Lighting artifacts with SpotLight3D

[genzou]

Godot Version

4.3

Question

I’m having an issue with the SpotLight3D where it will show these small flickering black artifacts. It doesn’t happen at all with either the DirectionalLight3D or OmniLight3D. The quality is quite bad but you can see the issue here https://imgur.com/ouI7DUB. I am using an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D GPU.

[jesusemora]

mmmhh
it could be:

• a screen space shader, like TAA, FXAA, SFR, SSAO, SSIL, SDFGI, etc.

• your GPU is not working properly

• specular aliasing from low quality settings

• light leaking from shadow bias, blur, etc

• holes in the geometry

[genzou]

Just to answer each of those:

1. I am using SSAO but it happens even with it turned off.
2. I’m not sure how to go about testing that, but at the very least this is the only thing that gives me unexpected issues, no other game or program has issues.
3. What kind of settings are you referring to?
4. It happens even with shadows disabled on the SpotLight3D.
5. It still happens even when using a default cube on a MeshInstance3D.

The one thing that I could tell affected it was the angle variable; if I put it past 55 or so degrees then the issue goes away, but of course then it’s not really a flashlight anymore and is more like an OmniLight3D.

[jesusemora]

@genzou

I am using SSAO but it happens even with it turned off.

there are OTHER screen space shaders running by default. you can take a quick look at the options in project settings and WorldEnvironment.

@genzou

I’m not sure how to go about testing that, but at the very least this is the only thing that gives me unexpected issues, no other game or program has issues.

you can try the game in a different machine.
try a different project.
run a game in your PC and see if there are any artifacts.

@genzou

What kind of settings are you referring to?

there are a lot of settings in project settings, like TAA which can cause artifacts, or upscaling.

@genzou

The one thing that I could tell affected it was the angle variable; if I put it past 55 or so degrees then the issue goes away, but of course then it’s not really a flashlight anymore and is more like an OmniLight3D.

I remember seeing these particular artifacts a while back, but I don’t remember what was causing them.

looking at the video again, the artifacts appear around the geometry of the trees.

my next guess is peter-panning from using a narrow projector.

try changing BIAS in shadow. if the problem persists, you might have to increase shadow quality/shadow size or reduce the spotlight distance.

[genzou]

It turns out it was just my GPU. I tried updating the drivers for it when I saw your first message, but it failed and I forgot about it, so I tried again and now the issue is fixed. Thanks for the help!