Hey everyone,
I’ve been working on a large open-world project using UE5.4 and while most of the core mechanics are coming together, I’m running into serious issues with lighting performance – especially during day/night transitions. I’m using Lumen for dynamic GI and reflections, but when the sun sets or rises, the performance dips noticeably.
I’ve tried tweaking:
- Shadow map resolution
- Skylight settings (real-time vs baked)
- Distance field AO settings
…but I feel like I’m missing something obvious. I’m aiming for a stylized look, so hyper-realistic lighting isn’t a must — but I still want it to feel alive.
Has anyone here worked on similar environments and found good tricks for balancing quality + performance, especially on mid-range GPUs?
Would really appreciate any advice, or even a good lighting setup I could reverse-engineer. Thanks in advance 