How to handle shadows? [Issue dropped]

I get this (highly annoying) issue where shadows disapperar after a certain distance, only to be replaced with a more general shadow a bit further away still. So when I walk up to let’s say a house, the entire interior can suddenly lit up like there is no shadow at all, only to get shadow again when I move closer. And the opposite is true also of course. Almost like if there is some transition between shadows, and there is an area where no shadows are there?? This is highly annoying. And it doesn’t seem to matter what I do. Clearly I must be missing something here. Surely it must be possible to have like static shadows that are not replaced like that?

I have included a picture to illustrate what I mean, this section of the wall is set to have static only, everything else is removed (just to be clear, I have literally tried all combinations, and it happens in all of them) To say that I feel frustrated, is an understatement :slight_smile:

I would greatly appreciate if someone have some idea of what is going on here?

20493-shadowissue.jpg

Best regards/
Mike

Update:

I removed all settings for the entire scene, set everything to static lighting, so now the shadows work. But the dynamic things, like characters etc… don’t have shadows (Also annoying, but much less so) I just can’t get why I have to struggle like this just to get shadows to work??? Why not simply have raytraced shadows and inset shadows for dynamic items like characters… without having mysteriously disapperaing shadows etc… I would be much happier if dynamic shadows simply faded away at a distance I can control.

Hey Mithril -

For information on using a Movable Lighting and controlling the shadow maps fall off consult this information, Dynamic Scene Shadows | Unreal Engine Documentation

For information on using a Stationary/Static Lighting and getting some control over the maps falloff at distances consult this information, Distance Field Soft Shadows | Unreal Engine Documentation

Understanding how to use the Cascading Shadow Maps and the Ray Traced Distance Field Shadowing will fix most of the shadow issues particularly if you have an issue with shadows popping in and out at distances.

Thank You

Eric Ketchum