Assetto Corsa PC Mods General DiscussionPC

[fleskebacon]

Is anyone else still experiencing really terrible quality track shadows with the latest CSP?
It seems like Smart Shadows has been broken for quite some time.
No matter what settings I change, track shadows (eg cast along the track surface or on vertical walls from an overhead grandstand roof) go noticeably jagged, low-res and blurry a short distance in front of the car. And even when I'm not moving, shadows are constantly rippling and floating down the track as if they're on a moving conveyor belt.
Ilja says he can't replicate it, but for me it's been like this for months, and the latest build is no different.
Adjusting time progression in the Drive screen and in Pure planner makes no difference, so it's not related to accelerated time.
Is anyone managing to get sharply-defined track shadows, and if so, can you please share your smart shadow settings (and any tips you might have)?
As things stand they're a huge ugly distraction.

I find the shadows "calmer" when I disable "custom shadow matrices". Still some jagged shadows, but they tend to stay more still and not creep all over the place.

 

[maximeerkat]

new skin plus updates to the other skins

all in 1 download i have deleted the older uploads to this

Resource icon M

T78 Vw Golf BTCC Skin + update

Mar 4, 2026

skins

• maximeerkat
• Skins

 

[sDmD13]

delete

 

[Jeroen V]

I find the shadows "calmer" when I disable "custom shadow matrices". Still some jagged shadows, but they tend to stay more still and not creep all over the place.

@fleskebacon; Would like to try; where can I find this setting in CSP? Under "Smart Shadows" tab?

Entering "matrices" in search does not yield anything. Thanks in advance.

 

[ninezeroniner]

Regarding both cars, I still have the other parts for the car, I just need to do a new body mapping. As for the Diablo, I can check if I have the Garlando GT3 rear wing.

Is there a chance for XJ220's rear wing?

 

[Perico Lospa]

@fleskebacon; Would like to try; where can I find this setting in CSP? Under "Smart Shadows" tab?...

It's possible that this option only appears in the latest version of CSP recently released? (By the way, I´m not fleskebacon... 🙄)

 

[LmarveL86]

a question for you
Do you want these cars too?
Audi VGT GR.1 (orginal GT Car)

GT1 Spec
View attachment 1363191

GT2 Spec (with DRS)
View attachment 1363192

GT3 Spec
View attachment 1363194

I love this VGT on GT7. Do you have the AC mod available for download?

 

[TheRealCeeBee]

Is anyone else still experiencing really terrible quality track shadows with the latest CSP?
It seems like Smart Shadows has been broken for quite some time.
No matter what settings I change, track shadows (eg cast along the track surface or on vertical walls from an overhead grandstand roof) go noticeably jagged, low-res and blurry a short distance in front of the car. And even when I'm not moving, shadows are constantly rippling and floating down the track as if they're on a moving conveyor belt.
Ilja says he can't replicate it, but for me it's been like this for months, and the latest build is no different.
Adjusting time progression in the Drive screen and in Pure planner makes no difference, so it's not related to accelerated time.
Is anyone managing to get sharply-defined track shadows, and if so, can you please share your smart shadow settings (and any tips you might have)?
As things stand they're a huge ugly distraction.

the terrible shadows made me dig up my username to come see if its just me, or CSP broke the game.. long time no talk dude.

 

[timetoo22]

The worst bit for me is seeing old videos i did using the first SOL weather system and how great it all looked, and by first i mean like 4 years ago. I can get PURE looking good in certain situations, and take great photos, but in daily use for me its to inconsistant.

Then there is CSP which is just after 4000 hrs in AC, really a grind and a mess of settings. I dont fiddle as much as i used to and i'm happy with AC and still use it, but Mascot is right in questioning if there is a bit of 'for the sake of it' to keep the money rolling in.

I honestly think you could go back to a much older CSP and have a great time, problem is they have orcastrated this clever rouse by fluke or cunning, that means you HAVE to upgrade to use certain mods.....

The biggest problem is that we are never going to get another AC, those days are gone, so we have what we have, if i ever get totally fed up i'll revert back to a really old CSP build and use the oldest SOL.

In fact did i once read you can have two AC's i.e run vanilla AND content manager?

 

[Apocalypse211]

I still run CSP 0.179 and SOL in my gaming machine. I have the newest CSP in my other machine only for testing purposes.

What really bothered me was the new AI issues that changed some classic track fastlanes. Like on ACU Interlagos cars suddenly started to crash to the pitwall, 2018 Monaco cars suddenly started to hit the barriers. And then the weird pitlane mayhems, etc. Even Kunos F2004 ran out of the track on the Kunos Nurburgring GP circuit (Valvoline/Ford curve) with the default settings. I had to take tyres from VRC 2005 in order to get that season playable.

I still don't know what Content Manager changes created those issues as they started to happen even when CSP wasn't updated. Nobody knows.

I gave up modding and creating the old F1 seasons because of that and just play modern F1 on F1 2020, 2021 and 25 now. What you lose in the driving feel, you get back from the brilliant ai and perfect modern F1 rules. Plus 2020 and 2021 are super enjoyable to drive and race, anything newer not that much but they're ok.

AC is still superior when it comes to classic F1 and I think I got my all old seasons playable. But it's too much work to maintain everything whenever the good old, proven fastlanes suddenly change and stop working with some weird new CM ai update without any reason whatsoever. Don't fix what ain't broken. I believe those AI issues are Content Manager related, not CSP.

 

[GIBBONS]

These are my settings as this bothered me for a long time, this is CSP 0.1.79 mind, so not sure how useful that is for the majority.

Here's a brief clip showing the dreaded shadow chasing is pretty much eliminated while quality remains just about okay. Could be better but this works for me and is no longer distracting. Obviously due to YT quality loss it looks worse in the clip than in game. No idea if this would look okay in VR or newer CSP versions.

 

[Masscot]

the terrible shadows made me dig up my username to come see if its just me, or CSP broke the game.. long time no talk dude.

Holy blast from the past! Welcome back to the alternative reality of the Custom Shaders Patch. How was the coma?
I reverted to 0.2.11 and not only do the shadow splits actually seem to work as intended, the shadows themselves are also crisp, stable and static, and don't migrate across surfaces like slow-moving saw blades.
@Peter Boese please try this yourself if you think nothing has changed for the worse, and as you have a hotline to Ilja, please report it to him because he currently seems oblivious to the problem.

 

[kpcart]

the terrible shadows made me dig up my username to come see if its just me, or CSP broke the game.. long time no talk dude.

you can always try older versions of csp.

 

[Masscot]

View attachment 1517701

These are my settings as this bothered me for a long time, this is CSP 0.1.79 mind, so not sure how useful that is for the majority.

Here's a brief clip showing the dreaded shadow chasing is pretty much eliminated while quality remains just about okay. Could be better but this works for me and is no longer distracting. Obviously due to YT quality loss it looks worse in the clip than in game. No idea if this would look okay in VR or newer CSP versions.

Thanks for the video, that's a useful reference of what shadows used to look like in earlier CSP builds. Something got broken since then, so hopefully Ilja will acknowledge the issue and implement a fix.

 

[Peter Boese]

View attachment 1517701

These are my settings as this bothered me for a long time, this is CSP 0.1.79 mind, so not sure how useful that is for the majority.

Here's a brief clip showing the dreaded shadow chasing is pretty much eliminated while quality remains just about okay. Could be better but this works for me and is no longer distracting. Obviously due to YT quality loss it looks worse in the clip than in game. No idea if this would look okay in VR or newer CSP versions.

whats the track? i'll try to do the same drive with different CSP versions.

 

[Peter Boese]

Holy blast from the past! Welcome back to the alternative reality of the Custom Shaders Patch. How was the coma?
I reverted to 0.2.11 and not only do the shadow splits actually seem to work as intended, the shadows themselves are also crisp, stable and static, and don't migrate across surfaces like slow-moving saw blades.
@Peter Boese please try this yourself if you think nothing has changed for the worse, and as you have a hotline to Ilja, please report it to him because he currently seems oblivious to the problem.

i did a comparison between 0.2.11 and 0.3.302 and i find it more stable in the 302 build.
Esp. with things like this difficult geometry:
this is 0.2.11 and plain CSP settings

and this is 0.302 also with plain CSP settings:

The visible split transition is farer away
Do you use some custom settings there?

Maybe it would be good, you gave me a realy bad example and i test it exactly on my side.
Same track, same time, date and so on....

 

[Valyul]

whats the track? i'll try to do the same drive with different CSP versions.

It's RIO de Janeiro street circuit. You'll find it in Breathe list in fictive tracks with this name. The link

 

[Masscot]

i did a comparison between 0.2.11 and 0.3.302 and i find it more stable in the 302 build.
Esp. with things like this difficult geometry:
this is 0.2.11 and plain CSP settings
View attachment 1517731

and this is 0.302 also with plain CSP settings:
View attachment 1517732

The visible split transition is farer away
Do you use some custom settings there?

Yes, I use custom splits, not the automatic ones, as I always used to get better results. Automatic splits seemed to give ugly results.
Please try a section (or different track) that has a large shadow cast onto the track from (for example) a grandstand roof. Spa would work at the right time of day. In the latest CSP you should see the shadow edges jagged and animated/rippling, whereas in 0.2.11 the edges are stable, static and sharper.

 

[Peter Boese]

Yes, I use custom splits, not the automatic ones, as I always used to get better results. Automatic splits seemed to give ugly results.
Please try a section (or different track) that has a large shadow cast onto the track from (for example) a grandstand roof. Spa would work at the right time of day. In the latest CSP you should see the shadow edges jagged and animated/rippling, whereas in 0.2.11 the edges are stable, static and sharper.

the noticable things are in this situation, where the shadows pop out when you come near:

and that is with automatic slits off:

Then you see clear transitions between the cascades.

So i now found a good place to test:
CSP 0.2.11

CSP 0.3.302

 

[TonySSS]

Speaking of Pure, someone in a Discord server told me that @Peter Boese has to update his Pure mod after x4fab/Ilja recently released his latest CSP update in order to have proper glare in LCS across ALL post process filters, is this true?

 

[Perico Lospa]

... someone in a Discord server told me that @Peter Boese has to...

 

[Peter Boese]

Speaking of Pure, someone in a Discord server told me that @Peter Boese has to update his Pure mod after x4fab/Ilja recently released his latest CSP update in order to have proper glare in LCS across ALL post process filters, is this true?

No you don't need it actually. Some things for the Glare must be updated to show properly with the pure ppfilters, but this is just fine tuning. It will already work for the other ppfilters you use. But there might come an update from all the ppfilter creators with proper finetuning. Pure 3.18 is ready, but i'll wait for Ilja, he is currently fixing the broken CSP launch in Linux. And i want that Pure is also working in Linux with the new release.

In the new Pure i added more things to prevent os system function calls in pure scripts, so its not that easy to do unwanted stuff by suspicious people. And i integrated more features for shader and ppfilter creators...

 

[Masscot]

View attachment 1517733
View attachment 1517734

the noticable things are in this situation, where the shadows pop out when you come near:
View attachment 1517735

and that is with automatic slits off:
View attachment 1517736
Then you see clear transitions between the cascades.

So i now found a good place to test:
CSP 0.2.11
View attachment 1517737

CSP 0.3.302
View attachment 1517738

Thanks Peter, but it's quite difficult to see from images what the issue actually is, or which is subjectively 'better'. Detail that's obvious on our own screens or in VR headsets gets lost in images.
With your cockpit view 0.3.302 (last image above), on the large shadow across the track are you seeing the shadow edge moving, as if it's animating/rippling, and is this animating edge jagged/sawtooth? That is one of the issues that 0.2.11 does not have.
Also, are custom splits working as intended in 0.3.302?
If you don't have these issues, then they may be caused by a conflict elsewhere (shadow resolution, AA solution, Sol/Pure/vanilla weather, or any number of other random CSP options).
I can't really comment on what you're seeing as it's not really clear in the images, but for me (and from anecdotal evidence in this thread, for a lot of other people) Smart Shadows look a LOT worse than they used to.

 

[Jack_NL]

Can be added trough extensions folder and the wobbling can be also done trough config stuff. So just need someone to provide with an foxtail .kn5 and it can be easily done.

Here are the files of the foxtail

119.5 KB file on MEGA

mega.nz

From what i see is that in the KN5 files its missing the animation settings (in 3dsimed)
see screenshot for the animated wiper settings of the Opel I don’t know how to add that
Also the material settings are different between both (to add the animation i guess) stuff I have no knowledge of

 

[DriverOne]

Thx! 👍 Maybe now the miracle will happen. But I have sadly learned not to be too happy too soon. But this however is a great step ahead is it not!? C'mon you modding geniuses! Piece de gateau - right!? 😎

 

[christoph88]

I have a quick question to the Forum! Is there a way to use the F6 Cameras from the Vanille Game whilst Running csp? I cant Figure it out- f6 simply does not work with csp for me. Thanks in advance!

 

[Rodger Davies]

I have a quick question to the Forum! Is there a way to use the F6 Cameras from the Vanille Game whilst Running csp? I cant Figure it out- f6 simply does not work with csp for me. Thanks in advance!

Works fine for me, do you have it assigned to a key in controls? With CSP it's possible to change the binding.

 

[christoph88]

Works fine for me, do you have it assigned to a key in controls? With CSP it's possible to change the binding.

Ok, maybe a stupid question- where can I change the binding with csp?

 

[Fall Guy]

Ok, maybe a stupid question- where can I change the binding with csp?

 

[Arthur Figgis]

I still run CSP 0.179 and SOL in my gaming machine. I have the newest CSP in my other machine only for testing purposes.

What really bothered me was the new AI issues that changed some classic track fastlanes. Like on ACU Interlagos cars suddenly started to crash to the pitwall, 2018 Monaco cars suddenly started to hit the barriers. And then the weird pitlane mayhems, etc. Even Kunos F2004 ran out of the track on the Kunos Nurburgring GP circuit (Valvoline/Ford curve) with the default settings. I had to take tyres from VRC 2005 in order to get that season playable.

I still don't know what Content Manager changes created those issues as they started to happen even when CSP wasn't updated. Nobody knows.

I gave up modding and creating the old F1 seasons because of that and just play modern F1 on F1 2020, 2021 and 25 now. What you lose in the driving feel, you get back from the brilliant ai and perfect modern F1 rules. Plus 2020 and 2021 are super enjoyable to drive and race, anything newer not that much but they're ok.

AC is still superior when it comes to classic F1 and I think I got my all old seasons playable. But it's too much work to maintain everything whenever the good old, proven fastlanes suddenly change and stop working with some weird new CM ai update without any reason whatsoever. Don't fix what ain't broken. I believe those AI issues are Content Manager related, not CSP.

While we're on the topic of CSP and its effect on AI, I'll humbly re-air my biggest grievance:

With or without "New AI behaviour", the latest CSP builds (anything after CSP 0.2.9) result in varying degrees of en****ification.

This is Le Mans 1970 by KJRacing81/nobody but similar behaviour is observed on any track with Le Mans style starts.