Bad Lighting on new Character Select page

Aelthwyn

The new Character Select background looks wierd, like there's no depth to it - it looks flat, washed out, and low quality. There's something wrong with the shadows or something. The distant castle and willows could look really beautiful if they didn't just look like a poorly painted backdrop for a play, or 'minimal' game settings. I know it's not gamebreaking, but it's just not an inviting first sight when you log in. I feel like it's clashing with the characters like it's too bright while they're sort of shadowed. I think the light is too directly overhead.

The lighting on the characters is bad, casting wierd shadows on their faces. It's always been pretty nice looking at your characters on the select page in the past, but on the test server now many of them look rather ugly with shadows around their eyes and such. While not the end of the world, I do think it may be slightly demotivating, because enjoying looking at one's characters inspires you to want to play with them, right?

Just look at the difference here. I think it's pretty clear the Greymoor character page is more appealing.....

rnklippel

I completely agree. When I saw it in the PTS my first thought was "what an ugly character select screen!". The Greymoor one had a much better impact on first sight.

Gundug

The settings are a little different though. Look at the edges of the shadows in your live screenshot and then in the PTS one. Have you looked over all the video settings and verified they are exactly the same?

Aelthwyn

Gundug wrote: »

The settings are a little different though. Look at the edges of the shadows in your live screenshot and then in the PTS one. Have you looked over all the video settings and verified they are exactly the same?

Good idea to check that, but actually my settings on PTS are higher than on live.

meekmiko

Hmm
Try dropping the Shadow Quality on the PTS down to Medium like you have it on Live. Shadow Quality usually makes a huge difference in how the game looks.

Aelthwyn

meekmiko wrote: »

Hmm
Try dropping the Shadow Quality on the PTS down to Medium like you have it on Live. Shadow Quality usually makes a huge difference in how the game looks.

Well, I switched all the PTS settings to the same as live, buuuuuuut it still doesn't look as good. (also rather odd to be setting the quality lower in hopes it will look better....)



There's something about those willow trees that just... looks really flat. The Greymoor one manages to capture a sense of depth and feels inviting. I was really excited for the change when I first saw that one on the PTS a year ago. I think perhaps it's a combination of composition and lighting? Maybe camera angle as well? The character's faces in the Greymoor (and all the previous ones) seem to have light shining on them from the front, even their clothes seem a little better lit. The new PTS version causes shadows under the eyebrows and cheek bones.

I also have to add that I like the mount being closer as it's always been, it makes for a better composition of your character's little 'team' their mount and pet lead by them. With the mount further off it does feel more like a side accessory than their trusty companion on their travels. I'm sure that doesn't matter to many people but... that's how it strikes me anyways.

Merlin7331

I’d bet moving the mount further away is to give space for your companion to stand

danno8

You should try turning on Ambient Occlusion. I know you don't have it on for the live server, but it could be that the shading in the PTS scene relies more heavily on Ambient Occlusion to provide that subtle shadowing that it desperately needs.

Ratzkifal

I actually think the bad lighting is intentional so that you can already see how ugly your character will look in bad lighting conditions you will encounter in the game.

virtus753

Merlin7331 wrote: »

I’d bet moving the mount further away is to give space for your companion to stand

But what if Disco!BattleCat *is* my companion?

The humanoid NPCs they’re adding could stand in the background instead.

Jaraal

I'd rather have the option to use the original faction based backgrounds. Both of these newer ones are ugly, dreary, drab, washed out, and amateurish looking.

Aelthwyn

Jaraal wrote: »

I'd rather have the option to use the original faction based backgrounds. Both of these newer ones are ugly, dreary, drab, washed out, and amateurish looking.

Sometimes I forget which alliance my characters are in since the backgrounds went away
(also I have an overabundance of AD ones simply because I liked that background best)

My personal dream is to have the background based on the zone your character was in when you logged out, but I know that would require a LOT of them. I would also be very happy if they gave us options to choose from so you could have a background that suits each character's style or story.

But mainly I'm just hoping they will make the next one look better than it currently does.

Zyva

id love to be able to pick your own background one day.

but i agree the new one is baaaaddd. i loved greymoor.

Ekzorka

Aelthwyn wrote: »

The lighting on the characters is bad, casting wierd shadows on their faces.

This. My gamma settings was different too.


The trees looks flat because they're not a pines with own shadows, they could be like that in real life.
But!
Look at the ground. On the new preview window the grass settings status catches the eye while Greymoor's preview don't have a difference because of rocks.

danno8

Ekzorka wrote: »

Aelthwyn wrote: »

The lighting on the characters is bad, casting wierd shadows on their faces.

This. My gamma settings was different too.


The trees looks flat because they're not a pines with own shadows, they could be like that in real life.
But!
Look at the ground. On the new preview window the grass settings status catches the eye while Greymoor's preview don't have a difference because of rocks.

I honestly can't tell the difference between the Ultra and Low settings here. And I'm a bit of a graphics snob.

Are we sure that the settings are applying properly?

danno8

Here are mine for example:

Ultra



Low

Aelthwyn

danno8 wrote: »

I honestly can't tell the difference between the Ultra and Low settings here. And I'm a bit of a graphics snob.

Are we sure that the settings are applying properly?

I had a hard time seeing a difference as well, I do see a little patch of flowers under the one willow with the ultra picture that isn't there on the low, but to me it still doesn't make the trees look better and doesn't fix the issue with shadows on the character.

MattVH

Some dungeons, like Ruins of Mazzatun, have a really good looking backdrop/horizon. Probably only effective because those areas are bordered. That's why I feel like that technique would make more sense for the character select screen as well.

Change the camera angle. Put some good looking stuff in the front and use a flat horizon like in some dungeons. Way in the back. I'd avoid showing off the distant terrain too much, especially the trees that don't have shadows anymore at some point.


Found a random picture. https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/lodgeofsorceresses-forums/monthly_2018_07/unknown.png.ae71c40df934319430c7e67f13911b97.png

I'd just put characters in front of that wall

This is all assuming that a flat, but distant, background, wouldn't require more load than the mini zone that's being used nowadays.

Fischblut

I hope this character selection screen will not be in live game yet... It needs different light source placement, and fix of at least two major bugs/oversights
I also hope we'll be able to select our preferred character selection screens (at least from base game and all chapters we own) - we need to send more feedback requesting this feature

What I like about upcoming screen: when you zoom-in, you can not only see your character's face, but also your whole mount.

The pet is cut off as usual

What I don't like: as everyone here, I'm upset by lighting - it casts shadows on character's face and on their body. Depending on the personality your character uses, it can have even more impact:

Settings on all screenshots are the same as on live (except that on live I have anti-aliasing OFF):

I can't play without SSAO - the game looks too flat. Turning it OFF does ease the shadows on the character and mounts, but not removes those shadows completely. Without Ambient Occlusion:

Turning ON shadows makes lighting even more unpleasant (shadows on character, mount and pet become even darker). On characters with certain personalities and on dark colours (including mounts and pets) it becomes really bad:

On lighter colors and different personality it's less awful:

Now for major bugs/oversights.
1) On two of my 18 characters, mount and pet placement are weird:

When you zoom-in, now you can finally see the pet, but the mount's head is cut off

Everything on "bugged" characters is different, except they both are Redguards. I haven't reported this weird bug yet, will see if it makes it to next PTS.

2) When character has hunched personality (Beast being the most extreme), you can't always see your character when you zoom in

When character doesn't move and stands still, you can't see the mount as well - only part of character's head:

...or part of their staff:

I reported this as bug which Impairs Functionality on PTS - it doesn't allow me to see my character and their mount closely on character selection screen, and sometimes it looks scary (like on those screenshots).

Ekzorka

danno8 wrote: »

I honestly can't tell the difference between the Ultra and Low settings here.

GRASS settings I said.

StarOfElyon

I want my Summerset screen back.

Aelthwyn

Fischblut wrote: »

I also hope we'll be able to select our preferred character selection screens (at least from base game and all chapters we own) - we need to send more feedback requesting this feature

Now for major bugs/oversights.
1) On two of my 18 characters, mount and pet placement are weird:

I reported this as bug which Impairs Functionality on PTS - it doesn't allow me to see my character and their mount closely on character selection screen, and sometimes it looks scary (like on those screenshots).

Yes, we really need to pester them about choosing background options!

And yeah.... it has many bugs. Sometimes the mount is floating, or they seem to drop in at wierd places. I haven't tested enough to notice if there's any trends with type of character or mount or if it's switching from someone with one kind of pet to another, who knows, but the placement is defintely not consistent.

And then I've even gotten this kind of lovely glitch.....