Lighting differences between Holodeck and Tribble

frtoaster

I noticed some differences in lighting between Holodeck and Tribble at Starfleet Academy. I didn't check other locations, so I don't know if there's been a general change or if the lighting difference is specific to Starfleet Academy. I'm not sure exactly what causes the issue, but I suspect it may be related to bloom. See the screenshots below.

Starfleet Academy: Interior (Bloom quality: High, Bloom intensity: 20%)
Holodeck: http://i.imgur.com/Ne6yWZc.jpg
Tribble: http://i.imgur.com/TCGVkjh.jpg

Starfleet Academy: Interior (Bloom quality: Low, Bloom intensity: 20%)
Holodeck: http://i.imgur.com/XequXiE.jpg
Tribble: http://i.imgur.com/lDf2FsL.jpg

Starfleet Academy: Exterior (Bloom quality: High, Bloom intensity: 20%)
Holodeck: http://i.imgur.com/3XsPrWw.jpg
Tribble: http://i.imgur.com/H4yHA2J.jpg

Starfleet Academy: Exterior (Bloom quality: Low, Bloom intensity: 20%)
Holodeck: http://i.imgur.com/4Bdvh6S.jpg
Tribble: http://i.imgur.com/jfcoZXt.jpg

At high bloom, Starfleet Academy is brighter on Tribble than on Holodeck, though there doesn't appear to be much difference at low bloom. The increased brightness looks OK outside in the daylight, but the floors of the interior corridors looked washed out.


Computer Specs

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit), Service Pack 1
CPU: Intel Core i7-4700MQ
RAM: 12 GB
Video card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 765M (2 GB GDDR5)
Nvidia driver version: 335.23
Direct3D 11


Differences in Graphics Settings

Before taking the screenshots above, I tried to match my graphics settings on Holodeck and Tribble as closely as possible. For reasons I describe below, it is not possible to get an exact match by changing settings through the Options window. In the file paths below, <install_dir> is the directory where STO is installed.

The graphics settings for Holodeck are stored in the following file:
<install_dir>\Star Trek Online\Live\localdata\gameprefs.pref

The graphics settings for Tribble are stored in the following file:
<install_dir>\Star Trek Online\Playtest\localdata\gameprefs.pref

I used a diff utility to compare the two files above. Here are the differences in graphics settings.


Holodeck: Live\localdata\gameprefs.pref

PrefEntry GfxSettings.CharacterDetailLevel 1
PrefEntry GfxSettings.TerrainDetailLevel 1
PrefEntry GfxSettings.WorldDetailLevel 1

PrefEntry GfxSettings.DrawHighFillDetail 0
PrefEntry GfxSettings.SettingsVersion 6


Tribble: Playtest\localdata\gameprefs.pref

PrefEntry GfxSettings.CharacterDetailLevel 1.125
PrefEntry GfxSettings.TerrainDetailLevel 1.35
PrefEntry GfxSettings.WorldDetailLevel 1.125

PrefEntry GfxSettings.DrawHighFillDetail 1
PrefEntry GfxSettings.SettingsVersion 9

PrefEntry GfxSettings.GpuQuality 25000
PrefEntry GfxSettings.CpuQuality 2
PrefEntry GfxSettings.CustomSettings 1
PrefEntry GfxSettings.MatQuality MIN


The last four settings above appear on Tribble, but not on Holodeck. The sliders for "Character detail distance", "Terrain detail distance", and "World detail distance" on Holodeck have been replaced on Tribble with drop-down menus with five choices: Min, Low, Medium, High, and Max. I have tried to match the detail levels as closely as possible through the drop-downs. I do not know what the settings GfxSettings.DrawHighFillDetail and GfxSettings.MatQuality do and which options (if any) control them. Note that there are two other settings similar to GfxSettings.MatQuality, but they are the same on Holodeck and Tribble.

PrefEntry GfxSettings.DesiredMatQuality LOW
PrefEntry GfxSettings.RecommendedMatQuality VERY_HIGH


Tribble ticket ID #44,297

frtoaster

I found some chat-window commands that I had not known existed.

/CharacterDetail
/TerrainDetail
/WorldDetail
/highFillDetail

Using the above commands, I have set the following graphics settings on Tribble to the same values they have on Holodeck.

PrefEntry GfxSettings.CharacterDetailLevel 1
PrefEntry GfxSettings.TerrainDetailLevel 1
PrefEntry GfxSettings.WorldDetailLevel 1
PrefEntry GfxSettings.DrawHighFillDetail 0

After I made these changes, Starfleet Academy still looks brighter on Tribble than on Holodeck. Therefore, I think we can eliminate the above settings as the cause.

tacofangs

Please double check your settings. Tribble's graphics settings often get changed on the fly. There is no lighting update to the game that should be causing any differences between the two.

mightybobcnc

Hmm but something screwy is going on, and it's not just the hosed Depth of Field. Several people are reporting very poor performance on tribble after the first S9 update went live (the one with the kit testing) even after adjusting their graphics settings.

kalani

tacofangs wrote: »

Please double check your settings. Tribble's graphics settings often get changed on the fly. There is no lighting update to the game that should be causing any differences between the two.

I had the same issue. I even played around with my settings and lowered every kind of light setting there is and it was still brighter. Its 3AM here right now so tomorrow Ill take screen shots with my settings included so you can verify that there the same on holodeck and tribble and can see that there is a difference in lighting. SFA is the only place I saw a noticeable difference but I can compare a few other locations too. If you have suggestions on what those other places should be let me know in this thread.

frtoaster

tacofangs wrote: »

Please double check your settings. Tribble's graphics settings often get changed on the fly. There is no lighting update to the game that should be causing any differences between the two.

I just rechecked my graphics settings to make sure they match. I have included screenshots of my graphics settings below.


Holodeck

http://i.imgur.com/1XHZoLH.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/AdpEqwT.jpg


Tribble

http://i.imgur.com/Qro9Sdz.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/dF0flRK.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/aYzZGqw.jpg


Note that "Character detail distance", "Terrain detail distance", and "World detail distance" were set with the following chat-window commands on Tribble to ensure that they have the same values they do on Holodeck.

/CharacterDetail
/TerrainDetail
/WorldDetail


I also used a diff utility to compare the following files.

<install_dir>\Star Trek Online\Live\localdata\gameprefs.pref
<install_dir>\Star Trek Online\Playtest\localdata\gameprefs.pref

In the paths above, <install_dir> is the directory where STO is installed. The comparison of the two files revealed the following differences in graphics settings.


Holodeck

PrefEntry GfxSettings.LastRecordedMSAAPerf 1.00028
PrefEntry GfxSettings.LastRecordedPerf 27024.8

PrefEntry GfxSettings.SettingsVersion 6


Tribble

PrefEntry GfxSettings.CpuQuality 2
PrefEntry GfxSettings.CustomSettings 1
PrefEntry GfxSettings.GpuQuality 25000

PrefEntry GfxSettings.LastRecordedCPUPerf 3.05104
PrefEntry GfxSettings.LastRecordedMSAAPerf 1.00797
PrefEntry GfxSettings.LastRecordedPerf 28475.5

PrefEntry GfxSettings.MatQuality MIN

PrefEntry GfxSettings.SettingsVersion 9


Note that some entries appear on Tribble, but not on Holodeck. As far as I know, the user cannot change these through the "Options" window.

frtoaster

I'm still seeing lighting differences at Starfleet Academy.

dragonsbite

I can confirm that there is a difference between holodeck and tribble. I have my settings set to max on everything on both holodeck and tribble. This includes brightness/gamma. And my settings in that perf file are dead on. It is brighter on Tribble. Granted it isn't a whole lot and can be adjusted by reducing bloom and or brightness. But if there was no change then why are we seeing a change? I tested this on New Romulus. Looking down from the steps by the embassy door is typically where people complain the most. It's brighter then holodeck. I think you'll get even more complaints now as a result. Note it isn't just the steps. The grass, etc is also brighter.

Note i have changed the nvidia profile using nvinspector to include the profile working for tribble. I wanted to rule that out as a possibility and so i can compare apples to apples.

frtoaster

I'm still seeing lighting differences at Starfleet Academy. In addition, there appear to be lighting differences in the tailor. See the screenshots below.

Andorian male
Holodeck, Tribble

Andorian female
Holodeck, Tribble

frtoaster

I will bring this up one last time before Season 9 goes live. I'm still seeing lighting differences between Holodeck and Tribble.

straenge

I thought maybe it was just myself (I only started on Tribble a day ago) but I have noticed a lighting difference as well but perhaps not in the same way as others. My computer is very old and barely plays decent enough to actually see the visuals (I get 5-10 fps in Dyson or New Romulus typically) but in certain areas like in orbit of New Romulus, I noticed the difference right away as the planet looks much darker overall.

colonelchenchuan

straenge wrote: »

I thought maybe it was just myself (I only started on Tribble a day ago) but I have noticed a lighting difference as well but perhaps not in the same way as others. My computer is very old and barely plays decent enough to actually see the visuals (I get 5-10 fps in Dyson or New Romulus typically) but in certain areas like in orbit of New Romulus, I noticed the difference right away as the planet looks much darker overall.

make sure you dont have DX 11 active. Sometimes its hard to tell since its truncated. That has fixed performance issue for others in the past

straenge

colonelchenchuan wrote: »

make sure you dont have DX 11 active. Sometimes its hard to tell since its truncated. That has fixed performance issue for others in the past

Thank you. I just did a double check on that and while everything else was the same, it was set on "Auto" rather than my normal DX 9ex. But also, on this computer, DX11 has never been optional, only 9 or 9ex. Still, I switched it and did a restart but no change at all.