Unlike in the original Morrowind engine, 'Shadow Mapping' is used, which can have a performance impact, but has more realistic results.
When used in fixed-function mode, shadowed regions will appear completely black.
To prevent this, enable :ref:`force-shaders-label`.
A keen developer may be able to implement something better using the advice of `this post<https://github.com/OpenMW/openmw/pull/1547#issuecomment-369657381>`_, but it may be more difficult than it seems.
# Enable or disable shadows. Bear in mind that when used without "[Shaders]/force shaders" set to true (i.e. objects and terrain are rendered in fixed-function mode) shadowed areas will be completely black. As such, it is recommended to use this feature in conjunction with shaders.
enable shadows=false
# How many shadow maps to use - more of these means each shadow map texel covers less area, producing better looking shadows, but may decrease performance.