Aircraft ground shadows only

[Wedgewood]

While shadows are very taxing on GPU's and some people like myself disable them for performance reasons,  they play a role in aircraft spotting as you can not only see the aircraft itself but also the shadow it casts on the ground giving users with shadows turned on an advantage or sorts. 

 

Could there be a way to have only aircraft ground shadows without the cockpit or scenery shadows,  this could help remove/close the gap to any advantage one may get from having a machine capable of using shadows by allowing lower powered machines to have the additional shadows to spot without a huge reduction in performance.

[Gambit21]

All shadows are related - it's a lit scene basically.

So no you can't just selectively have one type of shadow.

[Finkeren]

So YOU get to keep your shadow while the rest of us don’t? And then you can sit back safely, while the rest of us get eaten by the level 5 vegans, huh? Is that your plan?!??

 

(Obscure Simpson’s references FTW!)

[19//Moach]

As a hard-pressed GTX580 user, I am all for the addition of extra options for shadow rendering.

 

My shadows had to be reduced to "low" or I would not be able to keep FPS above even bare minimums.  Still, at "off", FPS becomes markedly smoother.  But then my cockpit also looks fugly.

 

 

If there was a way to keep shadows on my own cockpit, while disabling them for all other things, there would be a massive performance improvement. This is suggested by the fps gained when flying away from other planes shadow ranges, and how it steeply drops when they come around.

 

 

If only one could opt for something in between fugly and half-decent fps.... that's where I'd have my settings for sure.

Edited October 19, 2017 by 19//Moach

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

In programming terms that's a little trickier.

 

The shadows you see are essentially, in rudimentary terms, the graphics engine telling your card to project a blurred translucent black outline of certain 3D objects over the first thing behind them.

 

Adding specific conditions to this logic complicates things. For one, it takes time to code and test each specific type (rendering player plane onto player plane, player plane onto cockpit, plane onto ground, plane onto tree, plane onto ground object, truck onto ground, etc.). Once they're done playing with each of these variables, you have the problem of condensing them into simpler options for the player which don't disrupt the UI too much. Finally, after a week or more of hard work, a hundreds of dollars in wages and utility bills spent on it, major workflow disruptions and just a general headache overall, you have an overly complex shadow options system that offers almost nothing to around 90% of players and probably looks terrible too with shadows popping in and out randomly depending on the aircrsft projecting them and the object they're projected onto.

[LukeFF]

 

 

GTX580

 

No offense intended, but that's what happens when one tries to run the game with a video card that's going on 7 years old.  

[ITA_SUP_HUNTER]

No offense intended, but that's what happens when one tries to run the game with a video card that's going on 7 years old.  

Ok , build a game for a top end pc only , and you lost many money.

[LukeFF]

Ok , build a game for a top end pc only , and you lost many money.

 

...which the developers have obviously not done. At the same time, however, you cannot expect hardware that old to run the game like newer, faster hardware. Sometimes, the only way one is going to experience better performance is to chuck that old video card and upgrade to something newer. That's just the way it is sometimes with computer hardware.

[Wedgewood]

Ok , build a game for a top end pc only , and you lost many money.

This thread isn't about the game performance or computer requirements, it was simply a suggestion for the ability to see aircraft ground shadows only.  My previous graphics card, a gtx750ti that I sold for $75 ran this game just fine between 50-60fps with medium graphics settings(no shadows) and in game shadows aren't necessary to play and are simply a luxury.  This thread was a suggestion and not a complaint so please don't highjack this just to insult the Devs.

[Gambit21]

Ok , build a game for a top end pc only , and you lost many money.

OK, build a game that doesn't have options to take advantage of higher end hardware , and you lost many many more money.