It's stated and used in the manual in many areas. In my level that has a sky block, I set an entity with the scene flag on and it doesn't work. If I set the scene flag like this:

my.scene = on;

I get a compiler error saying of an unknown parameter. Why is it doing this? Does this flag even exist? If it doesn't exist, then why is it stated often in the manual? If it does exist, why is it saying that it's an unknown parameter and why doesn't it work? The scene flag places the entity at the back end of the Z-buffer so that it's always drawn behind everything. I'm using 6.40.5 Commercial.

Download my sample project here (ZIP file - 418 KB) and add the "my.scene = on;" line after the first while loop of the only action near the bottom.

See manual -> sky -> scene. Sky flags are for sky definitions only.

It still doesn't work. Have you seen the project. I defined the scene flag in a sky definition and it still doesn't work at all.

Edit: This is how I have the sky defined:

Code:

---

sky skysphere // define the sky object - only works if a block with a sky texture is given
{
	layer = 3; // pick a number, any number (or is it card?)
	flags = scene, visible; // scene flag - puts this object in the back end of the Z-buffer to make it infinitely distant
}

---

Then in the action, I have this:

Code:

---

action scaled_sky
{
	proc_late(); // required to prevent odd effects from occurring
	my.skill1 = 16; // change this to the scaling value you want - at 64, the area becomes 64 times larger than the model and at 4, it becomes 4 times larger than the model
	skysphere = me;
	
	while (!skysphere) // wait until pointer is valid
	{
		wait(1);
	}
	
	while(1)
	{
		my.x=camera.x/my.skill1*(my.skill1-1);
		my.y=camera.y/my.skill1*(my.skill1-1);
		my.z=camera.z/my.skill1*(my.skill1-1);
		
		/*
		my.x = 4/camera.x; // play with the 16 and see what effect it has.
		my.y = 4/camera.y; // at 64, the sky sphere should be 4 times bigger than with this
		my.z = 4/camera.z; // at 4, the sky sphere should be 4 times smaller than this and 16 times smaller than if 64
		*/
		wait(1);
	}
}

---

The scene flag still does not work.

i don't think ent_creating a level entity ( which is what ent_create does) then trying to assign it to a defined sky definition works like that.

try using the ent_createlayer to dynamicly create a sky defined entity

For some reason, ent_createlayer isn't working either. How do you get it to set the sky and scene flags? The manual is so vague about it. It has a number instead.

skysphere = ent_createlayer(skysphere_mdl, scene, 3);
// flags = sky, scene; // how do I put this into the flags part?

I need to assign the action to it so that it moves at a slower speed than the camera to get the great distance I'm after.... It's what my main intent is.

I try adding the entity into WED and assigning the action (and pointer) in there, and it still doesn't work. My main intent is to have this object drawn behind everything else (the function of the scene flag), but to move with the camera at a slightly slower speed to give the sense of an extreme distance.

you don;t assign an action to a sky ( just like you don;t to a view entity)

you have to referance it by pointer

entity* myobject;

my_object = ent_creatlayer("skysphere.mdl",scene,3);


then a function to manipulate your sky entity created above

function move_skyent()
{
my_object.x +=5;
...
}

I've tried that, it says "parameter unknown: scene".

Code:

---

entity* skysphere;

function scaled_sky()
{
	proc_late(); // required to prevent odd effects from occurring
	my.skill1 = 16; // change this to the scaling value you want - at 64, the area becomes 64 times larger than the model and at 4, it becomes 4 times larger than the model
	skysphere = me;
	
	while (!skysphere) // wait until pointer is valid
	{
		wait(1);
	}
	
	// my.scene = on;
	
	while(1)
	{
		my.x=camera.x/my.skill1*(my.skill1-1);
		my.y=camera.y/my.skill1*(my.skill1-1);
		my.z=camera.z/my.skill1*(my.skill1-1);
		
		/*
		my.x = 4/camera.x; // play with the 16 and see what effect it has.
		my.y = 4/camera.y; // at 64, the sky sphere should be 4 times bigger than with this
		my.z = 4/camera.z; // at 4, the sky sphere should be 4 times smaller than this and 16 times smaller than if 64
		*/
		wait(1);
	}
}

function main()
{
	fps_max = 200; // gives me 64 fps in both fullscreen and windowed mode
	
	wait(3);
	
	level_load(samplelvl); // load the level
	wait(3);
	
	camera.x = -1024;
	camera.y = -2560;
	camera.z = 0;
	camera.pan = 67.5; // face north-northeast at startup
	skysphere = ent_createlayer("skysphere.mdl", scene, 3); // scene is an unknown parameter
	scaled_sky();
	wait(1); // registers this data
	move_camera(); // allow for camera movement
}

---

As I said, it doesn't work.

you can't use ent_createlayer in c-script like that . you need to build a dll for it ...the remarks under the ent_createlayer in the manual state that

So how do I use the scene flag using C-script, or is it even possible at all? I ran into this issue in May or so of 2005 when I was working on my 3D game. I still haven't resolved the issue and ran into it again when I made that small demo.

im pretty sure flags like cube, dome, scene, cylinder have to be set during definition only, not changable during runtime.

of course i've yet to run into a situation so far where i needed to change them.
I've only used ent_createlayer like 2 times and then found it not worht the hassle ( at least untill c-lite) as its easier to figure out max number of sky definitions you need visible at any given time on screen and define that many (if you have your project propoerly planned out). then change the alterable values as needed.

i.e.
define 1 skycube then chnage teh type= value for differnt images vs maming 1 defien for each image
define 8 sky model entities and morph the models as needed