Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Patch 8 - Colors Became Too Vibrant And Washed Out Darker Shades

That's the second time someone said people were complaining about it being too dark? Who are these people? I remember a whole post I created about how dungeons aren't dark enough, and many agreed... Maybe not to the dark extent I suggested, but they thought dungeons and the game were too bright already. Especially because they won't flipping give us day/night.

Here. Found it.

https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=814982#Post814982

I really miss the dark. I loved sneaking around and having to use the light spell.

This thread is about more than just a simple brightness change though. There's;

• Lighting inconsistency
• Color inconsistency
• Lack of contrast
• Washed out colors
• Overly vibrant colors
• Dark shades of colors completely gone
• Color tints applied to areas
• Environment details being drowned out
• Lighting items/cantrips/spells and even Dark Vision made obsolete
• Actual imbalance between races (A Human can see as well in the dark as a Drow can)
• Lore conflict
• Loss of immersion

There's so many reasons as to why this thread was made. In short though... plenty of artistic inconsistency and actual imbalance that made certain things obsolete.


Um... no, they didn't. There's only one slider and that is for Gamma. There isn't even a Brightness slider, but that doesn't matter, because these issues listed above aren't something that in-game sliders would fix since the core of the issue is inconsistency.

I got a full set of sliders before even getting into the main game menu. They poped up on the first start of the game after installation and only then.

Edit :
Maybe you didn't get them because of a bug? I'm runing D Vision HDR screen so maybe that's the difference i don't know... The game sure looks amazing on my screen.

Just checked my game. No sliders popped up for me and only the gamma slider found in video options.

Also, personally I dislike the idea that 2 millions+ customers of Larian should have to manually fix what Larian imo broke

*Raises a hand.*

https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=812708#Post812708

Ofc it was you! First we had to wait for a patch until your birthday and now this. Rag, I hold you personally responsible for this. Fix it! :P

I go kneel to the corner.

Well you better damn pray to whoever at Larian that holds you in favor :P

i'm using HDR so maybe it's that or it's just a bug. This patch is heavy with bugs this time around in all sections, but i definitely got a pop up for
calibration sliders like you have in most AAA games.
Edit: i just looked in game and you are right, those same sliders are not in settings no clue why.

It was everywhere not just on this forum.

Well i dont say i was the only one ...

It just seems to be fitting the schematic ...
Larian broke Dark Vision > people were complaining they cant see a thing.
Larian refuses to fix Dark Vision > Larian adds brightness to the whole world, so people can see > people are complaining that everything is too bright

I'll just add some more character screenshots for comparison...

I think whichever you like best, we can agree that they have a pretty different feel. I personally prefer the first kind of lighting. Softer, darker... I don't think the second set is ugly either, but even with Astarion's tragic mien, due to the crispness and higher saturation, the feeling it evokes is much more upbeat which creates a sort of dissonance between the quests we're undertaking and the way we (and the environment) look.

Both sets were taken in the Underdark, wearing Drow Armour:

Before patch 8:



After patch 8:

@I agree with your take. I think the answer to the "It's too dark in the Underdark" which I believe is the basis for the change could have been "fixed' by adjusting the lighting in the Underdark rather than doing this global change. Just up the brightness and decrease the drop-off rate of the light cast by the light sources and keep everything else the same.

This was posted on Larian Twitter just now ...
Is it just me, or THEIR colors are perfectly fine? O_o

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FYSGINPXgAIa54y?format=jpg&name=large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FYSGIMMWQAE-I1t?format=jpg&name=large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FYSGIOrWAAA0hge?format=jpg&name=large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FYSGISRXgAEx1Fa?format=jpg&name=large

(Sory img tags dont work ... and im not going to reupload it.)

Hard to tell, the dark hair still feels too bright but would like something to compare with. Same goes for colors on clothes, especially the blue shirt. It had a darker, imo, more suitable tint before.

No, those just not the colors people are talking about. This is highlight of bright colors on low intesity on black hair. And OP here and others were talking about darkest tones of specific main colors for hair. For example try to compare Violet 4 and Violet 5. There is barely any difference between them in the game after this patch.

Look back to the OP's first post where he/she references pics of dramatic graphical difference in all rendered assets. Or just reference any of my posts. None of us were exclusively talking about the hair colour changes. But even on that minor detail - yes, obviously there's clearly a difference, as the pictures attest.

Nope, the colors are exactly the same.

I've recreated the character in my own game and uploaded a comparison shot for both.

Twitter Screenshot / My own screenshot


One thing that is really noticeable is the hair and shadows.

In Patch 7, observe how the shadows play around with strands of hair and how everything has its own distinction. Absolutely gorgeous to look at.

Then when you look at Patch 8... despite the lighting coming from his left side, the shadows are practically non-existent and so is distinction between the strands of hair. It's just white hair equally lit up all around. And his hair is so white it may as well act as a beacon in the Underdark

Seems the patch also busted the way light affects hair. No way this should work like this:


Previous patches it looked way better.