Battlefield 2 Graphics Tweak [Works Online] [Updated With NEW MOD]

Make Battlefield 2 look a lot more realistic with these simple color grading tweaks that won't get you kicked from the multiplayer.

Tweak The Graphics

!!!!!!OUTDATED!!!!!

Introducing a mod preset and compilation I made and named RealDust BUNDLE. It is a toolkit for various ported games and adds way more than this tutorial can do for you.

At the time of this message these games are supported: BF2 and mods of it, ProjectReality, ArmA 2, GTA 5, Battlefield 5, Red Orchestra 2, WarThunder and more, plus special experimental editions.

DOWNLOAD - http://www.realitymod.com/forum/f10-pr-bf2-general-discussion/142224-real-dust-graphics-mod-project-reality-a2.html
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WARNING: Instructions in this guide ask user to install 3rd party software, change direct hardware settings and variables that can cause unwanted effects, USE THIS GUIDE AT YOUR OWN RISK.


For a game made in 2005 BF2 has good graphics, but, a lot of things changed since 2005 and still BF2 is one of the best BF titles to date. I've seen a lot of ENB and SweetFX mods for BF2 out there, they are very good but there's one major problem - PunkBuster doesn't like them and you can get in big trouble for using them. So I figured out a partial solution that doesn't affect PunkBuster nor the game itself but changes your core hardware video settings to achieve a more polluted blue tint over the warm stock one.

ATI/AMD GPU Owners:

1. Run your game, load up your favorite maps and snap several screenshots of each of them, make sure to include at least one desert, one tropical and one urban map in screns.
2. Store your screenshots in same folder.
3. Close your game.
4. Download and install ATI Tray Tools by Ray Adams.
5. Run ATI Tray Tools.
6. Right click on ATI Tray Tools tray icon and go to Video & Colors>Color Correction.
7. You should see default settings here, click on the save icon on the bottom and save your profile as DEFAULT. DO NOT LOSE THIS SETTING.
8. Use the settings from bellow as a sample for a new preset/profile [Updated, can be used as universal preset for all terrains]:
ALL: Brightness -10 Contrast 51 Gamma 1.96
Red: Brightness -10 Contrast 51 Gamma 1.96
Green: Brightness -6 Contrast 53 Gamma 1.91
Blue: Brightness -3 Contrast 104 Gamma 2.38
9. Save this profile as BF2 Palette Sample.
10. Find your screenshots, open several with Desert maps in windows.
11. Access ATI Tray Tools Color Correection again, select BF2 Palette Sample, click on Open icon (right of save icon) Have your desert screens on your screen, adjust Blue, Red and Green according to your taste. Save finished sample as BF2 Desert.
12. Repeat step 11 for Tropic and Urban maps, name profiles correspondingly but don't forget to use BF2 Palette as a sample for them.
13. Click on OK in the Color Correction window with your default color settings.
14. Under ATI Tray Tools tray menu go to Hot Keys, enable them and click on Customize.
15. Add a Color Correction>Load Color Profile hot key with desired key (I recommend SHIFT+NUMBER where number is Function key F4 to F12) Select DEFAULT profile.
16. Repeat procedure for all of your Color Profiles for Desert, Tropic, Urban profiles respectively.
17. Click on OK.
18. Make sure ATI Tray Tools is running before next step.
19. Load BF2.
20. You will notice how your game may look either normal or faded out and pale, that is because BF2 forces its own color settings and ATI/AMD drivers allow this to happen naturally. Load a level you want to play.
21. Once in-game, use key combination for your desired level, if desert map is loaded, use BF2 Desert hotkey, etc.
22. BOOM! You now have color corrected look and feel in your Battlefield 2 that should look a lot more natural and updated :D

The effect may vary drastically from a type of monitor you use, drivers, GPU card and your personal taste. I recommend for best effect that you find some real life photos most similar to maps in-game and use them as a reference to adjust your color profiles. To keep using this tweak always run ATI Tray Tools and re-apply hot keys once level was loaded and you are in-game.

This method has ZERO impact on performance, however you can't add HDR or advanced Shader Model 3.0 features some dll mods can offer. You can additionally adjust other GPU settings with ATI Tray Tools and enhance your GPU, but be extremely careful with this software as it affects your hardware directly!

nVidia and Others, simply find a software that can do this for your GPU, I am sure there must be some solutions out there for you, use similar steps to achieve these effects once you find needed software alternatives. I've never used any other GPU's except ATI/AMD so I can't help you with an accurate step-by-step guide.

I hope you liked this guide. Enjoy your game with this tweak even in multiplayer.

P.S. You can use same tweaks for your Battlefield 3, BC2 and BF4 to get rid of that pale blue tint and give it a bit more vibrant look. You are free to post your own recommended settings in comments bellow.

UPDATE: I added some comparison screens, these were made without the HUD and the color curve was done in Photoshop with original data since the tweak above applies the setting only to your monitor and screenshot apps can't capture it. In addition I changed the sample preset parameters and they are now Universal thus can be used with any level in the game. You can also use the graphic curve chart captured from ATT.

Screens

[Xorberax]

ha I did this with my Geforce 8500GT wayyyyyy back in the day. Pump up the contrast, vibrance, etc. Looked so good, but it also made my entire desktop high contrast lol.

[Sykoste]

or check out this mod on mod DB;

BF2 HD Remastered Maps 2.0 - Vanilla Sky mod for Battlefield 2 Battlefield Remastered

____________________________ Lot's of improvements made since the first Beta release 1.2 Realistic BF2 HD Remastered battles...
BF2 HD Remastered Maps 2.0 - Vanilla Sky mod for Battlefield 2
Battlefield Remastered 3.0 has finally has gone gold after a 2 years development. Expect to play it soon! Old change logs: ____________________________ Lot's of improvements has been made since the first Beta release 1.2 Realistic BF2 HD Remastered battles...
https://www.moddb.com/mods/vanillasky

improved textures, hi res support and new map terrain models etc. etc.

[MAVEN]

This guide is now OUTDATED.

I've added a new introduction on the top about a mod I made for severa games, including BF2. Check it out - http://www.realitymod.com/forum/f10-pr-bf2-general-discussion/142224-real-dust-graphics-mod-project-reality-a2.html

[d e x]

wow really nice :)

[notonemo]

nice worked great and it makes my btf4 look good as well. Thx for the tip

[MAVEN]

Welcome :)

[Fenny]

Wow, nice! :D
Thank you XD