Trees are universally too bright:
Trees, particularly tree foliage, should be darker than seen in most scenes seen so far, especially in spring, summer and autumn colours. The autumn ones especially almost look like they were glowing. There’s a lack of shadow definition on the trees. This is especially jarring with a mix between close and distance trees, where the distance trees probably don’t have a shadow for performance reasons, but if they were darker to start with like in reality then it wouldn’t be so much of an issue and wouldn’t stand out as badly (I’ve seen them described as blobs in the background, which isn’t a bad way of explaining them). An example of the distance trees especially looking too bright:
https://image.giants-software.com/1/fmcnyUfj.jpg
Crop foliage is too saturated:
Wheat and barley for example are rarely a brightish yellow when ripe – they’re closer to a dullish beige. When ripe they’ve lost a lot of water and are drying out, so imagine a dying dried up plant and you’ll be closer to the actual colour than currently.
Cut grass texture should almost be yellow:
The grass left behind after mowing (the grass still in the ground) isn’t usually a dark green, but instead looks much lighter compared to the grass which is waiting to be collected. While not universal, this sort of grass contrast is much more common:
https://www.alamy.com/mowing-grass-in-a ... 70385.html
Windrows are very small:
In the scene in the GamesCom trailer and other videos the windrows look far too small even compared to the small Massey tractor and baler. With bigger vehicles and implements they will look tiny. They should be wider, taller and give more of an impression of depth and volume.
Skies should never be white, blue sky precipitation and night skies:
The skies look better than FS19, but the directional changing is too stark. The deeper blues aren’t too bad in FS22, but views like this are only seen through cameras which lack the dynamic range of the human eye:
https://www.farming-simulator.com/cms/u ... d8066d.jpg
You’ve also got scenes like the below one where precipitation is falling, yet much of the sky is blue. This can happen for localised light showers, but normally the rain and snow falling in the distance will block out such views. Some sort of distance darkening and blur (or mist) for the heavier showers would help this, and help performance too if it they be take advantage of the occlusion culling, perhaps allowing more scope for things like water on windows, puddles and so in the future.
https://www.farming-simulator.com/cms/u ... d9af76.jpg
The moon is far, far too bright. The light emitted is too extreme. Obviously light does bounce off the moon and is cast onto the ground in real life, but it’s a very soft and subtle diffused light, whereas in the following screenshot the moon lights up the whole sky and provides far too much light at ground level. This might be something some players want as it might make it easier to play when it’s light in their home but night in-game, some monitors portray dark colours better than others, so it would be good if it could be tied to the suggestion “Environment settings should be player-specific, not map-specific” below, or maybe an in-game menu option to temporarily artificially boost the brightness settings if needed for night play, rather than having to quit the game first.
These are screenshots of night time from the first German stream after GamesCom (it was
this Twitch user, but I can't find the video now):
https://image.giants-software.com/1/zu7NY7k9.jpg
https://image.giants-software.com/1/n3rHhJTa.jpg
Either they aren't at night, in which case there should be more light on the ground (there is a fair bit of light before sun rise and after sun-set) or the night sky is way, way too bright and indeed blue.
Environment settings should be player-specific, not map-specific:
We all have different grades of monitors and TV, different technologies (e.g. TN, VA, IPS, OLED, etc.) and very different tastes. Some players might prefer a natural looking-environment, others a more vibrant one. Encourage mappers to create their own environment settings so their map can look like they want it to, but allow players to override it with either one from another map or from a separate mod or user-defined in some way.
There’s a mod
Additional Game Settings which allows PC players to choose an environment style from any installed map on the fly for FS19. Perhaps consider some functionality like this as standard in the base game, so both PC and console players could choose their own environment style for any map.
The environment itself:
The whole directional light thing in FS19 was way over the top, crushing either highlights or shadow depending on which way you were facing with very little in way of balance in between. It often made it difficult to see the ground you were working on. If it’s in FS22 too then hopefully it can be turned off or lowered, or limited to first person mode where it's slightly more realistic, rather than third person.
Others are better at explaining the nuances of the saturation, brightness and balance, so hopefully someone else can fill that side of things in better than me. I’ll just say that the tone is too saturated below the skyline. If you haven’t already, take a look at OxygenDavid’s screenshots of his Calmsden map, seen here in FS19:
viewtopic.php?p=1408108#p1408108
Consider moving map-specific region mod settings to be available separately:
Rather than having region specific settings in a map, consider encouraging modders to upload them as separate mods, linked as recommended for a map if necessary.
Things like license plates and GEOs could then be chosen by players for use on generic maps or other regions. Depending on how warning signs are done (if they’re not as a vehicle option for example, but are map specific) then they too could be used elsewhere.
New crops too could be released separately too. They could set as required on the ModHub for certain maps, but could be downloaded separately to work on any map too. Then allow players to choose which crops can be used through a gamesave (eg a so cotton isn’t seen on a Northern European map, but they could choose say carrots or something and associated equipment from a mod.
Going further, possibly into the realms of fantasy, perhaps even reversal of roads on generic maps, with left and right-hand drive vehicles and AI traffic which can drive on either the left or right of the road dependant on what the player wants. Maybe even the style of road-side signs could change with them, so for example Elmcreek could almost become and Australian map at the click of a button.
Vehicles and equipment are lacking depth and detail:
Not in a polygon sense, but I think due to the extreme saturation and vibrancy crushing the detail. It’s like there’s no ambient occlusion or normal maps on the models so everything looks extremely flat and shiny rather than having depth or substance. Again the small baler example is good for this, as perhaps is one of the reasons why the John Deere 9RX interior looks very low quality?:
https://youtu.be/lP5f9xxMREs
https://image.giants-software.com/1/kNbEpJS5.jpg
Allow "Game Settings" to have default values:
I change the in-game "Game Settings" in the escape menu every time I start a save or test a map. It would be good if these could be either remembered or for a screen to set up some defaults in the main game options, and then over-ridden in the in-game settings if necessary.
All fields could be livestock pastures in waiting:
I’d hoped the addition of custom fences and hedges in game would allow us to create our own livestock enclosures, rather than having pre-built ones. This would allow map-makers to have any enclosed field as a potential livestock enclosure and for players to create their own from scratch or by merging fields. E.g. for a sheep enclosure a minimum requirement would be a water trough, a feeding trough (and/or grazing) and somewhere for the wool to spawn (or have central spawning point for all fields somewhere). These would all be placed by the modder or player in any field which is fully enclosed (for in-game creation with either the navmesh created dynamically or painted using the landscaping tool).
It would be good if livestock didn't move through equipment and bales too, though not to the point where driving at one would stop a vehicle instantly, like hitting the traffic does.
Hired helpers shouldn’t be reversing through crops:
I was hopeful the “more realistic helpers” would have helped aspects like this, but the unrealistic turning at headlands is still an issue. In the video below the combine gets to the headland, reverses straight, then goes forward straight, then reverses through the crop, moves forward through the crop, reverses through the crop and finally starts harvesting again. Obviously proper headland support (allowing helpers to cut headlands first, or leave that area until last for ploughs and drills and so on) would allow for more room for better handling of this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP5f9xxMREs
In FS19 there is another issue at the end of rows, where tractors would often get to the end of a row, reverse back and then drive forwards turning in a massive arc to line up with the next row. While not possible for every tool, perhaps allow some implements to instead turn more like the combine example above (except without the needless moving back and forwards in straight lines).
Add a text description to crop icons:
For an update in FS19 you added a text description to the fill type on the HUD, which was great but is missing in FS22 at the moment. Even for regular players the icons aren’t always obvious, and must be overwhelming for a new player. It would be good if such text (or tool-tips) was added to the crop prices screen and anywhere else too.
Map sizes in future:
More for the next game, but if the playable area of a map is bigger or smaller than the standard map, allow the PDA and map in the escape menu to only show the playable area. So far example if someone makes a map on a 4X map, but the playable area is only effectively 3km x 3km with the rest reserved for distance scenery, then the in-game map would only show the 3km x 3km playable area. This would work with maps smaller than the standard map size too.