In Game Update 1.5, we’re going to be seeing some improvements to Star Wars: The Old Republic. One of which is the introduction of new graphical shaders that specifically bring out the translucency in foliage seen on the various planets and environmental details. A couple of days ago, Ben Cloward, Senior Technical Artist of SWTOR, posted a developer blog article where he talks a bit about the shaders and shows off a few screenshot examples. Shown above in the title image is one such example, showing the game as it appears now (Before), and the post-1.5 result (After).
Here’s what he has to say about this upcoming change:
So, new in Game Update 1.5, with Shader Complexity set to High in the Graphics Preferences, if you look toward the sun in outdoor environments such as Tython, Voss, Alderaan, etc, you’ll notice that the sun shines through the trees and the grass. Before Game Update 1.5, trees and grass would look really dark when looking toward the sun, but now that the sun is shining through them, they have that same type of beautiful diffused light that you see in the real world.
Read the full developer blog here.