Insanely dark on certain maps (or in general)

[BIGPAPI]

I've tried verifying files, looking in the files to try and turn the brightness up, but for some reason maps are extemely dark. Do I reinstall? I also cant access the brightness option in settings for some reason...

[ᴿᴱᴻᴱ™]

https://www.google.com/search?q=L4D2+game+is+too+dark&oq=L4D2+game+is+too+dark&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIICAEQABgWGB7SAQg5MDEwajBqOagCDrACAQ&client=ms-android-samsung-ss&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8&chrome_dse_attribution=1

[ᴿᴱᴻᴱ™]

Brightness option is only active when u are in fullscreen.

[viske_]

I am running windowed fullscreen mode and have similiar issue, but unfortunately there is no universal solution to this. Here's the to-do list i made that can help you.

1. Run fullscreen mode instead of windowed fullscreen. I don't know why they made it this way but brightness option becomes unavailable in video options when using windowed.
   
2. Launch options:
   

   +mat_tonemapping_occlusion_use_stencil 1  +mat_dynamic_tonemapping 0 +mat_tonemap_algorithm 0
   

3. You can add these lines in steam/.../left4dead2/cfg/autoexec.cfg file
   

   r_dynamic "0"      
   r_PhysPropStaticLighting "0"    
   r_ambientfraction "0.2"    
   r_radiosity "4"    
   mat_monitorgamma_tv_enabled "1.6" 
   mat_monitorgamma "1.800000"
   

4. If you are using mods/addons, keep in mind that some of them, like color correction or big modpacks that affect fog and shadows (winter aesthetic, dynamic stuff and etc) make things darker. You can try to unsubscribe and try vanilla for comparsion.
   
5. Set shaders setting in video options to medium or low.
   
6. There is a thing called "dynamic contrast/brightness", in short, its when you aim at dark areas (like floor) the entire screen gets darker, and when looking up into bright spots it gets brighter. This option is turned on on modern monitors by default. Try to seek and turn it off on your monitor.
   Also, unfortunately, this feature somehow also exists in game, even in lowest settings its noticable, but i couldn't find how to turn it off.
   
7. This is the last resort mod, also check description for extra launch options
   https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2900665020&searchtext=full+bright

[ᴿᴱᴻᴱ™]

mat_monitorgamma_tv_enabled is kinda boolean btw.. so its 1 or 0

[Neburai]

OpenGL version of the game is very dark. Add -vulkan to launch options (windows uses directx instead of opengl, so ignore this if you use windows)

[BIGPAPI]

Originally posted by viske_:

I am running windowed fullscreen mode and have similiar issue, but unfortunately there is no universal solution to this. Here's the to-do list i made that can help you.

1. Run fullscreen mode instead of windowed fullscreen. I don't know why they made it this way but brightness option becomes unavailable in video options when using windowed.
   
2. Launch options:
   

   +mat_tonemapping_occlusion_use_stencil 1  +mat_dynamic_tonemapping 0 +mat_tonemap_algorithm 0
   

3. You can add these lines in steam/.../left4dead2/cfg/autoexec.cfg file
   

   r_dynamic "0"      
   r_PhysPropStaticLighting "0"    
   r_ambientfraction "0.2"    
   r_radiosity "4"    
   mat_monitorgamma_tv_enabled "1.6" 
   mat_monitorgamma "1.800000"
   

4. If you are using mods/addons, keep in mind that some of them, like color correction or big modpacks that affect fog and shadows (winter aesthetic, dynamic stuff and etc) make things darker. You can try to unsubscribe and try vanilla for comparsion.
   
5. Set shaders setting in video options to medium or low.
   
6. There is a thing called "dynamic contrast/brightness", in short, its when you aim at dark areas (like floor) the entire screen gets darker, and when looking up into bright spots it gets brighter. This option is turned on on modern monitors by default. Try to seek and turn it off on your monitor.
   Also, unfortunately, this feature somehow also exists in game, even in lowest settings its noticable, but i couldn't find how to turn it off.
   
7. This is the last resort mod, also check description for extra launch options
   https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2900665020&searchtext=full+bright

Cant find the autoexec.cfg for some reason. I poked around and only found autoexec.360.cfg. Would adding it to config.cfg work or do I have to make a cfg file to replace it? Tried the launch and it wouldnt work for some reason

[viske_]

Originally posted by BIGPAPI:

Cant find the autoexec.cfg for some reason. I poked around and only found autoexec.360.cfg. Would adding it to config.cfg work or do I have to make a cfg file to replace it? Tried the launch and it wouldnt work for some reason

Nah. If autoexec.cfg is not present, then make it. Create text file, put commands in there and Save as....and name it "autoexec.cfg".

[76561199522283621]

video.txt file on "cfg" folder:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Left 4 Dead 2\left4dead2\cfg

remove the "read-only" option in the file properties
add this line along with the others

"setting.mat_tonemapping_occlusion_use_stencil" "1"

Re-enable the "read-only" option when u finish

[BIGPAPI]

Originally posted by viske_:

Originally posted by BIGPAPI:

Cant find the autoexec.cfg for some reason. I poked around and only found autoexec.360.cfg. Would adding it to config.cfg work or do I have to make a cfg file to replace it? Tried the launch and it wouldnt work for some reason

Nah. If autoexec.cfg is not present, then make it. Create text file, put commands in there and Save as....and name it "autoexec.cfg".

Fixed it. Just made a new .cfg and it works now. Had to work out some kinks but it all worked out in the end. Thanks a lot, not sure why the game decides to get progressively darker until its ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ pitch black...