The Day Sequence Device is broken visually ever since update 26.20, and, at least fog specifically, often looks completely off/ruined from the settings it is supposed to be Really need this to be fixed since my game requires specific lighting direction, and etc.
Steps to Reproduce
Set specific fog and other options, with a specific fixed time set, then close and reopen the editor, and it will be different than what was set. Also is almost always broken when you launch a session for live edit
Expected Result
Options chosen would always be reflected in the visuals of the device, without ever changing on you in the editor or live edit. Intended visuals below:
Day Sequence Device: Affected by Directional Light Interruption.
When the directional light is removed, the Day Sequence Device experiences a malfunction.
Even when the “disable time of day” option in world settings is both checked and unchecked, it does not resolve the issue of Day Sequence Device interference with the time of day.
The absence of the Day Sequence Device’s skydome causes disruptions in the appearance of skylight and clouds.
All configurations made within the Day Sequence Device fail to apply, rendering it non-functional.
Even after replacing the Day Sequence Device, the problem persists, and any modifications or alterations remain ineffective.
I am left to ponder whether a solution for this issue will be provided.
Have you added your own directional light to this scene? If you want to use a Day Sequence Device you should not add any directional lights as one is already spawned for you by the time of day manager (because having multiple enabled and visible directional lights in the scene is not supported and can exhibit undefined and nondeterministic behavior).
If you have checked “Disable All Time of Day Managers” the Day Sequence Device should not exhibit any behavior, all of its functionality requires a time of day manager to exist.
Also, do you happen to be using the lighting scalability manager at all?
Thank you for your diligent response! I appreciate you.
I’ve encountered challenges with the day sequence device because I require using a directional light not only for my height fog but also to provide sufficient brightness to illuminate my landscape in combo with DaySeqDevice.
I’m trying to balance the presence of clouds in the scene with skylight settings to avoid an overly dark landscape using the DaySeqDevice.
I’ve spent 10 months experimenting with different combinations of utilizing the lighting scalability manager, lumen exposure manager, directional light, and day sequence device.
On PC and consoles with Medium ESS and medium quality, I’ve had to choose between a dark landscape, super dark caves, and having directional light rays through fog. On low scalability settings, there’s intentionally no fog or sun rays for draw count purposes, bright outside but too bright also in the caves like sunlight beaming onto the walls, while on Medium scalability settings, there is fog and sunrays in the scene, and caves are darker and in caves and dark outside with the lumen exposure manager. Adjusting lumen exposure manager “non lumen” and “lumen” leads to either dark outside areas or overly bright caves inside, but then on med or high, its too dark or bright combatting the “non-lumen”/“lumen” settings in lumen exposure manager. The way it is setup now is Lumen Exposure linked to scalability manager on LOW detail mode. Then height fog / directional light Med - Epic Detail mode. I tried replacing daySeqDevice w/ skylight actor and sky atmosphere device but those were not functioning at correctly (Skylight, white light drag actor into scene, turns entire interior and exterior of all assets and landscape color red, and a few other things but this was roughly three months ago, and I have tried but had wierd issues with those specific actors). Day seq Device for skylight intensity to light landscape, clouds, and sunlight. Im not sure what to do about this setup. DaySeqDevice intermittently has problems loading on game start with the combo I have setup so you are correct that it should not be in combo with a directional light or any main scene lighting actor.
Unfortunately, the lighting scalability manager, directional lights, and other devices don’t work consistently across all platforms without day sequence device. Additionally the Mobile and Nintendo Switch result in either excessively bright exteriors and dark interiors or vice versa. I haven’t found a functional solution yet to the cross-compatible ligthing across all platforms without extreme differences in interior and exterior, while trying to mainain a constant light for interior and exterior, except for combining the day sequence device with the lumen exposure manager, scalability manager, post-processing volumes, directional lights, and height fog.
I would like to include screenshots of my device details panels as well, but the previous update will not allow me to open UEFN projects atm due to a source control bug.
@nickolas.drake Hey!
I was wondering now that I have separated data layers and removed the following:
directional light (1 unloaded) and sky atmoshpere (DataLayers unloaded) Skylight.
OR
Day sequence device should be alone and not used with directional light (SunRays with Heightfog).
Question:
I need clouds, and the sun rays (Heightfog + Driectional Light).
How then would i achieve this,
I have directionl light + Heighfog for sunrays
I have Day Seq Device for clouds
I wonder if turn off Day sequence device (Sunlight skylight turned off in Day Seq Device) and then leave the directional light + Height fog if it would still bug with undetermined behavior?
Sky Atmosphere W/ Exponential Height Fog (Undesirable Result)
I am using the lighting scalability manager as well, and I have Exponential Height Fog and Directional Light to only work on Medium and High.
To my knowledge the environment light rig does not allow clouds, is the day sequence device the only method able to use clouds?
Additionally, When changing one setting in the environment light rig, All Post Processing Volumes Bug out. I have removed Day Sequence device and multiple directional lights. Using Environment light rig lighting alone, my Post processing volumes are set to low exposures, but are full maximum brightness with each change made in Environment light rig. I have to delete the post processiing volume and redo all of the settings each time to get the darkness to come back in the interior.
There are issues with using the Day Sequence device, but there are just as many issues with the Environment light rig bugging all other post processing volumes.
Environment Light Rig : Bugged and Breaks PPV’s at -1.5 exposure
Envrionement Light Rig also has issues with skylight settings as well. When I change settings they do not appear in engine. Not until multiple saving sessions and later the results apply in the engine. I have the Non lumen set to low and lumen settings to medium in lumen exposure manager. The exterior lighting in medium mode is not receiving directional light with one directional light, and in high ESS it is. (Sometimes in the game launcher it will be there but other times it will not show. There are a few more issues with this Environment light rig that are happening. I deleted all the previous lighting setup including the day sequence device. I dont know why but all of my projects have had similar issues and this is why i am forced to use multiple lights to force them to work its super wierd. But Not to worry! Rest Assured!
I can only really speak to the Day Sequence Device and, to a lesser extent, the Lighting Scalability Manager.
In general, if you are adding a directional light to your scene, you must make sure that the directional light managed by the TODM is disabled (which you would need to do via Day Sequence Device by enabling the sun override section and disabling the sun component). Because there is currently no way to turn devices on/off based on scalability, I am not aware of any reliable way to add your own directional lights to the scene if you ever want to use the directional light managed by the TODM. Your best bet would probably be disabling the TODM directional light and adding your own directional lights tuned to each scalability and make sure there is always 1 directional light enabled (using the Lighting Scalability Manager). This is all true for Exponential Height Fog as well, the only difference being that there is currently no equivalent of the Lighting Scalability Manager that can control fog, so if you want to add your own fog to the scene you will need to disable the TODM’s fog via Day Sequence Device and add exactly 1 Exponential Height Fog.
I hope to do some work in the future to allow creators to more generally manipulate actors/devices in the scene based on scalability, but I cannot make any guarantees, speak to the plans, or offer any fixed timelines at the moment. We are however aware that
I do not have any experience working with the Environment Light Rig unfortunately.
I really appreciate your in-depth response, this has been so helpful. I was seeking confirmation on how to achieve this disabling TODM, and you have provided excellent answers. I now will remove sunlight from Day Sequence Device, and then I can use my directional light instead. Thank you for your help. I will try my best adjusting the lighting as per your helpful instructions. I may have more questions, and I am very appreicative of your help and thorough knowledge, especially in lighting.
Really need this to be fixed since my game requires specific lighting direction, and etc.
I may have more questions, and I am very appreicative of your help and thorough knowledge, especially in lighting.