4.24.07 - TT: Tweaking Your Lighting

Tags: in

Updated Fri, Jan 02, 2009 by Shayalyn

Lighten Up

Tweaking Vanguard's Lighting

QUESTION

It can get pretty dark during the evening hours in Telon. Sometimes it's tough to see when I'm running around. Is there a way to brighten things up?

ANSWER

There are actually several ways to lighten things up if it's too dark to see in Telon.

Light a torch. The first and most obvious thing to do is to light a torch. You won't find a torch in your inventory, but trust us...you've got one. It's a magic, invisible torch that lights your path when you use certain hotkeys. K lights a standard torch, while Shift K will light something a bit brighter. You can also use the /torch (default) and /torch2 (brighter) slash commands.

Tweak your settings. Enter your game settings (the gear icon on your hotbar) and change your lighting. You can experiment with brightness and contrast, but many people find that changing their gamma setting gives the best overall effect without washing things out.

Maybe it's your monitor. Every monitor is different, but if you know how to get into your monitor's settings you may want to adjust the gamma and/or brightness and contrast. You can usually tweak these settings through your graphics card's interface, as well. You might also be able to set up different settings profiles so that you can easily switch between your game settings and the normal settings you'd use for work or surfing the Internetz. For great technical advice on changing your monitor/graphics settings, visit our technical forum and ask for help.

Maybe it's your surroundings. The light in a room (your real-life room, that is, not the lighting in the tavern in Khal) can drastically change the way Vanguard displays on your monitor. Sunlight, even if it's not directly shining on your monitor, can wash things out and make it nearly impossible to see in-game. Bright ambient lighting and other lights that cause monitor glare can have a similar effect. When in doubt, pull the shades, dim the lights, and see if that helps.

Night time in Telon ads much to the immersion factor, and you wouldn't want to miss the impressive sea of stars overhead, but there's no reason to stumble around in the dark just because it's 2 a.m. Telon-time. Tweaking your settings won't make your visibility as high as it is during daylight hours (and it shouldn't--night is night, after all), but it will enable you to see better and trip over lurking monsters a whole lot less.

Got a newb question you'd like answered in Tuesday's Tips? Or maybe you're the resident answer person and you've made it your mission in life to help new players. Head on over to The Newb Haven on our forum. We just may feature your question or answer!