Character and NPC Skin Textures Broken since 3/9 & 3/10 Patches?

methos71 · March 2017

This is certainly not a game breaking issue, but it has been a slightly annoying one. Hadn't played since Wednesday. Yet, patched yesterday and again today, prior to logging back on. At the character selection screen I noticed that all my characters and their respective BOFF's skin textures look off, specifically in that they seem to be lacking their usual facial detail. Also noticed this with contact NPCs that pop up on character login (some annoying Bajoran chick offering a mission and the Temporal Contact Crey). Of particular note with regard to the Bajoran and Crey was the fact that their noses are now ill-defined, due to the lack of texture details.

Got my latest NVidia driver update last night. Double checked my Nvidia control panel settings and they were all as they had been on Wednesday. Also checked all my in-game Display, Graphics and Advanced settings and they too had remained unchanged. And I should note that this is with 1.0 lighting, as I don't use 2.0. Thus, I've no idea if 2.0 players have been affected.

Since all my GPU and in-game settings have remained unchanged since Wednesday, I can only guess that either yesterday or today's patches have somehow caused this character skin texture problem.

Anyone else experienced this?

josemialot · March 2017

Same issue here, and is not about the textures, is the dam lighting. If you change to L2.0 is fix.
Lets be honest here, Cryptic is all about dollars, and they dont care about the L1.0 due to the fact, that the players that use it dont have the money for a better GPU, so thouse pleyers dont have the money to buy stuff from cryptic eather..

So or you change your GPU, or learn to live with the broken L1.0.

cerritourug · March 2017

Yes, they broke the lighting 1.0 with some of the recent patchs, now the characters looks really bad.

norcaler2 · March 2017

Same issue here. It looks as though whatever light source they use in Lighting 1.0 moved so that its casting different "shadows" on the faces of characters.

josemialot wrote: »

Same issue here, and is not about the textures, is the dam lighting. If you change to L2.0 is fix.
Lets be honest here, Cryptic is all about dollars, and they dont care about the L1.0 due to the fact, that the players that use it dont have the money for a better GPU, so thouse pleyers dont have the money to buy stuff from cryptic eather..

So or you change your GPU, or learn to live with the broken L1.0.

And I suspect as with the issues with Direct3D 9 last year gave way to it being discontinued, chances are that Lighting 1.0 will be phased out in the coming months.

aerojam · March 2017

Hi,

I have the same problem with graphics, and have requested support. They gave me some tips, like deleting "gameprefs.pref" file and updating my graphics driver, but as you can guess, nothing has worked.

I guess the only option is waiting they fix it in next patches.

Look the attached screenshot, in the tailor.

The light (or the main light) comes from the right side of the screen, but look at the shadows and the reflections, they are just "backwards". It seems his breastbone were getting out of the chest. Also, his knees look "hollow"!

uc?export=view&id=0B63nzwZlzKp4VHJ4amxNZC1Ec28

uc?export=view&id=0B63nzwZlzKp4VHJ4amxNZC1Ec28

This does not occurs with L2.0, I have verified it!

...its so annoying...

In the other hand, am I the only one noticing that ALL characters using "Relaxed" stance (like Holo Leeta) do some gruff movements? This occurs since several months ago, just after a patch, altough I cannot remember its date.

czuri · March 2017

Same here. But i think i see the problem. Before the last patches, the game used the graphic-detail-loading in automated "progressive"-mode. That means that the textures are initially displayed in a poorer resolution, while the higher resolution level is then loading in background. In my case it always took 2-3 seconds. So like one know it from many Images from Internet. But now, after the patches, this "up-loading" of the higher resolution doesn't happening anymore. Its just staying at the initially low resolution. And this is the Problem.

methos71 · March 2017

To those saying that lighting 1.0 will be phased out or that this issue won't be fixed...that's simply misguided and ridiculous speculation. It may or may not take a while for this bug to be fixed, but I'm confident that it will be, as lighting is clearly broken. I've also checked 2.0 and while the issue is not as evident in 2.0, something is definitely off in 2.0 as well. Specifically, in 2.0, character facial makeup features are not appearing as they should. Some of us actually prefer 1.0 and I'm sure the devs know as much. Thus, I'm sure this'll get fixed with a forthcoming patch.

smokebailey · March 2017

Ok, I was wondering what was happening, and that I thought it was only me. I kept seeing facial malformities the past couple of days. Thankies ~curtsy~

Now one just has to sit back and wait.

methos71 · March 2017

Indeed Smokebailey. Having perused related threads about this issue, both here and at Reddit, it's become clear that it's not just NVidia GPUs that have been hit by this bug, as I read of someone with an Intel GPU also being affected as well. No idea if Radeon GPU users have been hit by this. Yet, it seems persistent enough an issue that it should get fixed soon (fingers crossed for next patch!).

thelata · March 2017

Same here face textures botched since recent patch

northrim · March 2017

Did not notice this thread. Made a thread about this issue too (with screenshots).

CLICK ME

frtoaster · March 2017

I reported this bug on March 9, 2017.

Holodeck ticket 4,378,482: Low-resolution faces when "Lighting 2.0" is turned off

There's good news and bad news.

frtoaster wrote: »

As of March 15, 2017, this bug is fixed on Tribble. Unfortunately, they also changed or removed several graphics options.

Holodeck 03/15/2017: http://imgur.com/a/i01fc
Tribble 03/15/2017: http://imgur.com/a/BAU1f

I noticed that Starfleet Academy is darker than before. That's probably because the new setting "Bloom quality: On" corresponds to the old setting "Bloom quality: Low". Other maps that depend heavily on bloom for lighting, such as Risa and Nimbus, are probably darker as well; I will have to check later.

I'll probably be starting a new thread about these changes soon.

northrim · March 2017

frtoaster wrote: »

I reported this bug on March 9, 2017.

Holodeck ticket 4,378,482: Low-resolution faces when "Lighting 2.0" is turned off

There's good news and bad news.

frtoaster wrote: »

As of March 15, 2017, this bug is fixed on Tribble. Unfortunately, they also changed or removed several graphics options.

Holodeck 03/15/2017: http://imgur.com/a/i01fc
Tribble 03/15/2017: http://imgur.com/a/BAU1f

I noticed that Starfleet Academy is darker than before. That's probably because the new setting "Bloom quality: On" corresponds to the old setting "Bloom quality: Low". Other maps that depend heavily on bloom for lighting, such as Risa and Nimbus, are probably darker as well; I will have to check later.

I'll probably be starting a new thread about these changes soon.

What the **** are they doing to this game. This has been the worst state of the game in more than five years. Not enough that lighting 2.0 was forced (bugs in new areas with lighting 1.0 = no 1.0 support & optimisation) on PC because of the console launch. Now they completely ruin lighting 1.0 and even remove graphic options? Not everyone likes lighting 2.0 or can use it without experiencing instablilties and gamecrashes or both. Get it together Cryptic! I bought a ship bundle ~four weeks ago because it seemed like the lighting issues and most graphic bugs with lighting 1.0 were finally fixed so it would be enjoyable to play again and now this.

cerritourug · March 2017

Lol, this Lighting 2.0 was a big fiasco and they know it, sinice the day it was out, they have been trying to fix it and each fix is worst that the other. On Tribble 2.0 is dark and 1.0 is SUPER dark. lol

northrim · March 2017

cerritourug wrote: »

Lol, this Lighting 2.0 was a big fiasco and they know it, sinice the day it was out, they have been trying to fix it and each fix is worst that the other. On Tribble 2.0 is dark and 1.0 is SUPER dark. lol

On Holodeck both are now so bright (in lit areas) that I needed to turn down gamma from 115 to 85 - and on my monitor/gpu I run a darker setting in the first place. Lighting 1.0 was more or less alright before the next to last patch, but now it is completely messed up. Didn't they test this? Who approved on going live with this mess? Why have a test server when they don't give a TRIBBLE about updating the game with faulty patches?

methos71 · March 2017

frtoaster wrote: »

I reported this bug on March 9, 2017.

Holodeck ticket 4,378,482: Low-resolution faces when "Lighting 2.0" is turned off

There's good news and bad news.

frtoaster wrote: »

As of March 15, 2017, this bug is fixed on Tribble. Unfortunately, they also changed or removed several graphics options.

Holodeck 03/15/2017: http://imgur.com/a/i01fc
Tribble 03/15/2017: http://imgur.com/a/BAU1f

I noticed that Starfleet Academy is darker than before. That's probably because the new setting "Bloom quality: On" corresponds to the old setting "Bloom quality: Low". Other maps that depend heavily on bloom for lighting, such as Risa and Nimbus, are probably darker as well; I will have to check later.

I'll probably be starting a new thread about these changes soon.

What the flying frak is up with this nonsense??!! Why cut out any graphics options at all??? And comparing the two sets of display options, I couldn't help noting that 'Video Memory Limit' (which should be below 'Limit Frame Rate' in 'Advanced') is missing on Tribble?

Also, to FrToaster, regarding the darkness you've been seeing at SFA (LOL...here we go again with SFA darkness! Remember me from our last forum threads on that subject, years ago?

)...I noticed in your Tribble screenshots that you've got 'Bloom Intensity', under 'Advanced', set at 20%. I've always had mine set much higher than that, in fact, I wanna say mine's always been set at 100% and never given me problems. Thus, ya might wanna try boosting that, to see if it makes SFA brighter. Another difference I noted...in 'Graphics' -> 'Lights'-> 'Max Lights per Object' and 'Max Shadowed Lights', you're set at 2 and 2. I've always been set at 5 and 3. Thus, another thing ya might wanna try to brighten things up a bit.

Fortunately, I wrote down each and every one of my 'Graphics' settings about two to three months ago, when I got a new GPU to contend with all the DX11 jazz. Alas, I never bothered to jot down my 'Advanced' settings, so I'll have to check back with my 'Bloom Intensity' setting (though I'm fairly certain it's set to 100%).

Oh and as should be obvious to all here, today's patch has not fixed the whacky texture issue with character and NPC skins at character login, contact window and tailor. Characters look fine to me in-game itself though, I'm fairly certain.

Oiiiiii!!!! Another thing I just noticed...where the frak is 'GPU-accelerated particles' on Tribble???!!! Should be under 'Graphics' -> 'Effects' (and yes, mine has always been set to 'On' as well).

czuri · March 2017

I thought and hoped they will fix it at the last patch but they didnt :-( I still believe this isnt a "Lightning"-Issue or something like that, but a issue with the "progressive" loading method of the gamegraphics. As i said because the game using a progressive loading method for the detail level of the graphics. Like you know it from progressive jpeg's or interlaced gifs. And actually the problem is that the detail level (like the faces and so on) is remaining on the initially lower detail level without loading the higher details. I think also this Issue happens maybe by all users who dont use max details at options. And btw i'm a amd-radeon user.

methos71 · March 2017

czuri#2400 wrote: »

I thought and hoped they will fix it at the last patch but they didnt :-( I still believe this isnt a "Lightning"-Issue or something like that, but a issue with the "progressive" loading method of the gamegraphics. As i said because the game using a progressive loading method for the detail level of the graphics. Like you know it from progressive jpeg's or interlaced gifs. And actually the problem is that the detail level (like the faces and so on) is remaining on the initially lower detail level without loading the higher details. I think also this Issue happens maybe by all users who dont use max details at options. And btw i'm a amd-radeon user.

Czuri, your theory is an intriguing one and might also explain why, inexplicably of late, sometimes when I now log into ESD orbit, I find Earth itself completely lacking in detail. Just looks like a big light blue featureless sphere. And sometimes, I'll change toons and see details again. None of this happened until a few weeks ago. The skin texture issue though, that most definitely started with the March 9th patch.

sennahcherib · March 2017

Cryptic is all about dollars, and they dont care about the L1.0 due to the fact, that the players that use it dont have the money for a better GPU, so thouse pleyers dont have the money to buy stuff from cryptic eather.

not true, I have a gaming computer, and I prefer the 1.0 lighting. The 2.0 lighting is really ugly, it is just an badly used powerful post-processing, that's all. this is why I am also disppointed to see the 1.0 lighting damaged.

frtoaster · March 2017

methos71 wrote: »

What the flying frak is up with this nonsense??!! Why cut out any graphics options at all??? And comparing the two sets of display options, I couldn't help noting that 'Video Memory Limit' (which should be below 'Limit Frame Rate' in 'Advanced') is missing on Tribble?

...

Oiiiiii!!!! Another thing I just noticed...where the frak is 'GPU-accelerated particles' on Tribble???!!! Should be under 'Graphics' -> 'Effects' (and yes, mine has always been set to 'On' as well).

They removed more than "Video memory limit" and "GPU-accelerated particles". They also removed "Use full detail character animations" and the "Low" setting from the "Shadows" drop-down list. And they changed the options for "Bloom quality" from "Off", "Low", and "High" to "Off" and "On"; from what I've seen, the new "On" setting corresponds to the old "Low" setting.

methos71 wrote: »

Also, to FrToaster, regarding the darkness you've been seeing at SFA (LOL...here we go again with SFA darkness! Remember me from our last forum threads on that subject, years ago? )...

Yes, I remember you from that old bloom thread years ago. If I recall correctly, I also saw you in a reddit thread months ago when they announced the lighting changes.

methos71 wrote: »

I noticed in your Tribble screenshots that you've got 'Bloom Intensity', under 'Advanced', set at 20%. I've always had mine set much higher than that, in fact, I wanna say mine's always been set at 100% and never given me problems. Thus, ya might wanna try boosting that, to see if it makes SFA brighter.

Although "Bloom quality" dramatically alters the brightness of an environment, "Bloom intensity" has no visible effect on an environment's overall brightness (at least none that I can see). It only affects the brightness of the area immediately surrounding a light source, such as a sun or light bulb. I tested this extensively months ago.

Holodeck ticket 4,171,557: Starfleet Academy darker after "Agents of Yesterday: Artifacts"

"Bloom quality: High" is much brighter than "Bloom quality: Low" or "Bloom quality: Off". On Tribble, they've removed "Bloom quality: High"; that's why everything looks darker.

methos71 wrote: »

Another difference I noted...in 'Graphics' -> 'Lights'-> 'Max Lights per Object' and 'Max Shadowed Lights', you're set at 2 and 2. I've always been set at 5 and 3. Thus, another thing ya might wanna try to brighten things up a bit.

These two settings don't seem to affect the brightness of Starfleet Academy either. I think "Max lights per object" only has an effect when there is more than one light source. Also, when you turn "Lighting 2.0" on, it grays out "Max lights per object". I think Lighting 2.0 ignores that setting and uses as many lights as it wants.

methos71 · March 2017

frtoaster wrote: »

methos71 wrote: »

What the flying frak is up with this nonsense??!! Why cut out any graphics options at all??? And comparing the two sets of display options, I couldn't help noting that 'Video Memory Limit' (which should be below 'Limit Frame Rate' in 'Advanced') is missing on Tribble?

...

Oiiiiii!!!! Another thing I just noticed...where the frak is 'GPU-accelerated particles' on Tribble???!!! Should be under 'Graphics' -> 'Effects' (and yes, mine has always been set to 'On' as well).

They removed more than "Video memory limit" and "GPU-accelerated particles". They also removed "Use full detail character animations" and the "Low" setting from the "Shadows" drop-down list. And they changed the options for "Bloom quality" from "Off", "Low", and "High" to "Off" and "On"; from what I've seen, the new "On" setting corresponds to the old "Low" setting.

methos71 wrote: »

Also, to FrToaster, regarding the darkness you've been seeing at SFA (LOL...here we go again with SFA darkness! Remember me from our last forum threads on that subject, years ago? )...

Yes, I remember you from that old bloom thread years ago. If I recall correctly, I also saw you in a reddit thread months ago when they announced the lighting changes.

methos71 wrote: »

I noticed in your Tribble screenshots that you've got 'Bloom Intensity', under 'Advanced', set at 20%. I've always had mine set much higher than that, in fact, I wanna say mine's always been set at 100% and never given me problems. Thus, ya might wanna try boosting that, to see if it makes SFA brighter.

Although "Bloom quality" dramatically alters the brightness of an environment, "Bloom intensity" has no visible effect on an environment's overall brightness (at least none that I can see). It only affects the brightness of the area immediately surrounding a light source, such as a sun or light bulb. I tested this extensively months ago.

Holodeck ticket 4,171,557: Starfleet Academy darker after "Agents of Yesterday: Artifacts"

"Bloom quality: High" is much brighter than "Bloom quality: Low" or "Bloom quality: Off". On Tribble, they've removed "Bloom quality: High"; that's why everything looks darker.

methos71 wrote: »

Another difference I noted...in 'Graphics' -> 'Lights'-> 'Max Lights per Object' and 'Max Shadowed Lights', you're set at 2 and 2. I've always been set at 5 and 3. Thus, another thing ya might wanna try to brighten things up a bit.

These two settings don't seem to affect the brightness of Starfleet Academy either. I think "Max lights per object" only has an effect when there is more than one light source. Also, when you turn "Lighting 2.0" on, it grays out "Max lights per object". I think Lighting 2.0 ignores that setting and uses as many lights as it wants.

Glad to have finally heard back from you! And the first paragraph of your reply is incredibly alarming, as you've made it evident that more GFX options have vanished than I'd realized. This has got to be some sort of bug or series of bugs that have run amok! It's alarming enough that we should be shouting loudly about this on Reddit, as they seem to pay more heed to such things over there than here. If you haven't done so already, I'm going to link to this thread there and hopefully scare up some much needed attention.

UPDATE: Posted and referenced this thread on Reddit, hoping we get some sort of Dev response.

methos71 · March 2017

Good news! Heard some initial feedback from a GFX Dev, over at Reddit. Details can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/sto/comments/60kkxl/pc_alarming_gfx_ingame_control_settings/

frtoaster · March 2017

methos71 wrote: »

Good news! Heard some initial feedback from a GFX Dev, over at Reddit. Details can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/sto/comments/60kkxl/pc_alarming_gfx_ingame_control_settings/

See my comment here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/sto/comments/60kkxl/pc_alarming_gfx_ingame_control_settings/df7oz48/

The faces bug is currently fixed on Tribble. I'm assuming that it will eventually make its way to Holodeck. The problem now is all the other graphics changes that came with the March 15th Tribble patch.

EDIT: I forgot to mention they also removed "Lighting quality" from the "Graphics" tab.

frtoaster wrote: »

They removed more than "Video memory limit" and "GPU-accelerated particles". They also removed "Use full detail character animations" and the "Low" setting from the "Shadows" drop-down list. And they changed the options for "Bloom quality" from "Off", "Low", and "High" to "Off" and "On"; from what I've seen, the new "On" setting corresponds to the old "Low" setting.

Now that I think about it, the removal of "Lighting quality" might be a big change for some people. I have "Lighting quality" set to "High", but I wonder how many people have "Lighting quality" set to "Low" for performance reasons. Forcing everyone into the "High" setting probably isn't such a good idea.

methos71 · March 2017

frtoaster wrote: »

methos71 wrote: »

Good news! Heard some initial feedback from a GFX Dev, over at Reddit. Details can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/sto/comments/60kkxl/pc_alarming_gfx_ingame_control_settings/

See my comment here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/sto/comments/60kkxl/pc_alarming_gfx_ingame_control_settings/df7oz48/

The faces bug is currently fixed on Tribble. I'm assuming that it will eventually make its way to Holodeck. The problem now is all the other graphics changes that came with the March 15th Tribble patch.

EDIT: I forgot to mention they also removed "Lighting quality" from the "Graphics" tab.

frtoaster wrote: »

They removed more than "Video memory limit" and "GPU-accelerated particles". They also removed "Use full detail character animations" and the "Low" setting from the "Shadows" drop-down list. And they changed the options for "Bloom quality" from "Off", "Low", and "High" to "Off" and "On"; from what I've seen, the new "On" setting corresponds to the old "Low" setting.

Now that I think about it, the removal of "Lighting quality" might be a big change for some people. I have "Lighting quality" set to "High", but I wonder how many people have "Lighting quality" set to "Low" for performance reasons. Forcing everyone into the "High" setting probably isn't such a good idea.

Ughh...wrote a detailed reply and the Forum vaped my comment as I attempted to edit it! In a nutshell, I saw your Reddit post and glad ya replied there. Also glad texture seems to have been fixed. Still very concerned about all these missing 'Graphics' and 'Advanced' settings though! That's definitely a greater concern in all this.

Also, always have had 'Lighting Quality' set to 'High' and never noticed a performance/FPS hit. And I've always run STO on low-end cards (Nvidia Geforce 210 and Nvidia GT 710 now). Which is not to say that I advocate any of our current settings either deliberately or inadvertently vanishing. We PC players need any and every fine-tuning option, after all!

frtoaster · March 2017

methos71 wrote: »

Ughh...wrote a detailed reply and the Forum vaped my comment as I attempted to edit it!

This happened to me too -- several times over the past week, in fact. Now, Vanilla has eaten a bug report that I tried to post. I started a new thread about the issue here:

http://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/1229701/disappearing-forum-posts

methos71 wrote: »

In a nutshell, I saw your Reddit post and glad ya replied there. Also glad texture seems to have been fixed. Still very concerned about all these missing 'Graphics' and 'Advanced' settings though! That's definitely a greater concern in all this.

Also, always have had 'Lighting Quality' set to 'High' and never noticed a performance/FPS hit. And I've always run STO on low-end cards (Nvidia Geforce 210 and Nvidia GT 710 now). Which is not to say that I advocate any of our current settings either deliberately or inadvertently vanishing. We PC players need any and every fine-tuning option, after all!

I used to have "Lighting quality" set to "Low" before I got a new computer; this was years ago. I think some people still have older hardware, including older low-end Intel GPUs. I'm not sure how much of a performance hit they'll incur or whether Cryptic has tested the new settings on older hardware.

crypticarmsman · March 2017

smokebailey wrote: »

Ok, I was wondering what was happening, and that I thought it was only me. I kept seeing facial malformities the past couple of days. Thankies ~curtsy~

Now one just has to sit back and wait.

you'll be waiting a while because as was said, if it's not related to a issue wit their new Lighting 2.0, they won't be fixing it as they'd rather you not use it. 2.0 is their new baby, and it's the only thing that's going to get programmer time.

arliekkos · March 2017

Not just ground but space missions as well having issues with the lighting.

methos71 · March 2017

crypticarmsman wrote: »

smokebailey wrote: »

Ok, I was wondering what was happening, and that I thought it was only me. I kept seeing facial malformities the past couple of days. Thankies ~curtsy~

Now one just has to sit back and wait.

you'll be waiting a while because as was said, if it's not related to a issue wit their new Lighting 2.0, they won't be fixing it as they'd rather you not use it. 2.0 is their new baby, and it's the only thing that's going to get programmer time.

Actually that's just flat out false Crypticarmsman. If you had taken a few moments to actually read the contents of this thread, then you would already know that STO GFX Dev 'TOPMOE' has already responded to this issue via Reddit, at the following link: https://www.reddit.com/r/sto/comments/60kkxl/pc_alarming_gfx_ingame_control_settings/ . You would also know that Frtoaster has already confirmed that the texture/lighting issue has already been fixed on Tribble. We're just waiting for that fix to make its way to Holodeck.

shadowwraith · March 2017

i've encountered this as well on ps4.

my alien romulan character has the bottom left part of his facial textures occasionally goes missing, this also effects npcs such as Leeta

2 days ago all the gorn head textures (including my Gorn char and BOFFs) suddenly looked completely flat when i was on Qo'nos, they looked like they had the head of a shark..

Unknown · March 2017

This content has been removed.

czuri · March 2017

And a possible fix still dont make its way to holodeck. I wonder how long we must wait for? Its annoying me realy to look all the time in that "ugly" faces of the toons and npc's.

Character and NPC Skin Textures Broken since 3/9 & 3/10 Patches?

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