Outdoor mapping problems

[Burningmace]

I've been experimenting with outdoor mapping, but I have a few problems...

1) All of these skybox tutorials have like 1024x1024x1024 outdoor areas, but when I build one like that and play it (with a "hovering platform" which I start on) I can easily do a running jump to the sides.
2) My skyboxes have a wierd brown line on them at the seems. My original thought was that it was a lighting problem, but all of my skybox textures have the Unlit flag set (the ones for my backdrops and my actual skybox).
3) I can't seem to make my outdoor levels seem even slightly realistic. I built a level with a skybox around it (stars) and then made a big platform in the middle with flamethrower like emitters on the bottom (for "propulsion"). Problem is it just looks totally rediculous, like some random object just floating there for no reason. I've scrapped it 3 times, but still get the same problem.

Anybody got any solutions?

[Hourences]

I think youre not understanding the concept of a skybox. The tutorials prolly tell you to build a 1024 skybox, not the actual level. Youre not suppose to walk inside the skybox.
The level itself can be any size, it holds no real relation to the skybox size.

The seam is because you aligned it badly or because you are not using high texture detail and your texture isnt set to clamp mode

Making it look good is not something you explain quickly in a forum post. Look to other maps and see how they did it

[Burningmace]

Hmm... no, the tutorial actually tells me to make a 1024 cube room to put my level in and project my skybox onto. It says to subtract a 512 cube brush for my skybox, then subtract a 1024 cube brush for my level to go into.

The texture is an official skybox texture, and it's aligned perfectly (I've looked across every seam on in the skybox in the editor and the edges perfectly match.

I've looked at maps like DM-Phobos2, but they're so complex and use static meshes which I have no idea where to find.

[SlipStreams_65]

As Hourences pointed out, it would take a very long time to explain everything about skyboxes and how to make them. The skybox should be the same size as the textures youre using, Ie if you use 1024x1024 textures your skybox should be 1024x1024x1024 size. The level istself is entirely seperate from the skybox subtractions, in fact the skybox should be a good distance away from the main level subtraction to avoid BSP cuts.

If you find a static mesh and want to know where it came from, go into its properties->Display and go down to "static mesh".

[Burningmace]

Woo, that helps a lot...

I was using 1024x1024 textures on a 512x512x512 box, so they got crushed. Made a new skybox (deleted the old) with 1024x1024x1024 dimesions and it worked much better.

I've been messing with my level and it looks quite a bit better. I've been looking around DM-Phobos2 and writing down the static meshes that I like. I've got a reasonable looking map now.

A quick question - If my level is inside a subtracted cube which constitutes my skybox, but I want an indoors section too, do all my walls for my indoors section have to be made from added brushes and static meshes? The reason I ask is that my "inside only" maps are usually made from a series of interconnected subtracted brushes, which I am used to doing.