Are Shadows really Ambient Occlusion?

(Macky) #1

I’ve noticed that AO doesn’t change the IQ of the game if I use it. But I’ve seen shadows also performing what AO does in game which also causes a massive hit in performance. What’s the deal SD can you comment on this?

Using the console command I turned shadows off by using r_shadows 0 using “~” console:

But when use the console command to turn them on (r_shadows 1) I get this:

As you can see, that’s not shadows but Ambient Occlusion. Look at the corners and certain objects themselves when comparing the two (place each pic in it’s own tab) and you will notice that shadow is being applied similarly to what AO does to objects. The thing is that when using AO from the game menu doesn’t work at all for me. So what’s going on?

(Macky) #2

Can anyone offer any help on this?

(Macky) #3

Wow this thread got buried fast. I’m still looking for some help with this. Has anyone tried it?

(sdGjoel) #4

Hey Macky, thanks for reporting this.

The “ambient occlusion”-setting refers to a Screen-Space Ambient Occlusion effect. The effect is fairly subtle, and mostly shows in areas with no lights. So I suspect it doesn’t show too strongly in the area in the screenshot. What you are seeing when disabling r_shadows, is the entire room becoming lit by the sun, as it is no longer casting shadows.

We have an additional level of ambient occlusion, compiled into the levels and stored in vertexdata. This level works on ~10meter distances, while the SSAO works on 0-1meter.

Cheers,

(Macky) #5

Thanks for taking the time to reply and for clearing things up on SSAO. From what I read I thought this game was using Horizon-based Ambient Occlusion. One thing I’m noticing is that AO option found in the advance settings isn’t working at all for me. I can enable it and it does nothing to the image or objects on the screen. For now, the only feature that seems to work is r_shadows as far as the two are concerned. Can you explain why this is happening? Do you need more information?

AA seems to work but I can’t get High quality Post Processing and Soft Particle to enable. I click on the radial button and it’s highlighted. I save it and exit out of advance settings. I go back into advance settings and the radial button for those features are no longer selected. It seems that I’m having a lot of trouble getting the graphics options to work and I have a high end video card/PC.

(Macky) #6

I wanted to also add there are a few others experiencing the same thing with AO not working.