Lighting overexposure or lack thereof

[Renathy]

There was an update, a few months back, that changed how lighting works. It brightened up or darkened the majority of levels, albeit to a much greater extent than what one would consider satisfactory. As an example, this issue can be easily seen in levels with wintry biomes, as light refracts off of the snow making it virtually blinding, as well as in Infested tilesets, where there are no significant sources of light entities making it essentially as dark as space itself.

However, there is a workaround and it involves two different graphical options. Both of which have become interrelated to one another and are virtually ineffective when toggled independently, because they do not seem to function individually. They are High Dynamic Range and Adaptive Exposure. When both are enabled, lighting becomes a lot less intense or marginally brighter and not as much of an eye strain.

The only problem is that it dims energy based lighting to a nearly imperceptible amount. It affects but is not limited to most abilities, whether friends' or foes'. This makes it especially difficult to avoid enemy abilities, i.e. toxic clouds and Nullifier shields. It's not at all helpful in high-octane situations but it does help with the visual fidelity of lighting in certain levels, so I am torn with having them enabled or disabled. I often have to toggle them and it's nothing more than but a mild annoyance.

Here are a few examples with both options toggled OFF and ON:

• OFF - Orb Vallis looks exceptionally bright and practically lively

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• ON - Orb Vallis looks realistically bleak and atmospheric

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• OFF - Simulacrum looks pitch black but the Nullifier shield is perfectly visible

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• ON - Simulacrum now looks more appealing to roam but the Nullifier shield is nigh undetectable

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• OFF - The Nullifier shield looks completely normal from a closer perspective

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• ON - The Nullifier shield is hardly visible now

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Edited August 31, 2019 by JRMC