Fix for Improper Colors on HDR Monitor

0. READ THIS

By default, TF2 uses incorrect color settings when on an HDR Monitor.
If you don't have washed out colors, you don't need this guide. This fix will work for all Source Engine games.

1. Downloading and installing dgVoodoo2

Head here[github.com] and download dgVooDoo2.
Make sure you download the main zip, and not the debug one.


Now we're going to head to TF2's files. Go down to Manage and click on Browse local files.


Find it's bin folder and open it.


Now go back to dgVoodoo2 extract it to a folder somewhere on your desktop for now. In dgVoodoo2, head to MS > x86 > D3D9.dll and copy it to TF2's bin folder.

After that, open dgVoodooCpl.exe.

2. Configuring dgVoodoo2

In dgVoodoo2, add TF2's bin folder to the list, and then select it.




Now select your GPU.


Set the API to Direct3D 11 with feature level 11.0


Then head down to the color options and turn on "Inherit Color Profile in full screen mode."


Now head over to the DirectX tab and turn on "Disable and passthrough to real DirectX." (We don't want to emulate it, just force the color profile)


Just click apply and now you're done.

4. Before and After

Before

After

(I have a bad camera.)

5. Increasing rendered color range for HDR.

By default, TF2's render range is 16~235. However, you can tell TF2 to render in actual full color, that being 0~256. Go to TF2's autoexec.cfg (I won't tell you how here, it's common knowledge) and add these lines:

mat_monitorgamma_tv_enabled 1
mat_monitorgamma_tv_range_min 0
mat_monitorgamma_tv_range_max 256

Then launch the game, because we're not done yet.
You may notice that the game is now really bright. This is normal.
Go to TF2's brightness setting's and adjust it until it looks correct.

Keep the gamma value in mind. Go back to TF2's autoexec.cfg and add the following line:

mat_monitorgamma ???

Replace ??? with the gamma value you chose. This ensures that if the proper value will always be set.

Now you're done. Enjoy

[ZeroFusion28]

This method is... functional, but not the best. I recommend using Special K for this now. I didn't know of it's existence at the time of making this tutorial, but Special K can do the same thing and a lot more, so it'd be better to use it instead.

https://www.special-k.info/

[filmore | item.tf]

Is there an update to this for 64-bit TF2?

[Sneakyslycooper]

Awesome tutorial!