Various lighting problems (4.0 unstable)

[Ostentatio 1,970]

I've taken some screenshots of various lighting problems in the new renderer.

 

 

Strange indoor light mapping:

 

There are no lights inside this building, but there is one on the outside, on the other side of the wall from the red "X". Somehow, this is lighting up the floor and ceiling on the inside of the building, but is not lighting up the interior of the wall.

 

Lights disappearing over a relatively short distance:

 

Light effects disappear when not very far from them. These screenshots were taken just before and beyond the radius where this happens (note the torch light in the distance). This may just be a limitation of the system, and I'm not sure how it compares to previous versions, but it's still kind of jarring.

 

Lights dimmer when camera is closer to them:

 

Note that the lighting on the wall from this torch is somehow getting less bright as I approach it. This may just be another case of other nearby lights disappearing as I move away from them, but I'm not sure.

 

Lights flickering in and out like crazy over a short distance:

 

 

 

These three screenshots were taken within the same half-tile of distance or so along the roadway, as I approach the stone building. Despite the short distance, you can see the lighting is distinctly different in each one. As I walk, the lighting keeps changing, leading to a sort of strobe effect, presumably as different lighting effects flicker in and out. This is especially noticeable on the trees, hedge, and buildings.

 

Similar situation indoors:

 

 

 

If you switch between these quickly in an image viewer, the color temperature is very different.

 

I'm aware the flickering/disappearing lights issue possibly exists in the older version of the renderer as well, particularly when a lot of dynamic light sources are around, but the effect certainly seems to be worse now. I understand the effect isn't as pronounced in still screenshots, but on some places on my deed, it almost looks like lightning is flashing, because the image is rapidly changing from one set of lights to another. It definitely wasn't this bad before, and now it keeps making me think that lights are turning off or flickering or something.

 

I know some of this may also seem a bit nickpicky, but most of it is pretty glaringly obvious in-game, worse than in the past, and now seems like the time to address concerns like these anyway.

Edited May 24, 2016 by Ostentatio

[Sila 339]

yes everything is dark as hell and huge fps drops

 

for me from 50+  now i got 5fps at same settings

[nicedreams 1,035]

Had issues when on a mountain where there was trees transitioning to desert and when I would step forward the light would go bright and then step back one step it would go dark again.  And back and forth the same step.  Like it was trying to guess what to do with the lighting from where I was standing at the time of day.  No screenshot though.

[Ostentatio 1,970]

I can confirm a lot of the problems I mentioned, especially with lights going in and out, do exist on the stable client as well, just not as noticeably for some reason.

[Alyeska 2,621]

Iron lamps seems to be flickering a bit? It almost looks like it's intended though.

 

 

[Alyeska 2,621]

Added a gif to show how harsly it transitions from light source to light source when walking around. It used to not be this bad before in the old renderer. My deed looks like a strobe light

 

 

 

 

[Alectrys 2,040]

New live Unstable client 4.00-a060f54 is now available with maximum dynamic lights setting.

 

Please note that the default is set as 0 which may cause a performance issue for you.  8 is the highest setting and to me looks the same as what we just had.  0 is beautiful, but my personal fps goes from 60 to 20.

 

Try out the new setting and report back if it has improved your issues and which number works best for you.

 

http://forum.wurmonline.com/index.php?/topic/142931-unstable-client-update-2-july-2016-–-maximum-dynamic-lights/

[Audrel 2,223]

a060f54 lights set to 8

 

I have had 4 disconnects which adversely affect FPS so I will have to relog to see if night has caused an extreme FPS drop or if the lights have.

That said, the lights are bright but the colors on them are pretty bland. You have to get within 5 tiles to really see the colors at all and they do not project very well. The light the bright white marble bridge really nicely as well as flag poles but it's not very bright elsewhere as in stable. I am going to reconnect and then take stable vs unstable screens. I will edit this post when I am back.

EDIT: The FPS drop was due to disconnects. There was a slight drop when the lights come on but if you have ever been to the center of my deed... As you will see in the pictures below. 
 

Spoiler

Unstable

Stable

 

 

Spoiler

Unstable

Stable

 

I chose locations with lots of lights or lights of various colors and arranged items of various colors to get a good feel for changes in lighting/color render.

Hope these help.

 

Edited July 2, 2016 by Audrel

[Alectrys 2,040]

The setting of 8 would be the best fps for lighting and you basically see what you see in the older builds.  The setting of 0 would be your best lighting - but you sacrifice fps right now.  The disconnects are still there, but were before the change as well.

 

Here is an image of my deed - the left image is settings of 8 where when you walk you get the strobe effect similar to Alyeska's video above.  The right image is settings of 0 - which is brilliant (literally) and no strobe effect, except my fps suffers.

 

Spoiler

 

[Audrel 2,223]

Ah! I will take a look with it on 4 and 0 then! I assumed 0 was no dynamic lights. :-)

 I have a lot of colored lamps in the center of my deed. An FPS drop happens at night regardless of stable or unstable. I won't even mention 50 yule deers.  It's my shinies! I love them!  But if you need a rigorous test area, I have it!

[Audrel 2,223]

Lights set to 0 is very choppy at 3fps but it looks fabulous!

 

Spoiler

 

[Alectrys 2,040]

On 5/26/2016 at 10:13 PM, Alyeska said:

Added a gif to show how harsly it transitions from light source to light source when walking around. It used to not be this bad before in the old renderer. My deed looks like a strobe light

 

 

 

Alyeska, I'm interested in seeing how this new setting on unstable works for you with a 0 setting walking in the same direction as your video above.  I know the FPS will be poor, but I'm interested in your take on the lighting.

[Araninke 490]

I'm still seeing weird lighting issues on unstable client. Hota light displaying above the statues is mentioned elsewhere. Also getting harsh changes in the light, standing still, just moving the character to look in slightly different direction. Also lots of flickering and changing of intensities as a ride through my deed with colored lights. Included a few pics below to illustrate these.

 

Standing still, then with slightly different camera angle from same spot...

 

 

Again with different lamp

Edited July 10, 2016 by Araninke

[Ostentatio 1,970]

Running 4.00-51fab35 Unstable now.

 

The following issues in my OP appear to be fixed:

• Lights disappearing over a relatively short distance (Configurable via max dynamic lights)
• Lights dimmer when camera is closer to them (Can no longer reproduce this one)
• Lights flickering in and out like crazy over a short distance (seems okay with dynamic lights set to unlimited, but still has this issue with buildings.

The following appear to still be occurring:

• Strange indoor light mapping (possibly related to issue below)

 

I noticed that a lantern on the ground is VERY poor at lighting the actual ground beneath it.

 

 

It can light up perpendicular surfaces just fine (e.g. walls), but the ground surface? Not so much. I'm wondering if this is somehow a similar issue to the one above, with the lamp planted along a wall lighting up the inside floor but not the inside wall.