I've been working on bases of late, but unfortunately PC issues are doing their best (worst) to hinder my progress. I've been crashing 5+ times per day, and it gets EXTREMELY frustrating to be working on an area, only to crash and find Hammer has corrupted the file. I've been through this a few times already, but my system instability has just highlighted the ASOHGEGH of the situation; even with constant saving of new files (bases is on a46, spirit on a42, mayhem a10 and openfire a2 [no I'm not making openfire, I just did the basic layout to save someone else the hassle]) it is still very irritating and interrupts the work flow badly.

New RAM is winging its way to me, so rest assured I will be rustling something up for a long overdue media release in the not-too-distant future once my PC issues are dealt with.

In other news, the 3D Sky stuff is totally superb fun to work with. I've just got around to actually trying it out and it really does add a new layer of depth to the gaming experience. The world.. it .. it .. exists. It exists outwith the gaming area. It extends out there into the distance, seemingly beyond the horizon. A map is no longer just a random little concrete jungle or mountain fortress seemingly disconnected from everything else, it's a little slice of the greater fortress world. Even better is the fact that, when implemented properly, the sky is seamless. It's very hard to tell where the map ends and the sky begins, so much so that, in some cases you don't actually notice the skybox because it's perfectly grafted on. A good example of this is dust/dust2: There's undulating, understated hills and palm trees for as far as the eye can see, but they're not intrusive or unnatural. On the other end of the spectrum, you can have much more visually striking and grandiose spectacles -- I love the aztec skybox... big temples, enormous hills and so forth.

I fully intend to push the boat out where appropriate.

So yeah, just some ramblings.