GPU Shadow Maps Disappearing Problem

Discussion in 'Players Supporting Players' started by Classified, Dec 6, 2014.

  1. Classified New Member

    I've found that depending on where the camera is facing, the shadows made with GPU Shadow Maps can disappear completely creating a jarring brightness randomly when rotating the camera.

    What is the fix for this?

    Specs:
    i3-2120
    16GB RAM
    GTX 670
    Feldon likes this.
  2. NrthnStar5 Well-Known Member

    I was just about to post a thread about this! i have the same experience, but they seem worse than ever. I had to wonder if it's related to the most recent Nvidia Driver. I have a GTX 770, I7-4770, 16GB RAM.

    The GPU shadows also seem to have issues with certain items, such as transparent tiles and transparent effects (Such as mounts with glow/particle effects). If the Video Capture was still in game, I'd post a video.

    I'm hoping they can improve some of these issues.
  3. NrthnStar5 Well-Known Member

    If we can get some dev attention regarding this, I'll be happy to find a way to capture a video to share.
  4. Wurm Well-Known Member

    Are these the droids you were looking for?
    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    [IMG]

    I was just about to make a thread about the Nvidia cards doing this more often with the newest driver and to ask for it to be fixed.
  5. NrthnStar5 Well-Known Member


    That is some good examples for sure. I've also noticed issues quite badly in zones like Greater Faydark and New Halas. As the OP said, simply turning in one direction or the other can cause the shadows to change drastically.
  6. Wurm Well-Known Member

    Yep, and its been an Nvidia problem with EQ2 for years. I had it back with my "old" GTX260 and still have it with my GTX760 Sli setup.
  7. Danejasho Member

    I've had this problem too. A slight shift in position and *WHAM*, shadowing changes everywhere, for no apparent reason. I realize the player camera position is probably a contributor, but I'd like to think the positional sensitivity could be turned down to help with this immersion breaking condition.
  8. Wurm Well-Known Member

    Its horrible, turning off shadows completely might fix it, but our devs worked so hard on making the really nice shadows in this game it would be a shame to do so.
  9. Danejasho Member

    You're correct. The shadows look great everywhere, and in fact, overall, I'm very impressed with the lighting in the game. It's a shame that the only viable fix thus far is to disable shadows. I just live with it, and to use the vernacular of the day, "that sucks".
  10. NrthnStar5 Well-Known Member

    I'd really appreciate a dev response to this, at least acknowledgement of the issue, if they have any idea of what causes it, and hopefully if we could expect any improvement at some point in time. I agree, the GPU shadows look great, but the random shifting and abrupt changing of the shadows is really unpleasant :(
  11. Danejasho Member

    Here's a very short video demonstrating the problem that I see (and I suspect, exactly what others are describing).

    Kuulei likes this.
  12. NrthnStar5 Well-Known Member

    Yes Danejasho, that's exactly it. I've noticed it is worse in some zones vs. others. Greater Faydark is one of the worst, however I don't see it nearly as much in Qeynos or even the new AOM zones.
  13. Danejasho Member

    Yes, I'm leveling a new Swashbuckler in Greater Faydark, and it's just ridiculously bad.
  14. Danejasho Member

    Another example I made this morning. It's incredibly jarring trying to play with this happening (might not show up right away, I just uploaded it to youtube)

  15. NrthnStar5 Well-Known Member

    I couldn't agree more, very jarring. However, I don't recall Greater Faydark being as bad as it is today, which led me to believe it's due to recent changes with the game engine, or related to the newest Nvidia drivers.
  16. Danejasho Member

    I've been in several locations since finishing Greater Faydark. As far as I can tell, no issues with shadows. So something with the tree density in GF? I don't know, but had to turn shadows off until I finished it.
  17. NrthnStar5 Well-Known Member

    Some zones are definitely worse than others, however it happens in quite a few other zones as well. To name a few: Obol Plains, Antonica, Enchanted Lands, Thundering Steppes.
  18. LordTiras Well-Known Member

    That second video looks more like a texture issue than a shadow issue, but in either case I'd suspect the video drivers. I had issues not very different on an older ATI/AMD video card I had, and it was the card's drivers not working right. I've also seen that happen in games where the texture caches have become corrupted - try clearing out the game's cache? It could also be due to the tree density, but that would lead back to the video card or drivers again.
  19. NrthnStar5 Well-Known Member


    About a week or so ago I went so far as to uninstall and reinstall the game (as I wanted to move the install to a different hard drive anyway) to see if it made any change, but the issue persisted. I do feel drivers are playing a role because the issue seemed to become really noticeable for me recently, and I know Nvidia has had a couple driver updates over the last month or so.

    The Nvidia Control panel has an option called "Shade Cache" which is on by "default". I tried turning it off but it didn't seem to make any difference for me.
  20. Danejasho Member

    I've tried the cache clearing as recommended by SOE several times, no change. I reinstall a minimum of twice a year, so it's not an old code issue hanging around. I don't use any addins, not even EQ2 maps. I may try rolling back the NVidia driver 6mos or a year, see what that does. Hate to put my gaming system through that, but maybe it will help SOE figure out the issue (lol)