Default shadow cutoff distance too low

[Salesome]

The newly introduced cutoff for shadows is currently too low by default.

When starting a normal flat map, at default camera tilt and zooming out as far out as possible, a very prominent boundary appears beyond the distance where the shadows are cut off. This is bad because most people don‘t change the default settings and there will be a lot of 0 A.D. Screenshots with a noticeable shadow border…

Currently, the default cutoff distance for shadows is 300. I suggest 500, which is just beyond the frustum at default camera tilt and minimum zoom.

(Ideally, the shadow cutoff distance would scale with the current zoom factor and this scaling factor would be in the settings instead of the absolute value - this might be an addendum to this ticket for Alpha 26)

[Vladislav Belov]

Most people don't zoom out or don't look at the far distance. Increasing the cutoff distance decreases the quality.

[Salesome]

Actually, this thing came up first when playing Miletus Peninsula, one of the new maps. The screenshot below is made with default zoom and default camera tilt. The border is there because the camera is higher up as it is hovering over the acropolis.

You can see the effect best in trees and when you fully zoom out. That‘s why I picked Ardennes Forest for my first example.

In the screenshots it doesn‘t look that bad but when moving the camera around ingame, the moving shadow boundary is a really jarring effect.

[Stan]

Unconclusive poll here ​https://wildfiregames.com/forum/topic/43383-shadow-cutoff-distance/?tab=comments#comment-434919

[Salesome]

Let's postpone it - if the greater community really trips over this issue, we can still revisit it next alpha.

[Langbart]

Will be closed, not many questions raised and neither a strong opinion heard on the forum or lobby.
Related IRC 0ad-dev ​27/Mar/22

[00:54:20] Langbart Vladislav i will also close #6221 (never heard much about it in the lobby)
[00:56:05] @Stan Langbart: Most people use whole map shadows
[00:56:08] @Stan Because of that
[00:56:15] @Stan wowgetoffmang: eg does
[00:56:21] Vladislav https://wildfiregames.com/forum/topic/43383-shadow-cutoff-distance/
[00:56:27] Vladislav No strong decision.
[00:56:31] @Stan Vladislav: i thought you fixed decals on water?
[00:57:03] Vladislav Stan: ehm, no wraitii said he had plans for it. I fixed a different things.
[00:57:33] @Stan Ah... I guess he forgot about it then
[00:57:39] @Stan Dunno if we have a ticket
[00:57:44] @Stan If not we should
[00:58:50] wowgetoffmang Indeed I use whole map shadows. I don't get good quality shadows at any cutoff distance, so I just opt for full map. I get 120 fps either way.
[00:59:57] Vladislav The cover option will be removed once I get optimizations for multiple cascades.