So in short the shadow LOD in gta 5 is terrible, and on most rigs this seems to be happening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVV9vfQCCxQ&feature=youtu.be (note: not my video, but the same exact problem I have.)

 

Some say enabling AMD CHS or the equivalent Nvidia one (Depending on which card you have) fixes it but indeed it doesn't, it just hides it behind blurred low quality shadows. My shadow quality is on the highest, and I cannot use "Extended shadow distance" because it's grayed out for whatever reason. Long shadows are on but I don't think thats related

This is indeed very annoying from far away, while driving or going really fast past stuff the shadows render in as im on top of them, instead of further ahead, just like in the video. I have other examples but youtube takes forever to upload a 30 second clip at 60fps. If anyone has found a fix for this please post it, I've looked over threads on the rockstar forum and reddit but no solutions. I was having the same issue with the streets rendering badly from far away but turning up Post-FX (weirdly) fixed that one. 

So in short the shadow LOD in gta 5 is terrible, and on most rigs this seems to be happening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVV9vfQCCxQ&feature=youtu.be (note: not my video, but the same exact problem I have.)

 

Some say enabling AMD CHS or the equivalent Nvidia one (Depending on which card you have) fixes it but indeed it doesn't, it just hides it behind blurred low quality shadows. My shadow quality is on the highest, and I cannot use "Extended shadow distance" because it's grayed out for whatever reason. Long shadows are on but I don't think thats related

This is indeed very annoying from far away, while driving or going really fast past stuff the shadows render in as im on top of them, instead of further ahead, just like in the video. I have other examples but youtube takes forever to upload a 30 second clip at 60fps. If anyone has found a fix for this please post it, I've looked over threads on the rockstar forum and reddit but no solutions. I was having the same issue with the streets rendering badly from far away but turning up Post-FX (weirdly) fixed that one. 

​Hi there,

I'm having the same issue. But I guess it is a game related problem and has nothing to do with the hardware. Imagine every shadow would be rendered in high quality the game would run out of vram in a very short time. So my guess is that R* did this on purpose. I can be wrong but that is my opinion in that case.

But no doubt, it looks as ugly as ****.

Edited April 28, 201511 yr by Jety2011

I would of been fine with an option that fixes it but apparently nothing has been found. People in this reddit thread seem to have the same issue, people with the highest shadow settings and extended distances still have the issue. AMD CHS just makes it worse, by hiding it and making all the shadows blurry.

 

Really weird. hope for a fix soon, maybe I'll contact R* about it.

I had a problem with shadows too, not really like this, but when on normal shadow quality sometimes my character would appear to have dark rings around him from his head to waist. Usually happened standing in the shadows of trees.

But now I just turned shadows all off in the settings.xml.

There may be a performance cost, but have you tried enabling High Definition shadows in the "Advanced Options" menu? 

There may be a performance cost, but have you tried enabling High Definition shadows in the "Advanced Options" menu? 

​Nope, doesn't work. Just tried it. as I said every graphics option related to shadows has been tried by either me or people with the same problem, nothing seems to be fixing it.

I have hopes for Extended Shadow Distance but its greyed out for me and I can't use it. Plus with that maxed the performance issues would be through the roof. If it keeps bugging me i'll probably contact R*

 

Thanks for the suggestion though.

Enable "Ignore Suggested Limits" and it should no longer be grayed out. It's safe to exceed VRam. I'm about 600MB over and am fine (35-60 fps).

Enable "Ignore Suggested Limits" and it should no longer be grayed out. It's safe to exceed VRam. I'm about 600MB over and am fine (35-60 fps).

​

Err no. with ignore suggested limits on, still wont let me: 

Before you ask, Distance scaling and Extended Distance Scaling doesnt fix the issue either. I already tried. such a weird problem, everything else on normal graphics is mostly high, some very high/ultra, Filters are 16x (besides MSAA, thats a real performance fucker). I just don't get it ;-;

Edited April 30, 201511 yr by Sonny236

Might be a shader issue. Have you tried reinstalling your drivers?

Might be a shader issue. Have you tried reinstalling your drivers?

​

I have not, however I'm using AMD's current beta driver meant to work with GTA 5. I'm not the only one having the issue though, see This post on reddit and Rockstar Support. I have a friend running the game on 100% maxed out settings on a 295x2, he doesnt have this issue so it makes me suspect one of the settings is causing it.

I'm gonna try bumping up the Post-FX and Shader quality to Very high from High, otherwise I might just contact Rockstar like I said, I want to know why that slider is disabled too.

Edited April 30, 201511 yr by Sonny236

​

I have not, however I'm using AMD's current beta driver meant to work with GTA 5. I'm not the only one having the issue though, see This post on reddit and Rockstar Support. I have a friend running the game on 100% maxed out settings on a 295x2, he doesnt have this issue so it makes me suspect one of the settings is causing it.

I'm gonna try bumping up the Post-FX and Shader quality to Very high from High, otherwise I might just contact Rockstar like I said, I want to know why that slider is disabled too.

​My shadow option is only grayed out when i set shadow quality to high instead of very high. But using extended shadow distance did'nt solve the problem for me :-(

​My shadow option is only grayed out when i set shadow quality to high instead of very high. But using extended shadow distance did'nt solve the problem for me :-(

​Thanks for the feedback. I'll eliminate that option off my list.

​Thanks for the feedback. I'll eliminate that option off my list.

​I tried a few things yesterday. I thought I'd share it:

- A tried a almost every posible shadow setting and a few others like aa too.

- The "shadow box" never disappeared.

- I use Nvidia PCSS - Shadows now. Shadow quality set to high. Extended shadows at highest level. high res shadows off. This setting makes the "box" less visible for me. Still not quite a fix though.

​I tried a few things yesterday. I thought I'd share it:

- A tried a almost every posible shadow setting and a few others like aa too.

- The "shadow box" never disappeared.

- I use Nvidia PCSS - Shadows now. Shadow quality set to high. Extended shadows at highest level. high res shadows off. This setting makes the "box" less visible for me. Still not quite a fix though.

​Yeah, I know every shadow setting doesnt do it. As for PCSS, the AMD CHS (Same thing for AMD users) just hides the shadow under a blurry shadow, looks like shit if you ask me. 

​Yeah, I know every shadow setting doesnt do it. As for PCSS, the AMD CHS (Same thing for AMD users) just hides the shadow under a blurry shadow, looks like shit if you ask me. 

Totaly agree with you. 

R* messed this up in my opinion. 

Is your view distance setting (or whatever they may be called in this game) low?

Is your view distance setting (or whatever they may be called in this game) low?

Unfortunately not. Maxed out. 

I guess it is "normal" rendering in gta v