Why do my graphics quality seem to drop at night?

Fingolfinn01 · October 2022

AMD Ryzen 7 5800 X
Radeon RX 6900 XT

Oreyn_Bearclaw · October 2022

Hard to tell much with screen shots. Do you mean things look less detailed at night or do you mean you see FPS drops at the same graphics settings at night?

Your graphics settings will determine how much detail you see. Your G card will determine how much FPS you can pump out at a particular setting.

Lebkuchen · October 2022

You must have a really great computer monitor to play in such darkness.

whitecrow · October 2022

Because it's harder to see at night.

Sarannah · October 2022

Your screen is really dark! But that shouldn't be an issue.

If I had to guess, maybe the shadow or AA setting are too straining/taxing for your GPU when it is dark. Another thing could be the field of view, maybe lower that a bit to test. Other than that, you will have to try different settings to see which one causes your issue. Before messing around with your settings, write down or make a screenshot of the current ones. So you can change them back if any other issues occur after changing the settings. And try different settings one by one, to pinpoint the exact setting causing the issue.

Goodluck on getting it resolved!

PS: Maybe post a screenshot at the same location from during the day, for comparison.

Dr_Con · October 2022

They are simulating paranoia and fear by throttling your FPS!

But honestly, it might be that they use a fog engine (opacity 90%, color: black, starting range 0, end infinite) to simulate darkness that extreme in the absence of sunlight, especially since the Indrik's glow doesn't seem as vibrant as it should be, being the only source of light. Fog engines can be a source of fps drop in my experience, but if your issue is that the quality of the world's textures is dropping then I have no good answer for you, that's a dev question.

I will say, however, that sometimes I go up to party members and they look like they are made of play-dough until a few seconds pass and their armor and facial features render it. Maybe it's some sort of resource saving feature like this, who knows.

Tandor · October 2022

Gamma adjustment?

As has been said, we really need to see the same shot in daylight.

danno8 · October 2022

Sarannah wrote: »

If I had to guess, maybe the shadow or AA setting are too straining/taxing for your GPU when it is dark.

With a 6900XT there is nothing this game can throw at it to make it too taxing. The 5800X is no slouch for a CPU either.

To me that scene just looks like a really boring scene, and with the light s turned down you get no reflections, no ambient light, no shadowing, difficult to see details and textures.

You know, it's dark! Unless the OP wants to be a bit more specific on "Graphics Quality".

Nestor · October 2022

Your concern is game night? Use the Gamma Adjustment screen and make it so barely see the last square. Night will be dark enough.

Beilin_Balreis_Colcan · October 2022

If you're playing in windowed mode, or windowed fullscreen mode, then the colours are managed by Windows, and night scenes will tend to appear darker, otherwise for fullscreen mode ESO manages the colours. So try switching to fullscreen mode and see if it helps. The only drawback of switching from windowed to fullscreen mode is that it may lower your fps.

Janni · October 2022

In general mostly it's just artefacts of an aging graphics engine using techniques and assets designed for games from nearly over a decade ago.

More specifically the reason is because there is no light source strong enough to provide the subtle details like cast shadows and specular highlights. Also probably the color values are being crunched down in the darkness a good bit too so it will probably seem less vibrant and with lower contrast.

Marto · October 2022

I know what this is!

These are artifacts caused by the new FidelityFX Dynamic Super Resolution mode. The setting that lowers your resolution and uses some clever algorithms to keep visual fidelity. It seems to not be working as intended right now.

Go to your settings, and change "FSR Mode" to off.

According to the PTS patch notes, this issue should be resolved with the new update. Until then, just set it to off.

Sarannah · October 2022

Marto wrote: »

I know what this is!

These are artifacts caused by the new FidelityFX Dynamic Super Resolution mode. The setting that lowers your resolution and uses some clever algorithms to keep visual fidelity. It seems to not be working as intended right now.

Go to your settings, and change "FSR Mode" to off.

According to the PTS patch notes, this issue should be resolved with the new update. Until then, just set it to off.

Thanks, this I didn't know yet! Hopefully this helps the OP and anyone else with such issues.

votan73 · October 2022

Do you use my "Darker nights" addon?

If yes:
New moon nights can be very dark. But you can adjust it, if you want.

Fingolfinn01 · October 2022

Marto wrote: »

I know what this is!

These are artifacts caused by the new FidelityFX Dynamic Super Resolution mode. The setting that lowers your resolution and uses some clever algorithms to keep visual fidelity. It seems to not be working as intended right now.

Go to your settings, and change "FSR Mode" to off.

According to the PTS patch notes, this issue should be resolved with the new update. Until then, just set it to off.

Thnxs that helped.

ZOS_Icy · October 2022

Greetings,

This thread has been moved to the PC Technical Support section, as it is better suited there.

Thank you for your understanding.

shijian452 · October 2022

you need reshade