Brightness Issue...

[Dedotated Wigwam]

So i've had some trouble with Gmod lately. Basically, When I go to single-player, I look at certain parts of the map and one second its bright, the next its dark as f*ck. Here are some screenshots of gm_flatgrass.

first this:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=693592592

Then this:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=693593195

This is what happens when i look at the ground:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=693593289

Then it just goes back to normal:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=693593366

This happens with EVERY map on GMOD. Its gotten to the point where I deleted it and redownloaded it. It only happens sometimes, but when it does, its SUPER annoying because I can't see anything.

NOTE: I do have addons installed, but i deleted all of them and the same thing happened.

I have not tested Multiplayer yet, but my guess is that this is Singleplayer only. If you would like me to test Multiplayer and share screenshots; i will happily oblige.

PLEASE HELP ME

[Dedotated Wigwam]

When i said only Sometimes it happens, I ment as in When i look around at certain points of the map that triggers the effect. I have no clue what is causing it. No addons are messing with it, i know that.

[\:Stupid:/]

Have you deleted addons through the folder? Try verifying game cache.

[Dedotated Wigwam]

Originally posted by (:WeekendTrip:):

Have you deleted addons through the folder? Try verifying game cache.

I have not. Everytime I delete addons via the addons folder, they just get redownloaded though Steam. I deleted all of my addons because i thought that some were conflicting certain aspects of the game. Apon deletion, it still happened. I verified game cache. 1 file failed to validate. I go back into Garry's Mod and it is still happening.

[Dexious Emera]

Originally posted by Dedotated Wigwam:

Originally posted by (:WeekendTrip:):

Have you deleted addons through the folder? Try verifying game cache.

I have not. Everytime I delete addons via the addons folder, they just get redownloaded though Steam. I deleted all of my addons because i thought that some were conflicting certain aspects of the game. Apon deletion, it still happened. I verified game cache. 1 file failed to validate. I go back into Garry's Mod and it is still happening.

You need to unsubscribe to those addons...

[Dedotated Wigwam]

I did what you said and, well...

it didn't work...
Same problem, no addons, validated files twice and there was always 1 file that failed.

[Dr. Cat]

Has it always been like this? Was it an update that started this bug? Is your GPU new or old? Do you have any odd graphical issues with other games?

[Dedotated Wigwam]

Originally posted by Dr. Cat:

Has it always been like this? Was it an update that started this bug? Is your GPU new or old? Do you have any odd graphical issues with other games?

I'll answer in order:

1) No, it started doing it randomly fairly recently (like last week or so)
2) Im not sure, the last update for Gmod was like April and it started fairly recently
3) If GPU is the graphics card (which i assume it is) I don't have one. (Technically) I run
everything on a Intel i5 Core Laptop which I got about a year ago. It runs Garry's mod and
CS:GO at 40-60 frames!
4) No, I only have this issue with Garry's Mod

[Dr. Cat]

Right, just a couple more questions.
Have you installed anything that might cause interference? Something heavy maybe?
What operating system are you on? Is it 32 or 64-bit?
Did you try changing the graphical settings? They /might've/ reset after the update.

[Dedotated Wigwam]

Originally posted by Dr. Cat:

Right, just a couple more questions.
Have you installed anything that might cause interference? Something heavy maybe?
What operating system are you on? Is it 32 or 64-bit?
Did you try changing the graphical settings? They /might've/ reset after the update.

Again, answering in order:

1) Not that I know of
2) Not that I know of
3) Windows 8.1
4) Yes, but to no avail.

[Dr. Cat]

Fire up a map, open the console, type "mat_dxlevel" and write down the current value for that parameter
Then comes the fun part. Keep testing with mat_dxlevel until you find a value that fixes your graphical issue
I think the lowest you can go is 70, and the highest, 90 or maybe 100.

The lower the dxlevel is, the faster your game /might/ run, but the display in its entirety gets worse and worse, and possibly glitchy as well. The inverse of this is also true.

Common values are 80, 85 and 90.

If your game crashes and you're locked out of it because of a change, add -dxlevel xx to the launch parameters, see if it launches then, and if it does, remove the parameter again.

You can check if your dxlevel is really in effect by looking at the advanced settings in your graphics options.

Be mindful that changing the dxlevel resets your graphics settings as well, so you could screencap those or something if you really want to.

[Dedotated Wigwam]

Originally posted by Dr. Cat:

Fire up a map, open the console, type "mat_dxlevel" and write down the current value for that parameter
Then comes the fun part. Keep testing with mat_dxlevel until you find a value that fixes your graphical issue
I think the lowest you can go is 70, and the highest, 90 or maybe 100.

The lower the dxlevel is, the faster your game /might/ run, but the display in its entirety gets worse and worse, and possibly glitchy as well. The inverse of this is also true.

Common values are 80, 85 and 90.

If your game crashes and you're locked out of it because of a change, add -dxlevel xx to the launch parameters, see if it launches then, and if it does, remove the parameter again.

You can check if your dxlevel is really in effect by looking at the advanced settings in your graphics options.

Be mindful that changing the dxlevel resets your graphics settings as well, so you could screencap those or something if you really want to.

Ok:

By Default mat_dxlevel was set to 90.
I set it to below 90 and it was fine
but higher then 90 and it did the weird brightness glitch.
But when SET to 90, the following message appeared in console:

"Bad convar found in dxsupport_nat_tonemapping_occusion_use_stencil"

Don't know if that has anything to do with anything.

So to recap, set below 90 and the graphics are crap but the brightness glitch is gone.
but set to 90 and above the brightness glitch happens.

Where to go from here??

[Dr. Cat]

You could keep it at 89, but I doubt you'd want to stay with the bad graphics.

These two threads could help
http://steamcommunity.com/app/4000/discussions/1/494631967665558849/
http://steamcommunity.com/app/4000/discussions/1/412446890563341989/

Apparently, third-party overlays can cause those effects

Also worth checking is if your laptop's using any integrated graphics instead of just the processor, and updating their drivers if possible. Going to Help > System Information on the steam client's top left corner can tell you that

[Dedotated Wigwam]

Originally posted by Dr. Cat:

You could keep it at 89, but I doubt you'd want to stay with the bad graphics.

These two threads could help
http://steamcommunity.com/app/4000/discussions/1/494631967665558849/
http://steamcommunity.com/app/4000/discussions/1/412446890563341989/

Apparently, third-party overlays can cause those effects

Also worth checking is if your laptop's using any integrated graphics instead of just the processor, and updating their drivers if possible. Going to Help > System Information on the steam client's top left corner can tell you that

You sir are a genius.

The very FIRST link to the thread solved it.
Thank you so much.
I owe you one.

[Dr. Cat]

No problem! Glad I could help.