How dark do you set your game?

[Troika]

As I did the gamma correction test in the demo where you are asked to set the gamma setting to the level where you can just see Garretts figure standing in the shadow(I haven't yet played the game), but the demo is really dark when I play it. When the light gem is black, Garrett is totally in the dark and even I an't see him in 3rd person view when he is shrouded in shadows.

Still I find the game a bit fustrating to play like this, my field of view is very narrow in first person view and I get disoriented easily when I cant see a thing. Expecially when I am trying to escape my pursuers and I'm trying to find the window to make my exit it usually ends up being frantic and very sorry scene. I also miss most clues and alternative/hidden routes when playing like this even though using the mechanical eye helps a bit.

So I set the game to a darkness level where I can just make out some detail in total darkness. I won't get disoriented that easily and I don't have to stop after every couple feet to check my surroundings with the mechanical eye.

What bothers me though is that according to the gamma test my gamma setting should be 9, It feels like I'm cheating when I play the game with gamma setting 11-12 and I really hate to spoil the game experience if it is really ment that you should have difficulties navigating in the darkess and it is part of the thief experience.

[Neutrino64]

I played with my monitor brightness set to 55% and the in game brightness set to 6 or 7 I think. This makes things really dark, but I don't like playing any other way. See if the light crystal is completely dark and nobody can see Garret then I want him to be in complete darkness. Otherwise it just looks weird to me that I can see Garret's body fine, but no one else can. This way was much more realistic to me.

[Darkaven]

Default, at 5.

No monitor brightness, because I play on xbox.

[BloodRiot]

It's all very relative to your monitor settings, AGP card gamma settings (if any) and monitor condition (image grows darker on older monitors).

I set my settings as far as to only being able to barely see a silhouette of the arquitecture in the darkest light.

Seems to be just right.

[Vrbas]

3

[asrian]

On Xbox I play in 1st person with the brightness set to 3 (which is basically the like what you have, where he disappears in the shadows).

Of course, I played thief 1 & 2 the same way...I just turned the brightness/gamma on the pc WAY down to get the same effect. It helped me with the immersion factor.

[G'Bariel]

as i do have a very old monitor i play with Gamma at 20

[MrWynd]

anything below 10 for me i cant see garrett in shadows at all

[Gwaihir]

I have no idea what my gamma is at - but I play with the lights off, in complete darkness. Then I set the game to where I can barely see garrett - just as if it were RL.

That gives me the most realism. If I set the gamma too high where I can make things out, all the fun of the game is lost to me.

[Unbalanced]

Usually set at around 10, but in som places even that is far too dark. Just entered the cradle and it way too dark, theres no way I can see a bloody thing. The whole screen is black punctuated by slight very dark gray areas add that to the fact I know it the scariest of areas (according to this forum) and I'm a bit reluctant to play it with brightness below about 16 (where I can just about see what things are).

Personally I wish the developers had but a calibration screen in like so many other games have. You know the sort where you adjust the brightness until you can just or so see a dark gray box on a black screen. This would have given everyone a chance to experience it at a level something like what the developers meant it to be.

[Chris_Eddy85]

I keep mine reasonably light, because for some reason, it seems a lot darker in the game than in the picture of garret against the wall. I set it by the in game gamma correction(the one where u see what the screen sees) and got it to the point where i could barely see anything in the shadows. I don't know if anyone else is having this problem. I think its the monitor. I've got a 21" Ultrasharp flat panel widescreen one. Nothing but trouble!

[Troika]

Yeah Chris, I have the exact same prob. Should the game be played with the brightness seen in the "Garrett test" or is it just a tool to set the gamma correctly and it cant be compared directly to the game settings at all?

[DarkTimes]

It's you playing the game, no one else. Just set it at whatever brightness gives you the most enjoyment. :)

For me, I have a thing about compensating for situational awareness in games. In real life you have have greater sense of your environment, even in the pitch dark, which you just can't replicate in a game. So I tend to play it so you can just make out the edges of the architecture, which is about 10. I never did the 'Garret in the shadows' test. Sometimse I might turn it up a bit if I'm lost, or trying to do something tricky and getting frustrated.