Artificial light in Erebor

Let me first say that I think the expanded Erebor looks grand. Love it. This has to do with the artificial light following you around in Erebor. I would suggest tuning it down a bit, and maybe add more torches, candlelights and other natural light-sources. I know this is a thing in Mirkwood as well as other areas in the game, and I've posted threads about it before, and it feels unnatural and slighty breaks immersion when you have lights casting shadows of you out of nowhere. So, tune the artificial surrounded light down a notch, if removing it altogether is not an option, and add more natural lights on walls, poles, floors and roofs for a more realistic lighting.

Thanks for your feedback, Brethwyn.

Way back when we made Moria, we had a lot of internal discussion about how to best present a player light. Ideally, we would have loved for a lamp of some sort to appear on the avatar but we weren't able to make this effect happen in a way that was satisfactory.

When building a space that uses such lighting, we do have some constraints in regards to the other light sources we can place in a scene. Each asset in the scene can only be influenced by a set number of light sources before the lightning engine gets spectacularly angry about it. With Erebor, we tried to strike a balance between a suitable number of actual light sources that could effectively fill a space with light and larger fill lights for economy of resources and rendering performance. We can certainly look into ways we can squeeze a few more lighting sources in, but their effectiveness at lighting the scenes would have to be minimal because of the engine concerns.

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Originally Posted by Scenario

Thanks for your feedback, Brethwyn.

Way back when we made Moria, we had a lot of internal discussion about how to best present a player light. Ideally, we would have loved for a lamp of some sort to appear on the avatar but we weren't able to make this effect happen in a way that was satisfactory.

When building a space that uses such lighting, we do have some constraints in regards to the other light sources we can place in a scene. Each asset in the scene can only be influenced by a set number of light sources before the lightning engine gets spectacularly angry about it. With Erebor, we tried to strike a balance between a suitable number of actual light sources that could effectively fill a space with light and larger fill lights for economy of resources and rendering performance. We can certainly look into ways we can squeeze a few more lighting sources in, but their effectiveness at lighting the scenes would have to be minimal because of the engine concerns.

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One thing that is important is to make sure characters do have shadows cast even indoors. If I'm in my home, even with dim lights, I still cast a shadow on the floor. It's why I rarely take any screenshots indoors in LoTTRO or in many places in Moria. It just looks really "fake" and not realistic, almost as if Your feets are flotaing above ground when there is no shadow at all.

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Originally Posted by Scenario

Thanks for your feedback, Brethwyn.

Way back when we made Moria, we had a lot of internal discussion about how to best present a player light. Ideally, we would have loved for a lamp of some sort to appear on the avatar but we weren't able to make this effect happen in a way that was satisfactory.

When building a space that uses such lighting, we do have some constraints in regards to the other light sources we can place in a scene. Each asset in the scene can only be influenced by a set number of light sources before the lightning engine gets spectacularly angry about it. With Erebor, we tried to strike a balance between a suitable number of actual light sources that could effectively fill a space with light and larger fill lights for economy of resources and rendering performance. We can certainly look into ways we can squeeze a few more lighting sources in, but their effectiveness at lighting the scenes would have to be minimal because of the engine concerns.

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I appreciate the feedback and look forward to what your engineers will do in the future. It is good to get an actual reason for it, besides "I want the player to see themselves."

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scenario

Thanks for your feedback, Brethwyn.

Way back when we made Moria, we had a lot of internal discussion about how to best present a player light. Ideally, we would have loved for a lamp of some sort to appear on the avatar but we weren't able to make this effect happen in a way that was satisfactory.

When building a space that uses such lighting, we do have some constraints in regards to the other light sources we can place in a scene. Each asset in the scene can only be influenced by a set number of light sources before the lightning engine gets spectacularly angry about it. With Erebor, we tried to strike a balance between a suitable number of actual light sources that could effectively fill a space with light and larger fill lights for economy of resources and rendering performance. We can certainly look into ways we can squeeze a few more lighting sources in, but their effectiveness at lighting the scenes would have to be minimal because of the engine concerns.

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As someone lacking low-contrast vision, it's pretty much impossible for me to play in dark areas if there are no torches, or the character is not lit. In some areas of the game, I already have to depend on friends to lead me through quests. Still other areas, I can't play at all when it's nighttime in-game. (I use this time to hit the store, or just log off). While lighting the character without real world reasoning can break the illusion, for players like myself (admittedly, likely not many), lighting the character is vital to accessing the game at all.

I understand that you have to weigh player perspectives, and that my personal need doesn't supersede those who want something more realistic in-game, but I hope it can be a consideration. Thanks!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scenario

Thanks for your feedback, Brethwyn.

Way back when we made Moria, we had a lot of internal discussion about how to best present a player light. Ideally, we would have loved for a lamp of some sort to appear on the avatar but we weren't able to make this effect happen in a way that was satisfactory.

When building a space that uses such lighting, we do have some constraints in regards to the other light sources we can place in a scene. Each asset in the scene can only be influenced by a set number of light sources before the lightning engine gets spectacularly angry about it. With Erebor, we tried to strike a balance between a suitable number of actual light sources that could effectively fill a space with light and larger fill lights for economy of resources and rendering performance. We can certainly look into ways we can squeeze a few more lighting sources in, but their effectiveness at lighting the scenes would have to be minimal because of the engine concerns.

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I'd like to recommend that, perhaps, instead of limiting current light, to try instead to provide........ a "copy" of sorts of another form of light in Dwarven halls that worked in both Thorin's and the Twenty-First Hall, if it is possible performance-wise:

Would adding a "window" of light shining through the ceiling do the trick- as it did in the 21st Hall in Moria? The Thorin's version's nice, but I think it wouldn't fit as well. But copying the Twenty-First Hall "roof-window" of light could potentially provide a "reason" behind the overabundance of light that's currently in that part of Erebor, rather than trying to make it darker and adding torches. Erebor's not Moria in that sense- its not supposed to be dark when its settled :D