Guild Wars 2

This one is for the devs!

In the Graphics Options, when setting Shaders to High, there seems to be some kind of light source added to the characters. However, this light source is constantly coming from the right and it moves with the camera, rather than coming from a set ambiant light source (the sun/moon).

Is this intended?

You might to be confusing diffuse and specular light. Diffuse/ambient light is what you see all around you, while specular light is light photons that are directly reflected off a surface into your eyes, and will always be eye/camera-relative.

That’s why when you look into a mirror, the reflection follows your eye position.

Yes, this has been in-game since the beginning, like the sun is always to your right no matter what direction you’re facing, not that I’ve ever seen a sun in the sky (just the moon) but whatever.

Kinda like you’re being chased around by a camera man with light pole that’s always on your right lol

gah… that used to bother me a lil but now that you pointed it out, it is bothering me even more!

This issue was in topic posted week ago. It is artistic light attached to camera. The OP of that other topic noted that shadows changes when the camera is moved; no character or scene changed.

It would be nice if the shader settings would be different from this artistic light. The artistic light could have its own setting; on/off, creates shadow or not. The artistic light could take its color from the environment, or be user adjustable. Now it is too white for me.

PS. I use low shader settings due this light. All shaders are of low quality then. Think about latest generation shaders; how to get them and not this light…

For those who don’t understand what I’m talking about, I drew on top of some screenshots. Maybe it will help you understand, maybe it will confuse you even more.

In the 1st screenshot, I use medium shaders. The light source I’m referring to is not present.

In the 2nd screenshot, I use high shaders. The light source is on the right.

In the 3rd screenshot, I use high shaders. Although I turned the camera around, the light source is still on the right.

It think it would make a lot more sense if the light source actually matched the ambiant directional light (the one which casts the actual shadow). That’s why I’m asking whether this is an artistic choice, or is it a bug?

Well, lets not wonder if it is a bug or not. The light makes hair look plastic in any case. We need better lighting.

I would prefer immersive environment: no artificial light sources, not even ambient lights. Just the natural light formation (radiosity, ambient occlusion, etc). Then as options, add extra features. Skyrim has a mod called face light and a mod which allows player to add lights to anywhere; they are used for screenshotting and for mod reviews.

In this game, I go close to light sources, like torches and fires. I equip a torch, or Cobalt, for better light. (Because I don’t use high shader setting.)

Has this game items which can be dropped to ground or table, and they light the environment? I like Cobalt, torches, because they light the environment, not all does that – does legendaries? Fiery greatsword that can be dropped to ground?

AnniMira.2506:

Well, lets not wonder if it is a bug or not. The light makes hair look plastic in any case. We need better lighting.

I would prefer immersive environment: no artificial light sources, not even ambient lights. Just the natural light formation (radiosity, ambient occlusion, etc). Then as options, add extra features. Skyrim has a mod called face light and a mod which allows player to add lights to anywhere; they are used for screenshotting and for mod reviews.

In this game, I go close to light sources, like torches and fires. I equip a torch, or Cobalt, for better light. (Because I don’t use high shader setting.)

Has this game items which can be dropped to ground or table, and they light the environment? I like Cobalt, torches, because they light the environment, not all does that – does legendaries? Fiery greatsword that can be dropped to ground?

You can’t do real-time indirect lighting (e.g raytracing, radiosity, and similar) with the currently available computing power. The best you can do is screen space ambient occlusion, also known as SSAO or simply “ambient occlusion”.

The problem is it doesn’t quite do what you think it does. It is just a postprocessing filter that changes the contrast around objects in the scene, which makes it look like some light is spreading out and creating shadows from our POV.

This is what the “screen space” in the name actually means.

That is also why ANet takes this approach to try to give the illusion of natural lighting for something that is not yet possible. All high-intensity graphics games like Crysis actually use a combination of direct lighting and SSAO only.

It just looks like they are doing something more because of the level of effort put into creating the artistic illusion of real indirect lighting and shadowing.

To be fair, this game makes a far better attempt than most MMOs.