[Special K] Fixin' Stuff (9/18/18)

[Kaldaien]

Introduction

I'm going to be doing things a bit differently here

There will still be various fixes for issues with the game, but my focus here is largely exploring gimped games that have HDR support on consoles but not PC and what can be done to fix the problem.

This game has no HDR support at all, but I've been slowly working various features into Special K to take an HDR render pipeline that has been tonemapped down to SDR and recover its HDR qualities.

Topics explored will cover:

• Light / dark adaptation
• Separate luminance for UI and world
• User-tunable HDR parameters
• HDR10 Quirks (blending perceptual quantization)
• HDR screenshots (Finished)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1511026413

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1512020339

Download and Install

• 0. The Visual C++ 2017 runtime[aka.ms] is a required pre-req.

1. Grab this archive[github.com] from GitHub.
   
2. Extract it to your game's install directory (steamapps\common\DRAGON QUEST XI\Game\Binaries\Win64)

Releases

Current Features:

• HUD Free Screenshots
• Remaps Escape Key to Backspace by default (user configurable)
• Allows arrow keys and WASD to be used interchangeably
  
  
• scRGB HDR for HDR-capable displays
• HDR screenshot support JPEG-XR
• Fixes the Steam overlay in HDR mode so it can be seen by human eyes

9/18/18 0.9.25.11 [github.com]	Fixed HDR Blend Equation issues w/ game's UI SK also no longer dumps Unreal's textures using the Typeless placeholder format.
9/17/18 0.9.25.10 [github.com]	Added support for button mods, grab this [github.com] and then start pulling your weight around here :P NOTE: Buttons go in SK_Res\inject\textures\99_buttons\ and the Unreal Engine doesn't like it if you change the texture's size or format.
9/15/18 0.9.25.9 [github.com]	Removed glitchy timing code (my own)
9/14/18 0.9.25.8 [github.com]	Added TRUE HDR Screenshot Support (JPEG-XR)
9/13/18 0.9.25.6 [github.com]	Added Temporal AA and Anisotropic Filtering Options
9/12/18 0.9.25.5 [github.com]	Added Luminance Range Control (Full-Range may clip/crush white/black)
9/12/18 0.9.25.4 [github.com]	Added HDR display info to framebuffer toolitp in control panel
9/11/18 0.9.25.3 [github.com]	Removed HDR options for SDR users. Added Colorspace override to ensure scRGB is in use.
9/7/18 0.9.25.2 [github.com]	Various performance tweaks in HDR mode
9/6/18 0.9.25.1 [github.com]	Slightly improved sRGB gamma handling
9/4/18 0.9.25.0 [github.com]	Initial Test Release

Configuration and Uninstall

Press Ctrl + Shift + Backspace to open Special K's config menu.

To uninstall, remove dxgi.dll, dxgi.ini, dxgi.pdb, the Version and logs directories.

HDR Users

Suggested Calibration Starting Point:

• Set the in-game brightness to 15-30 (down from its default of 50)
  
  
• Set the Power-Law EOTF to ~1.2
  
  This is gamma, so the greater the value, the darker stuff gets
• Set the Peak White Luminance to 100% unless full luminance range is enabled (~75% if enabled)
  
  The range of this slider is based on your display's reported local peak brightness
  Full scene brightness is typically 1/2 this value

Troubleshooting

If the mod does not work, third-party software (especially FRAPS!), anti-virus software or Windows 7 is often to blame.

If after closing third-party software the game still does not start, please paste logs/dxgi.log, logs/modules.log and logs/game_output.log to pastebin.com and provide a link in a post.

[Kaldaien]

Review Ban Controversy

Reinforcing Behavior that Lead to Said Review

Since my initial review of this game was banned, allow me to parley something here.

Square Enix is hiding useless code in FFXV that does nothing but repeatedly check for the pressence of a debugger and, if found, terminate the game without informing the end-user why.

The code is as useless and easy to circumvent now as it was when the game shipped. It never prevented anyone from reverse engineering the game and was easy to disable.

It has shown in various performance profiling scenarios to hurt load times > 15% and showcases Square Enix's misguided belief that hiding a game's internal workings is more important than selling a product free from defects.

The entire anti-debug system is literally a defect intentionally introduced into a game to make figuring out how it works more difficult. Here is just a hint why you do not inflict this on paying customers ... the code quacks like a duck therefore anti-virus software proclaims it is obviously a duck!

Square Enix is _NOT_ doing the same stupid thing in Dragon Quest XI, but they are still showing cause for concern when their past behavior is described and the immediate reaction is to silence the messenger.

Come on guys, stop it.

[B]

delicious

[Jack]

yes but ps4 controller icons, are they injectible?

also, an override to allow the resolution scaler to go below 65 and above 100 without ini editing would be good

[GRIMREAPER ALVA]

He returns. The man, the myth, the legend. Looking forward to what you can do with this game. Also glad to hear they didn't pull that anti-debug crap in this game. The game itself is solid with buttery smooth 60 FPS. Well done Square Enix.

[The Alpha Scrub]

Originally posted by Jack:

yes but ps4 icons, are they injectible?

Please.

[Kylis]

putting in a request to look at ultrawide support.

[Epic_Caesura]

Originally posted by Jack:

yes but ps4 controller icons, are they injectible?

also, an override to allow the resolution scaler to go below 65 and above 100 without ini editing would be good

Question: are the PS controller buttons in the .ini somewhere? I'm using a PS3 controller through an Xinput wrapper, but it would be nice to get my actual buttons.

[Jack]

no they're not

engine.ini and gameusersettings.ini are the only two used, neither mention ps4 or xbox

[spacerik]

Hey kal glad to see you here.

Any chance of ultrawide implementation? Game doesn't support it

[Buster]

Originally posted by Kylis:

putting in a request to look at ultrawide support.

+1

[Eli Parker]

Will I still be able to use Ansel? As in XV, when using this mod Ansel goes to a black screen.

[Epic_Caesura]

Originally posted by Jack:

no they're not

engine.ini and gameusersettings.ini are the only two used, neither mention ps4 or xbox

It's not the KeyConfigVersion option, huh? That's just keymapping?

[pianojazzman]

Ultrawide fix please!

[Dinjoralo]

TBH, the performance seems about as good as I would expect it to be? It's not like FFXV or Monhun where my system is getting smashed just trying to run at 60 FPS.

[KuramaKitsune]

any word on SLI bits ? im rockin 35-40 fps here at 4k sli 1080s only 1 gpu wants to work afr and afr2 arnt helpin