Shadow Warrior SWP Skies

[6873fa0db8978voodoo47]

Replacement skyboxes for Shadow Warrior when running under SWP 4.3.1 (the expansion packs will also work), should look much better than whatever was available until now (512*512 tga vs 256*256 jpg in HRP makes a lot of difference). Disable any previous hires/lowres packages and extract to your SWP folder. All SW and Twin Dragon skyboxes should get replaced, and most in Wanton Destruction as well (I would have to get to know the Build engine editor to replace those that are left as I do not know the tile ids, but I currently have no time for that). One particular skybox is always shared between more maps, so sometimes it fits nicely, other times not so much, can't do anything about that.

Also, I'm starting to believe that Redux has broken skybox support, as no matter what I do, the code and resources that work just fine with SWP only display the bottom skybox texture everywhere when used with Redux. No idea whether GOG/steam can be persuaded to update the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viFfz1E5v20

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naTc1HWkqqY

[6873fa0db8b18voodoo47]

reserved post

[6873fa0db8c8cvoodoo47]

well, finally found a night city skybox (probably the only one on the entire internet) that is somewhat usable.. except for the gigantic glowing moon. my mspaint-fu is not strong enough to get rid of it - but pretty sure someone who has some texture skills could do it in three minutes. either (almost) pitch black sky should be ok, some stars would be amazing.

[6873fa0db8facGrosnus]

Something like this?:

[6873fa0db911cvoodoo47]

bit hard to see the skyscrapers now, but not going to look a gift horse in the mouth too much. good enough and in it goes - thanks.

fun fact - the sky needs to be almost pitch black to hide a bunch of pretty ugly errors on a few maps.

[6873fa0db926cGrosnus]

Yeah, the moon glow definitely helped with the skyline. I even made the horizon a little brighter, but the brighter it gets, the less nightly it's going to feel, so I left it like that.

About the pitch black - if necessary I can dim the stars more to make the sky darker, it's an easy change.

[6873fa0db93e8voodoo47]

nah, it's good enough (SW is free on GOG/steam, you can grab the full version of sw.grp from there, load it into SWP 4.3.1 and check it yourself, it's right in the first level), and I have an inkling that this is not going to be the most popular mod in the universe, so any serious effort is probably a waste.

[6873fa0db9540voodoo47]

aanyway, just noticed there is a bunch of boo-boos going on with one of the skyboxes (where the top texture meets the rest of the textures), if you don't mind some more unpaid overtime (but can throw the Redux version of Shadow Warrior at you if you want, the very one this mod does NOT work with).
[sky_break.png expired]

[6873fa0db966dGrosnus]

Ok, I unbooboofied it, should be completely seamless all the way around.
Though I think it's better to save that Shadow Warrior for someone who will have a better use for it.

[6873fa0db97b4voodoo47]

yep, all fixed - thanks again. repackaged and uploaded as beta1, should be good enough for regular use now.

another fun fact - the Build engine actually supports multiple skyboxes per map.

[6873fa0db9956JDoran]

Thanks for these. BTW, Voodoo, which is the better between SWP 4.3.1 and Shadow Warrior Redux (aside from the presence of the expansion packs in Redux, of course, as you can presumably play them in SWP)?

[6873fa0db9b1dvoodoo47]

Redux is painless to set up, as you just download and play. the infinitely annoying camera wobble when walking on sloped surfaces is gone (this is GREAT, and makes Redux worth buying for me). mouse is slightly less responsive when compared to SWP, but can be tweaked in the options, so not a real problem. skybox support seems broken (as mentioned), so you will have to tolerate the vanilla skylines.

SWP needs to be set up manually, and the expansion packs have slight issues in the main menu (not displaying proper names for the campaigns, but this is purely visual), plus they are not showing the map names properly (this doesn't really matter, who cares what name is displayed when you turn the map on). proper skybox support.

so as far as I'm concerned, it's proper skyboxes (SWP) vs camera wobble fix (Redux). it's close, but I'm picking Redux. if I manage to get the skybox problem fixed, then it will be Redux all the way.

[6873fa0db9c3bJDoran]

Thanks for that, I'll pick up Redux when I get home (I love GOG, no DRM, the way games should be).

[6873fa0db9df3Robman]

Nice sky boxes, you guys should check out Shadow Warrior Central if you like SW, maybe even join the forum there and post about your skybox mod.

Site - http://swcentral.weebly.com/
Forum - http://swforum05.proboards.com/