FIX for Integrated Graphics/Handhelds - Global Illumination, Fog issues/too dense, blurriness/shadow issues, etc

[Bodhsativa]

I found the game to be unplayable in parts due to fog being really dense, lighting being weird, shadows not appearing correctly, etc. In the flying waters, the second paint cage was completely red and rendered the cages invisible. No settings changes would fix it, even setting everything to low or epic.

I've seen many posts complaining about these issues or editing ini files for fog, etc. With this, I didn't have to do any of that. I'm convinced this is the issue for a lot of people.

I don't know if this is common knowledge but I did some research and discovered on many Integrated graphics Card, UE5 automatically disables global illumination. This also includes handhelds. The lack of GI is what was causing these issues. For me, it was all of them. Once I applied the fix, the fog rendered correctly, shadows on faces looked correct, things weren't blindingly bright in some cases. Everything was just better.

Here are images comparing the manor before the fix and after:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3480138623
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3480138461

So the fix:
1. Download the zip from the realeases here:
https://github.com/alxn1/d3d12-proxy/releases/tag/r0.0.4

2. Drop the files into C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Expedition 33\Sandfall\Binaries\Win64\

That's it, many things should just be way better now. It won't fix everything for everyone, but for me it literally resolved everything.

hope this helps someone!

EDIT: The steam deck needs another fix:
Putting 'SteamDeck=0 %command%' into the launch options will fix it, but you'll lose a lot of performance.

[Ink]

You're my saviour. Thank you so much!
I say hello to those who play on integrated graphics :D

[PHASE123]

thank you sooo much. i was having these same issues (the manor being luminous, and the paint cage in the waters mine being hidden in a wall of fog!)

[Eleveneleven]

My files are in the equivalent path for steam deck and it's still white as hell in the manor

[Lazure]

My AYA NEO 2 has this problem too. In some places like Flying Waters the red fog was so opaque i couldn't see where I was going or find items/paint cage nodes/etc. The manor looks white and washed out. on my desktop of course the manor looks deep and golden on the OLED and the fog works translucently as it should in other areas.

I edited my inis to remove the fog entirely on the handheld, but of course this makes the game look insanely weird as there's absolutely no fog at all... but it at least allows me to see...

My concern is-- is this a problem on DEDICATED radeon cards? Like if I ever got a 9070 xt on a desktop would it be a problem? Or is it only the 'm' graphics on mini pcs and handhelds like steam deck, ally, and neo that get affected by this". My 1080 Ti gets crappy framerates for this game as it is, and if i am looking to ever upgrade-- i want to know if radeons are even an option worth considering-- i don't want to have visual glitches like this on desktop hardware after all.

[Bodhsativa]

Originally posted by Lazure:

My AYA NEO 2 has this problem too. In some places like Flying Waters the red fog was so opaque i couldn't see where I was going or find items/paint cage nodes/etc. The manor looks white and washed out. on my desktop of course the manor looks deep and golden on the OLED and the fog works translucently as it should in other areas.

I edited my inis to remove the fog entirely on the handheld, but of course this makes the game look insanely weird as there's absolutely no fog at all... but it at least allows me to see...

My concern is-- is this a problem on DEDICATED radeon cards? Like if I ever got a 9070 xt on a desktop would it be a problem? Or is it only the 'm' graphics on mini pcs and handhelds like steam deck, ally, and neo that get affected by this". My 1080 Ti gets crappy framerates for this game as it is, and if i am looking to ever upgrade-- i want to know if radeons are even an option worth considering-- i don't want to have visual glitches like this on desktop hardware after all.

My understanding is that it is only present on integrated graphics. It's not just this game, it's any UE5 game atm. UE5 checks if the card is integrated and the just disables global illumination. I don't know of it's radeon specific, I just know it's better documented with radeon because they're in all handheld.

[Bodhsativa]

Originally posted by Eleveneleven:

My files are in the equivalent path for steam deck and it's still white as hell in the manor

Putting 'SteamDeck=0 %command%' into the launch options will fix it, but you'll lose a lot of performance.

It's still detecting the steam deck, even if it's spoofing another card.

[ZhelezyAka]

Originally posted by Bodhsativa:

Originally posted by Eleveneleven:

My files are in the equivalent path for steam deck and it's still white as hell in the manor

Putting 'SteamDeck=0 %command%' into the launch options will fix it, but you'll lose a lot of performance.

It's still detecting the steam deck, even if it's spoofing another card.

Thanks a lot! It helped.

[Player 2]

You're a godsend.

[michaelc1024]

Originally posted by Bodhsativa:

I found the game to be unplayable in parts due to fog being really dense, lighting being weird, shadows not appearing correctly, etc. In the flying waters, the second paint cage was completely red and rendered the cages invisible. No settings changes would fix it, even setting everything to low or epic.

I've seen many posts complaining about these issues or editing ini files for fog, etc. With this, I didn't have to do any of that. I'm convinced this is the issue for a lot of people.

I don't know if this is common knowledge but I did some research and discovered on many Integrated graphics Card, UE5 automatically disables global illumination. This also includes handhelds. The lack of GI is what was causing these issues. For me, it was all of them. Once I applied the fix, the fog rendered correctly, shadows on faces looked correct, things weren't blindingly bright in some cases. Everything was just better.

Here are images comparing the manor before the fix and after:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3480138623
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3480138461

So the fix:
1. Download the zip from the realeases here:
https://github.com/alxn1/d3d12-proxy/releases/tag/r0.0.4

2. Drop the files into C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Expedition 33\Sandfall\Binaries\Win64\

That's it, many things should just be way better now. It won't fix everything for everyone, but for me it literally resolved everything.

hope this helps someone!

EDIT: The steam deck needs another fix:
Putting 'SteamDeck=0 %command%' into the launch options will fix it, but you'll lose a lot of performance.

[michaelc1024]

Hi, do you know what I should I do if I’m playing this game on Xbox game pass? I did download the game, it’s not streaming. Thanks

[chilango951]

I am playing this on the Rog Ally Z1 through Gamepass. This probably wouldn't be the same fix for that, would it? Something with the red fog and bright mansion