I notice quite a few people do not use vegetation shadows, even if their PC can handle it. I absolutely LOVE vegetation shadows and wonder why some people don't use it. Maybe they just haven't checked it out...? For those who never gave it a try, here is a animated gif I made with two screenshots: one with vegetation shadows off and the other with vegetation shadows on.

 

Which picture looks more real to you? Which one gives you the feeling the sun is shining? Which one brings life and depth to the sim and makes you think 'This isn't FSX, this is P3D v2!'? ^_^

 

You're making a new topic demonstrating that higher image quality settings provide higher image quality?

You're making a new topic demonstrating that higher image quality settings provide higher image quality?

 

No, I am showing that people miss out on something great when they don't use vegetation shadows. ^_^

What is the performance hit?

It already looks pretty good without the shadows, because of how the underlying poly is textured, but yeah it looks even better with them on ...

 

(Dang, there goes another 2 FPS ...). :smile:

I run ALL the shadows on but, if I had to sacrifice any, vegetation shadows would be among the last to go.  They add so much depth to the scenery.

What is the performance hit?

 

That really depends on the computer... You can't say that vegetation shadows will cost you 4 fps, period. On my current PC I don't really notice a difference in performance but I have fps limited: I think I should be able to measue a difference with fps at unlimited. But I've stopped watching at the fps counter and performance feels just as good with or without vegetation shadows. Others may have to disable other options if they want to enable this one.

I like Veggie shadows, but as pointed out, most terrain tiles already have the shadow baked on based on the time of day to original photo images were taken.  When the tree shadows start to look a little odd is late the day ... they stretch out pretty far ... I think this can be controlled in the prepar3d.cfg, but I'm not sure.

 

Also, I just found out that some of the Orbx trees are classed as buildings and respond to Building shadows On/Off and not Veggie shadows On/Off.  For those that don't know, objects that are classed as buildings are not as efficiently rendered as native Tree class.  I'm hoping Orbx will take a look at this as it will be on source of performance drops that many may not realize. 

 

Cheers, Rob.

 

 

I like Veggie shadows, but as pointed out, most terrain tiles already have the shadow baked on based on the time of day to original photo images were taken. When the tree shadows start to look a little odd is late the day ... they stretch out pretty far ... I think this can be controlled in the prepar3d.cfg, but I'm not sure.

 

Yes, it's a pity there are also tree shadows baked into the ground textures.... But the tree shadows aren't only there to throw shadows on the ground: they bring depth to the trees and forests themselves! The trees on the top of the hill in my screenshot look very flat and dull in the shot without shadows: it even makes the hill itself look rather flat: not much happening there. But with the shadows you suddenly see small ridges and things like that (don't know how to say that exactly in English ^_^ ). There is far more depth.

I usually don't notice the trees' ground shadows until it's get quite late and the sun is low or, as in my screenshot, when the trees are on a hill and the sun shines down on them in a specific angle: in that case the shadows can indeed get a bit long... Would be nice if this could indeed be controlled using the cfg...! Any idea where you read that?

But the tree shadows aren't only there to throw shadows on the ground: they bring depth to the trees and forests themselves!

 

Oh yes, I completely agree.  Are you running Extreme on Veggie density?

 

No I can't remember the setting, and I usually add those types of settings in my P3D document (it's getting long, 63 pages now).  I'd have to google search it.

 

Cheers, Rob.

Oh yes, I completely agree.  Are you running Extreme on Veggie density?

 

No I can't remember the setting, and I usually add those types of settings in my P3D document (it's getting long, 63 pages now).  I'd have to google search it.

 

Extreme, yes (all settings on that options page are full right here: only water detail is off).

 

Wow, 63 pages...! ^_^ I'll see what I can find myself. Could be interesting.

Those veggie shadow do look fantastic, but they do hit my PC rather hard.. I guess I could remove my tree desity tweaks and run them, but I love to have ultra dense veg pushed as far as it will draw.

 

Apart from the issues Rob highlights I guess running them is nice if you have the BHP...

Great pic J Van E. Will give the a try. The improvement in your pic is pretty massive.

I don't use them as they flicker and look bad on my PC I think it has to do with my drivers 337.88

Prefer the look of them too but like above my veg/building shadows

flicker and pulse enough to force me to turn them off.

 

gb.