Depth values and FBO - c++

Question

This is the lovely image I keep seeing gDebugger as I attempt to implement shadow maps. For reference I'm using the tutorial at http://fabiensanglard.net/shadowmapping/index.php. I've tried a couple different things with varying results, mostly either an FBO that has flat depth values(no slight variance indicating weird depth ranges) or this awesome guy. I've tried a huge amount of different things but alas, sans complete FBO failure, I mostly come back to this. For reference, here is what gDebugger spits out as my actual depth buffer:
So, with all that in mind, here's my code. Shader code is withheld because I have yet to get something in my FBO that's worth processing.
Here's how I initialize the FBO/Depth tex:
int shadow_width = 1024;
int shadow_height = 1024;
// Try to use a texture depth component
glGenTextures(1, &depth_tex);
glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, depth_tex);
// GL_LINEAR does not make sense for depth texture. However, next tutorial shows usage of GL_LINEAR and PCF
glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER, GL_NEAREST);
glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER, GL_NEAREST);
// Remove artefact on the edges of the shadowmap
glTexParameterf( GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_WRAP_S, GL_CLAMP );
glTexParameterf( GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_WRAP_T, GL_CLAMP );
// No need to force GL_DEPTH_COMPONENT24, drivers usually give you the max precision if available
glTexImage2D( GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0, GL_DEPTH_COMPONENT24,
shadow_width, shadow_height, 0, GL_DEPTH_COMPONENT,
GL_FLOAT, 0);
// attach the texture to FBO depth attachment point
glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0);
// create a framebuffer object
glGenFramebuffers(1, &fbo_id);
glBindFramebuffer(GL_FRAMEBUFFER, fbo_id);
// Instruct openGL that we won't bind a color texture with the currently binded FBO
glDrawBuffer(GL_NONE);
glReadBuffer(GL_NONE);
glFramebufferTexture2D(GL_FRAMEBUFFER, GL_DEPTH_ATTACHMENT,GL_TEXTURE_2D, depth_tex, 0);
// switch back to window-system-provided framebuffer
glBindFramebuffer(GL_FRAMEBUFFER, 0);
And here's my render code:
glLoadIdentity();
float lpos[4] = {0,0,0,1};
float lpos3[4] = {5000,-500,5000,1};
glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D,0);
glBindFramebuffer(GL_FRAMEBUFFER,fbo_id);
glViewport(0, 0, 1024, 1024);
glClear(GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);
glColorMask(GL_FALSE, GL_FALSE, GL_FALSE, GL_FALSE);
setup_mats(lpos[0],lpos[1],lpos[2],lpos3[0],lpos3[1],lpos3[2]);
glCullFace(GL_FRONT);
mdlman.render_models(R_STENCIL);
mdlman.render_model(R_STENCIL,1);
set_tex_mat();
glBindFramebuffer(GL_FRAMEBUFFER,0);
glViewport( 0, 0, (GLsizei)800, (GLsizei)600 );
glColorMask(GL_TRUE, GL_TRUE, GL_TRUE, GL_TRUE);
glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);
this->r_cam->return_LookAt();
gluPerspective(45,800/600,0.5f,2000.0f);
glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);
glLoadMatrixf(&r_cam->getProjectionMatrix()[0][0]);
glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
glLoadMatrixf(&r_cam->getViewMatrix()[0][0]);
glCullFace(GL_BACK);
mdlman.render_models(R_NORM);
And here's how I draw objects for the FBO:
glEnableClientState(GL_NORMAL_ARRAY);
glEnableClientState(GL_VERTEX_ARRAY);
glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER,models.at(mdlid).t_buff);
glBindBuffer(GL_ELEMENT_ARRAY_BUFFER,models.at(mdlid).i_buff);
glNormalPointer(GL_FLOAT,sizeof(vert),BUFFER_OFFSET(sizeof(GLfloat)*2));
glVertexPointer(3, GL_FLOAT,sizeof(vert),BUFFER_OFFSET(sizeof(GLfloat)*5));
glDrawElements(GL_TRIANGLES,(models.at(mdlid).f_index.size())*3,GL_UNSIGNED_INT,0);
glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, 0);
glBindBuffer(GL_ELEMENT_ARRAY_BUFFER, 0);
glDisableClientState(GL_VERTEX_ARRAY);
glDisableClientState(GL_NORMAL_ARRAY);
Some closing notes: the depth buffer image from gDebugger IS from the lights POV. My camera is quaternion based and uses matrices aligned with OGL for it's lookAt function(which is used to translate to light position/view.) I can provide the code for that if need be. Everything else is pretty much carbon-copied from the tutorial to make sure that I'm not doing or setting up something stupid.