Shadows go on/off at various camera angles

[Bulletpoint]

With the camera close to the ground, looking straight ahead, turning the camera at certain angles makes shadows disappear.

So if I look towards, for example, a house, all shadows disappear, both from the house, trees, bocage, etc. Turning the camera to face away from the house makes shadows come back.

Anyone else has this problem and knows how to fix it?

[Vanir Ausf B]

I think it has something to do with objects only casting shadows when they are within your field of view or close to it. So if you move a camera so that a tree is behind you the game doesn't render the tree's shadow. At least that's been my observation.

[Bulletpoint]

I'm not moving the camera behind anything, just turning it a bit back and forth. Also, shadows seem to change direction sometimes based on camera angle (instead of being based on the sun's location).

[user1000]

I have tried all nvidia settings and compatibility modes to fix this in the past with no avail..

If the game is based off open GL, it has something to do with the shaders the game uses maybe? Just turn the shadows and shaders off use alt r and alt w in the future a patch may correct it but that's what I do until then..

Edited April 17, 2016 by user1000

[Bulletpoint]

Happy to hear I'm not the only one with this problem, but I don't want to turn off shadows - they mean a lot to the immersion.

I reported the problem through the official channels.

[user1000]

They do look good at times but not when they are flickering. They don't hide troops or tanks from the enemy although I hoped that they would have. I will try to run the game off 1 processor to see if it fixes it and I will report back.

Edited April 17, 2016 by user1000

[Bulletpoint]

Yeah they look good when the camera is at the right angle and isn't moving...

[user1000]

I tried 1 processor thinking it may be a multi cpu problem, It did not help.

Edited April 18, 2016 by user1000

[Kevin2k]

I reverted back to the v2.12 shaders. Not perfect, but less erratic then those included in the v3.0 upgrade. On my system that is.

Edit: Game graphics is set to 'Balanced'. I suspect the game switches to alternate shaders when using anything above this setting.

Edited April 18, 2016 by Kevin2k

[Bulletpoint]

20 hours ago, Kevin2k said:

I reverted back to the v2.12 shaders. Not perfect, but less erratic then those included in the v3.0 upgrade. On my system that is.

Edit: Game graphics is set to 'Balanced'. I suspect the game switches to alternate shaders when using anything above this setting.

How did you do that? I might try the same thing. I doubt the game uses other shaders at higher graphics settings....?

[Kevin2k]

I unpacked bumpmapping.frag and bumpmapping.vert from one of the .brz archives in the data folder. Then packed them back to a small mod file. See attachment.

There are also files called "bumpmapping improved ati" / "bumpmapping improved nvidia" in the original data archives. That is why I am guessing these are used for improved settings.

 

Shaders Normandy v212.brz

[Bulletpoint]

Thanks, that's highly clever... Will try out your file and see if it makes any improvement.

[user1000]

I wish it were like google earth's options, simple but works. 16 or 32 bit, compressed or not - GL - DX or safe mode as options.

Edited April 20, 2016 by user1000

[Bulletpoint]

On 4/19/2016 at 9:17 PM, Kevin2k said:

I unpacked bumpmapping.frag and bumpmapping.vert from one of the .brz archives in the data folder. Then packed them back to a small mod file. See attachment.

There are also files called "bumpmapping improved ati" / "bumpmapping improved nvidia" in the original data archives. That is why I am guessing these are used for improved settings.

 

Shaders Normandy v212.brz

I tried to use it but not sure if I'm doing it right. I have to put the .brz file in the Z folder right?

And it will automatically "override" the regular shaders? OR do I have to delete the Normandy 212 brz file in the DATA folder?

Edited May 1, 2016 by Bulletpoint

[Kevin2k]

That is right, it will override any previous shader files that way. Without deleting anything.

I haven't messed with the shaders since, and actually I am not 100% sure again if this does sufficiently change shadow creation. I should do some more tests, but no time for that now.

Before I also tried something with the water shader file, to make the water darker. That one definitely works. Though at long distance it makes the water rather black.

 

 

water_simple.frag

[Bulletpoint]

18 minutes ago, Kevin2k said:

That is right, it will override any previous shader files that way. Without deleting anything.

I haven't messed with the shaders since, and actually I am not 100% sure again if this does sufficiently change shadow creation. 

I've tested it, and it does help some with shadows disappearing towards the edges of the screen. But shadows cast on buildings still flicker on/off depending on camera angle (without being close to the screen edge). Also, the old shaders make lots of jagged shadow lines. Thanks a lot for providing it, but I think for me it is not the solution.