Shadows Draw Distance

Discussion in 'TSW General Discussion' started by mc_melky, May 5, 2019.

  1. mc_melky

    mc_melky New Member

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    Hi, everyone.
    Could you tell me please if there is a way to increase a distance for shadows?
    I tried many things in engine.ini, but it all didn`t work.
    Shadows start to appear approximately at 100-150m. Shadows of trees, bridges, buildings, everything.
    And another annoying thing is at screenshot. You can see that sunlight starts in 100m from the train, but when I move it moves with me at constant distance. I tried to find a solution in the Internet, but it was useless. After all my tries I use only r.ViewDistanceScale=10 in engine.ini.
     

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  2. Tomas9970

    Tomas9970 Well-Known Member

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    Try pasting this into your engine.ini:

    [/script/engine.renderersettings]
    r.Shadow.DistanceScale=5.0
     
  3. mc_melky

    mc_melky New Member

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    I tried, nothing changed.
     
  4. keksman

    keksman Well-Known Member

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    foliage.LODDistanceScale=10 works for the trees
     
  5. mc_melky

    mc_melky New Member

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    Are you sure? I tried this one and saw no changes at all. Trees shadows still appear at the distance of 100m.
     
  6. Tomas9970

    Tomas9970 Well-Known Member

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    Only other thing that I can think of is using the whole cinematic engine scalability for shadows.

    [/script/engine.renderersettings]
    r.LightFunctionQuality=1
    r.ShadowQuality=5
    r.Shadow.CSM.MaxCascades=10
    r.Shadow.MaxResolution=4096
    r.Shadow.MaxCSMResolution=4096
    r.Shadow.RadiusThreshold=0.03
    r.Shadow.DistanceScale=1.0
    r.Shadow.CSM.TransitionScale=1.0
    r.DistanceFieldShadowing=1
    r.DistanceFieldAO=1
    r.VolumetricFog=1
    r.VolumetricFog.GridPixelSize=4
    r.VolumetricFog.GridSizeZ=128

    Alternatively you can use the whole cinematic scalability

    [/script/engine.renderersettings]
    r.PostProcessAAQuality=6
    r.SkeletalMeshLODBias=0
    r.ViewDistanceScale=10.0
    r.LightFunctionQuality=1
    r.ShadowQuality=5
    r.Shadow.CSM.MaxCascades=10
    r.Shadow.MaxResolution=4096
    r.Shadow.MaxCSMResolution=4096
    r.Shadow.RadiusThreshold=0.03
    r.Shadow.DistanceScale=1.0
    r.Shadow.CSM.TransitionScale=1.0
    r.DistanceFieldShadowing=1
    r.DistanceFieldAO=1
    r.VolumetricFog=1
    r.VolumetricFog.GridPixelSize=4
    r.VolumetricFog.GridSizeZ=128
    r.MotionBlurQuality=4
    r.AmbientOcclusionMipLevelFactor=0.4
    r.AmbientOcclusionMaxQuality=100
    r.AmbientOcclusionLevels=-1
    r.AmbientOcclusionRadiusScale=1.0
    r.DepthOfFieldQuality=4
    r.RenderTargetPoolMin=1000
    r.LensFlareQuality=3
    r.SceneColorFringeQuality=1
    r.EyeAdaptationQuality=2
    r.BloomQuality=5
    r.FastBlurThreshold=100
    r.Upscale.Quality=3
    r.Tonemapper.GrainQuantization=1
    r.LightShaftQuality=1
    r.Filter.SizeScale=1
    r.Tonemapper.Quality=5
    r.Streaming.MipBias=0
    r.MaxAnisotropy=8
    r.Streaming.LimitPoolSizeToVRAM=0
    r.Streaming.PoolSize=3000
    r.Streaming.MaxEffectiveScreenSize=0
    r.TranslucencyLightingVolumeDim=64
    r.RefractionQuality=2
    r.SSR.Quality=4
    r.SceneColorFormat=4
    r.DetailMode=2
    r.TranslucencyVolumeBlur=1
    r.MaterialQualityLevel=1 ; High quality
    r.SSS.Scale=1
    r.SSS.SampleSet=2
    r.SSS.Quality=1
    r.SSS.HalfRes=0
    r.EmitterSpawnRateScale=1.0
    r.ParticleLightQuality=2
    foliage.DensityScale=1.0
    grass.DensityScale=1.0

    I copied these from basescalability.ini which is located in Unreal Engine 4 directory.
     
    Last edited: May 6, 2019
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  7. mc_melky

    mc_melky New Member

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    r.Shadow.DistanceScale this one is what I need, but it seems the engine has limitations for shadow distance.
    You can see at my screenshot below what happens when r.Shadow.DistanceScale=1. Now, compare this one and the first one. The same route, the same time, the same conditions. I tried different values and the longest distance for shadows was the same as at the first screenshot of this topic, which is default settings. It`s sad if the engine really has limitations for this :(

    Thank you, Tomas!
     

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  8. crazyhorse4u

    crazyhorse4u New Member

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    Same here in my opinion. Drawing distances and LOD's of trees and shadows also look a bit disturbing and annoying to me. But of course, I understand the low-end GPU aspect. Hopefully it will be editable at some point in the foreseeable future...
     
    Last edited: May 11, 2019
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  9. LimitedEdiition

    LimitedEdiition Well-Known Member

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    How much FPS hit did you take with the Shadow Distance Scale set to 1?
     
  10. ASRGT

    ASRGT Well-Known Member

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    You wont take any its the standard setting tweak or no tweaks.

    The most you can do is add about an extra 100meters to the draw distance using a value of 2.0 any more than that in my testing results in no further increase.

    Not sure the OP noticed but you do in fact add additional draw between the two pictures
    Standard draw
    [​IMG]
    Extended value (r.Shadow.DistanceScale=2.0) note shadow draw is now past the second set of signals
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: May 11, 2019
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  11. LimitedEdiition

    LimitedEdiition Well-Known Member

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    Just applied the extra draw distance in my game and the difference is very noticeable. Truly makes driving the in the morning with the sun shadows a more immersive experience. Wished it would allow us to go to the 500 mark, but this is way better than the default options.
     
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  12. crazyhorse4u

    crazyhorse4u New Member

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    Can someone PLEASE upload the correct edited .ini files? I suck big time with these ({[., kind of copy and paste things. THANK YOU so much lads! Mucho appreciated... :cool:
     
    Last edited: May 14, 2019
  13. ASRGT

    ASRGT Well-Known Member

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    Honestly giving the ini file may cause you more issues than it solves for you.

    Instructions:
    Type: Windows Key + R
    run.PNG

    Note: Run dialog box will open
    Copy Paste this line into run dialog:
    Code:
    %userprofile%\Documents\My Games\TS2Prototype\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor

    run2.PNG
    - Click OK

    Note: Window will now open
    config_dir.PNG

    Right Click on "Engine" select "Edit"

    Note: you will see a notepad window with something similar to this inside :
    edit.PNG

    Now please ignore allot of these commands there simply me playing around.
    The one in question however is:

    Code:
    r.Shadow.DistanceScale=2.0
    If you do not see the section [SystemSettings] simply add it bellow the' Paths = ...' lines.

    Copy Past the below save and your done :D
    Code:
    [SystemSettings]
    r.Shadow.DistanceScale=2.0

    PLEASE DO NOT Copy the other commands in my ini unless your running a 1080ti or higher there rather system destroying :D and as i said allot of them are just there as i was fooling around with this shadows issue .

    If you are intrested commands like the
    Code:
    foliage.LODDistanceScale=10
    will stop tree pop in and
    Code:
    r.StaticMeshLODDistanceScale=0.1
    will avoid Level of detail changes on buildings and static objects again performance killer but hey looks nicer :D







     
    Last edited: May 14, 2019
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  14. crazyhorse4u

    crazyhorse4u New Member

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    Haha! I'm sure you're absolutely right with that .ini file thingy.

    You're way too kind and your help is very much appreciated! *bows* :) Thanks a bunch mate. Will give it a shot as soon as I can... Exactly what I was looking for.
     
    Last edited: May 16, 2019
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  15. hyperlord

    hyperlord Well-Known Member

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    Nice tweaks, thank you!
     
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  16. OnScheduleW/ChickenWings

    OnScheduleW/ChickenWings Member

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    There's only one problem with these tweaks. I forgot which particular change does this but one of the changes that has to do with distance draw tweaking changes the 3d aspect of the Ballast, which really sucks. So be careful what you're trading for
     
  17. ASRGT

    ASRGT Well-Known Member

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    That would be Material Quality Setting, i do not recommended reducing this my self as yes it will remove 3d ballast.
     
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  18. Mariano

    Mariano New Member

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    I have been checking how shadows work in the game, with all graphics in ultra settings.
    this is what i noticed, it seems that, not matter the distance, some objects do cast shadows and some not, for unknown reason.
    some examples here:


    The building, which is even further away than the trees, cast a low detail shadow, and trees closer to the camera do not.. makes no sense.
    sombras ejemplo 1.jpg


    sombras ejemplo 2.jpg In the following picture, the shadows on the cars are not the same as the trees. they should be on the ground at the left side of the cars, and not only under the car.
    sombras ejemplo 3.jpg


    What do you guys think.
    Is this a limitation on purpose by the developers.? Or is it an engine limitation?
     
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  19. Tomas9970

    Tomas9970 Well-Known Member

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    I think that the game has some fake shadows in certain places to improve performance.
     
  20. Mariano

    Mariano New Member

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    This is a game which is years old now. Today´s video hardware capabilites are way more superior than 2017's.
    Let´s say that is the main reason. In that case all they have to do is add more graphical settings options, instead of limiting the engine, or placing fake shadows.
    With those additional options, you give players with high end PC´s the right to enjoy amazing graphics with realistic shadows, and those with slower PCs, will adjust the "shadow drawing distance" slider, to medium or low, and problem solved.
     
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  21. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

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    Shadows are one of the worst offenders visual wise in TSW.

    Often they aren’t dark enough and the obvious issue is that they don’t draw out very far at all. They don’t always look or render in the right position, as seen in the picture above.

    DTG really need to consider upgrading the UE4 engine to a newer, stable version as we are using an outdated, inefficient version which lacks features and basic visuals.
     
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  22. bobsr

    bobsr Member

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    My understanding is that DTG was looking for an UE4 core programmer. That position was to be available this month. Maybe, to start updating to an later version.
     
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  23. hightower

    hightower Guest

    The draw distance is further by the looks of it, but if you look at the distant trackside trees in the second image the lighting is all wrong. I still say this issue should be the VERY top of the list of things to sort out. Every other problem with the game pales into insignificance compared to these shadow & lighting problems.
     
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  24. geloxo

    geloxo Well-Known Member

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    What I have seen over the past years is that shadows are capped to a x2 factor only. You can use the ini file settings to reduce distance only, not to increase it. The foliage tweak works partially as it draws trees at higher detail, and therefore higher shadow detail as well, but the overall distance is not increased. It prevents the trees pop-in effects.

    The only effective way I found to reduce the reality buble effect related to shadows drawdistance is not using clear sky weather presets. They are the ones creating those terrible effects seen in the screenshots and also they create fake exterior light effects inside tunnels. Just set some clouds and problems are at least less noticeable.

    Cheers
     
  25. Anthony Pecoraro

    Anthony Pecoraro Well-Known Member

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    They already did...
     
  26. hightower

    hightower Guest

    It’s a pretty old thread Anthony that was linked in a more recent one, I replied to it not realising that was the case.
     
  27. Anthony Pecoraro

    Anthony Pecoraro Well-Known Member

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    Ah
     

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