I've always been told not to look at the sun and now I think I know why. I was happily
playing on Dust2, my favourite map, when I noticed that the sun in the sky didn't match
up with the shadows it cast. In the map's defence, it's not out by much. It's the same
on Dust 1 as well, in case you're wondering. But it got me thinking about the other maps-
how deep does this issue go? I moved to Cobblestone first since I suspected
that it would be okay since I remember Valve fixing it a while ago. And it is! The sun
matches up beautifully with the lighting in the level and vice versa. It's also a joy
to spectate matches on. Coincidence? I think not.
Next is Train... which is also fine since Valve corrected it. If I wanted to be SUPER
anal I could say that the clouds in the sky imply that the sun should be over here instead...
but no. Because that would mean that my previous video on this problem was wrong as well!
Now this is where the problems start. If you don't want to have your experience of CSGO
forever tarnished, I urge you to leave this video now. I mean it. Go!
Well, just in case you're still on the fence, I'll start with Vertigo since it doesn't matter
much anyway. The shadows don't match up with the sun's position. There's no excuse. It's
WRONG and it looks stupid. No wonder everybody jumps off the side of this map. Now onto the
bigger maps. You have been warned. Come on, Inferno... surely you're okay? You're
a veteran map. You've been around in your current form since Source! And at first glance,
it matches up perfectly! Here's the shadow cast by the building, and here's the sun,
right where it should be. All's good! ...but wait. The sun's an illusion! Looking at the
clouds, they're all being lit by another star in this direction. Inferno should be lit from
the horizon, giving it a warm, evening glow! But apparently, this map has two suns. Admittedly,
this mistake makes the map look prettier and easier to play on. But it's still a surprising
discovery on a map that we've all played on so much. I wonder how long it would take to
spot an error like this in real life! Onto Cache now, and surely FMPone knows better.
He used the same skybox as Inferno's... and apparently, the same light direction as well.
And with it, the same error. I know this is really anal and that Valve should be concentrating
their efforts on more pressing matters like music kits and Episode 3, but it amazes me
how they can invest months into a map and neglect something as obvious as the lighting!
Aztec's is wrong as well but who cares. Dust's didn't line up. Inferno's was too high
in the sky. But mirage's is off by 90 degrees! There's the sun, as clear as day! And yet
the light's coming from over here. OH DEAR. How are you going to fix this one, Valve?
Are you going to change the direction, which would totally change how the map looks and
ruin any grenade-lining-up spots that people have learned? Or are you going to change the
skybox itself, painting a new sun on to cover up your mistake? And don't tell me you didn't
notice the issue with this map, since you even included an env_sun entity but didn't
have it show up in-game... which would have given the map two visible suns in the sky.
The real kicker is that of all the maps, the only one that got the lighting right first-time
was Nuke... and that's now been removed. Maybe some bright spark at Valve will fix
these issues. Or perhaps the world, despite having looked at the sun, can turn a blind
eye to these problems. But for me, the damage is already done. And I'll never see these
maps in the same light again.