Hello. I'm new here so give me a chance. :)
PCMusicGuy worte:
They have removed the original shadow system as shown in the first E3 video and replaced it with a lesser system because there is no way current hardware could run without any slowdowns.
I've seen this rumor before at another site. VE I think, or Beyond3D. At any rate that's just what it is, a rumor. The game WILL have full shadow capablity. I'll find the link if you like.....
You are quite mistaken. I did make a mistake in my original post however. The shadows are on all characters. Here is all of the official comment made by game developers.
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They are a form of shadow maps, though the technique we are using currently differs from the one we showed at E3. Our initial shadow tests were done using cube maps on every surface, but after extensive testing we found them to be too slow overall to use as a general solution. We have switched to doing single shadow maps directed at characters. The system supports full self-shadowing and we do multiple samples and depth comparisons to provide a soft-shadowing effect. The net effect we have achieved is a system general enough to handle Oblivion's diverse environments while still providing great visuals and good performance.
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(kathode @ Jan 28 2006, 09:50 PM)
The shadows I talked about in the Beyond3D interview (http://www.beyond3d.com/interviews/oblivion). Only characters get shadows now.
Other than that, no major changes have taken place in either the renderer or art assets that would affect quality of visuals on a global scale, so if you think it looks worse then it's an effect of video compression or low settings (or you've just been looking at Oblivion stuff way too long )
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(kathode @ Jan 29 2006, 12:00 AM)
Sorry if I was vague. Characters cast shadows on everything. Objects don't cast, they just receive shadows from characters. The exception is the trees - tree canopies cast shadows down on everything like you see in the screenshots.
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(kathode @ Jan 29 2006, 01:31 AM)
No more universal shadows. They're all exact representations of the character. And they're soft shadows, if that wasn't clear. And they stretch and fade over distances.
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(kathode @ Jan 29 2006, 03:36 AM)
You don't need shadows to have dark places, so yes, you can sneak through dark places.
QUOTE(kathode)
Shadows are something that have to be tested throughout the entire world to make sure the system handles every area possible. The system we're using now differs 100% from the one we were using. If we wanted to maintain two completely distinct shadow systems, we'd effectively double our workload as far as testing and bug-fixing goes. That would be what you would call "not smart."
QUOTE(kathode)
That's actually not "shadowing" per se. That's just light and dark spots caused by the standard directional light from the sun. Directional light gives you hot and dark spots but doesn't actually cast a shadow from one object to the next. No screenshots should show the old shadowing system unless they're grabs from the trailer or e3 vids.
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(MrSmileyFaceDude @ Jan 29 2006, 08:33 PM)
Take a look at this picture.
Every piece of food, every plate, bowl, cup, fork, knife, the books, scroll, soul gems, gold coins, and winebottles, plus everything on the shelves and table in the background, is an object that you can pick up. You can read the books, you can eat the food or combine it to make potions, drink the wine, or sell all of it. Or you can take it somewhere else and put it in a pile. You can drag the items around, you can use telekinesis to manipulate them, you can hit them with your weapon, or you can fire an area effect spell at them and they'll all go flying.
OR, we could change it so that the objects are static -- there's no interaction, they're fixed in place. Instead of an apple in a bowl for example, you'd see a "bowl of apples" object that you could never move, that would act as a container and always looked full of apples even if you took all of the apples out. Either that or there's nothing there but static, non-interactive objects, and we only allow you to place items from your inventory into containers and not into the world. Because that's the type of thing we'd have to do -- on PC or on Xbox 360 -- to allow everything to cast shadows of their own.
So which is more important to you? Shadows on everything, or lots of stuff to interact with, take, drop, use, buy or sell?
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("Hayt on Somethingawful")
1. Why does everyone automatically assume things were changed to accomodate the 360 version?
2. The shadow rendering has changed. It is not the same system used in the E3 demo. It is not possible to leave options in the .ini for a system that doesn't exist.
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(VXSS @ Jan 30 2006, 02:37 PM)
Its a little late to axe anything now. What is in, is in. There is no looking back. We axe anything now and we are looking at possibly heavy changes that we do not think are needed right now. Plus, it means more work that, trust me, NONE of us wants right now.
In the end, the Official word on shadows will be seen once you install on PC or put the disk in your 360. I simply do not think showing a few screenshots will be able to portray how the shadows work. They add a lot to the visuals, but in all honesty, they arent everything. When I have them turned on, I dont even notice them since the game is a whole lot more than just graphics.
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