Why does the sky suck?

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Compass

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Half Life 2 is an amazing game in just about every way imaginable (stutter problems notwithstanding ). So how is it they shipped the game with placeholder sky textures?

Is there a release date for a sky-fixing patch?

By the way, if you want to see an example of great skies in an FPS, look to Shogo: Mobile Armor Division (circa 1998).
 
I thought the sky looked incredible. Would you mind taking a screenshot?

Here's one that I took.
 
ya, the sky is freakin mind blowing. maybe u have a bad texture pack, try redownloading. or maybe ur just picky, who knows
 
i was gonna say man, the sky is sexy as hell in hl2.

what's your graphics card?
 
I don't think it's just me being picky. Most of the time the sky doesn't even seem to move. It's just static. Is it like that for everyone?

I'm using an X800 XT.
 
Yes it's like that for everyone, how often during a day walking outside do you look at the sky?
 
yah thats all we need is layers of sky to kill performance, looks great the way it is, and why are you staring at the sky? Play the game. :p
 
ChronosWing said:
yah thats all we need is layers of sky to kill performance, looks great the way it is, and why are you staring at the sky? Play the game. :p
Click to expand...

But the environment is a big part of the game, you gotta admit. And Valve made a big deal about "environmental" stuff.

I do agree, the sky needs some slow-rolling clouds or something. Come on, it's all entertainment! It's supposed to be "immersive", and keep you in the mood of the game, so I think a few clouds aren't out of the question. The sky and weather has always been very important in traditional storytelling.

Does HL2 have rain? Haven't played it yet... personally, I *love* games which depict weather and ambience - rain, scorching sun, whatever. It's immersive, and certainly needn't be restricted to RPS type games.

HL2 is trying to tell a story, and has big outdoor areas, so a little attention to detail here would go a long way.

Imagine the hovercraft level, while it's pissing down with rain, with rolling clouds, thunder and limited visibility... the flying enemy craft appearing at times suddenly through the haze above you. That would be so cool!

Well, I'm off to download some more of this game I can't play yet... forgive me if I fill the time imaging what it might be like. :)
 
nutcrackr said:
Yes it's like that for everyone, how often during a day walking outside do you look at the sky?
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emm.. quite often, especially at sunset. Try it sometime, it's nice. :p
 
Thank you! Finally a little back up. See, people? It's okay to admit that not everything in this game is perfect...
 
um, if you look closely there are moving clouds.


they move slowly, just like they would in real life, but the thing is, they went a step further. the clouds in the game are actually real clouds, there not just an image thats scrolling across the screen like some games fake it, its sort of like a fog effect, only on a grander scale.

look a lil closer :)
 
heh... well, it's an FPS not an RPG, so it's not going to even TRY to be a simulation of real life. If you want that sort of thing, I find Morrowind quite interesting.

Some people are complaining about characters being somewhat less than responsive when hit over the head with a broken bottle. Personally, I think it'd be fun if this sort of thing resulted in them at least running away (as in HL1) and a guard coming over and beating the crap out of you for being a dissident.... but hey, that's just a scripting thing. I'm sure mods/patches will come out to make things even more fun than they already are.

I think Valve (and the community - we're just as guilty here) just generally hyped the game up a bit too much, and our expectations were over the top. It's just a computer game... but I'm looking forward to the next step in the genre.

It's a shame... Valve did create a game based on our expectations after the first one, but by the time they released it, our expectations had overshot to HL3. :)
 
There are clouds? dunno.. still downloading them. :) So why is everyone saying the sky sucks?

Now, if they had a real day-night cycle, I'd be drooling even more!

And rain! Gotta have thunder and rain in games nowdays... sooo moody. :)
 
I too, was disappointed with the sky not moving. Shit, even Operation Flashpoint had a moving sky and dynamic weather conditions and that was 2001. That's why I'm looking forward to Stalker. Half Life 2 is a great game but there is definitely room for improvement. And why hasn't object clipping been sorted out yet? Why do we still see limbs protruding through walls?
 
Pfft, you could even add moving skies into Half-Life. It's a design decision..if you wanted some improvement, you can go mod it in yourselves. :|

p.s. sorry if I sounded a little harsh...:D
 
The sky is nice. It doesn't move, but it is still nice to look at. I love to look at everything in games, the sky, walls, grass, trees and Everything. I just marvel at what good devs can do. The beauty of the artwork always amazes me. I spent much time in Doom 3 running around areas after all the NPCs were dead just to look at everything. Marvelous, truly.

I spent much time doing this in HL2. Haven't finished doing this yet. Waiting for Patch, so I can turly grok this place.
 
yes, the sky DOES move.


look closer. just becuase its not going 5 zillion miles a secound doesnt mean its sitting still
 
dude you are shrooming,,


the HL2 skybox method is one of it's most impressive features,, I don't know if you map or anything like that,, but what you can achieve with it is rediculous,,,

it was definately a design decision,,, the way they got geometry into the skybox so naturally (especially the huge tower) was just straight up awesome,,,,,, I spent an hour just free floating around dust to check out their skybox,, and cant wait to start making my own

and yes,,, making unrealitically fast moving clouds is totally possible
 
quit bitchin about the clouds... the physics in half life is the most amasing thing i have ever seen
 
Shinobi said:
the way they got geometry into the skybox so naturally (especially the huge tower) was just straight up awesome,,,,,,
Click to expand...
sorry to interrupt your dreams, but this is old tech.
3dskyboxing was introduced in rtcw (although rtcw doesnt use it) to the enhanced q3 engine.
its been used in jedi knight: jedi academy the first time iirc.

nothing awesome about it :) just old tech :)
 
The game overall is awesome. The sky sucks. Period. Not too sure why some of you are in denial about this...
 
Someone said the sky actually moves slightly... not sure if that was meant to make us stare fixedly at the screen for 30 miinutes trying to see it...

yes... yes, it does, look! oh.. no, maybe not... wait... that pixel wasn't there before, was it?

ah.. there's no wind! that's why the clouds aren't moving!!!! :rolleyes:

*waits for the wind to pick up*
 
Compass said:
The game overall is awesome. The sky sucks. Period. Not too sure why some of you are in denial about this...
Click to expand...

Nobody's in denial. Quite simply, the sky rocks, so nobody's agreeing with you on your assertion.
 
QuarterLife said:
Best sky in a game ever
Morrowind
Click to expand...

Totally agree! Sky and wind effects, not to mention rain. Would have loved to see all that in HL2... would love to work on a mod just to improve the overall ambience of the game.
 
Would have been nice, but HL2 is a different kind of game. Each scene in HL2 has been crafted to give a particular feel, while Morrowind tries to bring you into its world and let you make your own adventure. The rain, dust storms, sunsets, and full moons of Morrowind really help with that.
 
Static sky sucked.

They tried to mask it with some fog moving at lower altitude, but it didn't fool me.

Environment so fanstastic and a flat sky. Would have been so much better looking.
 
Yes, the various Morrowind skies were works of art. But this thread is about the Half Life 2 sky sucking. And what (if anything) VALVe is going to do about it. Let's keep on track people.
 
Who needs a sky fixing patch when we have HDR coming soon :D
 
Every background in HL2 looks awesome, I can't look at that Citadel screenshot without drooling even now. Ok it's static, but who cares? Maybe in HL3, they can put a day or two to make you happy, and then we'll all go out for tea, how's that?
 
The sky was intentionally left static. So complaining that it's not static is like complaining that final fantasy isn't an FPS.

The only place it really looked at all bad to me was around the end of the coast where the skybox's edge was visible.But that's just about unavoidable for an ocean scene.

What was much more interesting were the various 3d structures in the skybox, which looked better than any other game's I've seen. Also, the great sun-glow effects.
 
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