Thread: Ambient Lighting....fixed anytime soon? Or...

....is there some setting I can use to replicate the same effect?

I've tried adjusting 'brightness' and 'contrast' and neither really help much. One makes the entire world look like there's a grey film covering everything and the other makes my skill icons practically glow... lol

I have trouble seeing the game during 'nighttime', in caves or those areas darkened by the 'shadow'. It makes the game practically unplayable for me as I eventually get a headache from trying to see beyond a few meters from my character. I used to be able to turn ambient lighting up so that it appeared as if it was daytime, even in the middle of the night.

Now the ambient lighting slider does nothing, even all the way up. I know this has been 'broken' for some time but was hoping it was at least on the list to be fixed soon. Otherwise, I'll just have to keep doing what I've been doing since RoI, and quit questing after the ingame sun goes down and wait until 'morning'... *sighs*

Thanks for any info.

-Goldrush
*******

If you edit the .ini file directly I believe you can set it up to around 6. I think that was the old max value before they changed it.. I don't remember.

But anyhow.. you can use a text editor and just manually edit it. The file is in your Lord of the Rings Online folder in your My Documents folder.

Thank you for the reply.

Unfortunately, it didn't change anything ingame.

I changed the line: AmbientLightBoost=6.00 from 0.00 (which it was when I opened the file). I didn't see any other line concerning ambient lighting in the .ini. (that's the UserPreferences.ini)

Guess I'll just have to wait until it makes its way to the 'priority' list of fixes to come.

Thanks, again..

-Goldrush
*******

Hmmm? The Ambient Lighting setting works for me, and has since I joined, and is very very useful. I would check that your graphics drivers are up to date and that you have all Windows updates installed.

Thanks for the reply. My drivers are up to date as are my Windows updates. I have both set to auto-update.

This has been an issue (the slider barely making any difference in lighting ingame) since last Fall for a number of people. I kept hoping it would be fixed with subsequent patches/updates but hasn't so far.

I have three accounts and it's the same on all three. Sliding the bar all the way over to 1.00 on the options panels only offers a miniscule difference in lighting now. Whereas, I used to be able to slide it all the way over and have the world look like daylight even during the darkest night. It's what made Moria playable for me. *sighs*

Anyway, appreciate the suggestion.

-Goldrush
*******

Oh....and, I realized when I posted this originally, I hadn't chosen my current subscription rather than my one (CMS47) from launch...

Actually I noticed this issue to. ended up turning up gamma instead to see in dark places, but I wonder if thats why I end up practicaly blind when fighting some things that are really bright. or have hard time seeing through a lot of bright special effects to. still not great but I noticed my toon gets a bit of light glow around him when go into moria at least not sure other places. still not the same yeh.

Right now trying figure how resolve lag with fog and other effects. just was in game on my hunter doing an epic instanc ein moria with inspiration bonus. I kept lagging frame rate was bad I think and even skills laggign wasn;t to nice on my hunter somehow managed it but difficult. rarely see it that bad...

Originally Posted by Nakiami

Hmmm? The Ambient Lighting setting works for me, and has since I joined, and is very very useful. I would check that your graphics drivers are up to date and that you have all Windows updates installed.

The problem is that the slider doesn't do much. Turbine changed the functionality back with Rise of Isengard making Ambient Light slider virtually worthless.

I have mine slammed against the high end stop now. It is still darker than I want. It is a lot darker than I had in the game set for in Summer. It as if Turbine chopped off the upper 45% and lower 45% of the range.

It annoys the dung when Turbine does stuff like this. It takes them 9 months to fix it just in time to break with the next major content update.

The Ambient Light slider works like the In Game Voice sliders. Does not do much.

Oh dear, there was a line in the patch notes for Update 6 to the effect that "Lighting issues in Moria have been resolved." Apparently it was not fixed then

Originally Posted by Nickysmom

Oh dear, there was a line in the patch notes for Update 6 to the effect that "Lighting issues in Moria have been resolved." Apparently it was not fixed then

I was so happy. I had a character in Moria. Logged in. Played with the sliders. Sigh...

Here are two pictures of the dark corner of the 21st hall, one with AL at 0.00 and the other with it at 1.00 (ingame slider). Are you saying you used to be able to get it even brighter? I joined after RoI hit.

My third step into Moria I turned that slider all the way up, and haven't looked back. I did and do not find it still too dark.

Originally Posted by Nakiami

Here are two pictures of the dark corner of the 21st hall, one with AL at 0.00 and the other with it at 1.00 (ingame slider). Are you saying you used to be able to get it even brighter? I joined after RoI hit.

My third step into Moria I turned that slider all the way up, and haven't looked back. I did and do not find it still too dark.

Correct. I'd like to be able to adjust it to pre-ROI (or, maybe, pre-Enedwaith - don't recall when...fall of 2011). If you look at the last page of this thread:

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...or-what/page14

and scroll down to the Moria pictures, you'll see what I mean. For some, that might be /too/ bright. But, I found it very nice since I have issues with very dark areas.

Goldrush
*******

Originally Posted by Nakiami

Here are two pictures of the dark corner of the 21st hall, one with AL at 0.00 and the other with it at 1.00 (ingame slider). Are you saying you used to be able to get it even brighter? I joined after RoI hit.

Under the old functionality, the 1.00 slider would look like noon sun in the Shire. For most people 1.00 would be too well lite. I can't get the lighting up to the same level that I used to have.

I never liked very dark places in any game. I don't like them at home. I always crank the light up until I can see well. I don't use black keyboards with white letters. They are always white keyboards with black letters. No Darth Vader for me. Give me a Storm Trooper outfit.

I am back to the way it was before Ambient Light. I crank up the Gamma and Brightness. That washes out all the colors.

Originally Posted by Yula_the_Mighty

The problem is that the slider doesn't do much. Turbine changed the functionality back with Rise of Isengard making Ambient Light slider virtually worthless.

I have mine slammed against the high end stop now. It is still darker than I want. It is a lot darker than I had in the game set for in Summer. It as if Turbine chopped off the upper 45% and lower 45% of the range.

It annoys the dung when Turbine does stuff like this. It takes them 9 months to fix it just in time to break with the next major content update.

The Ambient Light slider works like the In Game Voice sliders. Does not do much.

signed

Originally Posted by CMS47

....is there some setting I can use to replicate the same effect?

I've tried adjusting 'brightness' and 'contrast' and neither really help much. One makes the entire world look like there's a grey film covering everything and the other makes my skill icons practically glow... lol

I have trouble seeing the game during 'nighttime', in caves or those areas darkened by the 'shadow'. It makes the game practically unplayable for me as I eventually get a headache from trying to see beyond a few meters from my character. I used to be able to turn ambient lighting up so that it appeared as if it was daytime, even in the middle of the night.

Now the ambient lighting slider does nothing, even all the way up. I know this has been 'broken' for some time but was hoping it was at least on the list to be fixed soon. Otherwise, I'll just have to keep doing what I've been doing since RoI, and quit questing after the ingame sun goes down and wait until 'morning'... *sighs*

Thanks for any info.

-Goldrush
*******

The ambient light slider was recently updated to correct an issue with its settings being actually too high. So the original functionality was working as not intended and the update was to return it to working as intended. That update though caused it to not function at first, so that was later re-updated to function under the original levels and actually adjust as it was also intended.

The TL;DR of the above is "it was working but technically not the way it was supposed to, it was updated but that caused it to not work at all, then it was updated to work and is now working as intended originally"

Obviously many liked its function before it was corrected, so I'd recommend posting about it in Suggestions since how it operates now is how it was originally intended to function so it is not currently a bug that it does not go as high as it used to.

Originally Posted by Mirthgar

Obviously many liked its function before it was corrected, so I'd recommend posting about it in Suggestions since how it operates now is how it was originally intended to function so it is not currently a bug that it does not go as high as it used to.

Taking away existing options because Turbine feels that they are not working correctly. Especially when they have no effect on any one else because all the option does is customize my playing experience. It is an excellent way to annoy the customers for zero benefit.

I have trouble with the concept of it being a bug that has to be fixed. Turbine deployed the Ambient Light slider in late 2008 - early 2009. It existed for at least 30 months before it was changed. My thought:

1) It is was this important to fix. Why does it take over two years to get around to it? It must a low priority change. Why are you even bothering.

2) I don't recall anybody complaining about the old Ambient light slider being to sensitive because of the wide range of settings. There was little to no customer interest in getting it changed.

3) Isn't some one concerned that I am making your game look like dung to others and myself because I have to wash it out to increase the light levels? Thanks to you all taking away an existing option.

4) Why is even a concern as to where I set the Ambient Light Slider? If you going to reduce the range on the Ambient slider why does Turbine allow me to really mess the game appearance with the other visual controls?

Remember the entire reason the Ambient Light Slider with its wide range was to provide a better viewing for people like me that were playing with the other sliders that caused all the Bloom, loss of contrast and bleached out the colors.

I read what you wrote Mirthgar. It makes no sense at all when you consider the functionality provided by all the sliders.

IMHO - Why are the developers doing a two step backwards with the Ambient slider instead of doing something useful like giving us more range on the In Game Voice Sliders. Now Ambient Light and In Game Voice are both against the upper stop because there is not enough range adjustment.

Originally Posted by Yula_the_Mighty

Taking away existing options because Turbine feels that they are not working correctly. Especially when they have no effect on any one else because all the option does is customize my playing experience. It is an excellent way to annoy the customers for zero benefit.

I have trouble with the concept of it being a bug that has to be fixed. Turbine deployed the Ambient Light slider in late 2008 - early 2009. It existed for at least 30 months before it was changed. My thought:

1) It is was this important to fix. Why does it take over two years to get around to it? It must a low priority change. Why are you even bothering.

2) I don't recall anybody complaining about the old Ambient light slider being to sensitive because of the wide range of settings. There was little to no customer interest in getting it changed.

3) Isn't some one concerned that I am making your game look like dung to others and myself because I have to wash it out to increase the light levels? Thanks to you all taking away an existing option.

4) Why is even a concern as to where I set the Ambient Light Slider? If you going to reduce the range on the Ambient slider why does Turbine allow me to really mess the game appearance with the other visual controls?

Remember the entire reason the Ambient Light Slider with its wide range was to provide a better viewing for people like me that were playing with the other sliders that caused all the Bloom, loss of contrast and bleached out the colors.

I read what you wrote Mirthgar. It makes no sense at all when you consider the functionality provided by all the sliders.

IMHO - Why are the developers doing a two step backwards with the Ambient slider instead of doing something useful like giving us more range on the In Game Voice Sliders. Now Ambient Light and In Game Voice are both against the upper stop because there is not enough range adjustment.

Ambient light slider was added due to Moria having the necessity of being absolutely dark but still allowing for navigation where falling was a common threat. It was originally intended for application in Moria locations, it was however set to a range that was too high from its original functionality, it was not intended to surplant brightness/contrast and gamma it was an optional (and meant to be) less 'wash out' option from those but also not too overly bright as well since Moria is intended to be incredibly dark.

That was its original functionality, as to why it was adjusted too high initially, corrected later, all of that is above my paygrade. All my post was meant as was a clarification that how it functions now is how it was always meant to function and that if you desire it to be reverted to how it (on release) actually functioned it would be best to post in the forums section appropriate for suggestions, because it is not as it functions now considered to be bugged.

Thank you for the reply and explanation, Mirthgar.

I did as you suggested and posted a thread under "Suggestions". Hopefully, it'll get the notice of whoever makes such decisions and I'll be able to see the game world better during the 'night' hours.

-Goldrush
*******

Did you just say that being able to see everything clearly in Moria was a bug?

Originally Posted by Hazmat

Did you just say that being able to see everything clearly in Moria was a bug?

That's exactly what he said. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I'll look for the Suggestions thread.

Originally Posted by Hazmat

Did you just say that being able to see everything clearly in Moria was a bug?

I just want to reiterate that I can see everything clearly in Moria, and so can tens of thousands, at least, of other people. I don't see any bug. That said, I do support the ability to increase the ambient light even more, for those who can't see as well as I can.

Originally Posted by Hazmat

Did you just say that being able to see everything clearly in Moria was a bug?

Originally Posted by Nickysmom

That's exactly what he said. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I'll look for the Suggestions thread.

Do not put words into my reply that are not there. All I was trying to explain was that Moria was meant to be dark in general (it is built into a mountain after all), however a compromise to this was put in with the addition of the ambient light slider to allow players to brighten it up somewhat for visibility sake. As it was originally put in place though the range of light increase it added was an unintentional level, so this was later corrected.

I recommend the suggestions thread simply because as the slider works now is how it was always intended to function, so its current levels are not 'bugged' they are working as intended, if there is a desire to have this original incorrect functionality returned it needs to go into suggestions because this is not a technical issue with the slider.