• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 06:55
CEST 12:55
KST 19:55
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
[ASL21] Ro16 Preview Pt2: All Star10Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - The Finalists16[ASL21] Ro16 Preview Pt1: Fresh Flow9[ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt2: News Flash10[ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt1: New Chaos0
Community News
2026 GSL Season 1 Qualifiers17Maestros of the Game 2 announced92026 GSL Tour plans announced15Weekly Cups (April 6-12): herO doubles, "Villains" prevail1MaNa leaves Team Liquid24
StarCraft 2
General
Maestros of the Game 2 announced 2026 GSL Tour plans announced Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - The Finalists MaNa leaves Team Liquid Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool
Tourneys
2026 GSL Season 1 Qualifiers INu's Battles#14 <BO.9 2Matches> Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament GSL CK: More events planned pending crowdfunding RSL Revival: Season 5 - Qualifiers and Main Event
Strategy
Custom Maps
[D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3 [A] Nemrods 1/4 players [M] (2) Frigid Storage
External Content
Mutation # 522 Flip My Base The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 521 Memorable Boss Mutation # 520 Moving Fees
Brood War
General
ASL21 General Discussion Data needed ASL21 Strategy, Pimpest Plays Discussions Pros React To: ASL S21, Ro.16 Group C BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/
Tourneys
Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2 [ASL21] Ro16 Group D [ASL21] Ro16 Group C Small VOD Thread 2.0
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers What's the deal with APM & what's its true value Any training maps people recommend? Fighting Spirit mining rates
Other Games
General Games
Diablo IV Nintendo Switch Thread Total Annihilation Server - TAForever Dawn of War IV Starcraft Tabletop Miniature Game
Dota 2
The Story of Wings Gaming
League of Legends
G2 just beat GenG in First stand
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Canadian Politics Mega-thread YouTube Thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books Movie Discussion!
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread McBoner: A hockey love story Formula 1 Discussion Cricket [SPORT]
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Strange computer issues (software) [G] How to Block Livestream Ads
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Sexual Health Of Gamers
TrAiDoS
lurker extra damage testi…
StaticNine
Broowar part 2
qwaykee
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Iranian anarchists: organize…
XenOsky
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1773 users

Dark maps and ZvZ - Page 3

Forum Index > SC2 Maps & Custom Games
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 All
Fatam
Profile Joined June 2012
1986 Posts
March 15 2016 21:48 GMT
#41
On March 16 2016 02:18 Hexe wrote:
Playing zerg on any dark map is nightmare. Hard to see creep hard to see burrowed mines lurks statis wards. LotV has been a step down on the map visual aspect


That's one of the reason I've been avoiding a lot of the LotV textures, many of them are busy and make mines and such too hard to see.
Search "FTM" in SC2 | Latest Maps: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/sc2-maps/528528-2-ftm-siegfried-station http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/sc2-maps/525489-2-ftm-crimson-aftermath http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/sc2-maps/524737-2-ftm-grime
opisska
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Poland8852 Posts
March 15 2016 23:40 GMT
#42
So do I understand it correctly that this issue discussed here should be invisible to me, as I play on Low everything? I always considered SC2 quite dark, but I have just cranked up the gamma and it's generally fine.

The only exception for me is Central Protocol, which I have banned after one game. There is weird blending of creep which makes every place where I have creep really confusing with random bright and dark places, where I can't even see my units properly.
"Jeez, that's far from ideal." - Serral, the king of mild trashtalk
TL+ Member
Avexyli
Profile Blog Joined April 2014
United States710 Posts
March 16 2016 01:07 GMT
#43
You shouldn't see any lighting issues on Lowest settings, no.

The creep thing is because LotV uses a different normal.dds for creep than HotS does. You can see this when looking between maps like Orbital Shipyard and possibly Lerilak Crest, with any other Legacy map.

I talked about this here.
AVEX - Multi Winner, Finalist, Judge of the TeamLiquid Map Contests, Former SC:EVO Enviroment Artist & Multiplayer Game Design
Hexe
Profile Joined August 2014
United States332 Posts
March 16 2016 03:13 GMT
#44
On March 16 2016 10:07 Avexyli wrote:
You shouldn't see any lighting issues on Lowest settings, no.

The creep thing is because LotV uses a different normal.dds for creep than HotS does. You can see this when looking between maps like Orbital Shipyard and possibly Lerilak Crest, with any other Legacy map.

I talked about this here.

I have problems seeing mines/burrowed on low. Lurker spines by themselves on white paint would be hard to spot where its coming from, let alone Fields of fucking Death.
Cyro
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom20326 Posts
March 16 2016 07:34 GMT
#45
Yeah, i tried playing on low after this discussion and went back after 2 games because i was throwing half of my stuff away into widow mines that were suddenly way harder to see
"oh my god my overclock... I got a single WHEA error on the 23rd hour, 9 minutes" -Belial88
Existor
Profile Joined July 2010
Russian Federation4295 Posts
March 16 2016 11:00 GMT
#46
I'd like to suggest Hybrid Settings to solve your problems with dark graphic in ZvZ on dark maps.

Low settings applying dark filter/shadow over every object. here is the comparison:

[image loading]

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/starcraft-2/498454-hybrid-settings-30-lotv-edition
Cyro
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom20326 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-03-16 11:31:15
March 16 2016 11:30 GMT
#47
That's something that would help but it's a bit of a band-aid fix to the problem - it creates some other issues (not being able to see some other things as well, have to use certain graphics settings) and will not be used by casters. I'd like to call for this to be adressed on a higher level.

One of my friends also said that he uses those settings because of map lighting issues and variability
"oh my god my overclock... I got a single WHEA error on the 23rd hour, 9 minutes" -Belial88
FoxShine
Profile Joined January 2012
United States156 Posts
March 28 2016 23:47 GMT
#48
On March 15 2016 07:50 Cyro wrote:
Show nested quote +
Else, Dusk Tower's "sky" is a green fog, so I'm not sure what you mean. Possibly the lighting?


There is a lighting issue that affects a lot of maps - some of the ladder maps, most of the campaign stuff. Instead of having colors go from 0-255, they actually go from like 20-230 so the darkest color available is a light grey, usually tinted one color.

seems to be a map editor setting, because some maps run normally and others have that problem. If you know the setting, could you post comparison screenshots (with fog of war, of possible) between the live ladder map version and a "fixed" 0-255 version?

Neither of your screenshots seem to really show the issue. I'l take a screenshot ingame of what the map actually looks like.

[image loading]

The colors of everything dark on the map is squished. The blackest black is 14, 15, 23 - a blue tinted grey - and this also extends to the UI for some reason. On other maps, this is 0,0,0 as it's supposed to be.

-----

[image loading]
I made another picture, cut out a bit of the solid color and replaced it with black like it is on a bunch of maps and all of the pre-LOTV maps, to show the amount that the color has changed.

it seems obvious now that this might have been done with some artistic intent - but the end result is completely awful IMO. AT THE VERY LEAST it should be toggleable back to normal.


I noticed this color issue on release day when I started playing the campaign. I profile my display and use a colorimeter to calibrate led TVs ect, so this black level issue stood out immediately for me.

I'm bumping because I'm wondering if you found anymore info on a fix? Settings edit or something like that.
We do what we must, because we can
Ve5pa
Profile Joined December 2014
United Kingdom252 Posts
March 29 2016 19:05 GMT
#49
Well the new map pool seems to be a bit brighter. Other than that, I doubt much will change. Even broadcasters can't really do much I assume. I don't play zerg myself but when watching a ZvZ of pro players sometimes it's still a bit of a nightmare on some maps and it certainly detracts from the actual gameplay at times, in my opinion anyways.
Cyro
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom20326 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-03-31 00:03:27
March 31 2016 00:01 GMT
#50
On March 29 2016 08:47 FoxShine wrote:
Show nested quote +
On March 15 2016 07:50 Cyro wrote:
Else, Dusk Tower's "sky" is a green fog, so I'm not sure what you mean. Possibly the lighting?


There is a lighting issue that affects a lot of maps - some of the ladder maps, most of the campaign stuff. Instead of having colors go from 0-255, they actually go from like 20-230 so the darkest color available is a light grey, usually tinted one color.

seems to be a map editor setting, because some maps run normally and others have that problem. If you know the setting, could you post comparison screenshots (with fog of war, of possible) between the live ladder map version and a "fixed" 0-255 version?

Neither of your screenshots seem to really show the issue. I'l take a screenshot ingame of what the map actually looks like.

[image loading]

The colors of everything dark on the map is squished. The blackest black is 14, 15, 23 - a blue tinted grey - and this also extends to the UI for some reason. On other maps, this is 0,0,0 as it's supposed to be.

-----

[image loading]
I made another picture, cut out a bit of the solid color and replaced it with black like it is on a bunch of maps and all of the pre-LOTV maps, to show the amount that the color has changed.

it seems obvious now that this might have been done with some artistic intent - but the end result is completely awful IMO. AT THE VERY LEAST it should be toggleable back to normal.


I noticed this color issue on release day when I started playing the campaign. I profile my display and use a colorimeter to calibrate led TVs ect, so this black level issue stood out immediately for me.

I'm bumping because I'm wondering if you found anymore info on a fix? Settings edit or something like that.


The fix is to yell at blizzard and post stuff on twitter/reddit until they edit the official maps

Not much more we can do, i think. Really just bring the issue into the public eye. This is something that i think a lot more people should have noticed (because it's extremely obvious to me and bothers me every time that i play) but it seems like a lot of people won't really notice it unless you show them an A vs B with an improved version.

It's the same for some other issues, like the microstutter that the game has. Everyone is just used to that and they don't know what a better version would feel like.

Fortunately this colour thing looks super fixable with a few slider drags, so it should be easy. I have not played for a little while so i can't say how the new season maps are yet
"oh my god my overclock... I got a single WHEA error on the 23rd hour, 9 minutes" -Belial88
Isarios
Profile Joined March 2014
United States153 Posts
March 31 2016 10:09 GMT
#51
Blizzard needs to make the ladder maps also just not super dark. The old maps that were dark such as Shakuras Plat were just really darn hard to see. They're not fun for anyone when you can't see a thing.
Its like playing Gameboy in your mom's car at night.
Blahhh
Cyro
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom20326 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-03-31 16:45:35
March 31 2016 16:45 GMT
#52
The darkness is a much smaller problem than the lighting settings IMO. I didn't have memorable issues seeing on Shakuras but it's physically uncomfortable to play on Dusk Towers
"oh my god my overclock... I got a single WHEA error on the 23rd hour, 9 minutes" -Belial88
feanaro
Profile Joined March 2014
United States123 Posts
March 31 2016 22:58 GMT
#53
Not a zerg, but I would like to throw in my two cents and say that a lot of maps are frustratingly dark to play on. I wish they wouldn't make it so you have to play on high graphics settings just to be able to see the map.
Avexyli
Profile Blog Joined April 2014
United States710 Posts
May 19 2016 22:25 GMT
#54
Not to necro, but I was messing with some map reskins and I think these images show how much the new lighting styles mess with dark colors:

Ladder Bridgehead:
[image loading]

New Bridgehead:
[image loading]

Basically means we can use the new lighting style (Filmic) but would have to get rid of Colorize - which kinda ruins the point of using Filmic.



AVEX - Multi Winner, Finalist, Judge of the TeamLiquid Map Contests, Former SC:EVO Enviroment Artist & Multiplayer Game Design
Cyro
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom20326 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-06-03 20:42:35
June 03 2016 20:34 GMT
#55
On May 20 2016 07:25 Avexyli wrote:
Not to necro, but I was messing with some map reskins and I think these images show how much the new lighting styles mess with dark colors:

Basically means we can use the new lighting style (Filmic) but would have to get rid of Colorize - which kinda ruins the point of using Filmic.





Both links there are to the same image
"oh my god my overclock... I got a single WHEA error on the 23rd hour, 9 minutes" -Belial88
Fatam
Profile Joined June 2012
1986 Posts
June 04 2016 03:50 GMT
#56
the difference.. is incredible!
Search "FTM" in SC2 | Latest Maps: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/sc2-maps/528528-2-ftm-siegfried-station http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/sc2-maps/525489-2-ftm-crimson-aftermath http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/sc2-maps/524737-2-ftm-grime
Prev 1 2 3 All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Escore
10:00
Week 4
escodisco1884
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
OGKoka 288
Lowko233
SC2Nice 15
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 65424
Mini 370
BeSt 291
actioN 232
Stork 217
EffOrt 194
Soma 175
Snow 171
Light 163
Larva 135
[ Show more ]
Soulkey 123
Hyun 104
Dewaltoss 96
ggaemo 96
hero 71
Pusan 59
Shinee 43
JYJ 42
Free 39
soO 35
sSak 33
Sexy 28
Barracks 23
scan(afreeca) 19
Shine 19
sorry 17
[sc1f]eonzerg 17
Movie 17
Sacsri 15
Noble 10
GoRush 8
Dota 2
XaKoH 484
Gorgc482
XcaliburYe217
ODPixel152
Counter-Strike
shoxiejesuss1435
allub247
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King103
Heroes of the Storm
Trikslyr23
Other Games
gofns15387
singsing1312
crisheroes288
Livibee58
B2W.Neo31
Organizations
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream12137
Other Games
gamesdonequick560
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 13 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Jankos1274
• TFBlade877
• Stunt567
Upcoming Events
INu's Battles
5m
ByuN vs Zoun
ByuN vs Rogue
IntoTheiNu 1
RSL Revival
6h 5m
Big Brain Bouts
6h 5m
PiG vs DeMusliM
Reynor vs Bunny
Replay Cast
13h 5m
WardiTV Map Contest Tou…
1d
Classic vs SHIN
MaxPax vs Percival
herO vs Clem
ByuN vs Rogue
Ladder Legends
1d 4h
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
1d 4h
BSL
1d 8h
Sparkling Tuna Cup
1d 23h
WardiTV Map Contest Tou…
2 days
[ Show More ]
Ladder Legends
2 days
BSL
2 days
CranKy Ducklings
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
Wardi Open
2 days
Afreeca Starleague
2 days
Soma vs hero
Monday Night Weeklies
3 days
Replay Cast
3 days
Replay Cast
3 days
Afreeca Starleague
3 days
Leta vs YSC
Replay Cast
5 days
The PondCast
5 days
KCM Race Survival
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Escore
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-04-22
RSL Revival: Season 4
NationLESS Cup

Ongoing

BSL Season 22
ASL Season 21
CSL 2026 SPRING (S20)
IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
Escore Tournament S2: W4
StarCraft2 Community Team League 2026 Spring
WardiTV TLMC #16
Nations Cup 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S2: W5
Acropolis #4
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSLAN 4
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Maestros of the Game 2
2026 GSL S2
RSL Revival: Season 5
2026 GSL S1
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.