and...just as I posted that I notice that FTEQCC is credited in the AD readme - I guess I just answered my own question then? 

I found a video about skyboxes https://youtube.com/watch?v=aB3vgFVV_Ac
The reason I want to have them in my maps is simply because they're the up to date solution of showing sky in outdoor areas. On the other hand I dont want to use default sky textures.
-End of rant- 

Skyboxes consist of 6 textures(think of a cube) which represent back, down, front, left, right and up.

These are stored in

<your Quake directory>/id1/gfx/env

OR

<your Quake directory>/<your MOD directory>/gfx/env

Usually they are named like this as an example:

gehenna_bk.tga
gehenna_dn.tga
gehenna_ft.tga
gehenna_lf.tga
gehenna_rt.tga
gehenna_up.tga

The last two characters(bk, dn, ft, lf, rt and up) in the name before the extension(.tga) denotes where they are to be placed in game.

When assigning a custom skybox texture you ignore the last two characters as the game engine expects those.

So, if in the console using Quakespasm you typed: sky gehenna_ Quakespasm would load those textures I listed above.

In Darkplaces it's loadsky gehenna_

And... in your editor, in the worldspawn key for "sky", you would put "gehenna_" for it's value.

I don't use TB but it ws posted above how to do that.

Now, anywhere in the editor where you assign ANY normal sky texture(you have to do this), in game it will be replaced with your custom skybox.

Noting that, depending on the orientation of the surface you assigned the normal sky texture to, would dictate which skybox texture would be drawn. Again, think of the skybox as a cube surrounding your level.

hth's 

In case you haven't seen this site - you can make you're own randomized skybox: pretty cool - although I always stick to "retro" skies. Just my preference.

http://wwwtyro.github.io/space-3d/#animationSpeed=1&fov=80&nebulae=true&pointStars=true&resolution=1024&seed=58l9983tau4g&stars=true&sun=true 

how to change from .dfx to .bsp 

how to change from .dfx to .bsp 

I know that your question was already answered somewhere in this thread.
Which editor do you use?
The common bsp/quake level editors, such as J.A.C.K., Radiant, Worldcraft, or Trenchbroom give you a .map or .vmf which then has to be 'compiled' to .bsp
https://quakewiki.org/wiki/Getting_Started_Mapping
Here's some info you might find helpfull. 

Is it right to use Scourge of Armagon soundtrack for custom maps? What about Dissolution Of Eternity soundtrack? Quickly googling, I just see links where to download them but nothing about copyright. Even files I downloaded through steam, don't mention about copyright at all.

I'm just asking, because some of those tracks aren't that bad I would like to use them, but only if it doesn't create some kind of copyright war or something like that. 

I imagine there's a team of copyright sleuths working round the clock trying to hunt down guys like you who are trying to put a game soundtrack file from 1997 into a free user-made map from that game.

Ten years at least if you get caught. Better edit your post, stat. 

 

Trenchbroomhelp???? 

 

 

I'm trying to pare down my JACK setup to just base id Quake and I can't get entity models to show up. I am using only the quake.fgd that came with JACK, id1 base game directory, no mod directory, and only base Quake WADs. The FGD's entities seem to list models with them, but they do not show up in JACK. Do I need to unpack the pak files for them to show up or something? 

His beta 5 version: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/33279452/quake4ericwTools.fgd 

I'll give it a try, thanks! The JACK FGD seems to be pretty limited and actually doesn't include some of the entity model definitions, had to add them myself. I wonder what id worked with in the beginning... 

Just had to add the info_player_start model and everything else looks pretty good. Thanks! 

So I wanted to convert a .map from Quake's standard format to Valve 220, mostly because some of the details I wanted to achieve are simply impossible in Standard format as far as I can tell.

There are a few editors out there that seem to load standard format and then save it in Valve 220, like J.A.C.K, but when I try and use the resulting .map in my compilers it spews a long stream of errors/warnings and fails, and loading it up again in TB2 crashes the editor...

So, my question is, is there a better way to convert a .map? Or, alternatively, is there a way to un-fuck all the brushes after converting it?
I'm uploading the "fucked" version of the map:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/9rygba032vxyl7l/it%27s%20fucked.zip

Also feel free to let me know how I'm dumb for not starting the map in Valve 220 in the first place. 

 

That fixed the errors at the start, but it still won't compile due to all the suddenly malformed brushes. 

Before the 220 format change attempt? 

after 42 days of using an editor i can say this:
a) i have no problems with the technical aspects, or making relatively complex brushes
b) i have problems making sense of the scale and size of things. i'm checking maps and taking notes, so it's not that bad, i will get all this by my self.
c) i have problems with actually making good rooms, good gameplay, have consistency, etc. in other words, i know how to make things, but not when or why to use them to make a good map.

i'm not asking tutorials or tips. i just want to know if this is tipical.
i just need more practice right?

i was expecting that in 1 month i could make a decent (5/10 stars) map even when i don't get some technical stuff, and it's happening the opposite. 

I'm using JACK 1.1.1064 and I'm having a really weird WAD issue. If I install a WAD and try to single it out in the texture browser, none or only a few of the textures show up. However, they do show up in the 3D viewport, so they're not missing. I've also recently noticed that they appear to show up in other WADs. I have the 5 part Quake set of WADs and I've noticed the entirety of the Knave WAD showing up in one of the Quake WADs. I've also noticed Sock's Egyptian pack in another of the Quake WADs. I'm so confused. Has anyone had this issue before?

Here's what it looks like when I click only knave.wad in the texture browser. You can see only a few of the hundreds of textures in the pack.
And here's some more of the Knave textures showing up in quake.wad.

What gives? 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/410j5skkwoo9byj/pritchard1.map

Here's the current version of the map in standard format. If you can figure out a way to achieve what I could not, I'd be eternally grateful. :p