C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\SourceMods\Freturns\Maps\Test2.bsp
7 seconds elapsed
Memory leak: mempool blocks left in memory: 1

** Executing...
** Command: "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\jaegrass\sourcesdk\bin\vvis.exe"
** Parameters: -game "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\jaegrass\half-life 2\hl2" "C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\SourceMods\Freturns\Maps\Test2"

Valve Software - vvis.exe (Jan 2 2006)
1 threads
reading c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\sourcemods\freturns\maps\Test2.bsp
reading c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\sourcemods\freturns\maps\Test2.prt
LoadPortals: couldn't read c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\sourcemods\freturns\maps\Test2.prt


** Executing...
** Command: "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\jaegrass\sourcesdk\bin\vrad.exe"
** Parameters: -game "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\jaegrass\half-life 2\hl2" "C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\SourceMods\Freturns\Maps\Test2"

Valve Software - vrad.exe SSE (Jan 16 2006)
----- Radiosity Simulator ----
1 threads
[Reading texlights from 'lights.rad']
[45 texlights parsed from 'lights.rad']

Loading c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\sourcemods\freturns\maps\Test2.bsp
No vis information, direct lighting only.
308 faces
185929 square feet [26773910.00 square inches]
0 displacements
0 square feet [0.00 square inches]
3 direct lights
BuildFacelights: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (25)
Build Patch/Sample Hash Table(s).....Done<0.0112 sec>
FinalLightFace: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
FinalLightFace Done
Ready to Finish
0 of 0 (0% of) surface lights went in leaf ambient cubes.
ComputePerLeafAmbientLighting: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10

Object names Objects/Maxobjs Memory / Maxmem Fullness
------------ --------------- --------------- --------
models 3/1024 144/49152 ( 0.3%)
brushes 48/8192 576/98304 ( 0.6%)
brushsides 376/65536 3008/524288 ( 0.6%)
planes 296/65536 5920/1310720 ( 0.5%)
vertexes 575/65536 6900/786432 ( 0.9%)
nodes 368/65536 11776/2097152 ( 0.6%)
texinfos 98/12288 7056/884736 ( 0.8%)
texdata 19/2048 608/65536 ( 0.9%)
dispinfos 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
disp_verts 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
disp_tris 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
disp_lmsamples 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
faces 308/65536 17248/3670016 ( 0.5%)
origfaces 161/65536 9016/3670016 ( 0.2%)
leaves 372/65536 11904/2097152 ( 0.6%)
leaffaces 341/65536 682/131072 ( 0.5%)
leafbrushes 179/65536 358/131072 ( 0.3%)
areas 2/256 16/2048 ( 0.8%)
surfedges 2097/512000 8388/2048000 ( 0.4%)
edges 1229/256000 4916/1024000 ( 0.5%)
LDR worldlights 3/8192 264/720896 ( 0.0%)
HDR worldlights 0/8192 0/720896 ( 0.0%)
waterstrips 16/32768 160/327680 ( 0.0%)
waterverts 0/65536 0/786432 ( 0.0%)
waterindices 219/65536 438/131072 ( 0.3%)
cubemapsamples 2/1024 32/16384 ( 0.2%)
overlays 0/512 0/180224 ( 0.0%)
LDR lightdata [variable] 603712/0 ( 0.0%)
HDR lightdata [variable] 0/0 ( 0.0%)
visdata [variable] 0/16777216 ( 0.0%)
entdata [variable] 5321/393216 ( 1.4%)
LDR leaf ambient 372/65536 8928/1572864 ( 0.6%)
HDR leaf ambient 0/65536 0/1572864 ( 0.0%)
occluders 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
occluder polygons 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
occluder vert ind 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
detail props [variable] 1/12 ( 8.3%)
static props [variable] 1/202 ( 0.5%)
pakfile [variable] 22820/0 ( 0.0%)

Win32 Specific Data:
physics [variable] 19119/4194304 ( 0.5%)
==== Total Win32 BSP file data space used: 749312 bytes ====

Linux Specific Data:
physicssurface [variable] 19119/6291456 ( 0.3%)
==== Total Linux BSP file data space used: 749312 bytes ====

Total triangle count: 817
Writing c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\sourcemods\freturns\maps\Test2.bsp
45 seconds elapsed

** Executing...
** Command: Copy File
** Parameters: "C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\SourceMods\Freturns\Maps\Test2.bsp" "c:\program files\valve\steam\SteamApps\SourceMods\Freturns\Maps\Test2.bsp"

[zombie@computer]

maybe you can post one of the vmts? would be a lot clearer

[jaegrass]

Sure thing. This one is named sky_day01_01_hdrbk.vmt. They are all identical except for the directional indicators.

"UnlitGeneric"
{
// Original shader: BaseTexture
"$hdrbasetexture" "skybox/sky_day01_01_hdrbk"
"$basetexture" "skybox/sky_day01_01bk"
"$nofog" "1"
"$ignorez" "1"
}

[zombie@computer]

try

"Sky"
{
// Original shader: BaseTexture
"$hdrbasetexture" "skybox/sky_day01_01_hdrbk"
"$basetexture" "skybox/sky_day01_01bk"
"$nofog" "1"
"$ignorez" "1"
}

[Grantax]

1. Did you make a hdr skybox?
2. Your map is leaked...
3. The error disappeared, the skybox has ALWAYS worked, even when I got the error, I just wanted to get rid of it..

[jaegrass]

Zombie, same error in 2 maps, one large and one small. Could it be the way I am compiling? I am just using normal mode with everything set to normal, no check in HDR and not loading the game.

Grantax,

1. Make an hdr skybox? How?
2. Yes I know it is leaking.
3. Same here. The error is bugging me to know end.


Thx

[zombie@computer]

Zombie, same error in 2 maps, one large and one small. Could it be the way I am compiling? I am just using normal mode with everything set to normal, no check in HDR and not loading the game.

Grantax,

1. Make an hdr skybox? How?
2. Yes I know it is leaking.
3. Same here. The error is bugging me to know end.


Thx

did you try the "sky" thing? if you did, then i have no idea why it doesn work

[Grantax]

1. Make an hdr skybox? How?

"UnlitGeneric"
{
// Original shader: BaseTexture
"$hdrbasetexture" "skybox/sky_day01_01_hdrbk"
"$basetexture" "skybox/sky_day01_01bk"
"$nofog" "1"
"$ignorez" "1"
}

If you didn't make an hdr skybox (neither did I), then you shouldn't add sky_day01_01_hdrbk there, since the hdr thing doesn't exist.
Use sky_day01_01bk at the hdrbasetexture too, just as in the basetexture.

[fitzroy_doll]

So....if I understand all this rightly, then this message in the compile log:

Code: Select all

Creating default cubemaps for env_cubemap using skybox materials:
skybox/sky_day01_01*.vmt
Run buildcubemaps in the engine to get the correct cube maps.

No such variable "$hdrbasetexture" for material "skybox/sky_day01_01rt"
Can't load skybox file skybox/sky_day01_01 to build the default cubemap!

which it sounds like we are ALL getting, is not a problem? Cubemaps will build correctly even with this error?

Grr. I want the last 3 hours it took me to figure this out back. Perhaps this error message should be updated to indicate that the above error occurs in every map, and is not neccessarily a problem?

[zombie@computer]

So....if I understand all this rightly, then this message in the compile log:

Code: Select all

Creating default cubemaps for env_cubemap using skybox materials:
skybox/sky_day01_01*.vmt
Run buildcubemaps in the engine to get the correct cube maps.

No such variable "$hdrbasetexture" for material "skybox/sky_day01_01rt"
Can't load skybox file skybox/sky_day01_01 to build the default cubemap!

which it sounds like we are ALL getting, is not a problem? Cubemaps will build correctly even with this error?

Grr. I want the last 3 hours it took me to figure this out back. Perhaps this error message should be updated to indicate that the above error occurs in every map, and is not neccessarily a problem?

yes, only the default cubemaps (which is the cubemaps you see before you do buildcubemaps in the console). ill update the error thing though