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/vr/ - Retro Games

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File: 141 KB, 1024x768, fear_bm_03.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7317854 No.7317854 [Reply] [Original]

What is it that gives some engines more "depth" than others? Has anyone else noticed this?

I swear to God there is some difference between Unreal Engine and LithTech which for some reason I really like. Source feels really bland somehow.

>> No.7318851

lighting

>> No.7319318
File: 76 KB, 650x450, LinearRendering-Infinite3DHeadScan.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7319318

>>7317854
FEAR and many games of its didn't correct for gamma. Sikkmod corrects this and actually looks better as a result.

>> No.7319321

>>7317854
I get this feeling with the xray engine that Stalker uses, but only when in tunnels, it has to be the lighting

>> No.7319330
File: 2.97 MB, 854x240, remaster.webm [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7319330

>>7319321
STALKER also doesn't gamma-correct.

In this WebM, I modified the shader to the left to apply this correction to the lighting. The specular ought to be toned down, though.

>> No.7319343

>>7317854
>>7319318
Also, compare these two.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqolPBjRpZA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOW5l0NX_74

>> No.7319349

>>7319318
top looks better though

>> No.7319359

>>7319349
>Though
It IS supposed to be better. Bottom does lighting in gamma space, i.e. not correcting for it.

>> No.7319396
File: 380 KB, 1296x1584, stencil shadows.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7319396

>>7317854
Source uses normal maps as an afterthought. Textures don't lose their definition if you disable shader effects. One of the principles behind modern rendering is separating surface albedo from surface detail. This approach pays dividends.

>> No.7319418

I just see the tiny light in the small compressed thumbnail image and just from that one small thing i knew it was F.E.A.R, even though i haven't played that game since release.

Shows how memorable the lighting was and how good it was for the time. Doom 3 is another game that can do that. It's because both games entirely use dynamic lighting instead of the common fake baked lighting.

This is why Source likely feels bland to you OP. Lighting is typically faked by baking it into the textures. So a shadow for example isn't cast by a real light source. It's essentially just a texture. Half-Life 2 is full of this. Where as dynamic lighting casts real light and shadows on to everything and will properly interact with the game world. It's far more demanding on the GPU though. Practically everything you see in Doom 3 and F.E.A.R is lit this way, unlike all other games before then which faked lighting/shadows or would just have a dynamic light used for one of two things (like a flash light).

>> No.7320089

>>7319396
Direct3D was a mistake.