There were one or two threads on this, but i cant find them, never got bumped.
On the ground shadows are fine. However in space, when my ship is in motion, the shadows on it move like a flickering image. Looks like as if im flying beside a giant grating. This is encountered only on High and Med shadow settings, which i assume means that its an issue with dynamic shadowing, since Low is 'simple' shadowing.
Its been this way ever since launch, so I tink it might be just the game engine's limitation, but either way it looks pretty jarring when i watch. The shadows do not represent any object blocking the light source.
At the very least, I'd like to know if its meant to be like this, so i dont have to worry that there's some problem with my computer.
I'm having this same issue with ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB. Flickering shadows, some weird shadowing effects on ships and on ground some rooms that don't become visible until I enter them. I'll try to get a video or two generated for examples.
the issues with the shadows i have had with my nvidia 9800gtx 1gb card as well drivers don't seem to make a difference.
altho i think its more of a lighting or loading issue on some of the maps with rooms. as ihave stood by a room where it nothing is light i just moved the camera angle a bit then everything appears fine and move the camera angle back to default its still fine after everything appears. this doesn't happen all the time either it appears to be happening at random.
with the ships i have noticed the weirdness mainly in asteroid fields it as if the light isn't being blocked by th eobjects correctly making the shadows have weird patterns to them on the hull like lines ans sometimes like the ship flying under a chain link fence the sun or light sources is shining thru versus an asteroid. basically casting a shadow of a different object than whats suppose to be is the best way to describe it. i don't get these effect all the time as they also seem to happen at random since launch .
It's more evident on medium than on high quality shadows, but it's there on both. It's annoying enough that I usually run with shadows on low detail. I've seen this sort of thing in other 3D engines, so I thought it was just "the way things were." If it can be fixed, that'd be great.
I get this on pretty much every space station or ship (in mission ones, not Earth Spacedock or DS9, etc). I have a Nvidia 8600 GTS. I guess I'm the opposite, I get this on the ground, and never in space
I have two videos here, one is my tier 5 cruiser, one is my tier 1 light cruiser. I notice that the shadow 'ripple' rather than what i previously termed 'flicker' is less evident on smaller ships.
I get the same issue here and it is more of a ripple of shadows over the ship almost as if light is passing through a nebula and causing the ripple on your ship.
Ati 5770 card here
latest cat 10.3 drivers
also with 10.4 beta drivers
Can we get any news from a dev about this?
Its been a while since it was first reported. If its not an easy fix or you are still unable to diagnose the issue, just to know that would be fair enough
I had not had any problems until this last week; I tried playing on Tribble for the first time and noticed very bad shadow flickering there (space only), then realized the same thing was happening for me on Holodeck. Definitely new problem, following the last patch I think. The only way to suppress it is to turn shadows off.
This shadow "ripple" effect has been happening to me since open beta. I was using some pretty outdated drivers at the time so i did not care much, I did however bring it up on the forums. During my 7 month hiatus from the game I had to update my graphics drivers to fix some issues with MoH. When I decided to come back to STO I figured that annoying shadow ripple would be gone.
I should not have been surprised to STILL see it here. So for some reason Cryptic is deciding that there are far more important things in the game to worry about then a little graphic glitch or something is screwed up with ATI drivers that they refuse to fix.
Come to think of it shadows don't look "pretty" in Empire: Total War or Napoleon Total War either.
I've had the same shadow ripple effect since beta myself. I have a 9800 GTX+. I update drivers often but the problem still exist. I've done some lookin around for more info on the problem and im guessing it is a Graphics card/rig issue and it never happens when i play STO on another rig. I kinda gave up hope and im not sure Cryptic can do anything to fix the problem. I wasn't aware, however, that this has been happenning with ATi Cards as well. I'm not sure if this is related but i also have dissappearing facial(and sometimes Clothing) graphics when i beam out anywhere.
For me this issue only happens when it comes to ships. I suspect it's because of the more complicated architecture. But yes, it looks like grating is running down the side of the ship.
For anyone not afflicted with this problem, note it ONLY happens if you shadows set to Medium or High (so if you don't, don't bother posting). High lessens the effect but its still noticeable if you are looking directly at your ship. It seems to affect high angle shadows the most. This is the best screenshot I could find of it happening, it clearly shows the 'grating' effect people are talking about. In motion it appears the shadow is 'moving' or 'flickering' depending on how you perceive it.
Giving this a bump. Same problem with shadows flickering on ship's hull. Just updated latest ATI drivers and downloaded STO client again to see if this was fixed. Was not.
Giving this a bump. Same problem with shadows flickering on ship's hull. Just updated latest ATI drivers and downloaded STO client again to see if this was fixed. Was not.
I have flickering shadows in medium and high shadows, but in low it is fine. I mostly notice it in space, when I'm moving. If my ship is stationary, it does not flicker at all.
I wish I could turn off shadows in space and have them enabled on the ground, because the same thing has happened to me since I started playing last April. Its exactly like you describe... a rippling effect on the hull of the ships... it looks terrible! It forces me to play on low shadows :-(
I've tried every combination of settings possible.. but with med or high shadows, my hull ripples/flickers.
And it's happening to me on to totally different systems:
Comments
Dave
Im not on my gaming com right now, so i'll try and get pics with the shadows marked and a video by today (or your tmr, assuming your in the states)
altho i think its more of a lighting or loading issue on some of the maps with rooms. as ihave stood by a room where it nothing is light i just moved the camera angle a bit then everything appears fine and move the camera angle back to default its still fine after everything appears. this doesn't happen all the time either it appears to be happening at random.
with the ships i have noticed the weirdness mainly in asteroid fields it as if the light isn't being blocked by th eobjects correctly making the shadows have weird patterns to them on the hull like lines ans sometimes like the ship flying under a chain link fence the sun or light sources is shining thru versus an asteroid. basically casting a shadow of a different object than whats suppose to be is the best way to describe it. i don't get these effect all the time as they also seem to happen at random since launch .
As long as nothing's moving, no flicker. But as soon as the ship begins moving, flickers galore.
Here's a link to a FRAPS capture: Shadow Video
It's more evident on medium than on high quality shadows, but it's there on both. It's annoying enough that I usually run with shadows on low detail. I've seen this sort of thing in other 3D engines, so I thought it was just "the way things were." If it can be fixed, that'd be great.
Video 1: http://www.filedropper.com/sto-shadowripple
Video 2: http://www.filedropper.com/sto-shadowripple2
I took screenshots, but i realized that you can't really pinpoint the shadows because they're static.
Thanks Dave, for looking into this. Let me know if there are problems with the videos.
Ati 5770 card here
latest cat 10.3 drivers
also with 10.4 beta drivers
I have this issue running 3-way SLI on NVidia GTX 260's
I have also tried with just 1 card, still does it.
197.45 release drivers for windows 7 x64
I'm running an Asus Darknight 4870 with 1GB onboard.
Either this really is 'meant to be that way', or your problem, NCC-94699, is different from ours.
I'll add my voice to it. Shadows have always kind of flickered on my ships (never noticed on the ground). My videocard is an e-GeForce 8800 GTS.
GeForce 9800 GT
1.97 Win 7-64 Drivers. 2.58 causes flickering lights and lots of more issues, with this driver I only have this minor issue.
I really wish i could set my shadows to a higher setting but it becomes so distracting that i am forced to play on low.
Vista 64
ATi Radeon 5870 512mb (latest drivers)
Its been a while since it was first reported. If its not an easy fix or you are still unable to diagnose the issue, just to know that would be fair enough
Cheers
I should not have been surprised to STILL see it here. So for some reason Cryptic is deciding that there are far more important things in the game to worry about then a little graphic glitch or something is screwed up with ATI drivers that they refuse to fix.
Come to think of it shadows don't look "pretty" in Empire: Total War or Napoleon Total War either.
For anyone not afflicted with this problem, note it ONLY happens if you shadows set to Medium or High (so if you don't, don't bother posting). High lessens the effect but its still noticeable if you are looking directly at your ship. It seems to affect high angle shadows the most. This is the best screenshot I could find of it happening, it clearly shows the 'grating' effect people are talking about. In motion it appears the shadow is 'moving' or 'flickering' depending on how you perceive it.
Same. ATI Radeon HD 5870. Windows 7 64.
Win 7 64 bit, ati 5850 1gb.
I wish I could turn off shadows in space and have them enabled on the ground, because the same thing has happened to me since I started playing last April. Its exactly like you describe... a rippling effect on the hull of the ships... it looks terrible! It forces me to play on low shadows :-(
I've tried every combination of settings possible.. but with med or high shadows, my hull ripples/flickers.
And it's happening to me on to totally different systems:
1. Core i7 2.66 Ghz w/ Geforce 330
2. 8 - core Xeon 2.33 Ghz w/Radeon 4870
I wish they would fix this... I'm thinking about grabbing a 6870 or 6970 tonight, but I have a feeling this issue will remain..
Z