Sorry, for people coming to this thread for answers, I’ll quickly explain why this isn’t a good answer (as it’s submitted as an answer).
btw disclaimer, I’m coming from a UDK (UE3) background, and have been using UE4 since its initial release, thus having read most of the UDK and UE4 documentation many times over. So I didn’t re-research any of this specifically for this reply so I could be wrong here, but this is from my understanding.
- This question does not deal with indirect lighting or other methods of baked bounce lighting. It’s an entirely dynamic, mostly raytraced scene, attempting to utilize the pre-UE5 Raytracing implementations for a fully dynamic raytraced scene.
1b) I’m not sure which DFAO settings you refer to in the PPV…there are DFAO settings on the Skylight, though, if that’s what you mean? But are you suggesting reducing DFAO from the skylight to brighten the level? I think that’s a backwards way of approaching lighting. In any case, DFAO settings on the skylight don’t actually change anything, I suppose due to the full Raytrace settings but I can’t be sure.
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It’s been commented already that skylights should not go far past 1, and acknowledged by the OP that keeping it at 1 results in accurate reflections.
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Yes, not plugging anything into a material’s specular results in a default value far above 0, possibly 1. As I demonstrated in my first reply to you, the material utilizes 0 as a specular, but this issue was reproducible with any level of specular.
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Reflections/Reflection Environment document pages deal with raster reflections IIRC. Again, as I mentioned in my replies to you originally, OP is dealing with Ray Trace Reflections, which are supposed to be mostly automatic. Using the material I set up, that SHOULD get you a clean reflections, and it does, except for when you’re using a Sky Atmosphere and a Skylight above 1 intensity; at that point, there’s discrepancy in the reflected emissive strength as per all my other comments.