# Raytracing Shadow Falloff Distance, adjustable? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rendering\ **Tags:** unreal-engine, UE4-26\ **Created:** [May 7, 2021, 1:32pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/raytracing-shadow-falloff-distance-adjustable/228195 "2021-05-07T13:32:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![frost-xyz](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@frost-xyz](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/frost-xyz)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2021, 1:32pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/raytracing-shadow-falloff-distance-adjustable/228195/1 "2021-05-07T13:32:00Z")
Is there any way to adjust the falloff distance for Rayraced Shadows from a Directional Light source, as with Dynamic Shadow Distance on Cascaded Shadow Maps. [![](https://videoapi-muybridge.vimeocdn.com/animated-thumbnails/image/a5907cd8-5867-4517-aebd-a8b1b790827c.gif?ClientID=vimeo-core-prod&Date=1620394304&Signature=363d631371f8821d87a0326e866b58e703e7e589) ](https://videoapi-muybridge.vimeocdn.com/animated-thumbnails/image/a5907cd8-5867-4517-aebd-a8b1b790827c.gif?ClientID=vimeo-core-prod&Date=1620394304&Signature=363d631371f8821d87a0326e866b58e703e7e589) There don’t appear to be any controls on either the Direct Light, Post Process or raytracing CVAR to remedy the issue. Any assistance much appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![Rawalanche](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/rawalanche/32/906578_2.png) [@Rawalanche](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Rawalanche)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2021, 1:38pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/raytracing-shadow-falloff-distance-adjustable/228195/2 "2021-05-07T13:38:27Z")
I have exactly the same problem. It makes no sense. Ray Traced shadows should not benefit from distance culling. Quite the contrary actually, so I do not understand why in the world would ray traced shadows get culled with distance? ---
**Author:** ![frost-xyz](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@frost-xyz](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/frost-xyz)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2021, 3:29pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/raytracing-shadow-falloff-distance-adjustable/228195/3 "2021-05-07T15:29:48Z")
I’m unsure of the reasons for the Raytrace Shadow distance cull, but for anyone else curious, one answer is to utilise Distance Field Shadows. > **[Using Distance Field Shadows](https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.27/en-US/BuildingWorlds/LightingAndShadows/MeshDistanceFields/HowTo/DFHT_1/)** > > How to setup and use Distance Field Shadowing in Unreal Engine 4. ---
**Author:** ![Rawalanche](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/rawalanche/32/906578_2.png) [@Rawalanche](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Rawalanche)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2021, 6:01pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/raytracing-shadow-falloff-distance-adjustable/228195/4 "2021-05-07T18:01:49Z")
No… just no… Ray Tracing doesn’t work like shadow maps, where shadow maps are generated per object. Ray tracing has the entire level geometry in the acceleration structure, and ray are traced from the camera, per pixel. So it doesn’t scale with the amount of objects but image resolution. ---
**Author:** ![FrostyFM](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@FrostyFM](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/FrostyFM)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2022, 2:07am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/raytracing-shadow-falloff-distance-adjustable/228195/5 "2022-08-04T02:07:35Z")
Hi. Have you got any update on this topic ? I’ve tried every single command line related to rt, culling, shadows etc, but no luck. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![FrostyFM](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@FrostyFM](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/FrostyFM)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2022, 2:21am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/raytracing-shadow-falloff-distance-adjustable/228195/6 "2022-08-16T02:21:14Z")
This is what solved the problem for me. Hope it helps others. r.Shadow.DistanceScale = 2 ---
**Author:** ![Hunanbean](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Hunanbean](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Hunanbean)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 8:41am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/raytracing-shadow-falloff-distance-adjustable/228195/7 "2023-11-02T08:41:40Z")
You Could use Contact Shadows to take over when Ray Traced Shadows culled out. It actually works much better than i expected. I am using Lumen and Virtual Shadow Maps too. HW Ray Tracing when available. For my particular scene, ‘Contact Shadows in World Space Units’ with a contact shadow length of 11 worked the best. Intensity of 1.0. Of course, each light in the scene may very well require specific settings. The console commands suggested had no effect for me. My answer would be to raise the ‘Bounds Scale’ of the particular Mesh you are having problems with, though, instead of Contact Shadows. ---
**Author:** ![Hunanbean](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Hunanbean](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Hunanbean)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 6:39pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/raytracing-shadow-falloff-distance-adjustable/228195/8 "2023-11-08T18:39:15Z")
Ok, it looks like the console command/CVAR > r.RayTracing.Culling 0 will allow unlimited distance for Ray Traced Shadows. Thanks to discord user Test\_1 for finding the solution ---
**Author:** ![azeztv](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@azeztv](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/azeztv)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2024, 9:31pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/raytracing-shadow-falloff-distance-adjustable/228195/9 "2024-01-16T21:31:06Z")
Thanks , you are great works fine ---
**Author:** ![Daniel\_Mine](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/daniel_mine/32/571244_2.png) [@Daniel\_Mine](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Daniel_Mine)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2024, 11:16pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/raytracing-shadow-falloff-distance-adjustable/228195/10 "2024-11-21T23:16:05Z")
Hope epic games will train soon some sort of AI to help people to solve all issues like this. I can’t afford to rely on merely luck to solve problems that can’t make me deliver a work… ---
**Author:** ![Alkbabic](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Alkbabic](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Alkbabic)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2024, 9:21am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/raytracing-shadow-falloff-distance-adjustable/228195/11 "2024-12-28T09:21:56Z")
Then raytracing disabled then for virt s map this helps me then I set r.Shadow.DistanceScale = 0. ---
**Author:** ![djayart](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/djayart/32/994766_2.png) [@djayart](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/djayart)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 10:20am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/raytracing-shadow-falloff-distance-adjustable/228195/12 "2025-05-28T10:20:12Z")
Thanks mate i forget everytime this command lol ---
**Author:** ![Katarine911](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Katarine911](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Katarine911)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 10:21am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/raytracing-shadow-falloff-distance-adjustable/228195/14 "2025-05-28T10:21:37Z")
I’m experiencing the exact same issue, and it doesn’t make any sense. Ray-traced shadows shouldn’t be affected by distance culling—if anything, they should behave in the opposite way. I just can’t understand why ray-traced shadows would be culled based on distance. ---
**Author:** ![MatthewG3D](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/matthewg3d/32/1008648_2.png) [@MatthewG3D](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/MatthewG3D)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 11:04pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/raytracing-shadow-falloff-distance-adjustable/228195/15 "2026-02-25T23:04:13Z")
Figured this one out recently for doing cinematic work with raytraced shadows on a directional light. The console command **r.RayTracing.Culling.Angle** is the culprit. I believe it culls objects smaller than a given angle size relative to the camera. I believe this is generally to remove small objects on screen from needing to be included in the raytraced scene. If you have a flat lens on your cine-camera even large objects in the distance can appear to not render shadows. I think this is because its not a screen-space size. Setting **r.RayTracing.Culling.Angle 0.1** seems to work quite well for me, and will likely stop your system from crashing/running out of memory compared to running the **r.RayTracing.Culling 0** command