HDR Guide

[ŞĦÅÐΘЩЌÌŁŁΣŘ]

TDLR! (Easy version)

Navigate to C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\b1\Saved\Config\Windows and open the Engine.ini file. Scroll down to the very bottom and copy/paste this.

[SystemSettings]
r.AllowHDR=1
r.HDR.EnableHDROutput=1
r.HDR.Display.OutputDevice=5
r.HDR.Display.ColorGamut=2
r.HDR.UI.CompositeMode=1
r.FullScreenMode=0
r.HDR.UI.Level=1.5
r.HDR.Display.MidLuminance=54
r.HDR.Display.MaxLuminance=750




UPDATE #2!
The search for the best settings never ends! I have been going back and forth between the engine INI version and the reshade version and they both that their positives and negatives. I find the engine INI one to be truer to the original vision of the game, whereas the reshade version changings things quite dramatically. If you just want basic HDR without fussing with programs, use the engine INI version.

I would love to try the nvidia HDR but i dont have windows 11. I hear there is bit of a performance impact with that one too. I will put the engine ini version here at the top for the people that want HDR without a fuss...



Reshade method (More flexible, harder setup, less true to original game visuals)
1) Download reshade 6.2.0. (latest version) Make sure you get the one with addon support (important!)

2)Run the reshade exe and install it to the b1.exe. (game executable) When you install it select the directx 10/11/12 option. https://ibb.co/hHBqPLV

3)When it asks to select which effects to install, install the default ones but also scroll down and select reshade hdr shaders by lilium. https://ibb.co/MSfRxFq

4) Then on the addons page select auto hdr by endlessly flowering. (this is why you need the addon version of reshade) https://ibb.co/8xJHdqp

5)Launch the game and press home to open reshade. You can follow the tutorial if youre not familiar with it. At the top select the "addons" tab and enable auto hdr, enable hdr and use hdr10. After you enable those either restart or just change your games resolution to enable it. https://ibb.co/vvfRK7h

6) Go into the home tab and enable liliums inverse tonemapping. The default settings should work great, but if you want to adjust brightness, contrast etc you can do it below.
https://ibb.co/jV8r654

7) When you have your settings dialed in, enable the performance mode of reshade in the bottom right corner of the window. This will disable the realtime editing of the settings but help with performance.

Here is a quick video i recorded using the default settings with the reshade method. The compression is a bit high but it gives you a sense of the increased contrast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bid260Ao4W4


Other notes...
For some reason it appears the game is elevating the black levels by default, (even in sdr) making everything look very washed out. I enabled the levels adjustment filter (default settings) and that dramatically improved the contrast. I also like very colorful images so i added a small vibrancy boost but that is 100% optional.
For those who are more technically inclined, you can use the liliums hdr analysis tool to dial in your settings. It has things like brightness histograms, heatmaps, gamut maps etc.


If you get some great settings please post them for others!



Info for engine ini edits (for advanced users)

r.AllowHDR Creates an HDR compatible swap-chain and enables HDR display output.0: Disabled (default)
1: Allow HDR, if supported by the platform and display

r.HDR.Aces.SceneColorMultiplier Multiplier applied to scene color. Helps to reduce over saturation

r.HDR.Display.ColorGamut Color gamut of the output display:
0: Rec709 / sRGB, D65 (default)
1: DCI-P3, D65
2: Rec2020 / BT2020, D65
3: ACES, D60
4: ACEScg, D60

r.HDR.Display.MaxLuminance The configured display output nit level, assuming HDR output is enabled.

r.HDR.Display.MidLuminance The configured display output nit level for 18% gray

r.HDR.Display.MinLuminanceLog10 The configured minimum display output nit level (log10 value)

r.HDR.Display.OutputDevice Device format of the output display:
0: sRGB (LDR)
1: Rec709 (LDR)
2: Explicit gamma mapping (LDR)
3: ACES 1000 nit ST-2084 (Dolby PQ) (HDR)
4: ACES 2000 nit ST-2084 (Dolby PQ) (HDR)
5: ACES 1000 nit ScRGB (HDR)
6: ACES 2000 nit ScRGB (HDR)
7: Linear EXR (HDR)
8: Linear final color, no tone curve (HDR)
9: Linear final color with tone curve

r.HDR.EnableHDROutput Creates an HDR compatible swap-chain and enables HDR display output.0: Disabled (default)
1: Enable hardware-specific implementation

r.HDR.UI.CompositeMode Mode used when compositing the UI layer:
0: Standard compositing
1: Shader pass to improve HDR blending

r.HDR.UI.Level Luminance level for UI elements when compositing into HDR framebuffer (default: 1.0).

r.HDR.UI.Luminance Base Luminance in nits for UI elements when compositing into HDR framebuffer. Gets multiplied by r.HDR.UI.Level

[willian]

Автор сообщения: Errant

Great find!

Just so people are aware though: maximum brightness seems to be capped with this method and capped pretty low. Using the settings willian mentioned modified for my display, I am only able to get a maximum brightness of about 271 nits when looking straight at the sun with a peak of like 900 nits or so set in the Engine.Ini file.

I took a screenshot with Special K and viewed it with the HDR Image viewer heatmap to check.

Hopefully a method is discovered to get a bit more peak brightness! To my eyes, the inverse tonemapping methods look a little bit better right now. Shame the game didn't ship with native HDR.

I am not having a dimming issue after this mod then checked my value and took a screenshot to check if it really is that. It seemed to me it's not.

https://filetransfer.io/data-package/UBmMRWbw#link

Here is my screen shot.

On one of my setup that has no HDMI reporting of device luminance, using its default 1500nits value, this image has estimated MaxCLL of 1748 nits. (Using HDR + WCG Image Viewer from WindowsAppStore).

I'm not particularly familiar with windows of way of doing things, not sure how it's really calculated, so I moved on to a Mac. Checking this image, I get RGB value about ~3.4 of each Channel around the leaves. which should be 3.4x luminance of SDR 300 (my game setting based on) which is ~ 1000nits.

[willian]

From my understanding, this tweaking method is actually what native is based on, they are UE5.1? parameters for games to adjust common HDR settings.

[willian]

Автор сообщения: Errant

Great find!

Just so people are aware though: maximum brightness seems to be capped with this method and capped pretty low. Using the settings willian mentioned modified for my display, I am only able to get a maximum brightness of about 271 nits when looking straight at the sun with a peak of like 900 nits or so set in the Engine.Ini file.

I took a screenshot with Special K and viewed it with the HDR Image viewer heatmap to check.

Hopefully a method is discovered to get a bit more peak brightness! To my eyes, the inverse tonemapping methods look a little bit better right now. Shame the game didn't ship with native HDR.

I took a hardware approach and point my color calibration device to the shinny clouds of the same screenshot scene on my TV, it measured this:

Luminance: 398.931 cd/m²
White Point: 11641 K
x: 0.272, y: 0.282

on my setting of peak 750nits. And rtings capability:

Peak 2% Window 723 cd/m²
Peak 10% Window 728 cd/m²
Peak 25% Window 402 cd/m²
Peak 50% Window 284 cd/m²

I can now confidently say its on my expectation.

[willian]

Автор сообщения: GirlGamer

Автор сообщения: willian

at least give me your tv model num so that I'll be able to check for you

Mine is Samsung Odyssey G7 27inch 1440p, I bought it in 2021 or so

If this is your model
https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/samsung/odyssey-g7-s28ag70

I would not recommend non OLEDs with HDR brightness <600 doing HDR gaming tho, but here you go

```
[SystemSettings]
r.AllowHDR=1
r.HDR.EnableHDROutput=1
r.HDR.Display.OutputDevice=5
r.HDR.Display.ColorGamut=2
r.HDR.UI.CompositeMode=1
r.FullScreenMode=0
r.HDR.UI.CompositeMode=1
r.HDR.UI.Level=1.5
r.HDR.Display.MidLuminance=52
r.HDR.Display.MaxLuminance=408
```

[AssassinZX]

Thanks bud, W for LG OLED gang

[willian]

Please note I do not take any more requests, please check my previous message for how to get the numbers yourself.

If you want to be helpful as well, please leave your configs here along with your monitor model.

[Golgoth]

Hi !
Any idea for an Alienware AW3423DWF ?
https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/dell/alienware-aw3423dwf

I'm quite lost to be totally honest ...

Thanks

[F_Eighty7]

Автор сообщения: willian

Автор сообщения: GirlGamer

Mine is Samsung Odyssey G7 27inch 1440p, I bought it in 2021 or so

If this is your model
https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/samsung/odyssey-g7-s28ag70

I would not recommend non OLEDs with HDR brightness <600 doing HDR gaming tho, but here you go

```
[SystemSettings]
r.AllowHDR=1
r.HDR.EnableHDROutput=1
r.HDR.Display.OutputDevice=5
r.HDR.Display.ColorGamut=2
r.HDR.UI.CompositeMode=1
r.FullScreenMode=0
r.HDR.UI.CompositeMode=1
r.HDR.UI.Level=1.5
r.HDR.Display.MidLuminance=52
r.HDR.Display.MaxLuminance=408
```

Hey, could you also do for me? my tv is a s90c 77" https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/samsung/s90c-oled

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: I saw now that you wont take any request. Could you just tell me what to set on r.HDR.Display.MidLuminance for my tv?

[CapitanPumbo]

Unreal Engine 5.0 (used by the game) UI HDR composite mode is broken (it's been fixed in 5.3), so this, while allowing HDR to run properly on the game rendering, will have borked UI colors and alpha blends.
DLSS Frame Generation also wouldn't work correctly.

[neO_o_]

Hey, thanks for the guide. Unfortunately this HDR tweak doesn't play nice with Lossless Scaling app and will crash the game in the benchmark and when loading the 1st chapter. No idea why but it is what it is!

Will need a different HDR solution if you're using Lossless Scaling.

[neO_o_]

Автор сообщения: CapitanPumbo

DLSS Frame Generation also wouldn't work correctly.

That's interesting, could be the same reason Lossless Scaling crashes too.

[Light]

frame gen 3 looks garbage when this HDR is enabled.

[Extra411]

Since the geforce driver update today, RTX HDR seems to be working.
Alt+z with the nvidia overlay while in-game doesn't show any compatible filters, but if you create a profile with the game's b1.exe in the nvidia app and set up RTX HDR there, it appears to work.

[no3y3h4nd]

replying to save this.

cheers

[Bigshrimp]

Автор сообщения: Extra411

Since the geforce driver update today, RTX HDR seems to be working.
Alt+z with the nvidia overlay while in-game doesn't show any compatible filters, but if you create a profile with the game's b1.exe in the nvidia app and set up RTX HDR there, it appears to work.

Thanks for the tip. I tried it and I agree, it appears to be working in HDR.