No ground shadows...

[Gottedammerung 0]

I really think the ground shadows cast from buildings really sets the scene for me, but I don;t seem to have them, even though I have "Scenery Casts Shadows" checked. I have a Geforce 9600 GT, with Vista. FSX is fatched to SP2, and I also have UTX, but no matter how much I check it and uncheck it, in both FSX and UT, I can;t get them. Anyone got any ideas?

[Guest firehawk44]

I really think the ground shadows cast from buildings really sets the scene for me, but I don;t seem to have them, even though I have "Scenery Casts Shadows" checked. I have a Geforce 9600 GT, with Vista. FSX is fatched to SP2, and I also have UTX, but no matter how much I check it and uncheck it, in both FSX and UT, I can;t get them. Anyone got any ideas?

Do you have autogen turned on?Jim

[Gottedammerung 0]

Do you have autogen turned on?Jim

I most certainly do, up one step from top, both sliders.

[Guest firehawk44]

I most certainly do, up one step from top, both sliders.

Then I would delete FSX.cfg (rename FSX.cfg to FSX.old) and restart the sim.Jim

[Gottedammerung 0]

Then I would delete FSX.cfg (rename FSX.cfg to FSX.old) and restart the sim.Jim

Thanks for that. I haven;t got time to try it tonight, but I'll try first thing tomorrow.

[Guest UlfB]

I really think the ground shadows cast from buildings really sets the scene for me, but I don;t seem to have them, even though I have "Scenery Casts Shadows" checked. I have a Geforce 9600 GT, with Vista. FSX is fatched to SP2, and I also have UTX, but no matter how much I check it and uncheck it, in both FSX and UT, I can;t get them. Anyone got any ideas?

In FSX scenery shadows, when enabled, are only displayed for "custom" buildings. No shadows for autogen objects. This is a big difference between FS9 and FSX. But I guess that the sim would be unflyable if autogen objects also where displayed with shadows.

[Guest firehawk44]

In FSX scenery shadows, when enabled, are only displayed for "custom" buildings. No shadows for autogen objects. This is a big difference between FS9 and FSX. But I guess that the sim would be unflyable if autogen objects also where displayed with shadows.

Didn't know that but it makes sense. I don't use autogen 99% of the time so haven't had the opportunity to see what autogen does with shadows. I did a search over at Phil Taylor's website for "shadows" and came up with several hits with potential solutions IF deleting the FSX.cfg does not work: http://blogs.msdn.com/ptaylor/search.aspx?q=shadows&p=1.Jim

[Gottedammerung 0]

In FSX scenery shadows, when enabled, are only displayed for "custom" buildings. No shadows for autogen objects. This is a big difference between FS9 and FSX. But I guess that the sim would be unflyable if autogen objects also where displayed with shadows.

Wow, so am I right in thinking that the majority of buildings will not cast shadows? My heart sinks. Shadows really create a realistic atmosphere, in my opinion. There's nothing like an evening flight with that lovely misty light, and long shadows being cast as the sun sinks.I'm glum now.Firehawk, thanks for that link, much appreciated.

[Guest jshyluk]

Wow, so am I right in thinking that the majority of buildings will not cast shadows? My heart sinks. Shadows really create a realistic atmosphere, in my opinion. There's nothing like an evening flight with that lovely misty light, and long shadows being cast as the sun sinks.I'm glum now.Firehawk, thanks for that link, much appreciated.

I usually leave the building shadows off. While I agree with you about the aesthetics of shadows in the real world, I don't think the FSX shadows are realistic or appealing. Much of it has to do with the nature of shadowing and the limitations of FSX technology. However, there's a lot more to shadows than just a lack of light: you have to look at ambient light, reflective light sources, atmostpheric perspective, edge diffusion and colour opposites, among other things. In FSX, shadows are treated as a simple transparent shade (shade= colour mixed with black, as opposed to tint) overlay on the scenery. It looks a bit like real shadows, but if you take the time to study real aerial shadows, the FSX version comes up as being ineffective, at least to me. Jeff ShylukAssistant Managing EditorSenior Staff ReviewerAVSIM

[1mikel151 71]

Wow, so am I right in thinking that the majority of buildings will not cast shadows? My heart sinks. Shadows really create a realistic atmosphere, in my opinion. There's nothing like an evening flight with that lovely misty light, and long shadows being cast as the sun sinks.I'm glum now.Firehawk, thanks for that link, much appreciated.

I absolutely agree. Even if the FS shadows are not as realistic as in real life, they are 100 times more realistic than no shadows IMO. I have seen some fantastic screenshots that were ruined by having shadows turned off.I have been doing some new scenery objects with the new FSX self shadowing. While it looks really great, it takes a huge toll on resources.Here's hoping they change the lighting code and parameters in FS11