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    Playing without shadows, aceptable or not?

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by Razer-D, Oct 12, 2007.

  1. Razer-D

    Razer-D Notebook Consultant

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    Turning off shadows in modern games gives you a huge boost in performance but is it worth the cost of decreased realism? Personally I prefer the performance boost as long as enviromental shadows are not taken away and the game doesn't require shadows as a gameplay element.
     
    Razer-D, Oct 12, 2007
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  2. HavoK

    HavoK Registered User

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    I don't see the big deal. Of course, it depends on the game. Something like COD2 or COD4 doesn't actually matter too much, as there's so much lovely lighting and smoke going on everywhere else. Something like FEAR say, however, is a bit crippled without shadows.
     
    HavoK, Oct 12, 2007
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  3. Razer-D

    Razer-D Notebook Consultant

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    Yes, exactly. I wouldn't want to play Fear, Bioshock or Doom3 without shadows since it would detract from the gameplay too much. I've tried theCod4 demo and it ran amazingly well once I turned off shadows and I hardly noticed it.
     
    Razer-D, Oct 12, 2007
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  4. nic.

    nic. Notebook Evangelist

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    It depends

    I agree with HavoK as CoD has lots of things on screen will keep you busy from noticing the shadow effects.

    While another way round, games like RTS or any other genre where i will got time to look around. I will switch the shadow on and sacrifice some other eye candy effects as playing a RTS with shadow off seems a little bit weird though. (Unrealistic or just can't get used to)
     
    nic., Oct 12, 2007
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  5. zentrad

    zentrad Notebook Enthusiast

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    Can live with it...without shadow i mean

    Usually doesn't even notice the different
     
    zentrad, Oct 12, 2007
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  6. jojoinnit

    jojoinnit Notebook Consultant

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    I've had a Radeon 9600 with 64mb for so long, I dont know if I've ever played with shadows!
     
    jojoinnit, Oct 12, 2007
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  7. unknown555525

    unknown555525 rawr

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    there's about 200 or so spots in BIOSHOCK that you'll completely miss because it's shown only with the nice charactor shadows. such as, you'll see a creepy shadow of a doctor on the wall infront of you, but when going around the corner the guy runs.. you'd never know there was anyone there without the shadows.. Same goes for FEAR, and DooM3. I'd say shadows are a BIG part of horror related games.. a BIG part...
     
    unknown555525, Oct 12, 2007
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  8. cars-are-cool

    cars-are-cool Notebook Enthusiast

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    I'd say that shadows are a BIG part in all most all games u miss things when they are not there and a biger part in fps games
     
    cars-are-cool, Oct 12, 2007
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  9. ViciousXUSMC

    ViciousXUSMC Master Viking NBR Reviewer

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    It really depends on the game, say unreal tournament it would be fine (but that gave has a great engine anyways and shadows probably wont hurt your performance) but bioshock or fear would be bad choices.
     
    ViciousXUSMC, Oct 12, 2007
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