Visuals look washed out

[London]

Im having a problem where the game seems washed out or overly bright especially in dark areas. I thought it was an issue with my monitor or brightness settings at first but its seems to go away for a moment during the gas mask animation (as well as a few other random non-repeatable moments) seems to just pop back into being washed out the moment the animation is over.

Example of brightness during gas mask animation
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1657990056
Example of washed out look
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1657990007

In game gamma levels are at their lowest. doesn't stop at any level including max.
I have tried new drivers, checking game files and screen settings. as well as reverting FOV changes

[glowsticky]

Originally posted by johnpinky7:

I've been poking around the config file and found out there is an independent gamma setting outside of the in-game setting. I was able to mostly correct the gamma by tweaking a setting there, haven't messed with it too much to know how accurate it is, but I definitely see a difference. The strange thing is, after tweaking this setting, the in-game setting remains unchanged and is able to further adjust the gamma.

Navigate to C:\Users\*username*\Saved Games\metro exodus\*string of numbers*\ and open "user.cfg" with a text editor.
Find line "r_gamma 1."
Change "1." to "1.5"
Save the file and enjoy the darkness.

Unfortunately I am not sure what scale they are using, but 1.5 is the max. I tried 2, 2.2, even 1.6 and those don't work.

Btw, I was using DX11 at this time, DX12 made no changes on my end and dark spots were still washed out.

WORKED GREAT THANK YOU!! <3

[MightyPoo]

BUMP still no fix. Unbelievable that they didnt address this issue after all that time. Its clearly a bug, since gamma looks correct for a split second after taking off the mask

[Garahell]

YUP ,CANT BEAT THE ♥♥♥ FILTER!

[UnholyGuacamole]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FOUND A FIX !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In order for the games brightness to be correct, you have to put your graphics card contrast to 100 and leave graphics card contrast at 0-30 (depending on your taste).
I am using nvidia, so I was doing it through nvidia controll panel.
It's not a fix but a very easy way around it.

[Solarstrike]

If you have an Nvidia GPU, use Nvidia Freestyle. It's integrated with each driver if you select the GeForce Experience option upon driver installation. Nvidia Freestyle you can add color filters, adjust sharpness, contrast, brightness, etc. Even take high resolution screenshots. It's a great program but the caveat is having the other stuff from GeForce Experience running in the background which many people hate, like Shadowplay, etc.


edit: Press Alt +F3 to turn on Nvidia Freestyle in game

[Stake From JateFarm]

Originally posted by Mr.CrabsMan:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FOUND A FIX !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In order for the games brightness to be correct, you have to put your graphics card contrast to 100 and leave graphics card contrast at 0-30 (depending on your taste).
I am using nvidia, so I was doing it through nvidia controll panel.
It's not a fix but a very easy way around it.

Is this a way to make the game have more contrast or does it fix the mask on/off filter?

[DMacNutz]

Freestyle filter is the only thing making it playable for me :( Running 3060Ti, dx12 rtx on, no dlss, hdr on. With hdr on or off all have the washed out look, dx11 also, basically any mode possible has the washed out look.
It's so annoying because I can watch PC HDR clips of Exodus on youtube and they look amazing on my screen, but I have to use freestyle to try and get as close as possible to that look, usually meaning some black crush or white wash if i don't want the grey overlay look.
My mate is playing on the GOG version on his oled and he keeps sending me the best looking screenshots, without any need for adjusting gamma from middle position. Then he keeps saying it's the screen not the game and I'm like, it's a beautiful screen but *facepalm* mine's bugged...

[NecroMoz]

Still broken. Gamma is momentarily ok for a few seconds after joining the game, but doing virtually anything breaks it permanently - grey, washed out, awful raised blacks.

[Irish]

Necroing because this is still relevant. 2021 and still no fix.

[DMacNutz]

Yep, Freestyle only way to make it look reasonable. Maybe it'll be fixed in the enhanced edition.

[Stake From JateFarm]

Try this, saw it today.

https://twitter.com/metrovideogame/status/1395693514705473537

"We added some command line parameters that you can use at launch to give us some info for addressing this. This should work for Steam, Epic, or GoG versions.
- deependark will remove postprocess white effect
- forcenohdr will force HDR off"

[Jig McGalliger]

I don't think that affects the original version, only EE.

[EbonHawk]

Playing at 4K res, dark as hell. Switched to my normal 1920x1080 feel good res and game looks bright and shiny, no problems.

[Stake From JateFarm]

Originally posted by Jig McGalliger:

I don't think that affects the original version, only EE.

I found out, yeah. I was so mad. The PCWiki didn't specify. :(

[Heavy]

in 2023 still no fix, also same problem.