Discussion HDR settings, tips, and help in PC games

[edin]

I couldn't find a relevant thread and don't think this fits in with the main PC hardware thread so here we are:

Does anyone have any tips for HDR settings in games on PC (and Steam Deck OLED)?

I usually adjust by eye, but I'm still not familiar enough with HDR so things sometimes look too bright or too washed out depending on the game. My main monitor HDR sucks (LG 850) and the only good HDR screens I have are my iPhone and Steam Deck OLED. With some recent games, I usually feel like the settings don't let you preview things while adjusting or don't have enough information, but there are also games where the HDR implementation isn't great on Steam Deck like Cyberpunk 2077 where it looks washed out because of a bug. Some good but basic HDR implementations are like Trails through Daybreak or Ghost of Tsushima in my experience where I can very quickly get things looking really good on the Steam Deck OLED.

If you have any tips on where I can learn about this or have general help for HDR, please let me know. RDR1 on PC featuring HDR pushed me to make this today.

If there's enough interest, I think we can use this to discuss HDR stuff in PC games in general. Thoughts?

 

[Durante]

I think with Steam Deck you have the extra difficulty of going through another layer. For some games this is not a problem (i.e. ours), for others that depend on EDID information it might be.

To some extent, I feel like a lot of games try to be too clever about their HDR. I.e. they try to learn about the HW and then offer people only the options the game thinks are relevant for them.
My approach is to just always offer the options, without any caps depending on HW. I think the user will see pretty quickly when it's not working for them.

When it comes to my approach as a gamer, I've basically given up on all auto-HDR or injection for the time being. I just don't like what it generally does to UI, and I mostly play very UI-heavy games. I guess it might work better for more realistic/immersive games with minimal UI.

 

[Lashley]

I just follow this

GamingTech

Join me on X: https://x.com/Amok4All Join me on Discord: https://discord.gg/E3bfrecunE buymeacoffee.com/Amok4All

www.youtube.com

 

[edin]

I think with Steam Deck you have the extra difficulty of going through another layer. For some games this is not a problem (i.e. ours), for others that depend on EDID information it might be.

To some extent, I feel like a lot of games try to be too clever about their HDR. I.e. they try to learn about the HW and then offer people only the options the game thinks are relevant for them.
My approach is to just always offer the options, without any caps depending on HW. I think the user will see pretty quickly when it's not working for them.

When it comes to my approach as a gamer, I've basically given up on all auto-HDR or injection for the time being. I just don't like what it generally does to UI, and I mostly play very UI-heavy games. I guess it might work better for more realistic/immersive games with minimal UI.

Yea the UI issues are annoying in any injection things. Did not know about the extra layer. I thought Valve might have made that bit seamless for developers. Good to know.

Another recent example is Kunitsu-Gami which looked completely washed out with HDR and had no real options to tweak things even on console (on my display). I just disabled it and played without it.

I just follow this

GamingTech

Join me on X: https://x.com/Amok4All Join me on Discord: https://discord.gg/E3bfrecunE buymeacoffee.com/Amok4All

www.youtube.com

Thanks for this. Bookmarked. Will check out later.

 

[Kvik]

I don't have too many HDR displays (read: only one), so my experience is quite limited. I'm planning to get the OLED deck next month, so this number will astronomically rise as a result.

My HDR display is an LG OLED C1 which I bought back in 2021, so I've been chasing this dragon for nearly 3 years. I have to say, if you dislike tinkering with your hardware and games, HDR on PC can be a very frustrating experience. I am by no means an expert, but tinkering with my hardware and games are something that I really enjoy, so at least I can try sharing my experience with it here.

The most commonly reported problem I've seen with HDR is that the colours seems washed out, which may have been caused by incorrect hardware calibration. The calibration settings in-game can also affect the output if the calibration is already incorrect to begin with. There's also other factors such as driver bug or dark/bright room environment.

For a brief overview of my setup, in my gaming rig I am running Win10 Pro 22H2 with an RTX4090 driving the LG OLED C1. I generally never had HDR enabled unless I am playing a game or watching movies/anime with HDR through mpv. For initial calibration, I found the LG OLED calibration guide an invaluable resource.

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While the above guide was tailored specifically for LG OLED displays, the Resource and FAQ sections in the above guide can prove beneficial for other displays as well. While personally, I don't use Windows HDR calibration tool or RTX HDR, the test suites and calibration guidelines can be applied to other displays.

The guide also recommending enabling HDR at all times. The rationale provided was because most games with HDR feature does not necessarily enable Windows' HDR automatically. It also mentioned setting the desktop SDR content to 80 nits. I feel this approach (while valid), is also unnecessary. There exist several tools that can enable Windows HDR automatically based on the running process. The first is obviously SpecialK. ColorControl is another open source project, but it is targeted for LG/Samsung TV displays. And finally, my personal recommendation, which is AutoActions (formerly AutoHDR)

I prefer AutoActions because it features automatic desktop resolution switcher as one of the items we can modify when creating an application profile within it. Since I always prefer to use borderless window mode, this tool is exactly what I need to use DLDSR without having to switch to exclusive screen mode.

On the subject of HDR injection, I have used SpecialK for HDR retrofitting since its early days, and it's been quite interesting to see its growth. For the most part, its calibration feature has improved a lot, and for the most recent releases, it is almost painless to use. Still, HDR injection is not without its issues. Incorrect luminance on UI elements can result in overbright tones; which can be even more pronounced if the game has a lot of UI elements. This issue can happen for other visual effects as well.

Another intriguing project that I've come across is Renodx. This shader-based injector works by way of ReShade's add-on system. There are already plenty of game-specific mods created by the community, although I haven't personally tested this project myself.

If you're looking for a helpful Discord server to discuss PC HDR, there exist a server called HDR Den which was only established last year. The people there are generally helpful if you need help calibrating your displays. I think the developers of Renodx hangs out there too.

 

[edin]

Thanks for that Kvik I think initially I will bother you directly on discord

 

[Kvik]

Tinkering around with HDR in the Ys X demo.

I had assumed it has native HDR10, so all I needed was to pass through HDR10 in SpecialK. Seems like I was wrong. (Screenshots are SDR tonemapped)

Come to think of it, the HDR in Daybreak had a similar scenario, so keeping it as scRGB with HDR10 preset should make this work.

Will give it a run tonight when I'll have the chance to get into the game itself.

 

[NarohDethan]

For some reason, auto HDR on Windows 11 washes out my games. And in certain games, it fucks with the black levels and overall dark areas. Resident evil games in particular look hideous.

RTX HDR seems to fix some issues, but I'm still confused about how it is supposed to work.

 

[Kvik]

I only have REmake 2 and 3, but I can give it a go tonight.

I have a quick look on PCGamingWiki, and it has a notice under the HDR section which says “On Windows, HDR option is not relevant” —which I assume means that we don't have to enable HDR option in Windows manually since the game will automatically enable HDR on the display.

 

[NarohDethan]

Continued messing with HDR this morning. Seems like AutoHDR is the main 'culprit'. I guess it's a matter of personal preference but everything looks better now that I turned it off.

 

[edin]

Gonna reinstall FF7 Remake on Steam Deck to try out HDR if it works well. May as well before I get Rebirth.