A 1.62/1.63 Bug and an Unsung Hero of Cyberpunk's Visuals: THE EYES (FIXED in 2.0!)

[koalahugs]

UPDATE: Fixed in 2.0!

Eyes in Cyberpunk 2077 look amazing - or more specifically, CATCHLIGHTS look amazing. I spoke a bit about this over on one of the Overdrive threads but I'll just copy and paste (and edit) the following:

If anyone's wondering what catchlights are, they're literally just highlights reflected off eyes, but it's a really important lighting element in filmmaking and portrait photography (can read more here, if anyone's interested). That glimmer brings life to the eyes, [gives them that "windows to the soul" look, so to speak].

Examples:
Blade Runner 2049:

Cyberpunk 2077:

In CP77 their use is particularly effective given how much direct eye-contact you make with other characters, whether it's an intimate moment like above, or interrogating Fingers, or simply having a chat with Jackie, etc.

But in 1.62 the catchlights have been massively dialed down. At first I thought this was specific to Overdrive having first noticed the issue on all the recent YouTube footage, but I've tested this out on my copy of the game and it seems to be an issue with the patch in general. For reference, I'm on a GTX970. To test this, I did a clean, clean install, reinstalled the game, rolled back to 1.61 in GOG, took various screenshots, and repeated after upgrading, 1 patch at a time, until I got to 1.62. Here are the results:

So there you have it, catchlights. Prominent or subtle, they're a wonderful detail, and you can tell that CDPR's artists and devs obviously put a lot of care into them, but it's sad to see them so heavily subdued in 1.62. Hopefully it's just a bug.

Anyway, I'm reporting this to CDPR - if you're noticing the same issue feel free to link them to this thread in your support ticket (be sure to pick the right platform):

Technical Support — CD PROJEKT RED

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[bauerkn]

Weird, it works for me

 

[BabaBooey88]

It's an unfortunate casualty if so, but it may have been the only way to solve the glowing RT eyes in vehicles without implementing RT Translucency. That's the only reason I can think why this is the way it is now. I haven't check myself in game, but I saw a comparison photo of Misty with RT Psycho vs Overdrive and both had a prominent catch light - likely the bulb luminosity they were using for the photo though...

 

[koalahugs]

Weird, it works for me
View attachment 11351395

You have to make a comparison. I'm not saying catchlights have been removed; just that they're heavily dialed down. If you had taken that in 1.61, it probably would've been far more prominent.

Rolling back to 1.61 is too much hassle for most people though, so the most effective way to check is to look at key parts of the game e.g. "The Information" gig

Post automatically merged: Apr 19, 2023

It's an unfortunate casualty if so, but it may have been the only way to solve the glowing RT eyes in vehicles without implementing RT Translucency. That's the only reason I can think why this is the way it is now. I haven't check myself in game, but I saw a comparison photo of Misty with RT Psycho vs Overdrive and both had a prominent catch light.

Ooft, I hope not. As for Misty, was it the spot in her shop behind the till? Because I think that might be a bit of an exception and maybe not the best place to look - I checked there and she still has some catchlight, albeit quite dim. An ideal spot is the Information Gig at Lizzy's because it's so early in the game and they make really deliberate use of them.

Looking at this Overdrive playthrough, the sparkle seems to have gone unfortunately

 

[LeKill3rFou]

An ideal spot is the Information Gig at Lizzy's because it's so early in the game and they make really deliberate use of them.

Yeah, very "prominent". Without, it's not the same at all.
Some of my old screenshots :

 

[Milaal]

So this is something that’s happening without Overdrive active? Man that sucks, it looked so much better. This update has been full of nothing but suck for me.
@koalahugs If you hear back and this is acknowledged as an issue they’re working on I’d love to hear so. Should I be able to see this or notice it on 1440 with just RTX, not path tracing or overdrive?
My specs are i9-9900k, 32GB RAM, and 2080 Ti on a 2560x1440 monitor (if that matters).

 

[BabaBooey88]

@koalahugs Ya know... If you want CDPR to notice this the best way is to probably make a stink over at Reddit illustrating the dullness that's present now. I'm going to be focused on bugs, but I'll mention it in my first report targeting the "distant shadows" system which seems to be the culprit of many problems for RT in 2077.

Perhaps it's just a result of them rushing development, or it was a seeming stroke genius at the time, but that system which is typically tailored for one purpose on other engines is doing several things in this game - resulting in problems and possibly the cause of the glowing RT eyes.
Mind checking in 1.61 or 1.6? Just copy and rename an ini file in the '\Cyberpunk 2077\engine\config\platform\pc' folder and replace it's lines with the following.

[Developer/FeatureToggles]
DistantFog = false

Would confirm if that is the cause for the glow or not, as it's what causes glass, smog, and other translucent/transparent items to glow in many daytime areas. Turning it off isn't a suitable solution for those problems as it's doing so many other things...

 

[koalahugs]

So this is something that’s happening without Overdrive active? Man that sucks, it looked so much better. This update has been full of nothing but suck for me.
@koalahugs If you hear back and this is acknowledged as an issue they’re working on I’d love to hear so. Should I be able to see this or notice it on 1440 with just RTX, not path tracing or overdrive?

So all of my screenshots are non-RTX; my graphics card is very old. But I'm also seeing the issue on people's Overdrive playthroughs on YouTube. So you should notice the lack of catchlights on your system too, whether you're using non-RTX or Overdrive... I haven't seen how things look on regular RTX though...

One thing I have to stress though, is that it's particularly during important story moments where the lack of them becomes noticeable, because that's when the use of eye lighting becomes very purposeful. So not, for instance, a random screenshot of an NPC on the sidewalk/pavement. Good examples are when you first meet Eveleyn, when you meet the Clouds receptionist like in the screenshot @LeKill3rFou posted, when you shove Fingers onto the floor and you're inches from his face, romancing Rogue, etc., etc., etc...

 

[Milaal]

That’s what I figured, most times there isn’t as much focus, as compared to storyline.

 

[cristhianfs]

Does this still happen even with RTX disabled? Sadly I can't go back to 1.61 on Steam

 

[koalahugs]

@koalahugs Ya know... If you want CDPR to notice this the best way is to probably make a stink over at Reddit illustrating the dullness that's present now. I'm going to be focused on bugs, but I'll mention it in my first report targeting the "distant shadows" system which seems to be the culprit of many problems for RT in 2077.

Perhaps it's just a result of them rushing development, or it was a seeming stroke genius at the time, but that system which is typically tailored for one purpose on other engines is doing several things in this game - resulting in problems and possibly the cause of the glowing RT eyes.
Mind checking in 1.61 or 1.6? Just copy and rename an ini file in the '\Cyberpunk 2077\engine\config\platform\pc' folder and replace it's lines with the following.

[Developer/FeatureToggles]
DistantFog = false

Would confirm if that is the cause for the glow or not, as it's what causes glass, smog, and other translucent/transparent items to glow in many daytime areas. Turning it off isn't a suitable solution for those problems as it's doing so many other things...

Posted on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/cyberpunkgame/comments/12sbrbt
Hmm, as for testing the ini file - sadly I don't have an RT capable card yet so unable to check for now

Post automatically merged: Apr 19, 2023

Does this still happen even with RTX disabled? Sadly I can't go back to 1.61 on Steam

Jaa - all of these shots are vanilla with no RTX whatsoever I'm afraid.

 

[cristhianfs]

Posted on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/cyberpunkgame/comments/12sbrbt
Hmm, as for testing the ini file - sadly I don't have an RT capable card yet so unable to check for now

Post automatically merged: Apr 19, 2023

Jaa - all of these shots are vanilla with no RTX whatsoever I'm afraid.

Thanks, I was playing with RTX Psycho and also noticed it, I added my ticket to the report linking to this thread, hopefully they'll fix it soon

 

[Crimsomrider]

I just checked as I play on Psycho RTX and yup, the eye sparkle/reflection is pretty much entirely gone. I also checked Overdrive and no RTX.

Here are video comparisons side by side and a screenshot;

Spoiler: Video Comparisons

It's such a massive night and day difference, because the eyes were so mesmerizing to look at and full of soul before.

At this point I don't even know anymore what is intentional with this update, because previously there was a bug with NPC's eyes glowing inside of vehicles due to RTX, which is now gone. But the thing is they didn't mention fixing it at all in the patch notes, so this may as well be yet another random bug which destroyed eye reflections and by doing so also removed the RTX glowing eyes bug because there's no reflections anymore.

Reason I believe this is because there's also a completely new issue now from which the hair is glowing inside of vehicles with RTX, which previously wasn't happening at all. I don't even know how or why the update managed to break that too.

So who knows anymore, but I'm gonna report this because eyes really do not look impressive anymore as of this update.

 

[Milaal]

Let me know how absolutely important it is to submit something for this, and the exact details of what to do. I’m likely installing today with the hotfix in place to finish the game, but I’m unsure about leaving it installed if things like this (however small) remain broken. I have over 200 saves backed up so there’s no way I don’t have The Information or similar among them (your mission recommendation?) but I absolutely hate the idea of having to make these comparison screenshots with rollback, and I’m horrible with video.

 

[koalahugs]

Let me know how absolutely important it is to submit something for this, and the exact details of what to do. I’m likely installing today with the hotfix in place to finish the game, but I’m unsure about leaving it installed if things like this (however small) remain broken. I have over 200 saves backed up so there’s no way I don’t have The Information or similar among them (your mission recommendation?) but I absolutely hate the idea of having to make these comparison screenshots with rollback, and I’m horrible with video.

So doing the whole roll back to 1.61 thing, taking snaps, updating, taking matching snaps, is pretty laborious. If anyone else wants to do it just to confirm it on their own systems that's of course welcome and helpful.

That being said, since that work's been done, it's probably sufficient for you to simply take screenshots in the current version and send those off - you can always supplement with the pics in the OP/point to this thread just to show the difference clearly.

As for recommended places, "The Information" is really good since it's a story quest and those photos are so reproduceable - but to be honest, any story moment is probably worth looking at e.g. romance scenes with Rogue (like in the OP), trashing the boat with Kerry, throwing Fingers to the ground, Jackie dieing, Clouds receptionist, etc. There are so many screenshots of those moments pre-1.62 already, that it'll be easy to compare.

 

[Milaal]

What category of bug did you file this under if you don’t mind? I probably should have asked earlier.

 

[koalahugs]

What category of bug did you file this under if you don’t mind? I probably should have asked earlier.

Visual Issue - this one's for the PC version:

Technical Support — CD PROJEKT RED

Welcome to CD PROJEKT RED Technical Support! Here you will find help regarding our games and services, as well as answers to frequently asked questions.

support.cdprojektred.com

 

[LeKill3rFou]

What category of bug did you file this under if you don’t mind? I probably should have asked earlier.

I want to report a visual issue I suppose

 

[Milaal]

Alright, thanks guys! It’s always the small things that can ruin an otherwise great experience.

 

[Crimsomrider]

To be honest I'd rather have the Glowing Eyes RTX bug back since it only happened in a tiny handful of specific situations with vehicles during daytime,, than not have any eye reflections whatsoever throughout the entirety of the game