What you do about shadows settings!

[TheMshine]

I may be stupid, but I am just catching onto to something, in
BF2 (and in games from the past), which I do not understand
why it is not classified as a cheat (in a way). I have not heard
or seen this being discussed, and could not find a discussion
regarding this yet?

Why should people, who turn their shadows all the way down to
LOW or OFF, are allowed to play in games with people who have
them MEDIUM or HIGH???

I always thought I was hiding in a dark space, until I realized just how
some people would spot me from a hundred yards out, or walk into
a dark room and spot me no problem... You think your hiding, but
your not?

So with this in mind.. please answer the following question,

How many of you are running your shadows on low or off, even though
you prefer them on, just because you do not want to be at a disadvantage?

[MainEacK]

Re: What you do about shadows settings!

Off is the only way to go. I learned that not long after I got the game. It is poor coding to give the people that turn shadows on more of a disadvantage. Though I turn most of my stuff down to insure faster gameplay and less lag.

[DrunkenPirate]

Re: What you do about shadows settings!

shadows isn't the issue, it's lighting on the low setting that causes you to be easily seen when you think you are hiding in the shadows.

[pYura]

Re: What you do about shadows settings!

Lightening and Shadowas are two different things. You was regarding lightening I guess (its a whole map shadowing process). I think the game is MUCH MORE realistic if you play with lightening medium/high. When its more realistic I can play better but I agree that it may be a disadvantage in some situations... jsut forget it... if you got owned its not becouse of the stuped shadows.... who play with low lightening setting cuz he wants to see better or wants more points is a ****-s*cker!!
Turning on dinamics shadows is a good thing as you can spot the shadaw before the enemy itself.
In match games it should be regulated with rules tho..

[Blades]

Re: What you do about shadows settings!

Helps me a lot in SF, when I bother to play it, that is.

[The_Misfit]

Re: What you do about shadows settings!

I run them at LOW cause my 9800 pro would fry otherwise. I run everything on low except for 3 settings on medium.

And yes, it does help w/seeing enemies ingame. Graphics 'tweaks' / settings have been an in-game issue going back to games like HL, UT99, etc...

[Skwurl]

Re: What you do about shadows settings!

I may be stupid, but I am just catching onto to something, in
BF2 (and in games from the past), which I do not understand
why it is not classified as a cheat (in a way). I have not heard
or seen this being discussed, and could not find a discussion
regarding this yet?

Why should people, who turn their shadows all the way down to
LOW or OFF, are allowed to play in games with people who have
them MEDIUM or HIGH???

I always thought I was hiding in a dark space, until I realized just how
some people would spot me from a hundred yards out, or walk into
a dark room and spot me no problem... You think your hiding, but
your not?

So with this in mind.. please answer the following question,

How many of you are running your shadows on low or off, even though
you prefer them on, just because you do not want to be at a disadvantage?

I totally agree.

It's bloody lame. Dynamic shadows can be optional, but indoor lighting/shadows should be mandatory.

[pYura]

Re: What you do about shadows settings!

Off is the only way to go. I learned that not long after I got the game. It is poor coding to give the people that turn shadows on more of a disadvantage. Though I turn most of my stuff down to insure faster gameplay and less lag.

With a proper rig you dont leg any lag or whatever.... time for an upgrade m8!

[WarGimp]

Re: What you do about shadows settings!

Threads merged.

[Phrag]

Re: What you do about shadows settings!

Just to clarify, the problem is not the dynamic shadows setting or the dymanic lighting setting. It is just the plain old lighting that you set to low (there is no off). If you have dyanmic shadows on high while lighting is on low, there will be no dark places inside or next to buildings and you will see some shadows in very strange places (coming through the floor for example).

I took a poll on this a while ago (if you look through my posts you will find it.) and about half the people had lighting turned to low, but it was mostly due to hardware limitations and not trying to exploit anything. There were only a few that had the hardware to run dynamic shadows but kept lighting on low for the "advantage".

Most people prefer as much realism as their computer can handle.

After seeing the results of hte poll, I tried turning lighting to low with everything else maxed myself. Over the next few days of play, I found very few occasions where it had any benefit. I would guess that in 20 or 30 rounds of playing with those settings, I got 2 or 3 kills that I would not have gotten other wise.

[ConscriptVirus]

Re: What you do about shadows settings!

points ppl turn it off for points....real ppl turn it on for eyecandy and enjoyment of the game...and then theres ppl like me who cant even turn it on (its like disabled or seomthing)

[deadman2312]

Re: What you do about shadows settings!

I have it off because my PC eats donkey nutz, i didnt realize i had an "advantage" until a later time. But i would say instead of me having an advantage, we are simply evebn now, because on 64 player maps im in slo-mo, so har har to you uber strength PC guys.

[markan dorka]

Re: What you do about shadows settings!

I play with lighting low, even though my comp could handle higher levels, for multiple reasons. I'd just rather get say, stable 60 fps rather than one bouncing between 45-55, or even stable 55, and yes, it makes spotting people easier.

To me, eye candy factor wears out quickly.. after that, it's all about gameplay. Even though shadows aren't really that dark that you could actually hide in them, they're distracting nonetheless, and I'd be shooting into my own foot if I turned lighting high, when other people are running around with that distraction.

It's a feature deliberately put there by developers, and is there to be used. If anyone feels that it isn't fair, explain that to DICE and try to get the lighting switch removed - don't complain about people who turn it low. I wouldn't mind if lighting was locked in high, because that'd then be the standard for gameplay - until that, it stays low.

But look at the bright side - it's not always the guys who turn stuff low getting the edge. The actual shadow settings (and geometry) give the ones who turn it up the edge :P

[TOAO_VTEC]

Re: What you do about shadows settings!

I run everything maxxed at 1600x1200 at 60-80 frames/sec, that's all the advantage I need. :P

Seriously though, I know that in some situations I get kills because the other guys comp lagged whereas mine is running at 60fps, is that fair?

Yeah, I have a decent comp (7900GT's in SLI, 2 Gigs low latency DDR, X2 4400+). :P

[bitvomit]

Re: What you do about shadows settings!

It's not that big of a deal. There's already many many ways that your position can be given away in BF2 that something like this is trivial at best. However, cranking your lighting settings up to the max can give you a clear advantage because you can actually see muzzleflashes lighting up obscure patches of grass and any other objects in the vicinity. I've killed many fools who thought they had a good sniping spot only to have their position given away with their muzzleflash. Shadows can also be seen in certain situations like when someone is turning a corner or when they are directly above you. Of course, lets not forget the almighty surround sound which works wonders in BF2 .