Problem started recently, seems to happen on all projects.
When ever I bake shadows no matter what meshes I am using(even on the default level with starter content props) baking causes these weird curvy and sometimes completely messed up shadows.
They are completely normal using dynamic shadows but baking them screws it up.
I have tried changing the light settings as well as the lightmap resolution but can’t seem to fix it, just the other day baked shadows were working fine so I can’t figure out what the problem is.
Here is an example of my project. I am using the latest engine 4.18.2. It’s easy to reproduce.
I just dragged a cube from the Modes Tab → Basic, it’s static by default. I baked the lights and the result is as in the screenshot. Note, this does not happen in an older engine version. I have 4.15 also installed and no such issues there. Lightning is a complex topic and I’m still bad at it. I guess it’s a simple setting change in the new engine (doubt it’s a bug), but I have no idea what to tweak. The shadows are baked in Production quality.
Try selecting the Floor mesh and in the Details go to Lighting, check the box for “Overridden Light Map Res” and increase the value to something higher like 256 or 512 (I think 64 or 128 is the default).
Thank you, guys. Playing with the floor Light Map resolution fixed the issue. I will have to research the performance implications of playing with this value. Unfortunately, I hijacked this question and I’m afraid I can only give you guys thumbs up. I can’t appoint a right answer. Good luck.
