I've lately been using a tower zone megabattle save in which the covie mob is initially in shadow. It's the set-up used for my recent movie BCM460 actually. Now, imagine I've just loaded the save. The first time I start a battle, there's a problem. When the covies leave the shadow, they're not rendered properly. They're rendered dark; and in fact they can seem almost like black silhouettes when seen from a distance. I assume they're being rendered as if still in shadow. This isn't much good for recording, as it looks both wrong and unsightly.

That said, if you ever go near a dark covie, his lighting quickly corrects. He becomes lighter, over the course of a second or two.

Now here's the curious thing. With repeated plays or partial plays, the game eventually gets its act together (albeit gradually) and renders covies correctly - at which point I'm happy to record gameplay. My questions then:

(1) Why was the game initially rendering them incorrectly when they leave the shadow?

(2) Why, after multiple plays or partial plays, does the problem clear up?

(3) Is there anything I can I do to make the problem clear up with optimal speed? It's annoying having to always play for several minutes or more before the lighting is fine.

Incidentally, the issue is visible in the first play of BCM460. Some of those covies are definitely too dark, and you'll see that a few are silhouette like. I think the problem was part way through clearing up when I recorded that. I liked the play though, which is why I used it anyway.