Change Lighting Back to the Way it Was Before Crossroads Update Please

[UpUpAway95]

I simply cannot continue playing this game since the Crossroads Elegy Update.  I've tried fiddling with the brightness settings numerous times and the interiors are so dark (even during the day) and the exteriors are so bright by comparison (particularly on a clear day) that I emerge with a serious headache after playing for only a short time.  I am elderly and have vision issues, but I did not have this issue before this update.  Please I hope you can fix this or at least expand the lighting options (even as an accessibility item).  I've really enjoyed playing this game and I really don't want to have to quit playing it.

[ManicManiac]

@UpUpAway95
In addition to the brightness settings on the game... you can also make adjustments to the brightness/contrast settings on your monitor or TV (whatever you play on).  If it's a monitor... there are also options on some models to make specific 'profiles' that you can easily switch to when you want to do something specific.  This way you don't nessisarry have to tweak your settings every time you switch from a game to regular use. 
 

[Gooner77]

I concur with  @UpUpAway95 . The new brightness system has got to go. When a blizzard was on it was washed out completely and when it was calm weather it was so dark even in the middle of the day outside. Inside buildings is completely black, cannot see anything at all. 

 

 

[UpUpAway95]

10 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

@UpUpAway95
In addition to the brightness settings on the game... you can also make adjustments to the brightness/contrast settings on your monitor or TV (whatever you play on).  If it's a monitor... there are also options on some models to make specific 'profiles' that you can easily switch to when you want to do something specific.  This way you don't nessisarry have to tweak your settings every time you switch from a game to regular use. 
 

My television Xobx Input setting is already adjusted as much as possible to be comfortable for my vision (High Contrast Adjustment is turned off for me and Eye Comfort Mode is turned on).  I am not having this trouble with other games nor did I have a problem with this game before the update.  Now, all of a sudden, I am having a huge problem with this game having too high a contrast.  Sorry, if there's anything more to be done to salvage my ability to play, it's this game that has to add in a contrast adustment, not just a brightness one.  I realize they love dark interiors, but there is point where they have to consider the eye comfort of some of their users.  The whiteness of the exteriors is something that is unique to this game;  and I really don't want to experience actual snow blindness from playing this game. 

Edited October 24, 2019 by UpUpAway95

[Gooner77]

Snow blindness from my monitor might be possible post update. Haha.

[ManicManiac]

I don't know, it seems to me that there are plenty of ways to light up the darkness (torches, flashlights -aurora powered, lanterns, matches, flares)... I just don't see it as being any kind of a game issue/problem.  If the Hinterland team thinks it's an issue they will adjust it as they see fit, I think it's better to use what we have available rather than clamor for change.  I'm not judging anyone's opinion or difficulties, I'm just weighing in with my own perspective.
 

Edited October 24, 2019 by ManicManiac

[ThePancakeLady]

I can't relate, since I am not having this issue.  Might be because of my desktop build, I kinda own an "almost NASA rig" now. And I am not setting up my old toaster just to check it out on an older rig.

Started a Survival Mode test run, to test a few things that people have been saying about odd hostile wildlife behavior, and lighting issues in Survival Mode and Wintermute. Started in Mystery Lake, and searched out wolves and places that "should" have dark corners or interiors. As far as lighting goes, these shots were taken with the sun on the half-circle dial at 80% down.

The lighting is exactly what I would expect at this time of day (late afternoon/early evening). But, again- it may have to do with my new rig and my new monitor, and the color, brightness and gamma calibrations on the monitor itself.

 

[UpUpAway95]

6 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

I don't know, it seems to me that there are plenty of ways to light up the darkness (torches, flashlights -aurora powered, lanterns, matches, flares)... I just don't see it as being any kind of a game issue/problem.  If the Hinterland team thinks it's an issue they will adjust it as they see fit, I think it's better to use what we have available rather than clamor for change.  I'm not judging anyone's opinion or difficulties, I'm just weighing in with my own perspective.
 

I really don't care what you think.  Added as an accessibility option is not something that concerns you are anyone else with normal vision..  If they don't do it, I simply cannot play this game anymore.  I have made every adjustment I can and playing now (going from outdoor areas to indoor areas and vice versa repeaatedly now gives me a huge headache.  I'm not going to pop multitudes of aspirin to play a video game.

[ThePancakeLady]

51 minutes ago, UpUpAway95 said:

I really don't care what you think.  Added as an accessibility option is not something that concerns you are anyone else with normal vision..  If they don't do it, I simply cannot play this game anymore.  I have made every adjustment I can and playing now (going from outdoor areas to indoor areas and vice versa repeaatedly now gives me a huge headache.  I'm not going to pop multitudes of aspirin to play a video game.

They are aware of the lighting issues some people are having. They are looking into it and trying to find the cause and fix it. So, please just give them time to figure out why it affects some people, and not others, and get a hotfix for it pushed out.

Edited October 25, 2019 by ThePancakeLady
typo correction

[ManicManiac]

24 minutes ago, UpUpAway95 said:

I really don't care what you think.

You don't have to, you can feel however you'd like to... but you invited the conversation.  I was only providing my perspective on the idea you put forth.

[Raphael van Lierop]

Please let's remain civil to each other.

We're making some tweaks to the lighting and you'll see them in the next Hotfix. 

[Azdrawee]

This is interesting to see. I personally thought the lightning has improved in this update.

[hozz1235]

I did notice on one occasion, a nice clear day and I was out in the open snow, it was extremely bright.  I did exit the game to turn the brightness setting down which helped some but I do think a tweak is necessary.

[Guest kristaok]

The outside lighting seems fine to me, but I must say... I do think the interior lighting is pretty dark, I end up always having to use a flare, a match, or a lantern just to see anything.

[peteloud]

This is my screen dump of the Radio Control Hut in Survival mode,

If I increase my brightness setting from its current 112 when outdoors the snow it burnt out.

 

 

Edited October 27, 2019 by peteloud

[MarrowStone]

I noticed that early morning  outdoor/cave lighting has REALLY high contrast to the point everything looks either white or navy blue. 

Edited October 27, 2019 by MarrowStone

[ThePancakeLady]

So fa the only thing i have sen that was overly bright, was the netting at the entrance/exit of the Riken, where it would be in direct sunlight.  That lower right corner is a bit brighter/white/washed out than what I am used to. The rest of the scene, even as I moved in deeper into the ship seemed to be appropriately lit, to my eyes at least. I don't recall exactly what time of day this is, but I think it was late morning/early afternoon-ish. (Didn't think to take a screenshot of the day/night meter...)

My brightness settings are at 100%. Graphics setting on all Ultra except SSAO, which is on Low, on an i9 9900K/ 2060 RTX Super, on a Dell S2716GDR (factory settings). 

Still looking for other oddities, as I go.

[ManicManiac]

Yeah, I've not noticed any real game problems either...  I think I bumped up my brightness to 110% but I wouldn't want to go any higher than that, and the only reason I did so was because I followed the guidelines that the start up prompt when I first loaded up The Long Dark after the update.  (prior to that I also followed the recommendations to adjust it to where the wolf silhouette was just barely visible)

The only thing that seems to stand out is the usual complaint: "things being too dark inside."  Which I don't get, sure some places have lower lighting than others, but mostly everything looks just fine during the day time (the places that are perhaps a little dimmer have smaller windows or few windows so I think it's reasonable).  If I do need to use a lantern in a place or two because there's not much daylight, then so be it.  I don't consider that to be an issue. 

I guess some folks, maybe don't use their light sources?  ...it doesn't make sense to me to crank up the brightness, and then complain about it being too bright outside (because of course it is... the brightness was turned up).  This is why I mentioned earlier that there many tools in game already that we can use to light an area when needed... as opposed to wanting Hinterland to change things to better suit them after each update.
 

Edited October 27, 2019 by ManicManiac

[Fuarian]

On 10/23/2019 at 7:17 PM, Gooner77 said:

I concur with  @UpUpAway95 . The new brightness system has got to go. When a blizzard was on it was washed out completely and when it was calm weather it was so dark even in the middle of the day outside. Inside buildings is completely black, cannot see anything at all. 

 

 

You set your brightness too low. Mine is fine.

[peteloud]

A few comments higher up I show a screen dump of the interior of the Radio Control Hut to show how dark it is inside.  Here is an exterior shot of PV to show how burned out the snow settings are with the same brightness setting.

If I adjust the brightness setting to make the dark interiors lighter the bright exteriors would be even worse than above.

I am using Radeon R7 360 graphics and decent DELL displays which Windows tell me have a colour profile of "DELL P2314H Color Profile D6500".  My primary use for this system is for processing photo images to professional standards using Photoshop, therefore it is carefully adjusted to produce high quality imagery.  This suggests to me that the TLD images are too dark and too bright, not that my system is at fault.  If anyone can suggest other settings for my system to improve TLD imagery I'd be delighted to try them, providing it doesn't screw up my Photoshop photo processing.

 

 

[Guest kristaok]

I read somewhere that tearing curtains up help by allowing more light into the rooms, idk for sure though since I've never tried it... but I'm going to.  

[peteloud]

3 hours ago, kristaok said:

I read somewhere that tearing curtains up help by allowing more light into the rooms, idk for sure though since I've never tried it... but I'm going to.  

I was trying that yesterday.  It seemed to help, in the areas immediately in front of the window, but only marginally., I didn't notice a change throughout the room. 

My guess is that a quite complicated lighting model is used where a room is illuminated with light from many sources, windows, fire, lantern but does not take into account the  spread of light from reflection of light from strongly lit areas.

I have noticed that the PV farmhouse is less dark than in the past.  The interior background level, areas not directly lit from a specific light source, seem to be brighter.  I think it is a fascinating subject.  It would be interesting to have a detailed explanation of the problem from Hinterland.

[solide]

It does seem that this lighting issue affects some people but not all. For the players not affected it can be hard to understand this issue. 

It may also be that this "bug" hurts even more because as far as I know there was no real reason for Hinterland to change the lighting at all, it was fine. Thus a case of "if it ain't broken don't fix it". 

To return to the questions that started this topic: as I play the game through Steam I can benefit from the option Hinterland gives to play the game in earlier versions. This is called the "time capsule", it has a separate section in the forum. Thus for those affected by the lighting issue in such a way that the game becomes unplayable  would advice to return to the version of the game (steadfast ranger) before the most recent update. 

At least that worked for me.

[Guest kristaok]

@peteloud I tried it too, and it did seem to allow more light into the room which did help some for me. I also had to turn up the brightness in game from 100 to 110.  

[UpUpAway95]

For those thinking that this is just a problem with the dark interiors, it's not my issue.  My old eyes simply cannot handle the strain of continually going to and from such dark areas into such light area (as the snowy white outdoors), particularly with range of different between the two that exists.  There seems to be some difference in how contrast is processed on some systems that may be compounding this issue on my system... but I have already done everything that my TV allows to minimize this contrast.  It's not helping.

That said, I notice an update has occurred , and I will download the update and try again... and let you all know if it helps with the headaches and eye strain.