It seems that the light sources have changed - they have become more intense and yellow. Look at the bonfires and what acidic reflections on the rocks have become from them. What acidic reflections from the sun have become.
Yeah, I think thatās whats happened. They changed the lighting to improve Siptah and either didnāt care or didnāt notice that it messed up Exiled Lands in the process (probably a bit of both).
I mean, Siptah is their new favoured child now so maybe they are trying to encourage players to move over to it /shrug
Lot of stuff in here sounds like a typical āI swear something changed because of a patchā when nothing actually did. A lot of what you are all claiming changed could be attributed to simply your gamma bar being reset to something that it wasnāt at before.
You have somebody claiming the torches were changed. Nope, it would show up in the change log if it was, even if it was a tiny change, it would show up. The only torch that showed a change was Radium. Thatās just one example. Heck, not even Ultra_Dynamic_Sky was changed, and it would need to be to at least even remotely match peopleās claims in this thread that the āentire lighting system was changed.ā
Iām pretty much certain Iām going to get yelled at for even suggesting that what at least some of what you are observing could just be a placeabo because you heard there were going to be optimizations. You heard how they were addressing some poly count and texture changes and decided it must mean they changed EVERYTHING (they didnāt. Your patch download would have been HUGE had they done so. Like, HUGE).
As for as what I can see, Iām not seeing the things being reported. The eyeball test seemed like everything was normal. But I donāt really need that to tell me. Patch size and the relatively small change log (in comparrison to past change logs which were HUGE, like the 2.0 update) tells me that everything appears pretty normal to me.
Yeah if they turn their gamma and mess with it will be normal again assuming they are not using mods but as far as I know there was not change. But to be honest we both know in life that this will happen somewhere by someone at sometime which is unfortunately extremely common these days which is a crying shame (if you get the commercial thatās from 
) trying to give you a laugh here
Not yelling here, just discussingā¦
Letās assume youāre right and nothing was changed. Why wouldnāt a Funcom community rep simply respond to this thread, or one of the other ones that raises this issue over in the PC updates forum, and just state that nothing was changed? It would take them literally 5 mins to do that and it would put the issue to rest - theyāve done it in plenty of other threads. It would be so easy. But they are keeping quiet about the issue, for whatever reason.
Now Iām aware that that sounds like a conspiracy theory, but you have plenty of people reporting this issue from a mixture of singleplayer and private and unmodded official servers and several have provided screenshots to back it up. You have even said yourself that they were addressing some poly count and texture changes and the patch was almost 10GB if I remember correctly - which is large enough to have made plenty of changes to selected landscape textures (I mean, how large do you think the pak files are?). A lot of these paks were changed in the latest update, including Environment.pak, TextureMax.pak, WeatherEffects.pak, to name just a few.
Now as for me, I didnāt even realise that they were making changes to textures before I noticed it in-game. It was only when I saw the difference and tried to investigate the cause that I found it mentioned by Funcom, so there canāt be any confirmation bias there.
But hey, if a Funcom rep wants to post here and swear that no changes were made to landscape textures or lighting, then Iāll believe them. But until then a lot of the answers from the relatively few players denying the changes just sound to me like āI swear nothing changed because I personally canāt tell the difference and I love this gameā (sorry, that was a cheap-shot based on what you said in your opening tiradeā¦ felt like it needed a response).
Its horrible, log on to renew timers only, until its fixed.
Only response Iāll be replying due to your last sentence. I knew I should have just stayed out of this thread.
Let me again say the part you ignored in your response.
Funcom releases a public list of every filed added and changed for the dev kit every update. The change portion of said report was not nearly big enough to cover 10 gigs. But the additions, most of which were Siptah related, would cover that ground. And again, if there was SO MUCH texture and poly changes to actually affect frame rate, it would not be 10 gigs. It would be like, 50, with a lot of it being due to having to run granite (3rd party UE4 plugin used for performance) all over the files again.
I prefer hard data over player eyeballs. And what Iām seeing is not what is being reported by people in this thread. Whatās extra weird is that even if there was a significant change to meshes and textures that you claim there is in the name of optimizations (and again, the evidence Iām seeing shows that this isnāt the case), I thought āoptimizationsā is what players wanted? I mean, I hear it all the time how the game āisnāt optimizedā and runs like crap, right? So wouldnāt you be celebrating better frame rates?
Iām not saying that ānothing was changed.ā However I am seeing a lot of hyperbole in this thread that does not measure up to the data.
That last sentence was mirroring your previous opening comment almost exactly. I donāt just say those kinds of flippant things out of hand unless provoked. You only have yourself to blame for that. But youāre right, I shouldnāt have risen to it.
If youād rather have stayed out of the thread, then you always have the option of deleting your posts. But your comments are always welcome as long as they remain civil.
No-one is saying āSO MUCHā and I donāt think anyone mentioned meshes either. Youāre adding that yourself to exaggerate your point. The only texture changes Iām seeing have been general landscape textures (not rocks, trees, buildings, characters, placeables etc etc) and the changes donāt need to have been huge in order to have a big impact both visually and performance-wise - you simply need to remove (or reduce the intensity / displacement strength of) things like bump maps or normal maps which would make the textures appear smooth and less detailed, but still produce a significant increase in performance. Its those things that give the landscape its appearance of fine gravelly detail - not ultra-detailed meshes. I think thats most likely what has been worked on.
I donāt imagine that this is the kind of change that Funcom would bother listing for the dev kit, because who would it help? But who knows?
Of course, it could just be the lighting change causing the textures to appear worse than previously, as lighting and post-processing can have quite a big impact upon how textures end up looking. But considering they said they were working on the textures and the fact that they do look worse now suggests it could easily be a factor.
Personally, I never called for optimizations. Iām happy with the way the game used to run and I liked the better textures and lighting.
Funcom probably thinks the same thing, LOL thatās probably why all these patches are dumpster fires.
With that out of my systemā¦I had a car that the mechanic told me that there was no way that what I thought was wrong could be wrong because his computer said it wasnāt possible ā¦so I took it home and changed what my gut told me was wrong and guess what?..
If it would be gamma change, adjusting gamma should be able to put it back to what it was. It doesnāt, it will only make things even worse. Yes, that was the first thing I assumed might have happened.
Also, if itās not mentioned in patch notes, that might just support my assumption that something broke, rather than intentionally making things look so lame. And if so, hopefully it will get fixed.
Itās not the gamma, mine is always set to 2.20
one is before 2.3 (a long time ago, notice the UI is an older verison)
I tried playing with the gamma volume a bit to see if the new 2.20 could be different than the old 2.20 and nope, there is nothing match the 2.20 of the old version.
the different setting in here is the opt volumetric fog (I should included this) and this is also not it.
Honestly I logged into the game before I read the patch notes, I didnāt even know there will be graphic changes in 2.3 and I saw that the brightness has changed before I looked up in the forum to see if someone else has the same issue, and boomā¦ first topic on the forum so I posted what I saw (every setting is the same, before and after patch) no bias or placebo or drugs included here.
Here I tried to replicate a screenshot I took from before the 2.3
this is before
and this is after
Both pic were taken at the same time of in-game day (around 11 more or less, compared by the shadows of those small bushes)
I repeat both pics were taken with the same graphic settings, gamma etc. etc. also no mods.
Iām not trying to prove or argue anything, just throw in what I see and pics that there is something going on and that Funcom could have missed it, no need to be snippy here. I understand what you said about evidences, hard data and all and I agreed so letās wait for the official response.
The wildest nonsense, and based on the assumption that someone there is under psychological expectation that something came up. Look at the screenshots before you come up with a whole story based on nothing. This is stupid, to say the least.
On a low graphic, the changes are much more noticeable.
Over the years Iāve spent playing this game and lurking in this forum, Iāve never felt the need to create an account to post about any of the contentious topics that have cropped up until now.
When I bought the Isles of Siptah I was excited to explore a new map. That was, until I experienced the ānightā of Siptah. With the old maelstrom lighting the nights were horribly bright, even during storms, with little to no purpose behind placing light sources at your base or carrying a torch with you. I found myself returning to the Exiled Lands thinking that perhaps the lighting would be adjusted on Siptah further into development.
As someone who grew up camping in areas far from light pollution my two favourite places to build in EL were the jungle and highland forest, because night was dark. In the hours before dawn in a deep forest it should not be possible for you to see your hand inches from your face without a source of light (starlight being insufficient, moonlight being inconsistent). Now, I understand that this is a game and arguments on the basis of realism are widely derided if they donāt serve the preference of whichever person happens to be speaking; I donāt expect the nights to be as dark as I would personally prefer. At this point, however, there seems to be no night at all. Having locked the time at the darkest hour Iāve wandered around the EL and found no point at which I would require a torch.
I donāt know whatās prompted this change, and I doubt that Funcom will be changing it back now that the lighting has seeped from IoS to EL rather than the reverse. Whether itās for the sake of people with bad eyes, to lessen the need for light sources which seem to tax the servers overmuch, or some other reason, I canāt say. What I can say is that I find it disheartening that a game billed as a survival title has inched further and further away from it. Anything that introduces dynamic difficulties, requires preparation, or offers any sort of challenge from the environment is slowly stripped away. Temperature and carry weight has been irrelevant for a long time and now light joins them.
Iāve seen suggestions for an admin panel option to allow for private server and single player adjustments to the day/night light scale. While I know neither the complexity nor feasibility of the idea or its implementation, I would like to offer my support for such a solution if it is possible.
This! As a sensation based player, one of the things that I really loved about the game when I started couple months ago was the dynamic richness of light, and tha actually dark nights that did indeed mean light sources were useful and necessary.
That is why I hyped the gameās lighting environment to people and sharing screenshots. Now I donāt feel like promoting anything, it feels so much more ālike any other gameā.
Please , do not treat us like we are all computer noobs and can not tell if Gamma has changed and fix it ok. Conanās hair has gotten small bursts of purple on the ends it when you meet him at the start of the game when he turns its got a purple tinge , that is not a gamma setting. Every single smelter sitting at a furnaceās hair and front of body is washed out almost white by the fire light. The trees look washed out if you are not right on top of them and there is like a film of white smoke when you look across the landscape. The edges of the water if far away are pixilated , it looks like LOD changes , like the LOD has been decreased but you tell us we are not really seeing this or that we are having mass whatever. I run my game on ultra I notice changes. I know how to adjust my gamma too ty. You can stand on noob river just below Sinners Refuge on the island that has all the Kappa and look across towards Sinners and see the LOD is different , the whole hill is bare not even an animal or a tree shows up.
If the LOD had been changed it would have just over written the other LOD and the size would not have changed hardly if any. So just to say our eye balls are not seeing things that are not there as I am sure our brains are smart enough to check or adjust our gamma thank you.
It looks stretched out, but definitely different.
Looks more like the fake sandstorm. Maybe something changed and the fake sandstorm doesnāt fully reset. Meaning you will continue to get white wash even with the fake sandstorm off in the distance.
Maybe logout, fully restart the game, and see if the white wash is still there upon login. Make sure you donāt login to the fake sandstorm.
My 2 silver coinsā¦
Personally the only difference Iāve noticed is that the game seems to run much better. And whatever they did in recent patches seems to have really optimized base game building blocks. Lots of variables like switching from local host to an actual server, changing out computer parts etc, but Iām having a much better experience with the game now than in previous runs.
Even the fact that Iām caught up in the gpu shortage and bottlenecked with a 1070ti and medium to high graphics settings Iām still constantly impressed by how pretty the game is tbh. Sure itās not some AAA eye candy game, but for an open world with as much depth as CE has, I think theyāre doing an awesome job keeping the game pretty, and full of beautiful areas that all make you wanna settle down in them <3
My only gripe with the current state of things is that the jungle gets pretty overexposed and bright, but itās still a cool effect and nothing lowered gamma canāt put an end to.
I have plenty of issues with how the devs seem to have bit off a bit more than they can chew by attempting to release a whole new mapās worth of content at the expense of much needed polish to the game as a whole, but those are gameplay concerns, and just a matter of time until they get around to addressing.
Graphicswise Iām honestly really happy with how the game has turned out so far, but thatās just my humble opinion.
It astounds me that people who think that because something is not happening to them it therefore is not happening to anyone else.