[Solved] Hopelessly confused with Shadow On Map

[All_Time_Pro]

Hello I am very curious why this black shadowy circle is on my map:

I tried troubleshooting with terrain (lowering cliff and raising), destroying all doodads in region, but I can't get rid of it!! The shadow shows up in game and bothers the heck out of me. I'm pretty sure it is a simple solution but I really am lost.

Thank you if you can help me trouble shoot this weird black circle...

 

[-Manuel-]

Go to File -> Calculate Shadows and Save Map.
It will take more time if your map has many terrain variations (cliffs, hills).

 

[NightStalker]

Also, i wouldnt recommend having that many pathing blockers. If its a small map it wont make much of a problem but for a bigger map youll hit the doodads limit quite fast.

You can create a few variations for the pathing blocker object. Just change its pathing to something that can be found on the Hive which i cant remember where. You can have 2x8, 8x2 and 12x12 pathing blockers which can help you cover areas with less doodads.

 

[All_Time_Pro]

Thanks for the tips but calculating the shadows didn't change it... It is a shadow from something for sure just I can't figure out what it could be, there is nothing there to select.
Also thanks for the advice about the pathing blockers NightStalker.

 

[Pyrogasm]

Did you reopen the map after calculating shadows? Might not display properly until the map is cleared from memory.

 

[All_Time_Pro]

Did you reopen the map after calculating shadows? Might not display properly until the map is cleared from memory.

Yes I did, I've come to accept the shadow on my map... unless anyone else has other things I can try. Thanks!

 

[Veldris]

What worldedit verison are you using please?

 

[Dr Super Good]

You can remove all shadow map shadows by deleting the .shd file from the map MPQ. If you decide to do this use MPQEdit and remember to backup your map before hand, you do not want to mess around with the only copy of your map.

If you want to calculate shadow maps and not have that blob them you will need to find out the cause. Do this by deleting all imports and seeing if it still persists. If that does not work delete all doodads/destructables and check. It might be caused by the steep terrain geometry nearby. Again remember to backup your map before doing such destructive tests to avoid loss of data.

 

[XXXXS]

the shadow is almost a circle, maybe is a unit or a doodads with a big shadow(im not sure if this is possible)

 

[All_Time_Pro]

What worldedit verison are you using please?

Version 1.29c (6060)

You can remove all shadow map shadows by deleting the .shd file from the map MPQ. If you decide to do this use MPQEdit and remember to backup your map before hand, you do not want to mess around with the only copy of your map.

If you want to calculate shadow maps and not have that blob them you will need to find out the cause. Do this by deleting all imports and seeing if it still persists. If that does not work delete all doodads/destructables and check. It might be caused by the steep terrain geometry nearby. Again remember to backup your map before doing such destructive tests to avoid loss of data.

I will try to delete all of my imports and the doodads/destructables... I will definitely back it up. Thanks!

EDIT: Where do I find the .shd file under mpq editor I'm not seeing it. Also I tried doing everything else besides this so I want to give it a go.

the shadow is almost a circle, maybe is a unit or a doodads with a big shadow(im not sure if this is possible)

I will explore any nearby units or doodads thanks.

 

[All_Time_Pro]

I tried deleting the .shd file in Ladik's MPQ Editor but am kind of confused about mpq's in them selves what is deleting the mpq supposed to do, am I supposed to add a new shd file or just save it and see if it worked? I checked and I don't think it did anything except I cannot open the map on world editor anymore. thanks for advice on backing it up.

 

[Veldris]

I tried deleting the .shd file in Ladik's MPQ Editor but am kind of confused about mpq's in them selves what is deleting the mpq supposed to do, am I supposed to add a new shd file or just save it and see if it worked? I checked and I don't think it did anything except I cannot open the map on world editor anymore. thanks for advice on backing it up.

Version 1.29c (6060)



I will try to delete all of my imports and the doodads/destructables... I will definitely back it up. Thanks!

EDIT: Where do I find the .shd file under mpq editor I'm not seeing it. Also I tried doing everything else besides this so I want to give it a go.



I will explore any nearby units or doodads thanks.

1.29 Was said to have many bugs i will suggest you to use the new WE 1.30 and if you are looking for the SHD file it's like this. Screenshot - 4f98a8879ac662c7a55fbd85bf4933d8 - Gyazo

 

[All_Time_Pro]

Okay thanks so much everyone for the help. The problem was an imported unit with an odd shadow. I was getting so mad that I couldn't figure out the .shd file thing but thats okay. Thanks again and +rep for those who tried to help me out.

 

[Dr Super Good]

The problem was an imported unit with an odd shadow.

Probably has hidden geometry high up that is invisible to humans but is opaque to the shadow calculation algorithm.