Blow up the sun already!

[TheRomanRuler]

I REALLY hate when lightning is so crappy (depending where you look) you can't see any colors or details on units. I don't understand how people can play with it, that would be first thing i would remove - if i knew, how?
In Shogun 2 it did not bother me at all... Was there something different in it? Is it just somekind of bug?

[StormOfRazors]

Try installing the No HDR mod by Mech_Donald. It makes the dark sort of blackness that covers up the color of unit detail from the horrible shadow thing go away. Maybe also try installing GEM (Graphics enhancement mod).

[TheCenturion24]

Definately try out GEM. It clears up the colours so much you'll never go back. No HDR is good too, though sometimes it highlights the game's rather grainy and plain models.

[stevehoos]

It simply amazes me that many (myself included) have had to use an effects mod to be able to look at this game. Not only is the entire game design inveterately poor, but the graphics look dreadful. But I am only a hater, who does not see the wonderful truth hiding in this deeply infectious spell bounding captivating game.

[IlluminatiRex]

I personally don't recommend GEM. Too gray, too sharp, and too grainy. I recommend No HDR though.

[Tr0tskY]

I personally don't recommend GEM. Too gray, too sharp, and too grainy. I recommend No HDR though.

You know you can download different GEM/Sweetfx presets that can give a huge variation to how the GEM settings affect this game. The version I use of GEM doesn't look grainy at all, and certainly not grey....

[IlluminatiRex]

You know you can download different GEM/Sweetfx presets that can give a huge variation to how the GEM settings affect this game. The version I use of GEM doesn't look grainy at all, and certainly not grey....

Most of presets don't really tickle my fancy. I like a lot of color, I mean like this.



If anyone knows of a preset that does that for Rome II, I'd be in heaven. I'm not very good at fiddling with GEM and SweetFX settings myself .

[Reist09]

I personally recommend the GEM-settings from Gfile (Page 200 "GEM-Mod!"TWC) http://speedy.sh/RfVqU/Gfile-truecolor-nohdr-v3.rar, or Doctor 1 Settings same page.
Don`t forget to adjust the System Control Settings related to your Video Card and the Ingame Settings.

Sorry for my English.

[TheRomanRuler]

Get the No HDR mod by Mech_Donald on steam. Trust me I can't play my game without it and GEM

It is not supported anymore, latest version is for 8.1 :/

I personally recommend the GEM-settings from Gfile (Page 200 "GEM-Mod!"TWC) http://speedy.sh/RfVqU/Gfile-truecolor-nohdr-v3.rar, or Doctor 1 Settings same page.
Don`t forget to adjust the System Control Settings related to your Video Card and the Ingame Settings.

Sorry for my English.

Thanks, i try it.

[TheRomanRuler]

Thanks for advice, trying them now.

[Reigner]

Do this:

Download GEM.
Go to your GEM settings text document in your Total War: Rome 2 folder (not data, the one that data is in.) and change True Color from 0 to 1, and change Realistic from 1 to 0. Very colorful, very saturated, goes well with Blood and Gore DLC

[TheRomanRuler]

With GEM realistic, game looks so much better! But if sun is behind my men, i can not see their colors if i look at towards sun. Does anyone now if this can be removed or somehow tweaked?
EDIT: I mean true color

[Maggnis]

Get the No HDR mod by Mech_Donald on steam. Trust me I can't play my game without it and GEM

[rob-a-dogg]

Put shadows to low (this is 'off') and shader to 3. Game stops making most shadows = color from every direction + significant FPS boost.

[DarrenTotalWar]

I havent yet tried this, (although I will over the next couple days) but it looks like it might yield some good results, and also mentions tweaks to the sun.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...2-FULL-VERSION

[Baleur]

I REALLY hate when lightning is so crappy (depending where you look) you can't see any colors or details on units. I don't understand how people can play with it, that would be first thing i would remove - if i knew, how?
In Shogun 2 it did not bother me at all... Was there something different in it? Is it just somekind of bug?

That's because people DONT play with it
I use mech_donald's no hdr mod (keeps brightness bright when zooming in) and previouslt his contrast and color balance fix, but now that isnt updated sadly.
(it prevented shadows from being neon blue)
I also use a personal GEM shader setting that bumps up the color saturation and essentially increases the gamma and brightness.

I agree with you, vanilla is just god awful ridiculous. Bright sunny desert days are like dark gloomy post-apocalyptic fallout scenarios in Rome 2.
It's funny because it's a problem that has nothing to do with graphics, shaders, preformance or anything.
It's just some awful incompetent dude at CA that has the most awful disgusting taste when it comes to color balance and brightness. He could easily change a few numerical values and issue a patch to improve all of this in 1 day, but they don't. Because whoever is in charge of that has no feeling for proper exposure and aesthetics what so ever. It's like having a chimpansee run a wedding photo studio, i don't know what they were thinking.
I don't even know how a person like that gets a job at a AAA dev studio.
I could personally tweak better environment lighting, contrast and color settings than that, so why don't they hire me instead? lol

Maybe one day, CA will actually replace their incompetent staff members, such as their environment lighting tuner and their AI programmers.
A gaming industry career at CA, the easiest most secure job in the world. You can do a piss poor job and never get replaced.

[LordInvictus]

Cue heavenly music...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[jughurta]

Those images looks nice LordInvictus. did you do anything special to make it look like this or is this how it works in vanilla for you?

[LordInvictus]

Those are pictures from Aztec's Lighting and Environments Mod (link in DarrenTotalWar's post)