New To The Long Dark...I Can't See A Damn Thing

[Hibs06]

Had a physical copy of the game come up for sale at my local game store for PS4.  Snatched it up and have only been playing for about two hours but I honestly can't see a damn thing when I go in buildings.  I turned the brightness all the way up, still so hard to see in almost all places when you walk in.  I know, there are torches, flares, lanterns, etc. but my god, when I walk around in my house in the pitch black I can still see where I'm going.  I have 21/20 vision and have to say, I may just set the game aside.  I'm so disappointed in this one little, but huge, aspect of the game.

[darkscaryforest]

Welcome to the long dark Hibs06. Many would say this darkness in buildings at night is a feature. If you want to try working around the dark without using supplies, there are some things you can do.

First, just an acknowledgement that there's no getting around it, some game actions require light like repairing and some don't like sharpening your tools. This is completely based on what the game engine interprets at your location regardless of how well you can see.

Second, an easily navigable, even in pitch black, path to the bed for the night is something you should consider for a base. This may or may not involve using windows (which usually give faint light) as markers. You'll find this is much easier to do in tiny structures like trapper's cabin versus the Pleasant Valley Farm Homestead where you have to go upstairs and into a separate room (WORSE yet, hibernia processing plant. Can I get an F for anyone whose ever fallen through the floor?).

Third, a creative workaround/exploit/game mechanism/whatever technique you can use to slightly aid feeling around in the dark is to take advantage of the "place item feature." I don't know what the button sequence would be on the PS4, but you can take an item (bedroll is best for this) and act like you're going to place it on the ground. It will show its highlighted representation in front of you. If the item is colored red, it means it is currently being held in an unplaceable area whereas green is valid (ergo an unoccupied spot). You can walk around with this and sort of see where the walls and other obstacles are.

[Hibs06]

52 minutes ago, darkscaryforest said:

Welcome to the long dark Hibs06. Many would say this darkness in buildings at night is a feature. If you want to try working around the dark without using supplies, there are some things you can do.

First, just an acknowledgement that there's no getting around it, some game actions require light like repairing and some don't like sharpening your tools. This is completely based on what the game engine interprets at your location regardless of how well you can see.

Second, an easily navigable, even in pitch black, path to the bed for the night is something you should consider for a base. This may or may not involve using windows (which usually give faint light) as markers. You'll find this is much easier to do in tiny structures like trapper's cabin versus the Pleasant Valley Farm Homestead where you have to go upstairs and into a separate room (WORSE yet, hibernia processing plant. Can I get an F for anyone whose ever fallen through the floor?).

Third, a creative workaround/exploit/game mechanism/whatever technique you can use to slightly aid feeling around in the dark is to take advantage of the "place item feature." I don't know what the button sequence would be on the PS4, but you can take an item (bedroll is best for this) and act like you're going to place it on the ground. It will show its highlighted representation in front of you. If the item is colored red, it means it is currently being held in an unplaceable area whereas green is valid (ergo an unoccupied spot). You can walk around with this and sort of see where the walls and other obstacles are.

Thank you!  Ok, I'll try all of this.  I really appreciate the time you took typing this all out.

 

[Hibs06]

Well...as I said, I'm new to this game and have realized that I was too quick to write this.  Yes, the game inside was super dark but I just realized you can sleep until the day time and then actually see inside the buildings...guess I'll do this.

[Serenity]

Lighting inside the buildings can be an issue sometimes. It varies a bit with different buildings too. Some can be a lot darker than others, though Hinterland has made some fixes over the years and improved things in some really bad cases.

As said above, with small buildings you can memorize the internal layout over time. Even in complete darkness you know where interactive objects are through the interface. Via that you can find doors and beds. 

The most practical thing is to carry a storm lantern and turn it on for a split second. That uses up a bit of fuel, but not much.

Edited March 18, 2021 by Serenity

[Stinky socks]

Yes you can improvise and adjust, but darkness inside is totally overdone. At night I can understand, but when you need a lantern inside, during daylight when there are plenty of windows, that's pretty bad.

[Serenity]

There is a..erm... mod to improve interior light a lot. Night is still dark, but it's brighter during mornings and evenings and the light interior generally reflects much better what's going on outside since the weather changes the light color. Windows also have a higher impact on lighting.

[Stinky socks]

Link?:)

[peteloud]

Some of the earlier versions of TLD had terrible lighting inside buildings even during the daytime.  I haven't noticed the problem for quite a while so I assume the HTL have sorted out the problem and updates no longer have the problem.

So it could be that your hard copy version from a game store was an early version with the problem.  Perhaps you could do with a Steam version that is often updated.

 

[starlin]

13 hours ago, Stinky socks said:

Yes you can improvise and adjust, but darkness inside is totally overdone. At night I can understand, but when you need a lantern inside, during daylight when there are plenty of windows, that's pretty bad.

Its over done because people just crank up brightness to cheese it.  If people didn't cheese it all the time, devs wouldn't have to go so hard to make conditions matter.

[starlin]

18 hours ago, Hibs06 said:

.  I know, there are torches, flares, lanterns, etc. but my god, when I walk around in my house in the pitch black I can still see where I'm going.

 

Then that means your house isn't pitch black.  To have any kind of visibility, you need some kind of ambient light source.  If you're an urbanite or suburbanite, that tends to come from all the light pollution bleeding in through the Windows, if not LED lights from electronics inside the house.   If you live in the country or small town environments, theres actually a thing where the lower light pollution allows more opportunities to adjust to even lower light levels, enabling even weaker light sources (like starlight) to offer visibility.... but you most definitely can not see in pitch black.

And its something thats not difficult to test.  You just need a room that is literally pitch black, like a basement with no windows and no light sources, and tape or cloth over the door cracks to prevent light from leaking in.  Safety precautions aside, go take a nap and see how good your vision is when you wake up.  This also has the benefit of disrupting your orientation by visual memory.  So you won't even be able to visualize the room until you can at least feel out one of the land marks; as this is essentially how most people can properly navigate their own house in the dark. 

 

If you play close attention to how visibility works in most game from a more absolute perspective, you'd be surprised to find that pretty much all but the most specifically conscious about it, have a distinctly strong global ambient light level; something complete separate from both dynamic and fixed light sources.  Outdoors this global illumination exists in conjunction with the visibility fog to control the distance things are visible.   The fog itself being distinctly more visible/brighter then objects within it, is proof of that ambient light level.  Some have even gone as far as leveraging it into the game's visual style, allowing it to incorporate cinematic style fog and silhouette shadow as a means to convey information to the viewer. 

 

It irks me how so much stuff goes unappreciated by players, because so many are stuck in a head space that distinctly lives outside the game.  That moments of discomfort are a failure of the game, when a lot of times they are (intentionally or accidentally) moments which can distinctly enhance the experience. 

[odizzido]

14 hours ago, Stinky socks said:

Yes you can improvise and adjust, but darkness inside is totally overdone. At night I can understand, but when you need a lantern inside, during daylight when there are plenty of windows, that's pretty bad.

Yup. At night in a blizzard sure, make it completely dark....but when it's light out and I can't see anything at all right by a window?....yeah, that is awful.

edit--------

What I would like is just some consistency. If it's bright out and there are windows in the house don't make it pitch black.

Edited March 18, 2021 by odizzido

[Thelek]

Adjusting brightness helps but tends to make the snow outside way too bright. Try adjusting gamma instead.

[ManicManiac]

On 1/9/2020 at 12:51 AM, ManicManiac said:

As far as it being "too dark" indoors... I would generally recommend:

 

(or any of the various light sources)

 

[Stinky socks]

44 minutes ago, Thelek said:

Adjusting brightness helps but tends to make the snow outside way too bright. Try adjusting gamma instead.

It will break the rest of the lighting though. I installed a modifier for indoor lighting and it's fantastic! I haven't tested it in other regions yet, but milton town gives pleasant indoor experiences now:)

@ManicManiac, agreed, but you will burn through fuel super fast and if your in region without fishing, your warranty void!!

[ManicManiac]

@Stinky socks
Yes... but I would argue that's part of the challenge.  In my recent interloper run (my brightness is still on default - as a point of reference), I do as much of my searching around without another light source (during the day of course), then I'll use my lantern for a quick once over for anything I may have missed.  That way, I use the least amount of fuel while still lighting up the little nooks where I might miss vital gear/supplies.  I've survived 50 days now... and I still haven't gone fishing yet (meaning I've had to be super stingy with my lantern for the time being). 

This topic also touches on another aspect:

On 2/16/2021 at 12:01 AM, ManicManiac said:

Darkness is one of the hardships we have to face in The Long Dark.  It's just like the Cold... or Hunger... or Fatigue... or Dehydration (as well as the wildlife and the other health afflictions).  I think that by making darkness a non-issue... it would destroy an aspect of this game that I think adds a lot of valuable gameplay we currently have.

Edited March 23, 2021 by ManicManiac

[Stinky socks]

But of course, Mr.@ManicManiac, we mainly have an issue with indoor lighting being unnaturally dark. If there is a sunny day outside and you have plenty of windows, one expects a bright room. At night we all go sleep:) g'night!🙂🌃🌌

[stirfoo]

You say you can walk around in the pitch dark at home. I can too but that's because my mind remembers how many steps to the coffee table. Same in the game. You memorize interiors over time. But really, after a while you'll always have some sort of lightning. And yes it was frustrating at first but I kept reminding myself, it's called THE LONG DARK

 

[Old Hermit]

Using storm lanterns indoors when there is a sunny day and lot of windows, i call it a "band-aid solution"

 

I think it's not so hard just to adjust the lighting values on the engine.

I step aside when the feature is intended, as places without windows or light sources, or underground environments. Damn, there are caves and mines that are better illuminated than some windowed rooms at night (Farm's, bedroom in PV for example).

[ManicManiac]

17 hours ago, Stinky socks said:

we mainly have an issue with indoor lighting being unnaturally dark.

I guess I'm still not sure what folks mean by this...
I play with the brightness on the default setting and I don't have any issues with the light levels inside structures.  Sure it's a bit dark in places, but I think still easily searchable.  After that, if I do still really want to take a thorough look around, I use a light source.

I just don't think there is anything here for Hinterland to "fix."
I think that if folks want a brightly lit room, then we ought to use a light source. 

Edited March 23, 2021 by ManicManiac

[UpUpAway95]

Better realism would mean that the moonlight would bleed in through the windows and, therefore, the amount of light inside at night would be more variable and there would be some nights (under a full moon) where the player could easily make their way through a house without a torch and other moonless nights where it would be pitch black.

Overall, lighting improvements have been made to the game over the years.  In the past I've had eye fatigue issues with the contrast between the bright sunlit days on the white snow with the dark interiors and these have been adjusted somewhat, but a player-controlled contrast adjustment would still be an improvement.  In addition, as this points out, there is still plenty of room for further improvements that would make the lighting more realistic without sacrificing any of the in-game challenge. 

Edited March 25, 2021 by UpUpAway95