Shadow Quality

Morbad

Morbad
v26 rebalances some of the cascade distances for most profiles and reintroduces the dummy cascade for Profile_PlanetSurface, which fixes some niche artifacts that were occurring even with the 3.5m cascade. Downside here is that near shadows on foot are considerably less distinct than before.

I don't think reintegrating the non-EVSM (Horizon type) shadows will be practical at this time. Even if I'm able to clean up some of the remaining quality issues, I'm still running into constant crashes with some of the profiles.

If these new tables are not to preference, I suggest reverting to v22.

XML: 
        <Profile_General>
            <SliceSize>16384</SliceSize>
            <NumFrustums>9</NumFrustums>
            <FilterQuality>3</FilterQuality>
            <Fade>1.0</Fade>
            <CrossFadeCascades>true</CrossFadeCascades>
            <NearClipBias>1.0</NearClipBias>
            <Frustum0>
                <EndDistance>0.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum0>
            <Frustum1>
                <EndDistance>40.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum1>
            <Frustum2>
                <EndDistance>120.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum2>
            <Frustum3>
                <EndDistance>300.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum3>
            <Frustum4>
                <EndDistance>650.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum4>
            <Frustum5>
                <EndDistance>1325.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum5>
            <Frustum6>
                <EndDistance>2625.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum6>
            <Frustum7>
                <EndDistance>5300.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum7>
            <Frustum8>
                <EndDistance>12500.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum8>
            <FogShadowMapsEnabled>1</FogShadowMapsEnabled>
            <EVSMCascadeFullRes>false</EVSMCascadeFullRes>
        </Profile_General>
        <Profile_PlanetApproach>
            <SliceSize>16384</SliceSize>
            <NumFrustums>9</NumFrustums>
            <FilterQuality>3</FilterQuality>
            <Fade>1.0</Fade>
            <CrossFadeCascades>true</CrossFadeCascades>
            <CrossFadeCascadesDistance>300.0</CrossFadeCascadesDistance>
            <LastCrossFadeCascadesDistance>1000.0</LastCrossFadeCascadesDistance>
            <NearClipBias>1.0</NearClipBias>
            <AltitudeAdaptation>
                <MinElevation>100.0</MinElevation>
                <MaxElevation>350.0</MaxElevation>
                <Scale>3.0</Scale>
                <FirstCascadeScalingAmount>2.0</FirstCascadeScalingAmount>
            </AltitudeAdaptation>
            <Frustum0>
                <EndDistance>0.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum0>
            <Frustum1>
                <EndDistance>20.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum1>
            <Frustum2>
                <EndDistance>40.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum2>
            <Frustum3>
                <EndDistance>80.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum3>
            <Frustum4>
                <EndDistance>160.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum4>
            <Frustum5>
                <EndDistance>480.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum5>
            <Frustum6>
                <EndDistance>1200.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum6>
            <Frustum7>
                <EndDistance>2400.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum7>
            <Frustum8>
                <EndDistance>4800.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum8>
            <FogShadowMapsEnabled>1</FogShadowMapsEnabled>
            <EVSMCascadeFullRes>false</EVSMCascadeFullRes>
        </Profile_PlanetApproach>
        <Profile_PlanetSurface>
            <SliceSize>16384</SliceSize>
            <NumFrustums>9</NumFrustums>
            <FilterQuality>3</FilterQuality>
            <Fade>1.0</Fade>
            <CrossFadeCascades>true</CrossFadeCascades>
            <LastCrossFadeCascadesDistance>900.0</LastCrossFadeCascadesDistance>
            <NearClipBias>1.0</NearClipBias>
            <Frustum0>
                <EndDistance>0.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum0>
            <Frustum1>
                <EndDistance>20.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum1>
            <Frustum2>
                <EndDistance>30.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum2>
            <Frustum3>
                <EndDistance>60.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum3>
            <Frustum4>
                <EndDistance>125.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum4>
            <Frustum5>
                <EndDistance>250.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum5>
            <Frustum6>
                <EndDistance>500.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum6>
            <Frustum7>
                <EndDistance>1500.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum7>
            <Frustum8>
                <EndDistance>6000.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum8>
            <FogShadowMapsEnabled>1</FogShadowMapsEnabled>
            <EVSMCascadeFullRes>false</EVSMCascadeFullRes>
        </Profile_PlanetSurface>
        <Profile_StationInterior>
            <SliceSize>16384</SliceSize>
            <NumFrustums>9</NumFrustums>
            <FilterQuality>3</FilterQuality>
            <Fade>1.0</Fade>
            <CrossFadeCascades>true</CrossFadeCascades>
            <CrossFadeCascadesDistance>300.0</CrossFadeCascadesDistance>
            <LastCrossFadeCascadesDistance>1000.0</LastCrossFadeCascadesDistance>
            <NearClipBias>1.0</NearClipBias>
            <AltitudeAdaptation>
                <MinElevation>100.0</MinElevation>
                <MaxElevation>350.0</MaxElevation>
                <Scale>3.0</Scale>
                <FirstCascadeScalingAmount>2.0</FirstCascadeScalingAmount>
            </AltitudeAdaptation>
            <Frustum0>
                <EndDistance>0.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum0>
            <Frustum1>
                <EndDistance>20.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum1>
            <Frustum2>
                <EndDistance>40.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum2>
            <Frustum3>
                <EndDistance>80.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum3>
            <Frustum4>
                <EndDistance>160.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum4>
            <Frustum5>
                <EndDistance>480.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum5>
            <Frustum6>
                <EndDistance>1200.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum6>
            <Frustum7>
                <EndDistance>2400.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum7>
            <Frustum8>
                <EndDistance>4800.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum8>
            <FogShadowMapsEnabled>1</FogShadowMapsEnabled>
            <EVSMCascadeFullRes>false</EVSMCascadeFullRes>
        </Profile_StationInterior>
        <Profile_AsteroidField>
            <SliceSize>16384</SliceSize>
            <NumFrustums>9</NumFrustums>
            <FilterQuality>3</FilterQuality>
            <Fade>1.0</Fade>
            <CrossFadeCascades>true</CrossFadeCascades>
            <NearClipBias>1.0</NearClipBias>
            <Frustum0>
                <EndDistance>0.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum0>
            <Frustum1>
                <EndDistance>40.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum1>
            <Frustum2>
                <EndDistance>120.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum2>
            <Frustum3>
                <EndDistance>300.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum3>
            <Frustum4>
                <EndDistance>600.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum4>
            <Frustum5>
                <EndDistance>1200.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum5>
            <Frustum6>
                <EndDistance>2400.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum6>
            <Frustum7>
                <EndDistance>6000.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum7>
            <Frustum8>
                <EndDistance>15000.0</EndDistance>
            </Frustum8>
            <AsteroidShadowsEnabled>1</AsteroidShadowsEnabled>
            <FogShadowMapsEnabled>1</FogShadowMapsEnabled>
            <EVSMCascadeFullRes>false</EVSMCascadeFullRes>
        </Profile_AsteroidField>
 

Attachments

  • GraphicsConfiguration.xml.EDOv26.txt
    60.8 KB · Views: 549
Last edited:

galahad2069

G
Just for the record: the flickering shadows bug (on Ultra settings) is still present in asteroid fields after 18.01. It's not easy to test because (unlike in station instances) it does not seem to be there 100% of the time. In some instances it's totally absent, in others the flickering is present from the get go, and it can be anywhere between these two extremes (sometimes the flickering seems to start after several minutes).

I installed the GraphicsConfigurationOverride.xml fix @Morbad sent, gonna report back once I've had enough time to test it.
 

Morbad

Morbad
galahad2069 said:
Just for the record: the flickering shadows bug (on Ultra settings) is still present in asteroid fields after 18.01. It's not easy to test because (unlike in station instances) it does not seem to be there 100% of the time. In some instances it's totally absent, in others the flickering is present from the get go, and it can be anywhere between these two extremes (sometimes the flickering seems to start after several minutes).

I installed the GraphicsConfigurationOverride.xml fix @Morbad sent, gonna report back once I've had enough time to test it.
Click to expand...

Even the station/settlement flicker doesn't seem to be present at all times, though they are less intermittent than the asteroid shadows.

I haven't seen any ring/asteroid shadow flicker with the extended cascades, but I'm doubtful that the cascades are why and would not be surprised if the flickering still occurs. I don't think it's something that can be fixed by tuning shadows, unless one is simply not allowing the game to cast shadows at those distances.
 

DYSEQTA

DYSEQTA
Is there any way to just shadows at further distances. Right now—regardless if I use your settings or Ultra—the draw distance for shadows seems crazy short. I can see shadows form as I approach the exit to a Coriolis if I start at the back for instance. Or on foot I can literally watch the shadow under my ship start to draw as I walk toward it...
 

Jack Winter

Jack Winter
Yesterday I was in an instance with flickering shadows on the further away mountain terrain. I noticed how parts or my entire shadow seemed to be clipping through the ground texture. Could it be that the flickering shadows are actually flipping between showing and not showing due to clipping though the terrain texture?
 

Morbad

Morbad
DYSEQTA said:
Is there any way to just shadows at further distances. Right now—regardless if I use your settings or Ultra—the draw distance for shadows seems crazy short. I can see shadows form as I approach the exit to a Coriolis if I start at the back for instance. Or on foot I can literally watch the shadow under my ship start to draw as I walk toward it...
Click to expand...

Somewhere between and 10-15km is the maximum end distance the furthest directional cascade can be set. Some objects also aren't rendered beyond certain distances, or won't cast shadows beyond a certain frustum. If the frustum end distance is the limiting factor, these can usually be pushed out, but that costs detail up close. Profile_PlanetSurface, used for the SRV and on-foot shadows, has the most margin to extend things further.

You can also adjust the amount of shadow fade. I use a high value (1.0) here to make transitions less abrupt, but having more substantial shadows further out might be preferable in some cases.

Jack Winter said:
Yesterday I was in an instance with flickering shadows on the further away mountain terrain. I noticed how parts or my entire shadow seemed to be clipping through the ground texture. Could it be that the flickering shadows are actually flipping between showing and not showing due to clipping though the terrain texture?
Click to expand...

It definitely seems like z-fighting or some other depth buffer issue.
 

DM_Violator

D
Jack Winter said:
Yesterday I was in an instance with flickering shadows on the further away mountain terrain. I noticed how parts or my entire shadow seemed to be clipping through the ground texture. Could it be that the flickering shadows are actually flipping between showing and not showing due to clipping though the terrain texture?
Click to expand...
That's how it looks inside stations at times, it's not like the shadow itself is flickering, it's like you describe, usually on the walls of the letterbox on exit,
 

Rufus Bray

R
I‘m surprised that the flickering issue doesn‘t get much attention as it seems. Particularly in asteroid fields this can get incredibly annoying. I have also noticed the flickering while approaching stations and in settlements.

 
Last edited:

galahad2069

G
Morbad said:
If you're back on ultra and the shadow flicker returns try adding the following to your GraphicsConfigurationOverride.xml:
XML: 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<GraphicsConfig>
    <Shadows_Ultra>
        <Profile_AsteroidField>
            <Frustum5>
                <EndDistance>15000.000000</EndDistance>
            </Frustum5>
        </Profile_AsteroidField>
    </Shadows_Ultra>
</GraphicsConfig>

I didn't think there was anything that could be done without a patch, but when I was trying to push asteroid shadow distance past their full illumination distance, the flickering seemed to have stopped, for me. All the above does is push out the distance of the last cascade from 9km to 15km; it should be essentially free, performance wise.

Same approach might potentially work with the other profiles, but general seems to have a tighter distance cap, while all the others have special considerations that make it impractical to try to max out shadow distance.
Click to expand...
Update on the "flickering shadows in rings" issue:
I installed the GraphicsConfigurationOverride.xml fix Morbad sent in the above post. It seems to help to a certain extent (the flickering seems to happen in fewer instances and even when it's present it's probably less severe).

It looks like this:
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bp0oDP6-lw
 

Morbad

Morbad
DM_Violator said:
This is what I was talking about in stations. This is with v22.


Plus nose on FC

Approach to station
Click to expand...

Most of this is due to the aforementioned bug that we have very little control over. Some of the interior flicker is probably less apparent with unmodified shadow tables because they only have a single station interior frustum, but this kind of flashing didn't exist from U14 through U17.
 

Morbad

Morbad
4.0.0.1802, aka Update 18 Patch 2, has actually made some meaningful changes to the "Trails" section of GraphicsConfiguration.xml.

Accordingly, I've updated my v26 profiles to account for this, which are attached below. The actual shadow tables are unchanged from the prior v26 release.

If anyone prefers a different set of tables, they can refrain from downloading the attached file and instead manually paste any previously posted shadow tables included into the game's xml.
 

Attachments

  • GraphicsConfiguration.xml.EDOv26_U18.02fix..txt
    60.8 KB · Views: 417

Morbad

Morbad
DM_Violator said:
Federal Corvette and Anaconda.
Click to expand...

I've been experimenting with my larger ships and can confirm that my tables are causing increased flicker and other self-shadowing artifacts at the ranges typical for the nose of the Anaconda and Corvette.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure I can fix this without reintroducing other shadow artifacts I find subjectively worse.
 

Jack Winter

Jack Winter
Hi Morbad,

Planning ahead for tomorrow I started looking for your latest GraphicsConfiguration.xml and GraphicsConfigurationOverride.xml files.

It would be very helpful if there was a sticky thread with links to the latest version of both of them (or I'm being too stupid to easily find them)..
 

Morbad

Morbad
Jack Winter said:
Hi Morbad,

Planning ahead for tomorrow I started looking for your latest GraphicsConfiguration.xml and GraphicsConfigurationOverride.xml files.

It would be very helpful if there was a sticky thread with links to the latest version of both of them (or I'm being too stupid to easily find them)..
Click to expand...

My latest GraphicsConfiguration.xml file is usually the latest file in this thread (post #274), as the only changes I make to the primary file are to the shadow tables as those are the only changes that cannot be made in the override.

I alter my GraphicsConfigurationOverride.xml rather frequently and generally only post it on request. I'll attach my current iteration here (remove the .txt extension before using).

Note that my HDRNode and HDRNode_Reference settings are currently tuned to support HDR render targets and inverse tonemapping. They will be too dark while running the game in SDR. So, if one is not using some kind of HDR injector with a 800+ nit display, just remove those sections entirely.
 

Attachments

  • GraphicsConfigurationOverride.xml.txt
    3.3 KB · Views: 248

Morbad

Morbad
Not entirely sure if it's related to testing location or not, but 18.02 or 18.03 seems to have changed something with regard to shadows that is costing some detail and introducing artifacts I've rarely seen on the EVSMs.

Edit: I think they tried to fix the flicker they reintroduced with U18 and broke the short distance cascades.

Edit2: Issue isn't even limited to the EVSM shadows. It's like whole frustums vanish at certain ranges. Definitely seems like it's a botched fix for the old flicker bug.
 
Last edited:

DM_Violator

D
Morbad said:
Not entirely sure if it's related to testing location or not, but 18.02 or 18.03 seems to have changed something with regard to shadows that is costing some detail and introducing artifacts I've rarely seen on the EVSMs.

Edit: I think they tried to fix the flicker they reintroduced with U18 and broke the short distance cascades.

Edit2: Issue isn't even limited to the EVSM shadows. It's like whole frustums vanish at certain ranges. Definitely seems like it's a botched fix for the old flicker bug.
Click to expand...
There's a lot less flickering now, both in stations and outside.
 
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