is that the reason my compiling is taking 2586 seconds
Again, it's impossible for us to judge your compiling times without knowing your hardware, software, and the size and complexity of your map. 15-20 years ago, maps could take days to vis. Yes, days! Things are much better now but it still takes some time. You'll never compile a map in the blink of an eye, unless it consists of one boxy room and not much else.

A skybox is a set of 6 textures named according to the sides of a cube: the Sahara skybox, for example, is comprised of sahara_bk.tga (back), sahara_dn.tga (down), sahara_ft.tga (front), sahara_lf.tga (left), sahara_rt.tga (right) and sahara_up.tga (up). They're to be placed in a \gfx\env subfolder, either in \id1 or in a mod folder. I know how to tell a map to use a specific skybox via an .ent file for Darkplaces, but a more knowledgeable mapper will be able to tell you the better, engine-independent implementation method.

Same with fog: I could tell you the .ent file method but that's not the better method, which I do not know. I've read that CZG used brushes as fog in his Honey masterpiece. Maybe you can study it to see how it's done.

Colored lighting comes in two flavors: .rtlights a.k.a. real-time lights achieve better results but are restricted to the engines supporting them, namely Darkplaces and FTE. .lit or .dlit files are more widely supported but have more limited possibilities and are not processed in real-time. RTlights are edited directly in Darkplaces (type apropos r_editlights in the console for a list of the various commands and their effects). A program called MHColour can generate .lits automatically but the results can range from good to very average depending on the map. You can edit .lits manually but again, you'll need the input of a more knowledgeable mapper for that. 

As for leaf recursing, I've found something about it on this very old help page: http://www.quakewiki.net/archives/quakelab/vis.htm
Check the 4th entry in the chart. You might also find some use to the rest of this page (except the "editor" section, which seems to no longer exist). Not sure how much of it all is still relevant but I doubt it's completely useless. 

Am I missing something? Both J.A.C.K. and TrenchBroom(which i believe is what hes using) have these options within the editor. first three pictures are Trenchbroom, the last one is J.A.C.K.

even QUARK had these in the editor.

http://imgur.com/a/BqHiG 

Heh, like I said, "more knowledgeable mappers"... I'm still wrapping my head around the building phase. 

Im wondering where you got the information to do it in that way. It seems like it might have been the way to do it back in the day, but its far from convenient now.

also, that troubleshooting guide might not work for him as its likely based on the original compilers. hes using tyrutils.

dont knock yourself. It doesnt surprise me you can edit them thru the .ent and .lit and such, but it just never crossed my mind to do it like that or that it was a way that people would teach each other anymore. 

.ent files are still used a lot in Darkplaces and in fact, AFAIK it's the only way to add something in a map without having to de/recompile it. Basically, if the map is not yours and you don't have the source .map, you're stuck with .ent editing.

it just never crossed my mind to do it like that or that it was a way that people would teach each other anymore.
Which is why I've stressed several times that it wasn't the best method and that other, more experienced mappers would know the way. The guy had questions left unanswered, so I wanted to provide whatever rudiments of an answer I could muster. 

Fog is a key/value pair that is set in Worldspawn.

"fog" "n.nnn"

It ranges from 0 to 1. Lower values seem to look better, 0.5 is pretty thick fog.

You can set the color by adding an optional RGB value:

"fog" "n.nnn r.rr g.gg b.bb"

Fog can also be typed in as a console command, just leave off the quotes:

fog 0.25 

If a skybox is used it must be in the correct location gfxenv which can be in QuakeID or in the game folder or inside a .pak file

The skybox will need to be set using a key/value pair in worldspawn:

"sky" "skyboxname_"

Note the underscore. The engine will find all the parts automatically. Sky can also be typed in as a console command, just leave off the quotes:

sky skyboxname_

Do not forget the underscore. 

Do you need the underscore?

At least for AD I know that it is not needed to get the skybox to take effect. 

I always figured the underscore was just used as a separator. Most skyboxes I've seen use it, but I don't think it's necessary.

Seems like if it's used you would need to include it, because the up dn rt lf stuff gets appended to the name when the engine tries to load the sky.

sky moonlit tries to load moonlitup moonlitdn, etc.

sky moonlit_ tries to load moonlit_up moonlit_dn, etc.

I've never really tested it out though. 

I just did with a .ent file in DP: I removed all the underscores from both the .ent and the filenames and it works just fine, so I suppose it'll be the same in a map editor. 

The names have to match though: you can't remove the underscore in the files and keep it in the worldspawn header or vice versa, but that was to be expected. 

Mukor, mugwump. Huhhuh, you guys make my head spin! Rick you come in with some really solid and answers.

- Darkplaces, i assume is an engine that runs quake, I my self use QUakespasm. It is both supported by windows and osX (im mapping with windows 8 because eric thought how to compile maps with windows but im really a mac user, i Have a 2013 imac)

All the scripts and coding jargon really dont help a novice like me at the moment unless you can tell me every single specific step that is required to take. IE "no.1 open trenchbroom" "no.1 click blaablaablaa.." etc.

Mapping and this message board has filled all my life with a strong impact, all my waking hours i think about mapping, and posibilities I can create and how to solve them. im insired and motivated! :)

- From a visual point I think coloured lights and a fog give a big boost to visuals. cold light and warm light create dyamic in spaces and fog creates a nice contract between distances.

My compiling time went way down when I scratched my project and started anew from the same kind of visual ideas i had, without using a space map consept. Im able to create the illusion of a larger world even without skyboxes at the moment but i still want to learn how to create them. In doom its so much simpler. At the moment my map concept is a darker, fantasylike world. i have also created func_trains to give my world more life.

My main challenge at the moment is lighting. This makes me constatly save, compile and run my map to know hot to create lights. i guess this element of mapping comes with more expirience.

still if you guys can give me concrete instructions on how to create fog and coloured lights it would help me in the future!

p.s. there is no heart on the emoticons!!! hahah, Im such a softie.. 

To make a light colored you give a light entity the _color key and give it a value of the color you want.

Example:

Key: _color Value: 255 0 0

This would give bright red which you would not want to do in a map.

For colored lights, subtlety is usually the best practice.

Value: 255 225 225

Would give a more visually appealing red color which could be used to portray red stained glass windows or what have you. 

Did you take a look at the pictures linked by mukor in post #17482? From what I can see in the first two pictures, fog and skybox are defined in the worldspawn (the very first entry at the top of your entity manager). The third picture shows you the color parameter in a light's properties. What more do you need? 

If using 0-255 for the 3 values doesn't work (e.g. 255 255 0 for orange) then you may need to use 1.0 1.0 0 using values of 0 thru 1. 

color uses range 0-255
_color uses range 0-1

both are supported, don't mix them. 

Good to know. 

Mugwump, sry i missed it but now i opened it. 

.ent files are still used a lot in Darkplaces and in fact, AFAIK it's the only way to add something in a map without having to de/recompile it. Basically, if the map is not yours and you don't have the source .map, you're stuck with .ent editing.

An old tool called adquedit lets you embed a modified .ent file into a .bsp file without the need for recompiling. This has the advantage of working in all engines, but the disadvantage that you have to send a much larger file.

For a more esoteric way of editing entities in a map, see:
https://tomeofpreach.wordpress.com/2013/12/09/debugging-and-save-games/ 

qbsp can update the entities in a bsp also, using -onlyents and a .map file. AFAIK .ent is just a renamed .map without any brushes. 

 

Once I used a hex editor to change the entities in L4D2 Dark Carnival versus finale, so that the survivors couldn't get to the stands, and had to fight on the stage like the rock gods intended. So if you're crazy then that option also exists, the entity block is just plain text in there... 

I've used 0-255 for _color since I first began adding colored light and it works fine.

I standardized on only about ten or so different colors for consistency. As an example, all torches use one color, all lava another, etc. I have many custom textures which have light3_8 pasted in to serve as a light source and these all use the same color.

One advantage to this is if I decide to change a light color for some reason, it can be done easily by search and replace in a
Notepad++ or other text editor.

"_color" "255 240 224" > "_color" "255 192 208"

Not so easy to change the colors of thirty or more torches for example, if "color picker" or something has been used and all have similar, but slightly different values.

Using ericw's surface light is also a way to make mass color changes, as long as the light is associated with a certain texture. 

I used "_color" entity key and trenchbroom offered a colour picker. I made some tests and it all worked out very nicely.