Pay attention to what PJ said. I just did an experiment - I changed one little thing, and my AO shadows disappeared with IC at 50. Raising IC to 99 restored them. You have to type 100 to get 99.

Apparently, 99 means "don't cache". And, apparently, there are situations where caching at all (even at 98) will make AO disappear.

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Renderosity forum reply notifications are wonky. If I read a follow-up in a thread, but I don't myself reply, then notifications no longer happen AT ALL on that thread. So if I seem to be ignoring a question, that's why. (Updated September 23, 2019)