Red Dead Redemption 2 may have removed or altered ambient occlusion in a recent update, according to fans showcasing side-by-side comparisons.

If you have yet to play through the Western epic that is Red Dead Redemption 2, consider blocking the updates from your original disk install. According to reports from multiple gamers in dedicated Red Dead Redemption communities, Rockstar seemingly removed ambient occlusion in a visual downgrade — though that was not disclosed in the most recent patch notes.

The news originally came from Twitter user Darealbandicoot who shared side-by-side screenshots of version 1.00 and version 1.06 of the western game:

1.00 vs 1.06 pic.twitter.com/sNd5h5hXwj

— Darealbandicoot (@Darealbandicoot) March 13, 2019

There’s a good chance you will need to blow these images up to notice the difference, especially if you are a newcomer to ambient occlusion. Put simply, ambient occlusion is a game rendering realistic lighting based on the actual geometry in the room — if a lighting source would be blocked, we wouldn’t expect to see every inch of nooks and crannies.



You can notice on the right image that shadows are more prevalent, dark colors are more rich, and everything looks more realistic.

Now, you can do that same comparison with the two photos:



Left: Version 1.0; Right: Version 1.06

Several things pop up in this comparison photo — you can see that Arthur’s jacket is more illuminated and has far less shadow on the right-most image that has is taken with Update 1.06. Shadows under the bar are less prevalent and the general lighting is all around brighter.

Oddly enough, it doesn’t appear that the latest update mentions anything about removing or altering the lighting of the game, let alone a full removal of ambient occlusion. In fact, lighting isn’t mentioned at all outside of small changes and texture issues.

Obviously, there is always the chance that there are mitigating factors causing these differences — in previous rumors of downgrades, these could have been caused by differences in the weather or time of day. On the other hand, it isn’t totally uncommon to see assets shift in updates as games are further optimized, either intentionally or unintentionally. However, if this is real and not just unfortunate side-by-side screenshot grabs, it is a shame. One of the principal reasons the game received a 10 from DualShockers is because it was a technical showstopper, including the lighting.

Of course, to enjoy the game as it was originally deployed, you would simply need to uninstall the game and reinstall without an internet connection and without patches.



Posted: Mar 17, 2019 7:54 pm
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: https://www.dualshockers.com/red-dead-redemption-2-rdr2-graphics-downgrade/