I find it funny... (brightness overload)

[Xenulus]

I see pictures of in-game Ark from the advertisements and random videos, and the lighting is amazing. Blue sky, crisp clouds, etc... Emphasis on the BLUE SKY.... But for some reason they release the game, and ADD a "feature" that causes the blue sky to disappear, and replace it with a blinding white sky, so bright it bleeds into everything you look at, especially on the beach. Want to look at the water? Sorry, white sky brightness is in the way. Its like false advertising. Reel you in with beautiful graphics, and then screw you over for no reason with a permanent white atmospheric fog. Sure, gamma 0.5 removes it, but then again a gamma that low removes virtually all light so that you are in complete darkness at midday.

.... Just wanted to rant about that. Not looking for solutions, because there isn't one. Just wanted to let out some irritation at this "feature."

[Lori37]

there are plenty of options to reduce glare and bloom, so might want to check that first before ranting any more

[Liralen]

Originally posted by Lori37:

there are plenty of options to reduce glare and bloom, so might want to check that first before ranting any more

QFT. I immediately remove bloom in every game I play.

[Lori37]

yup.... bloom and (I believe it's called) sun shafts are turned off immediately before I start playing

[Armitage Shanks]

Not sure what your complaint is, are you talking about fog? I've never experienced a blindingly bright white sky in almost 7k hours of Ark. Sounds like some kind of issue on your end.

[Sigh-Phi-Guy]

what is your GAMMA set at?
default is 2.5 I believe.

[Xenulus]

Not glare, not bloom. If it was glare I would have said glare. I know what glare is. If it was bloom, I would have said bloom. I know what bloom is. If it was a gamma issue, I would have said it was a gamma issue. I know what gamma is. I chose to use the word "brightness," because thats what it is. This was a rant of an annoying graphical issue with the game that has no apparent fix, besides using -sm4 in the launch settings, which I won't do because I hate the way that setting makes the game look. This was a rant, nothing more, lol.

Another funny thing is that every time someone on reddit, or some other forum, posts this same issue with even a photo to show it, people without fail just say turn off bloom and light shafts. As if hundreds of people just don't know about those two check boxes in the options menu.

Originally posted by Sigh-Phi-Guy:

what is your GAMMA set at?
default is 2.5 I believe.

I think 2.2 or 2.3 is default, but yea. Its not a gamma issue.

[Lori37]

Originally posted by Xenulus:

As if hundreds of people just don't know about those two check boxes in the options menu.

a LOT of people actually do not know these options are in the game these days, just saying

[Sigh-Phi-Guy]

Originally posted by Xenulus:

If it was glare I would have said glare. I know what glare is. If it was bloom, I would have said bloom. I know what bloom is. If it was a gamma issue, I would have said it was a gamma issue. I know what gamma is.

Another funny thing is that every time someone on reddit, or some other forum, posts this same issue with even a photo to show it, people without fail just say turn off bloom and light shafts. As if hundreds of people just don't know about those two check boxes in the options menu.

well we cant read minds, so we DONT KNOW what you know.
and if you "ASSUME" everyone KNOWS about "those check boxes",...well.....you KNOW what that means!
or DO you? I dont want to "ASSUME"!

[Xenulus]

I neither assume or... "unassume?" I simply say, lol. However, you can assume that I have spent so much time researching this topic for a solution that I know virtually everything there is to know about the game's lighting. From the update where they changed the lighting system, to launch options, to Nvidia control panel options, to the 2 check boxes that control light shafts and bloom qualities, and the hotkeys you can set to increase and decrease gamma levels. There is no solution to the problem while maintaining the current lighting system. Of course I wouldn't expect anyone to know that. But...

...another reason for the rant is you wouldn't believe the amount of responses to people who have posted about this brightness issue, who say IN their post that light shafts and bloom are already turned off, yet the top 3 replies are still telling them to try turning off lightshafts and bloom and reduce gamma. Its like people don't read before offering suggestions. I know, I didn't say those things were off, but then again I was just ranting, not looking for a solutions. Seeing people suggest something that the OP already said wasn't working a dozen times during hours of research into a solution tends to be frustrating.

But I'm not looking for suggestions. I came here to rant and spread my negativity of this apparent unsolvable issue, lol.

Just for giggles, here is a quick screenshot. Its usually worse than this, this was just a quick screenshot in the moment. Normally its to where you can't actually see the water until you're basically in it due to how white it all is. Lightshafts and bloom are off, gamma at 2.2.

https://imgur.com/a/6m0jUX9

[Sigh-Phi-Guy]

that screenshot is EXACTLY what my game looks like over water........
until i turn the GAMMA down.
its "mildly" annoying to me, but gamma adjustments improve it greatly.
i dont know what to tell you man.....adapt or die.
at least if you want to continue to have fun.

[Xenulus]

I just deal with it, been years now. Its just annoying and wanted to complain. I have to go below gamma 1 in order for it to look "normal" the way it did before that one update. But below gamma 1 is when everything else is waaaaaaay too dark to the point of not being able to see.

[Dampback]

Turn down sky quality bloom, try launching with no sky effects, Light rays are dumb too (IMO)

IDK my ocean horizon does not look like that.

I really think its the sky quality, If youre willing to drop that, theres less clouds and ♥♥♥♥, making it less white

[Xenulus]

Originally posted by Dampback:

Turn down sky quality bloom, try launching with no sky effects, Light rays are dumb too (IMO)

IDK my ocean horizon does not look like that.

I really think its the sky quality, If youre willing to drop that, theres less clouds and ♥♥♥♥, making it less white

Good guess, as you'd think sky quality would do something. Nah, not here. That just dictates amount of clouds.

[Blackcat]

Originally posted by Xenulus:

Not glare, not bloom. If it was glare I would have said glare. I know what glare is. If it was bloom, I would have said bloom. I know what bloom is. If it was a gamma issue, I would have said it was a gamma issue. I know what gamma is. I chose to use the word "brightness," because thats what it is. This was a rant of an annoying graphical issue with the game that has no apparent fix, besides using -sm4 in the launch settings, which I won't do because I hate the way that setting makes the game look. This was a rant, nothing more, lol.

Another funny thing is that every time someone on reddit, or some other forum, posts this same issue with even a photo to show it, people without fail just say turn off bloom and light shafts. As if hundreds of people just don't know about those two check boxes in the options menu.

Originally posted by Sigh-Phi-Guy:

what is your GAMMA set at?
default is 2.5 I believe.

I think 2.2 or 2.3 is default, but yea. Its not a gamma issue.

Defalult is 2.2 you can just type "gamma" in tje console and hit enter. It will set the default gamma.