How to delete the ground haze effect / How to delete the skybox and have the sky be the colour of the void

[GTAIVisbest]

Hello everyone, bear with me while I explain this weird title

 

I've been struggling with this problem where buildings, structures and terrain that's above CJ in the distance do not correctly "disappear" into the distance fog. Instead, they colour-shift a bit and disappear super abruptly, ruining immersion. Here's a screenshot showing what I mean:

 

 

As you can see here, the Maze Bank tower in downtown is just barely visible. Normally it should be shrouded in fog, but instead it is phased out in a very abrupt way. Rotating the camera makes it either completely phase in or completely phase out with a sharp line, depending on what direction the camera is pointing in.

 

Now, what I discovered is that the way that these structures "disappear" into the fog, is actually to slowly shift their colour to the colour of the "void". I had a skybox mod installed here that perfectly exemplifies the issue:

 

 

The skyscrapers are JUST on the edge of render distance, and they have actually colour-shifted to the same blue colour of the void. If the skybox was the colour of the void, then the buildings would have faded out perfectly. However, because the skybox has clouds and is a more green colour, the buildings don't correctly disappear.

 

The problem in vanilla (without any skybox mods) is that there seems to be some sort of "Ground Haze" effect that gives a hue/tint on the skybox when CJ is close to ocean level. Here's an example:

 

 

At sea level, it's very subtle, but the skybox changes from the "void" blue colour to a dusty hazy yellowish colour. This is what causes buildings not to shade into the fog correctly.

 

However, if I fly up into the air, the "ground haze" disappears, and the skybox becomes the same colour of the void (in this case, baby blue). Guess what happens to the buildings in the distance?

 

 

That's right! The buildings, terrain and everything else will correctly phase in and out of the distance fog! This is because the "ground haze" is gone.

 

My question, therefore, is: Is there any way to fully remove the skybox, and just have the pure colour of the ambient void there instead? No ground haze, no horizon clouds. When it's the evening, the void is a golden colour, when it's rainy, the void is a grey colour, and when it's sunny, the void is a blue colour. I just want the sky to match the void so that buildings and faraway terrain correctly shades in and out.

 

Here's an example of PS2 gameplay where the skybox is obviously that "baby blue" void colour with no ground haze or anything. And surprise surprise, the downtown skyscrapers appear smoothly through the ground fog, instead of phasing in jarringly with a sharp line as they would in my installation! 

 

 

I'm so, so tired of having my immersion being broken by this super-ugly phase-in of skyscrapers and other terrain objects, especially because I like to play with very low view distance!

 

Thanks for your help