Shadows not displaying correctly

**Daiyuki** · 09-20-2010, 06:39 AM

Heya, my problem seems to be with how shadows are rendered at a distance. In many areas I get the graphical problem in the attached picture. I believe it may be my specific setup, as others do not see the glitch, which I can only describe as succeeding circles of pixelated dark green. I assume it is supposed to be the shadows getting darker and darker, but it is not working. The shadows very close up are fine, object shadows are fine, it is just that effect that is giving me trouble, and since shadows are an integral part of the game, I have stopped playing, because the greenish darkness is bothering me =p. Other games do not give me this issue, so I do not understand where this problem comes from. Metro 2033, for example, is running perfectly and darkness is a huge aspect of that as well. Possibly related is the smoke/fog effects looking quite bad most of the time, even the smoke to the right of the screen in the main menu, it gets that same "pixelated" effect when fading in and out, but doesn't seem to change colors at all.

Windows 7 64-bit
GTX 470 stock speeds
Core i7 930 OC'd to 3.8ghz
12GB RAM
Latest drivers
Version 1.0.0.0 of the game
With various settings the problem persists, from no post-effects to everything maxed, except SSAO samples because that just kills my GPU, fullscreen and windowed.. I just don't understand.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

**Thomas** · 09-20-2010, 07:05 AM

Set shadow quality to low and see if that works.

Also try updating drivers as explained in A1:
http://frictionalgames.com/forum/thread-3754.html

PS: Amnesia is an OpenGL game and Metro a Direct3D one, so there not possible to compare.

**Daiyuki** · 09-20-2010, 01:38 PM

(09-20-2010, 07:05 AM)Thomas Wrote: Set shadow quality to low and see if that works.

Also try updating drivers as explained in A1:
http://frictionalgames.com/forum/thread-3754.html

PS: Amnesia is an OpenGL game and Metro a Direct3D one, so there not possible to compare.

Doesn't help.

**Thomas** · 09-20-2010, 02:07 PM

I have examined the screenshot more closely, but am not sure what the problem is. There are no shadows in that screenshot.

**Daiyuki** · 09-23-2010, 07:47 AM

(09-20-2010, 02:07 PM)Thomas Wrote: I have examined the screenshot more closely, but am not sure what the problem is. There are no shadows in that screenshot.

There is darkness, and it's the fading darkness that causes problems. As I move forward, I always see this retreating semi-green shadow-within-a-shadow. It's really hard to explain without being able to show you, so hopefully the video I made will illustrate what I mean:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe97rsU0fHY

**Thomas** · 09-23-2010, 08:40 AM

I am afraid I cannot see anything strange. I think this is just the way the game looks.

**Daiyuki** · 09-23-2010, 08:58 AM

For some reason the video got REALLY dark when it finished processing, but I don't know, I give up =/ I'll just lower the gamma to stupidly dark, because the effect is lessened then, though I'm sure to miss things in that case =p I really do want to play this.