Game is Extremely Dark [Solved]

[Funny Rat]

Been playing the game again over the last few days but today the game is extremely dark, this hasn't been an issue before. If I try and change my brightness then it seems to work fine but after a moment switches back to essentially being on the darkest setting. Only started today which is what makes it weird, tried running in compatibility mode for Windows XP and its service packs but they make no difference at all.

[Funny Rat]

Ok I fixed it by simply setting r_ignorehwgamma to 1 instead of 0 clearly my PC was trying to force the game to use lower brightness.

[Phoenix]

There's an issue in the Q3A source code that affects Windows versions above XP. In win_gamma.c, you have this line:

if ( vinfo.dwMajorVersion == 5 && vinfo.dwPlatformId == VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_NT ) {

It SHOULD have been coded like this:

if ( vinfo.dwMajorVersion >= 5 && vinfo.dwPlatformId == VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_NT ) {

That's what causes Q3 to go really dark and lose your gamma settings. I know it's been fixed in IOQuake3... not sure about any other source ports besides the one I'm working on for Generations.

[QuakeGamer]

Try to change Compatibility Mode on Quake3.exe and Select Windows XP (service pack 2). After doing this go to your CFG of the game and set these commands:

seta r_ignorehwgamma "0"
seta r_intensity "1"
seta r_overBrightBits "1"
seta r_gamma "1"

This solution works for me on Windows 7 and Windows 10.

If the problem persists try to download and intall IOQuake3, which fix many bugs and issues to modern computers.

[GameBunny77]

Originally posted by QuakeGamer:

Try to change Compatibility Mode on Quake3.exe and Select Windows XP (service pack 2). After doing this go to your CFG of the game and set these commands:

seta r_ignorehwgamma "0"
seta r_intensity "1"
seta r_overBrightBits "1"
seta r_gamma "1"

This solution works for me on Windows 7 and Windows 10.

If the problem persists try to download and intall IOQuake3, which fix many bugs and issues to modern computers.

I ran into this issue with my new monitor that I bought yesterday, and thanks to this old thread, finally Quake 3 looks as it should look normally. So thanks very much for your post, it is very much appreciated.

[iurgansular]

Originally posted by QuakeGamer:

Try to change Compatibility Mode on Quake3.exe and Select Windows XP (service pack 2). After doing this go to your CFG of the game and set these commands:

seta r_ignorehwgamma "0"
seta r_intensity "1"
seta r_overBrightBits "1"
seta r_gamma "1"

This solution works for me on Windows 7 and Windows 10.

If the problem persists try to download and intall IOQuake3, which fix many bugs and issues to modern computers.

Thank you sir, worked like a charm!