Curious about a shadow feature and if you can do it.

DaveKap · November 2010

Something that has constantly bothered me with newer engines is their inability to shadow the character I'm playing as. If I see lights on the wall with shadows flowing across them and I jump in front of the source to only see my character is not casting shadows, I <i>really</i> feel like the experience is broken. Could you maybe make it an option to have our characters cast shadows?

I unfortunately know nothing about shadowing technology and figure it slows most people down if you try to do this, but it's your engine, a new engine, and I think you should allow things that others never bother with!

pSyk0mAn · November 2010

You cast shadows in thirdperson mode.
Type "thirdperson" in console, maybe "cheats 1" before that.

Might be interesting to know what exactly UWE has planned regarding player shadows.

SgtBarlow · November 2010

That would require a full model to be present as you to cast a shadow from rather than just a gun and a pair of hands, Doing that would also mean you could incindently then see your own chest, more of your arms and your leggs when you look down because it would be weard of the model tilted with you to avoid all that, you could see your own shadow at a weard angle so the whole things needs to be done properly so it does not look bad.

I would imagine it would take a whole load of rerigging (the seperate view model would need to merged with a full body, it can become complicated), extra design and animation to give the player their own full body character to the right standard of quality and function thats not there in the current set. (The view models are way higher detail and of finer finnish than the 3rd person models)

Something they could actually do but it means an extra cost to performance. So yeh making it an option would be okay.

Probably some side project in the future to look at, they need to weigh up of its really worth putting time & money into, like Will doing this bring more attraction more custom therefore pay for its self?
If there is enougth interest then yeh then the cards would be slapped on the table and it be done provided they have the time, I think there is a big want, i actually seen loads of people saying in FPS games over the years actualy caring about that little detail of being able to look down and see your own self.

You need to be able to do it right though, I seen some games do it and it look weard, Although the want might be there and you do it, people then might go, "Oh, Actually this feels kind of weard" because its just something they aint used to seeing in an game when in first person, so do you just leave it as it is and go with what people are used to or do you try and force a new trend and take a risk. - Thats an anlysis a game company might make and decide on, "Do we do it or not?" - I say your missing a big peice of a puzzle here in your line of thought : <b>Let the user decide with a config option!</b>

Chris0132 · November 2010

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SgtBarlow @ Nov 13 2010, 06:43 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1805473"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>That would require a full model to be present as you to cast a shadow from rather than just a gun and a pair of hands, Doing that would also mean you could incindently then see your own chest, more of your arms and your leggs when you look down because it would be weard of the model tilted with you to avoid all that, you could see your own shadow at a weard angle so the whole things needs to be done properly so it does not look bad.

I would imagine it would take a whole load of rerigging (the seperate view model would need to merged with a full body, it can become complicated), extra design and animation to give the player their own full body character to the right standard of quality and function thats not there in the current set. (The view models are way higher detail and of finer finnish than the 3rd person models)

Something they could actually do but it means an extra cost to performance. So yeh making it an option would be okay.

Probably some side project in the future to look at, they need to weigh up of its really worth putting time & money into, like Will doing this bring more attraction more custom therefore pay for its self?
If there is enougth interest then yeh then the cards would be slapped on the table and it be done provided they have the time, I think there is a big want, i actually seen loads of people saying in FPS games over the years actualy caring about that little detail of being able to look down and see your own self.

You need to be able to do it right though, I seen some games do it and it look weard, Although the want might be there and you do it, people then might go, "Oh, Actually this feels kind of weard" because its just something they aint used to seeing in an game when in first person, so do you just leave it as it is and go with what people are used to or do you try and force a new trend and take a risk. - Thats an anlysis a game company might make and decide on, "Do we do it or not?" - I say your missing a big peice of a puzzle here in your line of thought : <b>Let the user decide with a config option!</b></div>

You can make the model invisible with no textures and a low LOD level but still have it cast shadows.

SgtBarlow · November 2010

As a marine if you look down you would see a shadow casting from nothing where your legs should be at the start of the shadow, it would look rather daft so although yes you could do that, you would have to ask Cory if he thinks that sort of finnish is acceptable or not. My guess is that it would be a no no if it looked like that as NS2 is nitty picked down to the finest detail because they want a top notch finnish.

Not saying they would not want to ful fill a large request but would want to do it properly if they had the time to.

I do find it satisfying going 3rd person as a lerk and flying past a flood light, the shadow looks epic.

DaveKap · November 2010

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SgtBarlow @ Nov 14 2010, 06:37 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1805593"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>As a marine if you look down you would see a shadow casting from nothing where your legs should be at the start of the shadow, it would look rather daft so although yes you could do that, you would have to ask Cory if he thinks that sort of finnish is acceptable or not. My guess is that it would be a no no if it looked like that as NS2 is nitty picked down to the finest detail because they want a top notch finnish.

Not saying they would not want to ful fill a large request but would want to do it properly if they had the time to.

I do find it satisfying going 3rd person as a lerk and flying past a flood light, the shadow looks epic.</div>
Incidentally, I love every single game I have played that let me see my character's body when I looked down. I think this game should be one of those games. Also agreed that it should be a config option.

saiko · November 2010

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DaveKap @ Nov 16 2010, 05:46 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1805665"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>I love every single game I have played that let me see my character's body when I looked down.</div>

Can you list some of them?
I'm rather curious, I either don't play any games that have this, or I simply just don't notice it when they have put it in.

Chris0132 · November 2010

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SgtBarlow @ Nov 15 2010, 02:37 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1805593"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>As a marine if you look down you would see a shadow casting from nothing where your legs should be at the start of the shadow, it would look rather daft so although yes you could do that, you would have to ask Cory if he thinks that sort of finnish is acceptable or not. My guess is that it would be a no no if it looked like that as NS2 is nitty picked down to the finest detail because they want a top notch finnish.

Not saying they would not want to ful fill a large request but would want to do it properly if they had the time to.

I do find it satisfying going 3rd person as a lerk and flying past a flood light, the shadow looks epic.</div>

Pretty sure crysis does it, if it uses legs I never noticed, usually you aren't looking at your feet, you're looking ahead of you, which mean you don't see anything but the shadow anyway. Black ops certainly doesn't use legs and it casts shadows off your body.

SgtBarlow · November 2010

Thanks for the info, i been meaning to look at other titles so I can use them as a ref and say so I will checkout soon, hey these titles have done it and it works alright so then yeh, maybe.

Chris0132 · November 2010

It's mostly just because you don't look down much, plus it has utility features, a marine needs to know if he's casting a shadow down the hall to announce his presence to the aliens, and aliens especially need to know if they're doing it. But neither one should have their view obstructed by unneccesary model geometry. Plus it's within suspension of disbelief to assume your body is invisible for gameplay purposes, but you still affect the world with footsteps and shadows and whatnot.

Deadzone · November 2010

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Chris0132 @ Nov 18 2010, 04:36 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1806332"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>It's mostly just because you don't look down much, plus it has utility features, a marine needs to know if he's casting a shadow down the hall to announce his presence to the aliens, and aliens especially need to know if they're doing it. But neither one should have their view obstructed by unneccesary model geometry. Plus it's within suspension of disbelief to assume your body is invisible for gameplay purposes, but you still affect the world with footsteps and shadows and whatnot.</div>

This is pretty solid reasoning. I agree that I don't really care if I see my body when I look down. I *would* like to know if my shadow is announcing my position to half the other team.

For all I care, you could have a little dotted outline of where my feet meet the floor, and have the shadow stem out of that.

Curious about a shadow feature and if you can do it.

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