[Suggestion] - More varied shadows in match engine

[Robbie Hood]

I don`t know if this is happening in all the different leagues/countries in FM22, but so far in my save game with Nottingham Forest in England i have not seen the shadows from the stadium roofs come from any other side than from the left.

This means that all the stadiums are located in the same directon of the sky/sun.

So my suggestion is to adjust the shadows / placement of stadiums to get more varied shadows in the different matches/stadiums.

For examples of how little variation there is in FM22 look at these different stadiums/shadows. The shadow always comes from the left.

[rp1966]

The database contains latitude and longitude information; I'm not sure it has stadium orientation. This needs to be added, but while that data is collated it should be randomised so that shadows fall in different directions.

Lighting should be coming from a sun/sky rig that is longitude/latitude, time of year aware (like the one in City Skylines) so that light intensity and direction are right for the country and match date/time - not sure that's how its being done, but it's not the 1990s, so it should be.

Not the subject of your post, but night lighting is a mess too - next time you play a night game look at the shadows from the players compared to where the lights in the stadium actually are.

 

 

[rp1966]

There is some variety - this was Weymouth's ground in a recent match.  Evening; long shadow lighting - coming from the far side of the pitch rather than the left.

You'd expect all your 3pm kick-off at home to have same lighting direction (but different light intensity and shadow length at different times of the season) - should vary in the away games, though, depending on orientation of the various stadiums.

 

Edited March 12, 2022 by rp1966

[Robbie Hood]

All my examples are from the english PL, but i seem to remember from FM21 in the lower leagues that there have been some variation to the shadows like in your example from Weymouth.

But it`s strange if this somehow is related to what league you are playing in, and not the longitude/latitude.

As you write longitude and latitude are already in the game, so it should somehow be possible to make the stadiums/shadows linked to this without having to program everything from scratch.

The reason for me going on about about improving the matchday grapichs are simply because i believe this would lift the game to the next level. With the match engine, transfer system, dynamics etc. there are many things that could wrong when adding new features/tweaking. One small change might have a huge impact on another unforseen area of the game. I would think that improving the matchday graphics wouldn`t  have the same negative possible sideeffects....but then again i know absolutely nothing about computer programming and i absolutely understand that SI have to make tough priorities about the game going forward

[rp1966]

An update on this.  Some really weird stuff going on with lighting.  That Weymouth game was 26/11/2022 at 15:00, so long shadows from low winter sun coming from the back of the stadium.

Took a look at another Weymouth home game later in the season - 01/04/2023 at 15:00. Lighting, higher sun, shorter shadows. Lighting from the left. So either Weymouth's ground is on a turntable and they've rotated it 90 degrees since the winter game or SI are just using a few fixed lighting rigs rather than a proper calendar/geo-aware sun/sky rig.

Also noticed the same thing as you in regards to lighting direction being the same for all matches. Just seems to vary by time of year. Will keep an eye on it as I progress through my next season as once you see it, you can't unsee it.

 

[Long Islander]

Many FM editions ago I remember that the shadows actually would change for later in the match as the sun went down, the shadow would get longer in the second half. 

[Zachary Whyte]

We appreciate your input and feedback. This is something that the community has raised before, this may yet be rejected or end up in a future version of FM.