Pixels Pixels everywhere it's what my shadows drink

sanosukex

I read here and there people saying they are having no issues with shadows and there's look great.. now either this is BS or I can't find a setting somewhere. For me jagged/pixilated edges and shimmering textures are the two things that drive me crazy in modern games I spent 3 grand plus on gaming rigs for a reason. Anyway you can see my guide on how to eliminate all jagged edges and shimmering for higher end nvidia cards BUT on shadows. I can not find anything that improves the quality of the shadows. I know skyrim had the issue with the draw distance of shadows causing the resolution to drop and causing horribly pixilated shadows and lowing the draw distance made them a hell of a lot better looking but I don't think there is anyway to do that in this game..

 

Personally now I just leave shadows off since it allows steady 60 fps with 1x2SSAA and 2xSGSSAA enabled on my system but was curious if anyone found anyway to improve shadows.. here's any example of the shadows

 

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/7369/swtor2012011219244887.png

Ikeda

My newest development:

I've been playing since beta.  I averaged aroun 70-90 FPS with everything High (LOL) and Shadows/Bloom on.

Today I log in, download the newest patch, and I'm running less than 25 FPS.  I tried disabling Shadows and I peaked at 30 FPS.  I disabled everything else and set everything to low.  I'm up to 40 FPS.  Standing Still.

My CPU is only running at 40%, 60% Mem usage, all CPU/GPU temps are normal.  Good ventilation.  Again, running fine 2 days ago.  Now, not.  

P.S.  If you want even better pixels, grab the shadows from trees.. They look great (not).

sanosukex

Originally posted by Ikeda

My newest development:

I've been playing since beta.  I averaged aroun 70-90 FPS with everything High (LOL) and Shadows/Bloom on.

Today I log in, download the newest patch, and I'm running less than 25 FPS.  I tried disabling Shadows and I peaked at 30 FPS.  I disabled everything else and set everything to low.  I'm up to 40 FPS.  Standing Still.

My CPU is only running at 40%, 60% Mem usage, all CPU/GPU temps are normal.  Good ventilation.  Again, running fine 2 days ago.  Now, not.  

P.S.  If you want even better pixels, grab the shadows from trees.. They look great (not).

strange my framerate didnt change after the patch.. what video card you running?

Gyrus

Originally posted by sanosukex

 ... but was curious if anyone found anyway to improve shadows.. here's any example of the shadows

 

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/7369/swtor2012011219244887.png

I was just looking at that picture...

 

Why are the shadows up close pixelated but the ones in the distance appear rounded?

Ikeda

Radeon HD 5870.  Like I said.. WAS running fine. Now, not so much.  It isn't the latest and greatest but it's better than most.

cyress8

I'm wondering how can you have jaggies in a texture. O.o

sanosukex

Originally posted by Gyrus

Originally posted by sanosukex

 ... but was curious if anyone found anyway to improve shadows.. here's any example of the shadows

 

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/7369/swtor2012011219244887.png

I was just looking at that picture...

 

Why are the shadows up close pixelated but the ones in the distance appear rounded?

they aren't actually the pixels are much smaller at distances so screenshots if taken at the right moment won't show the pixelation as much.. but its there

sanosukex

Originally posted by cyress8

I'm wondering how can you have jaggies in a texture. O.o

where did I say jagged textures? i said jagged edges and shimmering textures not jagged textures

sanosukex

Originally posted by Ikeda

Radeon HD 5870.  Like I said.. WAS running fine. Now, not so much.  It isn't the latest and greatest but it's better than most.

don't really know much on ati cards.. strange the patch dropped your framerate like that.. you run any external apps for your card like overclocking app or anything like that? also you try downloading and installing the latest beta drivers.. also go into C:Users(currentusername)AppDataLocalSWTORswtorsettings  and delete client_settings.ini and Graphics_Mirror.ini and let the game client recreate these

allegria

Originally posted by Ikeda

My newest development:

I've been playing since beta.  I averaged aroun 70-90 FPS with everything High (LOL) and Shadows/Bloom on.

Today I log in, download the newest patch, and I'm running less than 25 FPS.  I tried disabling Shadows and I peaked at 30 FPS.  I disabled everything else and set everything to low.  I'm up to 40 FPS.  Standing Still.

My CPU is only running at 40%, 60% Mem usage, all CPU/GPU temps are normal.  Good ventilation.  Again, running fine 2 days ago.  Now, not.  

P.S.  If you want even better pixels, grab the shadows from trees.. They look great (not).

Network could be limiting your FPS

sanosukex

Originally posted by allegria

Originally posted by Ikeda

My newest development:

I've been playing since beta.  I averaged aroun 70-90 FPS with everything High (LOL) and Shadows/Bloom on.

Today I log in, download the newest patch, and I'm running less than 25 FPS.  I tried disabling Shadows and I peaked at 30 FPS.  I disabled everything else and set everything to low.  I'm up to 40 FPS.  Standing Still.

My CPU is only running at 40%, 60% Mem usage, all CPU/GPU temps are normal.  Good ventilation.  Again, running fine 2 days ago.  Now, not.  

P.S.  If you want even better pixels, grab the shadows from trees.. They look great (not).

Network could be limiting your FPS

i don't see it causing a constant dip like that though.. maybe a spike here and there but if its staying a steady 30 fps or 40 fps and was much higher I doubt its a network issue.

allegria

Originally posted by sanosukex

Originally posted by allegria

Originally posted by Ikeda

My newest development:

I've been playing since beta.  I averaged aroun 70-90 FPS with everything High (LOL) and Shadows/Bloom on.

Today I log in, download the newest patch, and I'm running less than 25 FPS.  I tried disabling Shadows and I peaked at 30 FPS.  I disabled everything else and set everything to low.  I'm up to 40 FPS.  Standing Still.

My CPU is only running at 40%, 60% Mem usage, all CPU/GPU temps are normal.  Good ventilation.  Again, running fine 2 days ago.  Now, not.  

P.S.  If you want even better pixels, grab the shadows from trees.. They look great (not).

Network could be limiting your FPS

i don't see it causing a constant dip like that though.. maybe a spike here and there but if its staying a steady 30 fps or 40 fps and was much higher I doubt its a network issue.

I have noticed some games ( not necessarily tor ) that more characters ( even off screen ) = lower my FPS. However, that brings a couple things to mind. . . 

1. They are not culling aggressively and those characters are taking up CPU/GPU cycles

2. you noted your GPU/CPU was not peaked... if #1 was issue i would expect CPU peaking and GPU lagging behind... 

Could be something else

sanosukex

guess those people who said there shadows were looking great was just BS... I was hoping I was missing something and there was some way to improve shadows in this game.. oh well ill just leave them off I guess