Light that behaves like light
- Physically based lighting: the sun, the sky and reflections lit the way real materials are lit.
- A filmic tonemap that keeps bright skies and dark shadows, and deep ambient occlusion that grounds trucks and buildings.
- Light through leaves, cabin lighting and a colour grade with look presets, among them Photorealist, calibrated on real photos.
Roads with relief
The game's road is a flat photo. Deep Light draws it again with relief, so a low sun picks out every stone, and adds cracks, repair patches and, in rain, puddles with ripples. Every road piece gets its own pattern, fixed to the road. Trucks and trailers can gather road dirt.
A sharp image
DLSS or DLAA on NVIDIA RTX, FSR on any DirectX 12 GPU, in place of the game's TAA. Frame generation (Pro) gives back the cost of the lighting.
Add the free DBM mods
Deep Light builds on the game's textures. The free DBM graphics mods on the Steam Workshop give it 4K scanned roads, terrain, vegetation and water to work with. The screenshots on this site use them.
One licence covers ETS2 and ATS. No always-online: it works offline for up to 30 days. See the FAQ for what happens if you stop.
Questions
What is the most realistic graphics setup for ETS2?
Realism in ETS2 comes from three things: light that behaves like real light, surfaces with relief and wetness, and a sharp image. Deep Light adds physically based lighting, a filmic tonemap, road relief, cracks and puddles, and DLSS or FSR in place of the game's soft TAA. The free DBM texture mods add 4K scanned roads, terrain and vegetation.
Is Deep Light a ReShade preset?
No. It is a ReShade add-on that works inside the game's frame: it replaces the anti-aliasing, lights the scene before the HUD is drawn and gives the roads new materials. A preset only filters the finished image.
Does it work with ProMods and map mods?
Yes. Deep Light works with ProMods and map mods.
Do I need a fast PC?
Upscaling and frame generation give back the cost of the lighting, so a mid-range PC can run it. FSR works on any DirectX 12 GPU and DLSS on NVIDIA RTX.