Bug #6027

Low-resolution shadow duplicates in distant background

Status:	Open
Priority:	Medium
Added by:	Anonymous on August 6, '26
Assigned to:	Unassigned
Due date:
Reported for:	10.0.3
Actual Result:	Blocky shadow artifacts that mirror nearby assets.
Expected Result:	No shadow artifacts
Severity:	Major
Reproducibility:	Always
Platform:	Steam
Additional Notes & Comments:	Not set

Steps to Reproduce

1. STEPS TO REPRODUCE 100% reproducible. Present from a clean install onward, on every map with visible sky. 1. Launch Dead by Daylight on PC (Steam).
2. 2. Load into any map with open sky. Night maps show it most clearly; Dead Dawg Saloon is the most consistent.
3. 3. Stand near a large silhouetted structure, such as the gallows on Dead Dawg Saloon. ent.
4. 4. Look up and past the structure toward the sky. any sizeable object is suffici
5. 5. Observe a magnified, blocky dark duplicate of the structure drawn into the sky.

Explanation

TITLE
Low-resolution shadow duplicates of world objects rendered into sky and background

PLATFORM
PC (Steam)

SUMMARY
Objects in the environment (gallows frames, wooden beams, cages, fences, trees) generate a large, displaced, heavily blocky dark duplicate of their own silhouette that is drawn into the sky and the distant background. The duplicate reads as a very low-resolution shadow copy of the object, magnified well beyond the object's own on-screen size, with hard axis-aligned stair-stepped edges.

The artifact is visible at any time, while stationary or while moving. Its presence depends on whether there are objects near the player, not on camera motion. It is not motion ghosting. It is most obvious on night maps and in hazy or overcast sky regions, and it is visible with the naked eye. Brightening a screenshot only makes it easier to photograph.

ATTACHED SCREENSHOTS
1 - Dead Dawg Saloon, unmodified capture as the artifact appears in play. Dark blocky shapes visible in the sky above and behind the gallows structure.
2 - Same frame, cropped and brightened. The duplicate of the gallows post and its crossbeam is clearly readable in the sky, several times larger than the object itself, with hard stepped edges.
3 - A different map, brightened. Stair-stepped duplicates of the wooden beams appear across the background, showing the artifact is not map-specific.
4 - A third map, brightened. Same signature: large axis-aligned blocks forming a dark copy of nearby structures.
5 - A clear scene, unmodified capture. The artifact does not require heavy fog to appear.
6 - Crop of screenshot 5, brightened. Hard stepped edges visible in the sky layer at upper right.

SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, 24 GB
RAM: 64 GB
Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX X670E-E
OS: Windows 11 Pro
Display: OLED, 5120 x 2160
Game resolution: 5120 x 2160 borderless, 16:9 aspect ratio ON (game renders 3840 x 2160 pillarboxed)
Quality preset: Ultra, all scalability groups at 4
Anti-aliasing: TAA (also reproduced with anti-aliasing set to Off)
FSR / XeSS: Disabled
Frame rate limit: 120
HDR: Off

TROUBLESHOOTING ALREADY PERFORMED - CONFIRMED NOT THE CAUSE

• Third-party post-processing. The artifact was present on a clean install before ReShade was ever installed, and persists with all ReShade effects disabled.
• Anti-aliasing. Reproduced with anti-aliasing set to Off in the in-game video settings, ruling out temporal accumulation and ghosting.
• Display resolution and aspect ratio. Reproduced in windowed mode at 3200 x 1800, a native 16:9 window with no pillarboxing, ruling out an ultrawide-specific scaling issue.
• Camera motion. Fully visible while standing still.
• Installation state. Present from a fresh install onward.

ATTEMPTED, BUT THE RESULTS ARE NOT VALID
A range of renderer console variables were tested through Engine.ini at %LocalAppData%\DeadByDaylight\Saved\Config\WindowsClient\, including r.VolumetricFog, r.TranslucentLightingVolume, r.LightShaftQuality, r.DistanceFieldAO, ShowFlag.AmbientOcclusion, r.Fog and r.Shadow.DistanceScale. None of those results should be relied upon, for the reason below.

SECONDARY ISSUE - ENGINE.INI OVERRIDES DO NOT APPLY ON THIS BUILD
Verified with deliberately unmissable canary values that produced no visible change whatsoever:

• r.ScreenPercentage=25, image remained sharp
• r.Streaming.MipBias=8, textures remained sharp Both were tested inside [SystemSettings], and MipBias was additionally tested inside a [TextureQuality@4] scalability bucket matching the active quality level. With the file left writable, the game strips the [SystemSettings] block on launch. With the file set to read-only, the lines persist in the file but still produce no effect. This may warrant investigation in its own right.

SUGGESTED AREAS TO CHECK
Offered as triage hints only, not as a diagnosis. Because client-side console variables do not apply on this build, none of these could be isolated from the player side. The artifact behaves like a shadow or occlusion term computed at very low resolution and projected onto distant receivers or the sky layer.

• Far cascaded shadow map resolution where shadows land on distant backdrop geometry
• Sky light occlusion or distance field ambient occlusion applied to background elements
• Translucency lighting volume resolution where sky and haze cards are lit
• Skybox or cloud layer receiving dynamic shadow contribution

IMPACT

• Cosmetic, but constant and highly distracting on night maps
• Reduces clarity of the skyline, which matters for spatial orientation during chases
• Occurs at maximum quality settings on current high-end hardware, so it is not a low-spec fallback rendering path

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