Shadow issues and potential fixes

Discussion in 'Technical & Support' started by Jason Whited, Dec 22, 2018.

  1. Jason Whited

    Jason Whited Registered

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    Since forever I've had a shadow issue in rF2, and I think it's time to address it. I'm hoping a bit of conversation here will aide me in that quest, or at least make it easier perhaps.

    Anyways, most here probably know the issue. I've saw threads on it a few times, and was reading an old one the other day, but most of them are older and I didn't want to drag them up and have issues conflated or whatnot...so, new thread it is.

    Shadows being drawn a few meters ahead of me...or should I say, being redrawn?....very far ahead, they look ok...directly in front of the car, ok. From 3-4 meters ahead, to maybe 12-15 meters ahead, they are all screwed up. .....like I said, we've probably all read about this issue.

    Now the other night I'm here, and I'm reading a thread or two on this issue and I see some stuff about AMD processors and disabling cores and this being a "fix", etc etc etc.
    However, I don't have an AMD processor.

    BUT, I do have an Intel G4600. It's HT.
    I'm wondering if this isn't the cause of this issue, and I'm wondering if it'd be worth it to disable the virtual cores and see if this fixes this issue. ...I've learned to ignore it, most times, but it can be distracting, and it's not so cool when trying to show off this awesome sim, yet have to explain why the hell the shadows are all blurred out ahead of me.

    If it is recommended to test this, what would be the recommended way to do so (easiest way)...
    Should I disable HT through BIOS, or could it be easier to do it just for rF2 with some software or something?
    This is mainly what I'm looking for, recommendations on the easiest way to do that.

    Now, in all my other sims, I have no issues like this, so I don't want to mess around too much and make changes that apply to them as well, so this is why I am asking before proceeding.
    Just fishing around for those that know this issue and have sound advice....so TIA if you are one of those people and can spare a few seconds to toss a comment here.

    Looking forward to tackling this issue today so I can get back to driving all the awesome content in the best simulator on the planet!

    GIGABYTE GA-B250M-DS3H
    G4600 Kaby Lake Dual-Core 3.6 GHz
    Crucial 8GB DDR4 2133
    Gigabyte 1050Ti

    Quick video without setting up to record anything of viewing worth beyond showing the issue. Not used to youtube uploading.

    It's obvious everywhere, but at 1:08 or so I move onto the oval (I think I have the video set to start there) and this is where it is most apparent. I have this issue on all tracks. In other lighting, it's "reduced", but it's there.
    Same issue at Sebring (all layouts)...and any other official tracks, as well as well done mods.

     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2018
  2. marvelharvey

    marvelharvey Registered

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    Do you have any screenshots or videos showing the redrawing?
     
  3. Jason Whited

    Jason Whited Registered

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    I could get both, sure.
    I was more interested in response from those that know and understand the issue as it's been discussed more than a few times and I was going easy route verse going through making a vid this morning. Screenshots don't really do it justice..lol

    Video it is then. Back in a bit with that.
     
  4. Dmitri

    Dmitri Registered

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    There you go. I think this is what we are talking about. This is not my video but i am dealing with exact same shit myself.
    Realy annoying, when trying to do some quality video wich will promote this sim as well ..and you get this. (35:20 good example)
     
  5. Dmitri

    Dmitri Registered

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    Btw
    core i5 8400
    Gtx1060 6gb ect.
    ..and with this kind of hardware i get this kind of pictire. Cmon guys at Studio 397, deal with it or at least address it so we (customer's) knew that you are aware and doing something about it.
     
  6. Jason Whited

    Jason Whited Registered

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    Thanks, was about to make a video but this saves me the time.
    Yes, that's the issue same issue. And it's far worse and more ugly when the shadows are being rendered on track this way, constantly being redrawn or whatever out ahead of me. For example, Daytona RC....the oval sector. The catch fence shadows are "walking" up the track being redrawn, all the while out at a distance and right in front of the car they are fine....it's that area between 3-4 meters and 12-15 meters or so that is blurred and being "redrawn" (if that's the right wording for it)...

    I read some saying disabling cores fixed this. That was AMD though.
    And, I was doing some assuming, that maybe the dual core hyper threaded CPU of mine is causing the problem in a similar way.

    I think I will try disabling HT in BIOS, see if it helps. If it does, I'll move on to finding some way not to permanently disable HT, but only in rF2.
     
  7. Jason Whited

    Jason Whited Registered

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    I think it has been addressed. At least in the threads I ran across, it seemed they were trying to identify and isolate the issue, but it is seemingly hard to reproduce.
    This is not a problem all have, so it's likely hardware combinations or something to that effect, rather than some core issue S397 "needs to fix".

    You having the issue with that CPU doesn't give me much hope that what I proposed will fix anything...but then again, it's a 6 core and the stuff I was reading the other night seemed to identify 6 core (at least AMD it seemed) processors having the issue, and disabling cores worked for some.

    Idk.....do know that I'm really wanting to fix this issue though.
    I can ignore some things, and I can ignore this most times, but in the moments it matters most it always seems to catch my eye and screw me over...so really wanting to get this fixed if at all possible, asap.
     
  8. marvelharvey

    marvelharvey Registered

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    This does look like the same issue that I was plagued with earlier this year. If you roll back to build 1109, does the issue go away? (I'm not suggesting this as a solution, just curious if your bug was introduced the same time mine was).

    Hopefully it's the same, as then it should be easier for S397 to find a solution as the bug will be closely related and easier for them to find.
     
  9. Jason Whited

    Jason Whited Registered

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    I'm going to make a video and show the issue I am having in more detail. May make this easier.

    For me, the shadow issue's been present since I've been using the sim. I don't recall if it was there when it was still in DX9, wasn't using the sim much then. Ever since DX11 updates, I'm positive it's always been there. I spent a lot of time doing various things trying to fix it, to no avail.
    ....video coming in a few.

    I still think this is a user end issue, and, unless every other person using this sim is ignoring this, it seems to be specific to some users.
    Guys that run in a league I co-operate, some have it, some don't. I think it boils down to hardware combos, but more specifically, some CPUs.
    Why the CPU causes this issue, I don't know.

    I had GTX 660 SC...the issue was there.
    1050Ti these days, and issue is still present.
    CPU remains the same...and given the other things I've read, I am reaching towards something CPU related, rather than GPU...so have seemingly narrowed it down a bit.

    Anyways..off to fetch a video of this issue.

    Thanks for the feedback thus far, guys!
     
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  10. Dmitri

    Dmitri Registered

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    If it's CPU related, then maybe tryig some various drivers might solve the issue...
     
  11. Jason Whited

    Jason Whited Registered

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    Been there, done that. No joy.
    It's not driver related, imo. Considering it spans across multiple CPUs and seems to be [sometimes] both AMD and Intel processors (as indicated by other threads on this issue) ....it's something else.

    Video is in the process of uploading, showing the issue. I'll post it when it's done.
    Frikkin hour and a half to upload 520 odd mb :rolleyes:
     
  12. stonec

    stonec Registered

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    The video uses a (badly) made modded track so it's hard to judge from that, because there are settings in tracks that affect shadows as well. Regarding shadows in general, all games cut shadow rendering off in the distance, otherwise FPS hit would be huge, so the issue is not cutting shadows off. There was a specific issue that affected people with six core CPUs, but I'm quite sure it was fixed. If you can post an example from using stock content, I can compare on my hardware to see if it's a hardware issue.

    @Jakal Ok just read you will post a video, will comment on it then.
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2018
  13. Jason Whited

    Jason Whited Registered

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    @stonec, and others.

    Added a video showing the issue to OP.
     
  14. stonec

    stonec Registered

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    @Jakal Thanks. I have to point out again this is another third party track, which visually is behind stock content in many ways, so it shouldn't really be used as benchmark. Anyway, I will download that track and compare. Also I need to know the shadow level graphics setting you used so I can replicate (it impacts the draw distance).
     
  15. Jason Whited

    Jason Whited Registered

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    Wasn't really looking for a benchmark, per say. Just showing the issue. After reading chatter at this very forum, I thought the issue was more prevalent than perhaps it actually is. *shrugs
    Like I said, the issue is present, and exactly the same, at Sebring and others. I will show this soon, I'll make a video using Sebring and add it here, in a few, doing too many things at once currently.

    Shadows level currently medium/optimal. The issue is still present at high/fast, high/optimal, low/off-fast-optimal.
    I've picked the in game shadow settings apart, as this issue is not new for me, but one that has been ever present in rF2, regardless what I do.
    Thread, and my determination to solve this because as you see it looks horrible and is very distracting, was recently sparked by stuff I was reading regarding CPU stuff and this issue.
    The rest is calculated assumption and deduction from myself. I've spent many hours trying to resolve this issue, many different things I've tried.
    It doesn't seem to be any one thing, graphics settings and such I mean. But if it's something like some wonky thing going on on a CPU level for some CPUs.
     
  16. DA-DIGGA

    DA-DIGGA Registered

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    The problem has already been solved in Discord.

    Marrs wrote,
    You may want to clear your shader cache, the files in UserData \ log \ Shaders (just delete all files there)
    then start rF2 again.

    Shadows then are fine..
     
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  17. Rikki

    Rikki Registered

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    Unfortunately that does not work for me. The screenshots show quite clearly the problems I'm experiencing. Not so much the flickering of the shadows, but otherwise identical to the OP-video. I have sent these to studio 397 2 times but did not get a reply unfortunately. Would be nice if this gets sorted, it is ruining the visual experience quite a bit. Running on Intel i5-6400 and Radeon RX 480.

    GRAB_000.JPG GRAB_001.JPG GRAB_002.JPG
     
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  18. Dmitri

    Dmitri Registered

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    No it does not.
    I've tried it.
    As for the track and official content it has exact same thing going on there as well. IveI tried shadows from low to full beam with no success.
     
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  19. Jason Whited

    Jason Whited Registered

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    Except they're not, and it doesn't.
    Things like keeping shader and cbash clean and tiddy are SOP in rF2, and I never intended this thread to be a thread on the how to's.
    If this issue was that easy to solve, I wouldn't have the issue.

    Yesterday, I spent another 6-8 hours total fooling with this, and I'm basically done screwing around with it at this point.
    Yet again, I went to drastic lengths to attempt to solve the issue. Yet again, nothing is resolved. Nothing changes it.
    Even my assumptions about CPU seem to be incorrect, and even disabling HT from BIOS had no effect. Tried with multiple settings (like aggressive threading, and without) just to be sure it was not CPU related and something similar to the 6 core CPU shadow issue that others have had. At this point, it's obvious it isn't.

    After wasting all that time, I started digging around the internet trying to find anyone that had resolved this issue.
    I found a TON of threads on this, here and abound, yet not one actual solution.

    What I do know is, I'd like at least an answer on this. .....at the very least, some type of admission from devs that it is (for some...and quite a few, at that!) an actual issue that is known. I don't even care if they do anything about it at this point, just tell me it can't be fixed so I can quite worrying with trying to fix the unfixable. That would be enough to satisfy me. I mean, hell, I've been ignoring it for 2 frikkin years, I think I can go back to that if need be :rolleyes:

    ...what causes this issue then?
    Is it a hardware combination issue? That seems odd, especially after eliminating the CPU assumptions I made. And given the sim is running smooth as butter, I find that hard to believe.

    Is it that objects cannot (or do not) properly (or can't at all?) render shadows onto other surfaces, and in some lighting this causes the issue?

    I just want to know what it is that causes the issue. For my sanity, at this point. o_O
     
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  20. Jason Whited

    Jason Whited Registered

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    Thanks for posting those screens. Yes, exact same problem.
    The flickering of the shadows in my video is a Daytona RC thing mostly I think. The version used is an updated version of an older DX9 Daytona RC, but it suffers some of the same issues as the old one did.
    You're screens show very well exactly what I am seeing.
     

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