Technical Analysis: UE5 Lumen & PBR Calibration Issues (Character "Oiliness" & Global Illumination Overflow)

Conan Exiles PC Discussion
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Hi Funcom Team,

As a 3D artist and Blender user, I’ve been analyzing the post-UE5 update visuals. I am currently unable to upload screenshots due to being a new forum member, but the issues are easily reproducible in-game near any stone structure or in desert areas.

The Observation: Incorrect Energy Conservation

The current PBR (Physically Based Rendering) setup appears to have a calibration conflict between environment assets and character shaders when using Lumen.

  • Lumen Bounce Overflow: Environment assets (stone walls, sand) seem to have Albedo and Specular values that are too high. They act as high-intensity reflectors rather than diffuse surfaces. This causes a massive Global Illumination (GI) bounce that “flushes out” all Ambient Occlusion on characters.

  • The “Shellshade” Effect: Because the indirect light from the environment is so intense, character shadows are completely filled with reflected orange light. This destroys depth perception and gives the characters a flat, unintentional “cel-shaded” look.

  • Character Specular/Roughness: Skin and leather shaders are reacting to this light with extremely hard, sharp highlights. It looks as if the Roughness maps are being ignored or the Specular level is set to a non-organic value (effectively 0.5+), resulting in a “wet” or “oily” appearance even in dry environments.

Steps to Reproduce:

  1. Stand a character close to a sunlit stone wall.

  2. Observe the shadow side of the character: notice how the secondary bounce from the wall completely overpowers the character’s facial features and textures.

  3. Move into a deep cave/shadow: notice how the skin material suddenly looks “correct” and matte again once the environment bounces are removed.

Suggested Fix:

Checking the Master Materials for environment assets and reducing the Specular contribution should stabilize the Lumen feedback loop. Additionally, adjusting the Roughness offset on character skins would prevent the “epoxy-resin” look under direct light.

Correcting these material-node values would significantly improve the “premium” feel of the new engine update.

Best regards,

Sabber

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