Darkness after latest update is overwhelming ...

[PorridgeBaron]

I think the darkness of Long Dark in the latest update has become even longer; the shadows are deeper outside and you can't do anything in the cabin without a lantern, even sunny highnoon. In practice, I almost always need extra light.

I'm afraid I'll run out of matches and lamp oil even though I'm playing on the easiest setting.

I'm a slow player and started just about a year ago and never completed  game with every area explored. Newer areas I don't  even have.

Maybe I try to arrange the things outside the cabin?

Is there anything in the settings that could help?

Can I go to the pre-update version?

Or can you ease a bit of this darkness, at least for Pilgrim players…

[Leeanda]

If you're on pc you can play it on time capsule....   

Otherwise you should be able to adjust the brightness on the game and /or your monitor/tv

[ManicManiac]

  I'm just making an observation here... but this type of post shows up after nearly every update.
 

I just think that's funny.

[Serenity]

Indoor lighting as always problematic in some locations and to prone random changes after updates. The Ambient Lights mods improves that a great deal:

https://github.com/Xpazeman/tld-ambient-lights

Makes interiors generally brighter. Lighting changes with day of time and weather. Windows and how much sunlight a room would get is also taken into account.

[ManicManiac]

To be clear, I wasn't making of fun of the poster... just how frequently the subject appears.
In all honestly... the solution to the darkness is to use a light source.  I think it's just part of the game design.

The easiest work around (as mentioned before) is to simply change the brightness to the desired level.

Edited June 23, 2023 by ManicManiac

[PorridgeBaron]

I'm glad if this is funny. The problem is real.

Adjusting the monitor's brightness is not the answer. As far as I know, there are no other adjustments in the game.
The caves are pitch black around the clock, and  the main thing is the power of campfires, torches and lanterns has weakened considerably.

Mods are not answer .

Edited June 23, 2023 by PorridgeBaron

[Leeanda]

Torches and lanterns are at the moment too bright,it's a bit of an issue ...   But if they're not giving you enough light then it might be your game or whatever system you're using...    Are you on console or pc?   Do you have any screenshots ? 

The only other thing I can suggest is using outdoor workbenches. Or working during the aurora... If you're on pilgrim and have decent enough clothes you should be fine with the temperatures.

[Leeanda]

2 minutes ago, Serenity said:

No, using a light source is not the answer. What a silly suggestion, but no surprise there. And adjusting the overall brightness is even more stupid, since that also changed the outside brightness which is fine.

It simply shouldn't be so dark inside when there is light outside and you have windows. It makes no sense whatsoever and it isn't immersive. There should simply be enough light around to navigate. Hinterland has adjusted single locations over the years. The PV Barn used to be notoriously dark and got brightened. With the dam it's recently been the opposite, since there are no windows and now it's darker. But there has never been a comprehensive adjustment of all locations.

I'm not quite sure what your issue is with me but that was uncalled for.   I didn't realise it was stupid to try and help people...

[conanjaguar]

34 minutes ago, Serenity said:

No, using a light source is not the answer. What a silly suggestion, but no surprise there.

No, it’s not an answer, but it is a workaround until Hinterland can fix the issue. If there is an issue in the first place, that is, I haven’t played since since Part 3 dropped to confirm for myself.

[ManicManiac]

1 hour ago, PorridgeBaron said:

the main thing is the power of campfires, torches and lanterns has weakened considerably.

I've played recently as well... I don't find this to be the case.

[thekillergreece]

Unfortunately, darkness is an intentional design choice by the developers regardless if it's realistic or not.

As above mentioned; ambient lights (unofficial mod) and/or brightness adjustment is the answer.

[ManicManiac]

8 hours ago, PorridgeBaron said:

I'm glad if this is funny.

I will clarify just one last time.
I didn't say I found your situation funny.  As I mentioned before, it was just how often the subject of interior darkness gets discussed. 

Also as I said before:

15 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

To be clear, I wasn't making of fun of the poster...

Once more I'll state:
In all honestly... the solution to the darkness is to use a light source.  I think it's fair to say that's what's intended.

I'll dig a little bit deeper using the Search Function to illustrate what I mean:

On 2/8/2021 at 6:53 PM, 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.

On 2/15/2021 at 1:31 PM, ManicManiac said:

But the player does have options... we can use one of our light sources.

If all the player want's is to use it to navigate to get outdoors, it doesn't cost much lantern fuel to do that.  Once outside a player can do all kinds of things outside until dawn (even it's just going to pick up sticks, or to break down branches).

I'd posit that there's really nothing all that pressing that we'd really need to work inside in the dark (sure it might be preferable... but it's not insurmountable).

On 9/29/2019 at 3:39 PM, ManicManiac said:

I like that most of the interiors are so dark...  I know a lot of folks complain about it, but honestly once we get a lantern it's not really much of a problem.  It's easy enough to gather lantern fuel by fishing (which also conveniently helps take care of the food situation as well).

On 2/8/2021 at 6:53 PM, ManicManiac said:

...the player has to carefully choose how to manage their time.

Other sources of light are more costly in comparison (to working outside in the daylight)... therefore if we want to work in the dark, we need to choose whether or not it's critical enough for us to invest the resources to make that precious light.  (

Hinterland also eventually introduced the "Aurora effects" to the game (temporarily providing power to electrical light sources).  That is to say, we can also have free light at night (albeit for a limited time).  This gives the player an opportunity to craft/repair/read/navigate in the dark.  

As for the Lanterns and torches:

• Lantern fuel is very renewable (we just need to go fishing & cook fish).  I find that once I get around to fishing, I never have much need to worry about lantern fuel.
• For torches, if the player already has a fire lit... then a torch only costs a stick.  If the player has a good supply of sticks, they can "chain light" torches to provide light all night if they wanted to.  Torches pulled from a fire last at most 50% as long as a crafted torch (at most 45 in-game minutes), which is good for navigation... but admittedly not for lengthy crafting, repairing, or reading.  However, crafted torches do last for approximately 1.5 hours (in-game time); which is enough to read for an hour, or make repairs/craft as long as that particular action takes less than 1.5 hours.

As for the other light sources:
It becomes important for the player to really think about whether the task they want to do is worth those resources (or if it would just be better to do what they need to outside instead).

 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.

  ...also if push comes to shove... we have flares, matches, and we can even fire off flare shells if we are really hard up for light.   

 

Yes, the darkness can seem overwhelming (it's one of the hardships that TLD asks us to face)...
but fret not, for we have many options to light up the darkness.    

Edited June 24, 2023 by ManicManiac

[yollarbenibekler]

I think it is intentionally black in most areas because I think the dev team want the people to use lanterns or other light sources, preventing pathfinding via cranking up the brightness. In earlier versions of the game (early access especially) you had no need to use a light source since nearly all the things were visible during the dark. 

 

So I don't think it will be fixed anytime soon.

[xanna]

On 6/23/2023 at 1:05 PM, ManicManiac said:

  I'm just making an observation here... but this type of post shows up after nearly every update.
 

I just think that's funny.

I laughed as well as I have noticed the same thing, but then I loaded the game...

It really is darker than it was, and I thought 'Maybe the settings reset, and that's why people think it's always darker after an update', so I checked my brightness slider. It was set to 130% as usual, but the sample scene was really dark. Then I noticed that the slider didn't affect the brightness at all, either on the sample scene, or in my game:
 

 I'm in the Main Hanger in Forsaken Airfield, it's midday and there's glimmer fog so the lights inside are on. With brightness at max (150%) I don't think even the devs intended it to be this dark?

This is on Steam for Linux.

I take back my smirk on this occasion!

Edited June 28, 2023 by xanna

[xanna]

I had the -disable-postprocess option included in my launch settings through Steam, due to troubleshooting the Linux bug last week. When I took that out again, the brightness is working again, and I am happily looking around the Hangar with no light source.

@PorridgeBaron, I don't know what system you're playing on, or what your experience of the brightness slider is, but if you're finding that it isn't having any effect, try launching without the -disable-postprocess flag.

[Asinine]

On 6/23/2023 at 8:52 AM, ManicManiac said:

To be clear, I wasn't making of fun of the poster... just how frequently the subject appears.
In all honestly... the solution to the darkness is to use a light source.  I think it's just part of the game design.

The easiest work around (as mentioned before) is to simply change the brightness to the desired level.

I'm going to disagree, and I'd like to point out I've never complained about the darkness. It's sort of the point of the game. But I've been playing for a number of years, and this last update made it so even adjusting my monitor doesn't fix it. Carter Dam is completely dark between rooms inside... now, I will admit that maybe it should have been that way from the start, but it wasn't. Unfortunately, due to all the having to restart with the recent bugs, I haven't found any light sources in loper. So that's not an option. But even on bright days, I'm having problems seeing to search inside trailers.

Additionally, there are caves and various areas that are known to be extremely dark (if not pitch black). Those have [generally] always been that way. But as the OP said, I'm outside in mid-day with all my brightness options turned up (and the pause menu looks starkly gradient, because it's literally just that bright), and if it's cloudy, it looks like dusk. Not stormy, just cloudy. Granted, sunny days have me looking for sunglasses -- so what I'm trying to say is that the brights are properly bright, but the darkness has been noticeably increased. I don't feel like the original darkness settings were broken to start with. There were times I'd put something dark on my second monitor because it was difficult to see on the main with the game. I literally played in the dark, and that didn't solve my problem... my whole screen just glowed a dark grey and I couldn't make anything out. So it's not about turning monitors up. The darkness has definitely increased.

[Asinine]

On 6/28/2023 at 9:18 AM, xanna said:

I had the -disable-postprocess option included in my launch settings through Steam, due to troubleshooting the Linux bug last week. When I took that out again, the brightness is working again, and I am happily looking around the Hangar with no light source.

Do you have a list of launch options? I didn't have that flag enabled, though I am using Linux. Was curious as to what other options are out there, whether or not related to this.

[xanna]

I'm sorry, I don't. I'm sure you could google up a list, maybe?

[xanna]

Here's a general list, not specific to TLD https://appuals.com/steam-set-launch-options-and-full-list/

[ManicManiac]

33 minutes ago, Asinine said:

I'm going to disagre

And that's okay. 🙂
 

@Asinine
I mean, if we're starting a run and don't yet have a light source (not even a torch pulled from a fire), then perhaps we just don't going into dark caves and structures yet.
It doesn't sound so unreasonable to me.

I think it would be sort of like saying... "I just started a new Minecraft world and I wanna fly, even though I've not yet even been to The End..." 🤭
I think somethings we just need the right equipment for.  Besides, as I mention before... there are more light sources than just a lantern.
 

On 6/23/2023 at 8:59 PM, ManicManiac said:

Other sources of light are more costly in comparison (to working outside in the daylight)... therefore if we want to work in the dark, we need to choose whether or not it's critical enough for us to invest the resources to make that precious light.

On 6/23/2023 at 8:59 PM, ManicManiac said:

  ...also if push comes to shove... we have flares, matches, and we can even fire off flare shells if we are really hard up for light.   

Torches, matches, lanterns, flares, flare gun w/flare shells, etc.

On 6/23/2023 at 8:59 PM, ManicManiac said:

Yes, the darkness can seem overwhelming (it's one of the hardships that TLD asks us to face)...
but fret not, for we have many options to light up the darkness.    

If we don't have the right gear for the situation, then I'd say it's more than fair for us to face the difficulties of trying to do something we're not properly equipped for.

Edited July 1, 2023 by ManicManiac

[Asinine]

4 hours ago, xanna said:

Here's a general list, not specific to TLD https://appuals.com/steam-set-launch-options-and-full-list/

Interesting. I had googled it btw, but everyone's searches are personalised...

[Asinine]

4 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

If we don't have the right gear for the situation, then I'd say it's more than fair for us to face the difficulties of trying to do something we're not properly equipped for.

I agree with most everything you said, but except, I saw a lot of solutions being "turn up your monitor brightness". That is to what I was replying.

I have no beef with the fact that I have no light factors in Carter Dam, which I believe I explained (and that run ended unfortunately, but completely unrelated in FM).

What I am saying is that an actual change occurred, where you cannot compensate for out-of-game display options. The problem I am agreeing with is that this was not an issue originally. So for some of us, but I can only speak for myself (playing for about 7 years now), is that people have been crying wolf on darkness, but it's not really been a thing you couldn't "skirt" around. I hate to put it that way, but I would have preferred to have the updates saying "we're making darkness for reals now". They promised a lot, but that was not one of those highlights.

So yeah, I've sparked lanterns, I've wasted matches, and I know how to light up my area when I can't see stuff. But I also knew all the ins and outs for where I actually had to do it, and when I could get away with turning off my lights in my room (irl) and making sure my secondary monitor was somewhat dark. That seems to be no longer a thing though.

[ManicManiac]

@Asinine

12 minutes ago, Asinine said:

I saw a lot of solutions being "turn up your monitor brightness". That is to what I was replying.

And fair enough then...  perhaps I misread your comment.

For me, I don't find the dark to be an issue, and I haven't really noticed a change (at least not compared to what I'm generally used to anyway).
I don't really try to roam around in caves or structures without a light source, so if there is a notable difference... I haven't experienced it.

I know others talk about mods and adjusting brightness as "solutions," but I don't feel that way.  I just consider adjusting brightness as an alternative for those who choose it, that's all.

Edited July 1, 2023 by ManicManiac

[xanna]

I'm assuming it's a bug that's affecting some and not other, especially since @Asinine and I both experienced it and are both Linux users. Sadly my fix didn't work for them. For me - also an experienced player - the change was so great I couldn't mistake it. If you haven't noticed a change, MM, that fits my 'it's a bug' hypothesis: a few players are experiencing it, most aren't.

@Asinine - if you use the slider in the Brightness menu in TLD, does it respond? (I'm trying to ascertain if it's the same thing I was experiencing, or something different).

[Asinine]

3 minutes ago, ManicManiac said:

@Asinine

And fair enough then...  perhaps I misread your comment.

For me, I don't find the dark to be an issue, and I haven't really noticed a change (at least not compared to what I'm generally used to anyway).
I don't really try to roam around in caves or structures without a light source, so if there is a notable difference... I haven't experienced it.

Honestly, I've never had it as an issue... until now. That's why I'm chiming in. It's not a game changer I'd report, but the thread was already started, so I wanted to toss in my 27 cents (due to inflation).