GTA V Jagged shadows?
GTA V Jagged shadows?
The antialiasing of shadows from secondary light sources, like spotlights, requires increasing what is known as Spot Shadow Resolution. This adjustment isn’t part of the standard graphics options in GTA 5 (I assume because they didn’t have this feature back in 2013, or at least it wasn’t available), but it’s present in newer titles. Still, it doesn’t fully eliminate the sharp edges. The reason is that no other method has been developed yet to remove those jagged lines in shadows from secondary sources. At least according to my understanding. This technology essentially raises the resolution of these shadows, reducing the visible pixelation.
My hypothesis...
It’s conceivable that this feature could be present in the latest games, but it wasn’t available in 2013 or at least wasn’t offered as a separate graphic option in GTA 5. If Spot Shadow Resolution had existed then, it might have been integrated into the Shadow Quality setting. That would mean lowering Shadow Quality to Normal would worsen the problem, making the shadows appear less realistic and intensifying the jagged appearance.
To illustrate, try shining a spotlight at night while adjusting Shadow Quality to whatever level you prefer (likely very high). You’ll see the issue clearly. Stay in that spotlight, change the setting to Normal, and notice the shadows disappear. Then move to another spotlight, adjust it back to Very High, and the spotlight should turn off again. This suggests R* incorporated Spot Shadow Resolution into the Shadow Quality adjustment itself. They didn’t create a separate option for this in previous versions, such as in The Division.
I really don't want to say it, but this game seems a bit too complicated. It's six years old, maybe even four if you're counting strictly from its PC release. The dynamic shadows are tied to the Xbox 360 and PS3 time. It was pretty typical back then. You can't really change much about it.
He isn't playing these games right now.
I'll give it another shot. But after installing the DU and clen driver, it's happening in all games now. In GTA V specifically, it occurs under a secondary light source and when outside. Similar issues appear in F1 2013, Subnautica, Car Mechanic Sim 2018, Unigine Heaven, and Ac Unity. Maybe I should try Apex Legends since the game is only five months old. This seems to be a very new problem—something that never happened before. My friends haven't experienced it either, even though they're running GTA V on a weaker 1050 Ti processor.
Maybe a bit, but what I say is accurate. I'd emphasize discussing it more deeply. That's what I mentioned earlier.
I believe I can align with your view on this.
Also noted that this could be a viable option in other titles if they allow those adjustments. Consider The Division as an example...
You'll notice that simply increasing Shadow Resolution almost eliminates the noticeable artifacts in shadows from sunlight.
The same applies to Spot Shadow Resolution—it addresses the same issues under secondary lighting, like spotlights.
As I previously mentioned, it doesn't fully eliminate these artifacts, just reduces their impact.
In GTA 5, however, it's more challenging to demonstrate this since the only change we can make is Shadow Quality.
High Shadow Resolution in GTA 5 (under advanced settings) likely helps with the sun-related jaggies, not those from secondary sources. As demonstrated in The Division, the video here makes it clear you can see a difference between High and Normal Shadow Quality when examining the impact, though it's not always obvious.
This problem generally affects most games you play, and many people overlook or simply ignore it—something I experienced when I first noticed it in The Division about a year ago.
Thanks for the assistance, it's reassuring to know this isn't unique to me. However, as I mentioned, it occurs in ALL GAMES, even those that never experienced this issue. I've seen gameplays on yt where this problem doesn't happen at all. My friends don't have this issue, and nobody else does. But if it's just a random occurrence and won't change no matter what I do, then I might have to stop playing PC games, which I really enjoy.
And I haven't experienced this before, even with high resolution shadows turned off. I never used any advanced settings—just plain Nvidia PCCS, and both shadow and shader quality set to very high. ... No. But still, the GTA V video you shared was played in 1440p. Also, these are the kind of shadows I had in F1 2013. Now I get that rough edges.
Correct. However, identifying the jaggies in my GTA 5 video is much harder than in your 900p recording. I have to remain completely still in GTA 5 to see them. How long ago did these jaggies disappear? And what modifications have you made to your PC since you last noticed their absence?
I updated my GPU on May 26th from model 950 to 1060. After that, I played GTA V Hardcore and Subnautica without any issues for about one and a half months. Then I began to notice something unusual. I don’t recall doing much except adjusting the NVIDIA control panel settings, but had to turn them off again because I started seeing lines where textures and models overlapped (if that’s the right way to say it). I’m aware of the MFAA being set to trilinear off and anisotropic x16. It seems I started noticing these issues 1.5 to 2 weeks ago. The jaggies in other games appeared only recently after installing the DDU and WHQL drivers. Could this not be a faulty GPU? Or is it something related to NVIDIA GIMPING 10 Series Hardcore mode?
I'm not sure if this will resolve the shadow problem, but in your Global NCP settings MFAA should be OFF and FXAA should be OFF (unless you want it on in all your games). Then in the GTA 5 in-game graphic settings FXAA ON, MSAA at double and TXAA OFF. This should also improve performance. If you don't like this setup because you're using 900p, just revert to your preferred settings. Also, I lowered my resolution to 900p in GTA 5 and the shadows look the same as on 1440p, so the resolution isn't the problem there. As long as you have the latest drivers from Nvidia, you should be fine. I just rewatched your video and noticed your shadows match mine, so no issues detected. Please send another video of a different game with these new jaggies if you want.