Atomic Systems

What bothers me the most are sharp edges of shadows across a curved transition area. That's so unnatural. The stencil shadow to create a model that works properly is a real horror. There are many examples (even in some original models of RSC) where such shadow scatters on all sides. Is there anyone like me that hates the way the shadow appears in RailWorks?

Regards
Vlado

vlado960 wrote:Is there anyone like me that hates the way the shadow appears in RailWorks?

Absolutely! I hate the hard edges, the tendancy to splinter when cast across objects, the huge hit on frame rates, but mainly I hate the massive effort needed to create working shadow models for anything but the simplist of shapes. Users of my stuff will have noticed they don't have any stencil shadows.

Dave B

My pet hate as well guys,
particually as its effect is magnified the darker the source....... black loco's are a nightmare..

Working on something on this area.

Sly

Is this reffering for example to the shadows on the side of the black 5? I have long since hated the shadows in RS and RW and they are a constant pain to me. I have just been using the 8f and that has similar issues. It frustrates me ever so much.

vlado960 wrote:What bothers me the most are sharp edges of shadows across a curved transition area. That's so unnatural. The stencil shadow to create a model that works properly is a real horror. There are many examples (even in some original models of RSC) where such shadow scatters on all sides. Is there anyone like me that hates the way the shadow appears in RailWorks?

Regards
Vlado

I absolutely hate them, not just in Railsim but all games that use them.
Crytek's CryEngine uses a technique called Cascaded Shadow Maps (they dropped stencil shadows after FarCry).
In my opinion, if RS were to switch to using some kind of modern shadow map technique, that would totally transform the graphics side of the game (if done properly).

All shadow techniques have a negative hit on the frame rate, but even if they could implement them just as an option for those of us who invest in good graphics hardware, it would still be worth it.

I believe this would be in references to the shadows that are casted on the floor, not the side of the loco.

I believe this would be in references to the shadows that are casted on the floor, not the side of the loco.

Yes, that is what I am refering to, however it is my understanding that the shadows that the loco casts on itself, and the shadows it casts on to other objects are implemented as the same code. This is typically how things are done in game engines. The only difference is that with self shadowing (shadows on the side of the loco), the caster and receiver object are the same.

Stable self shadowing using shadow maps is bit of a pain to implement, but many game engines have managed it ok, and it generally seems to give softer edges to the shadows than shadow volume techniques. Another option might be to have an option that disables self shadowing altogether.

In any case, I am sure RS engineers are aware of the different options and in time will improve the feature.

i never use high detail shadows in any game, they're usually not worth it.

Ryosuke wrote:i never use high detail shadows in any game, they're usually not worth it.

I always use shadow, because without them it seems as object levitates.

davveb wrote:

vlado960 wrote:Is there anyone like me that hates the way the shadow appears in RailWorks?

Absolutely! I hate the hard edges, the tendancy to splinter when cast across objects, the huge hit on frame rates, but mainly I hate the massive effort needed to create working shadow models for anything but the simplist of shapes. Users of my stuff will have noticed they don't have any stencil shadows.

Dave B

1000% agree

hi

i only can tell you why i don't use the stencil shadow on my objects anymore. because i don't want to spend days/weeks to only
create shadows. also this method is limited in my opinion, you can't create 1:1 shadows for an object, otherwise the
FPS will run into the cellar. i think for simple buildings it's actually ok.

regards

Rail-X

I don't have objections toward the method and will use stencil shadows in future as well. Its very easy to create shadows using PUSH-modifier in 3ds to make the model bit smaller and then using STL check to fix the problem areas.
It is time taking process but the results talk for themselves who have managed to beat the devil from it. Having directx shadows from every polygon would be much more resource intensive than current approach with separate low polygon model.

vlado960 wrote:

Ryosuke wrote:i never use high detail shadows in any game, they're usually not worth it.

I always use shadow, because without them it seems as object levitates.

the low detail shadows are ernough in my opinion to make it look right.

Agreed. My effort levels arn't high enoungh to create a shadow for my class 50. :/

Trainz you can simply cone the loco lower the polys and your sorted. Also shadows on trainz only cast on objects and the ground, they do not cast on the loco, Auran generated a soft shadow shade...But it can't cast onto other objects, only its self. If that makes any sence.

Effort isn't something I have much of these days for Rs.

Cheers,
Mike

Hi Guys

I have a workaround for the stencil shadows.. that may be of interest to you
It is simple to implement and gives a consistent output.... I just need to do some more testing but results look promising.

Sly