Please fix the shadow color banding problem. Thank you. :)

[grim_stoner]

Dr.Disaster, thanks for reproducing the issue. Your images show the exact same color problem I see in mine. There is far less color depth in the dark areas of your High image.

Try brightening your monitor or the images equally just to see the difference. I'm not saying monitors should be that bright, just that it will help exaggerate the issue, to prove there is a loss of color depth with high rendering quality.

[Dr.Disaster]

Dr.Disaster, thanks for reproducing the issue. Your images show the exact same color problem I see in mine. There is far less color depth in the dark areas of your High image.

Try brightening your monitor or the images equally just to see the difference. I'm not saying monitors should be that bright, just that it will help exaggerate the issue, to prove there is a loss of color depth with high rendering quality.

You mistake render quality difference including present/not present shadows with brightness.
Rendering Quality "Low" does not render shadows while Rendering Quality "High" does, even when shadows are set to "Low".

I don't need to turn up anything to see the difference. You should check your pics instead.
Your "High" pic's quality is not even close to mine. It clearly misses color and thus visibiliy depth which mine does not.

[grim_stoner]

Okay Dr.Disaster, I have turned up brightness on your images for you. Unfortunately they were jpg so there is artifacting, but the color difference is clear. Here are the left sides of your images, each brightened twice to 150 in Photoshop:

SpoilerShow

Render Quality: High


Render Quality: Low

Where there is so much black and dark blue in your High, there is actually visible wall in your Low. Note your brighter areas are equally bright in each image. So this is not a brightness problem. I'm only using brightness to help illustrate the problem in the darkness. High render quality is ruining the color for both of us, and the OP. I would like to see if anyone can produce a screenshot from High without this problem.

I don't think I understand your point about shadow presence. So I have taken new screenshots of a shadowless crate in both render qualities (included a cut-out of my settings for good measure), and applied the same brightness to exaggerate the effect:

SpoilerShow

Render Quality: High


Render Quality: Low

It's really not about shadow. It's about color - dark colors - which includes shadows yes, but also dark textures such as the bottom plank on this crate. That plank should be dark brown as it appears in Low, but in High it's mostly black and dark blue.

[Dr.Disaster]

Okay Dr.Disaster, I have turned up brightness on your images for you. Unfortunately they were jpg so there is artifacting, but the color difference is clear. Here are the left sides of your images, each brightened twice to 150 in Photoshop

Please, spare us photoshoped stuff.

All these "dark colors" you see are rendered shadows.
While the "Low" quality pic appears flat/2D the shadows in "High" quality add depth/3D.

Let me repeat it to you, since you obviously did not get it from my last post:
Rendering Quality "Low" will NEVER render and add shadows! You can not enable it; it's even greyed out when this mode is selected.
Rendering Quality "High" will ALWAYS render and add shadows! You can not disable it; only change the shadow quality.

[grim_stoner]

If blacking out everything below a threshold of darkness adds 3rd dimensional depth, then okay. If it's a feature to skip color ranges (color banding (0x000000 -> 0x000008)) where light trails off, cool beans. Just kidding - I don't accept that point of view.

As for taking images without shadows, it's very simple. For starters, shadows are entities based on light sources, like torches or spells. You'll notice there aren't any in my images. Ambient shading doesn't use light sources, but I didn't have that either. Once you have a light source, all you have to do is not block it. There cannot be a shadow if light is not blocked. Trailing light is not shadow.

And yes, you can remove shadows in High. Setting Shadows to low doesn't mean every shadow is still rendered. Some reduce in quality, others go away - like crates. No more Photoshop nonsense though, you'll have to try this out yourself . Keep render quality High and SSAO off. Set a crate under a torch with Shadows on high. There is a faint, blurry shadow under the crate. Set Shadows to medium. The crate shadow becomes more defined and blocky. Set Shadows to low and the shadow is gone.

Thanks for taking the time to rebuild the scene and screenshot it, though. That helps more than you know. I look forward to other perspectives on this problem.

[Dr.Disaster]

And yes, you can remove shadows in High. Setting Shadows to low doesn't mean every shadow is still rendered. Some reduce in quality, others go away - like crates.

Once again: you can NOT remove shadows when rendering quality is set to "High".

We are not talking single objects like crates, we are talking the entire rendered screen.
Even with Shadows "Low" and SSAO "Off" the difference in depth caused by shadows is very noticable.

Rendering Quality: "High", Shadows "High", SSAO "High"
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =309420901

Rendering Quality: "High", Shadows "Low", SSAO "Off"
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =309458818

Rendering Quality: "Low"
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =309420975


About that shade you can see on an object like a crate: it is created by SSAO, not the Shadows setting.
No matter which Shadow quality level is active, with SSAO "Off" a crate never shows a shade.

[Isaac]

Is this what you mean:

SpoilerShow

It's a dynamic banding effect with the shadows; one that shifts with the camera angle, and is really annoying ~once you see it... so I warn you all, don't look if you don't already know about it... I never noticed it before today, and I already cannot easily ignore it anymore.

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj12 ... 36930a.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj12 ... 76e57b.jpg

The effect is far more pronounced in realtime than you will see in these Jpegs, but it extends past the shadows when animated; it may well be core to the rendering method. The effect can be lessened with higher resolution ~but once you see it, you don't stop seeing it ~even when lessened.

[Dr.Disaster]

Is this what you mean:

SpoilerShow

It's a dynamic banding effect with the shadows; one that shifts with the camera angle, and is really annoying ~once you see it... so I warn you all, don't look if you don't already know about it... I never noticed it before today, and I already cannot easily ignore it anymore.

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj12 ... 36930a.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj12 ... 76e57b.jpg

The effect is far more pronounced in realtime than you will see in these Jpegs, but it extends past the shadows when animated; it may well be core to the rendering method. The effect can be lessened with higher resolution ~but once you see it, you don't stop seeing it ~even when lessened.

Not sure ..
regarding the light->dark transition area: it's only there with shadows set to "High" ( http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =309528573 ) , not with "Medium" or "Low" ( http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =309528597 )

regarding the form of the shadow: switching to "Medium" or "Low" the shadow changes into a pretty sharp edged shape; could be caused by the shape of the wall lantern as seen on the floor

Switching to render quality to "Low" elimiates the shadow entirely ( http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =309529758 )

[grim_stoner]

Quotes for Dr.Disaster:

SpoilerShow

We are not talking single objects like crates, we are talking the entire rendered screen.

I was:

I have taken new screenshots of a shadowless crate in both render qualities

-------------------------------------------------------

Rendering Quality: "High", Shadows "High", SSAO "High"

About that shade you can see on an object like a crate: it is created by SSAO

This is almost not worth responding to, but I'll give you the benefit of my doubt.

My crate images clearly show SSAO is off. My instructions said:

Keep render quality High and SSAO off.

Yours is on. That is the only shading you see. It is not responsible for entire walls of darkness, and it is cannot be not responsible for the blackened crate plank if the setting was off.

Isaac, interesting... I don't believe that highlights the same issue, though it is present in those screenshots. My issue is easier to see in the darkness on the column below the lantern. The base is black with splotchy dark red (0x000000 -> 0x000005). Color values between there are missing. Plus, the effect I'm seeing is consistent across the entire screen at all times, while the issue highlighted there is somehow isolated to that one shadow. Thanks though! I hope I don't start to notice that too haha.

If I tried recreating this scene in the editor to render comparisons of what I mean, would I bump into any spoilers, like end-game equipment or unique scenery? I haven't finished the game and I have avoided the editor so far. I'd like to try this tavern-looking place in lossless .png format because I agree with that guy, .jpg diminishes detail with artifacting.

[Isaac]

Not sure ..
regarding the light->dark transition area: it's only there with shadows set to "High" ( http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =309528573 ) , not with "Medium" or "Low" ( http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =309528597 )

regarding the form of the shadow: switching to "Medium" or "Low" the shadow changes into a pretty sharp edged shape; could be caused by the shape of the wall lantern as seen on the floor

Switching to render quality to "Low" elimiates the shadow entirely ( http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =309529758 )

I still get the banding in low settings; however... this effect is FAR more diminished on the official maps, so I think they account for it in their assets.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/likjlmc1741t6 ... g.avi?dl=0

**The Dropbox video player is awful; better to download the file and view it offline.