Atmospheres and Effects

This page lists all articles related to setting up atmospheres for your maps, and special effects for your models and environments.

The Atmosphere Editor

The Atmosphere & Weather Editor (editAtmos) encapsulates a variety of tools and controls, with which the user can design and tweak the look and feel of the outside game world. This ranges from light setup and skybox texturing to wind and precipitation effects such as rain and snow.

For a full explanation, see Atmosphere Editor.

Creating Skyboxes

A skybox is a set of images used to create an exterior sky. These can be added to an atmosphere using the Atmosphere Editor.

For a full explanation, see Skybox.

The Ambient Light Editor

The Ambient Light Editor (editAmbient) is used to create ambient light set-ups for use in atmospheres and levels.

For a full explanation, see Ambient Light Editor.

Environment Maps

Environment maps are made up of 6 images that form a cube (also known as cube maps) to create a fake reflection used on windows, scopes, and any other material that uses environment maps.

For a full explanation, see Environment Maps.

Water Surfaces

Water surfaces can be used in a variety of ways. You can create anything from tiny puddles to huge oceans.

For a full explanation, see Water Surfaces.

The Effects Editor

The Effects Editor (editEffects) is the tool used to set up all kinds of particle effects for use in ETQW. These can include muzzle flashes, explosions, smoke, sparks etc.

For a full explanation, see Effects Editor.

Cheap Decals

Cheap decals are spawned from the game script instead of via the effect system. They are cheaper to maintain than the "big" decals, the disadvantage is they only work for relatively unimportant decals like small bullet holes. Big grenade blasts for example will just look ugly (as they would clip into a surface if it wasn't flat).

For a full explanation, see Cheap Decals.