Afternoon Sandtraps [Map Replacement]
Highway 17 is a… bit of a long chapter, isn’t it? Not as long as Water Hazard and especially when you’re not even exploring everything, but where’s the fun in that? And it has always bothered me that the whole chapter happens during a bright clear-cloudy day unlike Water Hazard which actually becomes darker. But surely the next chapter will make it actually seem like the day’s getting dark.
And to a certain extent it does! Except it seems like it does so right after being taught how to use the bugbait and during the Nova Prospekt raid, when the map before it had such a bright skybox… what happened?
Y’see, it’s known that the raid takes place during a storm. But to many players it doesn’t even look like one to begin with. It just seems like it suddenly became night time. Apparently that’s not true and it just so happens the sky got dark because it’s a storm?
That is the one and only reason I didn’t call this ‘Lore-Friendly’. Not that this mod itself is ‘Lore-Breaking’ anyway, but if you feel like the raid does happen during the night (And makes sense after spending a long chapter and a half), I’ve got you covered, but with a twist!
This mod replaces the first three maps of Sandtraps, not only changing and rotating their skyboxes but also its lighting and the fog so it matches the sky and thus, an orange afternoon. All while progressively making the maps more orange and darker just before the raid. Maybe you’ll find some vibe to them too?
Now, do remember, the purpose of this mod is to make it look as close to vanilla as possible. While I (and someone else) did fix some issues present in vanilla and tweaked the lighting accordingly, besides that, there won’t be any custom additions. However, I’m willing to give the map sources to those who want to modify my work as long as I’m asked for permission.
Pairs well with [HL2Rain] Nova Prospekt Raid with Rain by Zoe0Zantern. Besides the rain effect, it uses darker skyboxes for the last maps of Sandtraps. Think of it as the definitive version of the chapter.
Check out my entire collection of mods!
- SillyPowder: Playtested and contributed to the December 2nd, 2025 update.
- gonzalesemail16: Made the entirety of the March 30th, 2026 update.
Revisions:
Old revisions of this mod are available below. Click the link to download.
