- What do you want to achieve?
I want the lighting seen during Play mode and in the published game to match the lighting shown in the Studio edit viewport as closely as possible.
- What is the issue?
The lighting looks correct while editing the place in Studio, but it changes noticeably when I enter Play mode or join the game. The brightness, colors, atmosphere, and overall appearance are different even when comparing the same area.
In-game visual:
Studio edit viewport before runtime:
The issue is repeatable in the same place. I am trying to determine whether it is caused by my place configuration, a client quality setting, one of my runtime scripts, or a difference in how Studio and the game client render lighting.
Relevant place information:
- Place ID: 74655110694015
- Studio version: 0.732.0.7321040
- Workspace.StreamingEnabled: true
- LightingStyle: Realistic
- Brightness: 0.68
- ClockTime: 10.5325
- ExposureCompensation: 0.1
- EnvironmentDiffuseScale: 0
- EnvironmentSpecularScale: 1
- GlobalShadows: true
- ShadowSoftness: 0.1
- Ambient: RGB 39, 49, 75
- OutdoorAmbient: RGB 0, 0, 0
- ColorShift_Top: RGB 142, 178, 255
- FogStart: 0
- FogEnd: 100000
The place also contains an Atmosphere and multiple Cloud instances. Studio reports these warnings when the game starts:
More than one Cloud instance in workspace, first enabled one is used.
Cloud instance must exist under Terrain node in workspace to be visible.
There are currently three Cloud instances. Two enabled Cloud instances are outside Terrain, while the Cloud instance under Terrain is disabled. I understand that this configuration may be incorrect and could be related to the visual difference.
The game also has client scripts that can modify Lighting properties based on saved graphics settings, including shadows, atmosphere, environment diffuse and specular scales, and clouds. Other systems temporarily modify Brightness, Ambient, or ColorCorrection effects. I am checking whether one of these changes is being applied only after the client starts.
- What solutions have you tried so far?
- Compared the same location in the Studio edit viewport and during runtime.
- Inspected the main Lighting properties and post-processing effects.
- Checked for scripts that modify Lighting during runtime.
- Checked the Studio output for lighting-related warnings.
- Confirmed that the place contains duplicate or incorrectly parented Cloud instances.
- Checked whether StreamingEnabled or client graphics settings could be contributing to the difference.
I have not yet removed the duplicate Cloud instances or disabled every lighting-related runtime script because I want to isolate the cause instead of changing several things at once.
What would be the best way to determine exactly which property or runtime system is causing this difference? Are duplicate or incorrectly parented Cloud instances known to affect the lighting or sky differently between the edit viewport and Play mode? Are there any other runtime-only lighting or graphics-quality behaviors I should inspect?